Pollution Evaluation of Irrigation Water in Paddy Fields at Al-Mishkhab Area, Iraq

Al-Mishkhab area in Al-Najaf governorate is the largest and the first in rice production in Iraq, rice comes at the forefront of major food. To investigate the heavy metals contents of irrigation water and classify the irrigation water quality of paddy fields using pollution indices ten irrigation water samples were collected and analyzed for heavy metals by Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS). The results showed that all tested heavy metals contents of irrigation water in paddy fields were less than local and worldwide limits. Overall HPI for samples within study area are found to be far above the critical level of 100 which reveals that the water is polluted with respect to heavy metals, that may be attributed to agricultural effluents of the area. The MI value is also far above the threshold of warning with respect to heavy metals suggests that the irrigation water samples are moderately affected.