Evaluation of the Quality of Irrigation Water of Downstream of the Zard River Using Statistical Analysis

Rivers are one of the most important source of water supply for drinking and farming purposes. Zard River is one of the surface water resources of Khuzestan province. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality of the river water and to observe the trend of changes in the water quality of this river in the Mashin station during the period of 1997-2015 by using the Man-Kendal, Spearman, variance analysis statistical methods and the least significant difference (LSD) and cluster analysis. LSD test shows SAR, Na, Cl, pH parameters up to 2010 (before Jare dam construction) were significant at 95% confidence level compared to 2015 (year of control). No changes were made after dam construction. According to Mann-Kendal non-parametric test, pH, Ca and SO4 have a significant upward trend to the 0.037, 0.393 and 0.376 respectively, the variables Cl, SAR, Na and temperature have a significant decreasing trend to the -0.387, -0.417, -0.386 and -0.1 respectively. Also Spearman test shows that the dam improved the quality of river water regarding to salinity. Variance analysis show that pH, SAR, Na, Cl, Ca and SO4 have significant difference. Cluster analysis classified the qualitative data before the construction of the dam in three clusters and after the construction of the dam were divided into two clusters where TDS variable was less distant than other variables. As a result, the quality of the irrigation water is changed downward and the TDS is more similar to the other variables compared.