Assessing groundwater and soil quality in West Kazakhstan amid climate impacts and oil industry contamination risks
Adenova D. Sapargaliyev D. Sagin J. Absametov M. Murtazin Y. Smolyar V.
December 2025Nature Research
Scientific Reports
2025#15Issue 1
Climate change from anthropogenic activities had resulted in devastating disruptions in Kazakhstan. This includes drought in 2023 and flooding in 2024, with widespread water pollution. The field surveys and water-soil sampling were carried out in 2013 to study West Kazakhstan’s (WK) groundwater and soil. From this, preliminary classifications were made. The water was categorized into three groups: (1) potable household, (2) technical irrigation, and (3) unsuitable for use. WK is under intensive oil and gas exploration and processing activities, thus, groundwater in the region faces contamination risks. As a result, proper, permanent groundwater quality monitoring is needed. Along with these efforts, the groundwater and soil samples were collected and analyzed. This included measuring for different anions and cations concentration, hydrogen ions pH concentration, total dissolved salts (TDS), total water hardness С, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), and sodium content (SC). The Piper and Durov Diagrams illustrate water-soil quality. The WK region was categorized into three groups by the water-soil quality outputs; the (1) group of the WK North-East region with the smallest salinity level, suitable for the household use; the (2) group of the WK South-East, suitable for irrigation, as technical water, which is unsuitable as the potable water and requires purifications for the household needs; the (3) group of the WK North-West, unsuitable for irrigation and high salt content, which requires substantial purification for the household or irrigation use. Among the salinity chemistry levels, the most common are chloride-sulfate, soda-sulfate, sulfate-soda by anions; next sodium and sodium-calcium by cations. Soda-saline lands were identified in some areas of the WK region. The upgrading of melioration for sufficient water quality improvement will require substantial efforts. The content of petroleum products in some soil samples significantly exceeds the maximum permissible concentration. A further, more detailed investigation is required with more permanent soil water monitoring efforts, especially following the recent flooding events.
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Hydrogeology and Geoecology Institute named after U.M.Akhmedsafin, Satbayev University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Kazakh-British Technical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Hydrogeology and Geoecology Institute named after U.M.Akhmedsafin
Kazakh-British Technical University
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