Evaluation of water treatment plants quality in Basrah Province, by factor and cluster analysis

The Shatt Al Arab River (SAAR) is a major source of raw water for most water treatment plants (WTP’s) located along with it in Basrah province. This study aims to determine the effects of different variables on water quality of the SAAR, using multivariate statistical analysis. Seventeen variables were measured in nine WTP’s during 2017, these sites are Al Hussain (1), Awaissan (2), Al Abass (3), Al Garma (4), Mhaigran (5), Al Asmaee (6), Al Jubaila (7), Al Baradia (8), Al Lebani (9). The dataset is treated using principal component analysis (PCA) / factor analysis (FA), cluster analysis (CA) to the most important factors affecting water quality, sources of contamination and the suitability of water for drinking and irrigation. Three factors are responsible for the data structure representing 88.86% of the total variance in the dataset. CA shows three different groups of similarity between the sampling stations, in which station 5 (Mhaigran) is more contaminated than others, while station 3 (Al Abass) and 6 (Al Asmaee) are less contaminated. Electrical conductivity (EC) and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) are plotted on Richard diagram. It is shown that the samples of water of Mhaigran are located in the class of C4-S3 of very high salinity and sodium, water samples of Al Abass station, are located in the class of C3-S1 of high salinity and low sodium, and others are located in the class of C4-S2 of high salinity and medium sodium. Generally, the results of most water quality parameters reveal that SAAR is not within the permissible levels of drinking and irrigation.