Determining the quality of spring water in Giresun highlands

Plateaus are high altitude residential areas where tourism and animal husbandry activities are carried out with significant economic and ecological potential. Especially in recent years, they have become a hobby center for people who are camping trekking or picnic. In this study, the drinking and irrigation water quality of the spring waters in the plateaus of Giresun province has been determined. Twenty stations were determined, and water analyzes were performed using standard methods in both wet (autumn 2019) and dry (summer 2020) seasons. The mean values of water quality parameters are as follow; pH 8.3, temperature 12.89 °C, dissolved oxygen (DO) 9.3 mg/L, salinity 0.05 ppt, total dissolved substance (TDS) 233 mg/L, electrical conductivity (EC) 58.14 us/cm, potential oxidation reduction (POR)-93.4 mV, total alkalinity(TA) 60.35 mg/L, total hardness (TH) 53 mg/L, nitrite nitrogen (NO2-N), 0.004 mg/L, nitrate nitrogen(NO3-N) 0,02 mg/L, total phosphorous (TP) 0,09 mg/L, soluble reactive phosphorous (SRP) 0.02 mg/L, silicate(SiO2) 11.01 mg/L. Additionally, the concentrations of inductively coupled metals measured by plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP- MS) in spring waters are as follows; Ca (34.25 mg/L)> Na (10.35 mg/L)> Mg (8.19 mg/L)> K (1.50 mg/L)> Al (1093.58 μg/L)> Fe (67.43 μg/L)> Zn (110.54 μg/L)> Mn (23.03 μg/L)> Cu (9.79 μg/L)> As (3.74 μg/L)> Ni (2.99 μg/L)> Cr (2.83 μg/L)> Pb (2.74 μg/L)> Co (1.92 μg/L)> Cd (0.77 μg/L). Considering these values, the water quality index (WQI), heavy pollution index (HPI), and heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) have been calculated as 49.52-31.23-6.84 respectively. Furthermore, irrigation water quality has been determined with the indexes of sodium absorption rate (SAR=0.44), percentage of sodium(%Na=30.87), magnesium harm (MH=29.61), residue of sodium carbonate (RSC=0.31). According to these results, the quality of the spring waters in Giresun plateaus may accepted"good water" and "suitable water" for both drinking and irrigation.