Determination of the Water Quality Index in groundwater samples from Rafaela City (Castellanos Department, Santa Fe Province).

Abstract

Due to the important role that water plays in human life, it is essential to raise awareness of how to preserve this resource, and the degradation it undergoes due to natural as well as anthropogenic factors. The water quality index is a value derived from different parameters that provides information about the quality of water. The purpose of this work is to calculate that index in the underground water in Rafaela and other nearby cities and, based on the obtained value, classify them according to their suitability for human consumption. To achieve this, many samples were taken in different parts of the study area and those samples were categorized physicochemically. The water quality index showed that underground water quality is not good for human consumption in any of those places, and that fact shows the decrease of their quality.