Spatial and Temporal Zoning of Groundwater Electrical Conductivity and Total Dissolved Solids in Guilan Plain

In recent years, the groundwater resources in Guilan province have played an important role in irrigating paddy fields. The goal of this study was to evaluate temporal and spatial variations of groundwater quality in a 4-year period using ordinal kriging. Water samples for this study were collected from 130 wells across Guilan province, in September and March from 2003 to 2006.  Maps of EC and TDS in the region were prepared using ArcGIS software. The maps showed that regarding TDS, western parts of Guilan province had no problem of groundwater TDS (less than 500 mg/L), whereas central and eastern parts had a moderate TDS (500-1000 mg/L).  Results showed that salinity increased with time (except in 2005, due to more rainfall in 2004) and the highest EC was recorded in the central zone, particularly areas neighboring eastern parts of Guilan province. Delineated areas of EC and TDS classes were determined in each year. EC in the east and some other parts of Guilan province covering 23 to 34% of the studied area was between one to 1.5 dS/m which have a negative impact on the yield of sensitive plants such as rice. Uncontrolled digging of deep wells and over exploitation of groundwater can be regarded as the main cause of increasing salinity in paddy areas of Guilan province.