Water Quality Indices (WQI) - Water Quality Management: Assessment and Interpretation - page 24

highly suspended sediment load during the open water season. Fernandez et al.
( 2004 ) reviewed 36 WQI and water pollution index (WPI); the results of their
works showed that appreciable differences exist between different WQI on the same
water sample. They concluded that the WPI developed in Colombia by Rmiirez
et al. (1997) and the AMOEBA strategy which was developed by De Zwart ( 1995 )
in Netherland offered considerable advantages over more traditional formulations.
Using the systems of Lake Kinneret, Israel and the Northern Lakes of Belarus,
Parparov et al. ( 2006 ) demonstrated that water quality can be quanti

ed to be part
of sustainable management in relation to lake management activities. They used
WQI and rating curve to reach their objective. For both Lake Kinneret and Naroch,
they established rating curves under the assumptions that the conservation of the
lake ecosystem is the prime objective of the resource managers. They proposed
three separate levels of WQI integration, which are as follows:

An expanded WQI system which, being the base system, was proper for
describing different aspects of water resource uses. It served as a

￿

“ common

language ” for communication between associates in lake management.

￿ Reduced system of WQI

Composite water quality index (CWQI): This highest level of integration of
water quality
Sedeno-Dias and Lopez-Lopez ( 2007 ) studied the water quality of the Rio
Lerma catchment area, the notoriously polluted area of Mexico. They used water
quality index multiplicative and weighted water quality index and principal com-
ponent in their work. WQI scores judged the water unsuitable for drinking and
demonstrated that it was vitally important to treat the water. Pinto et al. ( 2009 )
mainly reviewed and evaluated benthic community based biotic indices. They
supplied a general overview of some indices premises and assumptions as well as
their main advantages and disadvantages. Asadollahfardi ( 2009 ) applied NSFWQI
method to surface water quality in Tehran and his results was satisfactory. Juttner
et al. ( 2010 ) studied periphytic diatoms to evaluate the water quality of a newly
created lake formed by the enclosure of the formerly tidal Cardiff Bay (Wales, UK)
and the effects of two in

￿

owing rivers which drain the densely populated and
industrialized basin. They selected seven sampling stations in Cardiff Bay and two
stations on the in owing river and collected samples for diatoms and chemistry of

water for 2 years. They used a revised UK trophic diatom index (TDI) and a new
technique to

figure out ecological quality ratios and ecological states classes as
required by the EU Water Framework Directive. In the bay, diatoms re ected

differences in river quality and possibly of local pollution in certain areas of the
lake. The high rates of TDI indicate eutrophic to hypertrophic conditions in both the
rivers and the bay and diatoms indicate poor ecological status.