Introduction - Water Quality Management: Assessment and Interpretation - page 2

proper interpretation can, in no way, lend any effective aid to water quality man-
agement. Many methods have been developed to interpret the data. Deterministic
and statistical methods are examples. However, among all the methods available
today, water quality indices are perhaps among the simplest and yet extremely
useful methods. The results of interpretations derived from this method are
understandable for both water quality managers and the general public.
Water quality is a term applied to indicate the suitability of water for various
uses. Each type of water uses needs certain physical, chemical and biological
characteristic while various uses have some common characteristic. The composi-
tion of surface and ground water depends on the characteristic of the catchment area
such as geological, topographical, meteorological and biological of the area. Water
quality in various areas is hardly ever constant, and the variations are caused by
changes in concentration of any inputs to water body. Such variations may be
natural or man

made and either cyclic or random. Random variation of water
owing to unpredictable events. As an example, storm can increase

—

ow and
increasing pollution due to the wash of its catchment area. Therefore, the nature of
water quality is stochastic and deterministic. Consequently, for proper interpretation
of the data understating both of the characteristic is vital.
Water quality monitoring is the effort to

find quantitative information on the
physical. Chemical and biological characteristics of water using statistical sample
(Sander 1983 ). Monitoring means watching the ongoing flow of water to make sure
no law and regulation are broken. However, the word has a different meaning when
utilized to refer to water quality measurements, as a result has the term network
taken on a meaning beyond the strict de nition of the word when referring to water

quality monitoring. Network design means to determine the location of sampling
stations (Sander 1983 ). The location of sampling stations and type of water quality
parameters depends on the objective of water usage. The water quality situation is a
function of complex natural and man-made causes and of the resulting integration
in both space and time. Therefore, abstracting the core of the water quality con-
ditions at a reasonable cost is very dif cult.

For water pollution control, it is necessary to

figure out surface and ground water

quality. The first stage in this process is to establish water quality monitoring

stations to collect samples to analyze the characteristic of water. The second stage is
type of sample collection which is very important because collected samples should
be representative of the water body. The third stage involves interpreting the col-
lected data since huge amounts of data without proper interpretation cannot help
water quality management effectively (Asadollahfardi 2000 ).
The first stage in water quality management is establishing enough and suitable

selected monitoring stations considering the objective of water uses. The Second
stage is the availability of enough data with proper precision regarding the aim of
water use. The third stage is an interpretation of the data which the outcome of this
step can help water quality management for water quality planning to control water
quality.
The principal aim of the global freshwater quality monitoring project, Global
Environment Monitoring System (GEMS)/WATER presents a descriptive example