Assessment of Irrigation Water Quality in Menzel Habib Aquifer System – A Combined Geochemical and Fuzzy Logic Approaches

Abstract

Groundwater is an important source for irrigation uses in many arid and semi-arid regions such as Menzel Habib area. In this work, the groundwater quality for irrigation water was investigated based on conventional indices notably Electrical Conductivity (EC), Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), Soluble Sodium Percentage (SSP), Magnesium Adsorption ratio (MAR), Kelly Ratio (KR) and Permeability index (PI). The water quality for irrigation was also evaluated by Simsek method. However, a proposal fuzzy logic model has been developed to avoid uncertainties associated to the classical methods. The results obtained on thirty-six groundwater samples, indicated that 3% of these samples are classified as “good” for irrigation, 3% are “good to permissible”, 33% “permissible”, 36% “permissible to unsuitable” and 25% with an “unsuitable” quality. The application of fuzzy logic approaches has more reliable results with the definition of seven classes to evaluate the groundwater quality for agricultural irrigation.