The Characterization of Groundwater Quality for Safe Drinking Water Wells via Disinfection and Sterilization in Jordan: A Case Study

Abstract

This work aims to evaluate the quality of drinking water in the Disi aquifer in Jordan. Several water quality parameters are included in the mathematical equation to evaluate the average water quality and establish the suitability of water for drinking purposes. Water sampling zones from three wells were used to calculate the water quality indices (WQI). The water samples were analyzed for several physicochemical parameters, including pH, turbidity, total dissolved solids, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, HCO3−, SO42−, Cl−, NO3−, total hardness, electrical conductivity (EC) and other elements (Fe2+, Zn2+, Mn2+, Cd2+, As2−, Pb4+ and Cu2+), in the groundwater wells. Biological parameters, such as faecal coliform, were also tested. The Weighted Arithmetic WQI indicated that most of the wells were of good to excellent quality. These determined indices support decision making and are beneficial to monitoring the groundwater quality in the Disi aquifer. The relative weight is specific to each parameter and ranges from 1 to 5; it establishes the importance of the water quality parameters for domestic purposes. The WQI analysis rates the water quality between 75 to 65 from good to medium. The water quality of the Disi aquifer for potable drinking water was compared with the guidelines of the World Health Organization (2011) and the Jordan Drinking Standard (JS286); the results indicated that water in the Disi aquifer was of high quality and was fit for drinking.

Measurement of Total Dissolved Solids and Total Suspended Solids in Water Systems: A Review of the Issues, Conventional, and Remote Sensing Techniques

“…Increased concentrations of TDS and TSS in water bodies limit them from serving their purpose for drinking, power generation, industrial cooling, supporting biodiversity, ecosystem services, recreation, transportation routes, waste disposal, agriculture production, irrigation, energy production, regional planning, and fish farming [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Impairment of water bodies by parameters such as TDS and TSS is caused by climate change, development, and urbanization associated with surface imperviousness resulting from increased population, and contamination caused by rapid and uncontrolled environmental changes including drought, wastewater discharges, nutrient pollution, sediments, and changes in land use and land cover which results in negative impacts such as the proliferation of harmful blue-green algae, accelerated eutrophication, and extreme turbidity among others which have negative implications on the sustainability of the limited water resources [3,6,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29].…”