Khorasan Steel Complex is in the North of Neyshabur Plain, located at a distance of 15 kilometers from North West of the Neyshabur city. The Steel complex produces waste water that is used in adjacent agricultural lands and also generates mixed wastes, including slag, dust, sludge, metal shells and the oxide layers; so, it can be considered as a potential source of pollution. In this study, the Water Quality Index (NSF WQI) and the negative effects of this Complex on the adjacent ground water resources have been evaluated. In this context, 9 parameters used for calculating index, including dissolved oxygen, fecal caliform, turbidity, pH, biochemical oxygen demand, temperature, phosphate, nitrate and total dissolved solids were measured at six stations around the Steel Complex and were used in calculations. In all cases the water samples had a mean Water Quality Index (NSF WQI = 48) lower than the great and the good classes. The samples that located upstream of the Steel Complex have better quality indices (NSF WQI = 52) than samples of the Steel Complex downstream (NSF WQI = 37). Therefore, according to the importance of drinking water resources and agricultural water supply for villagers of the area, the appropriate measurements for preventing further water resources contamination must be considered.

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