Comparative Assessment of Various Water Quality Indices (WQIs) in Polyphytos Reservoir-Aliakmon River, Greece

Ioanna Zotou,Georgios D Gikas,Vassilios A Tsihrintzis

doi:10.3390/proceedings2110611

Ioanna Zotou, Georgios D Gikas + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2110611

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Abstract

The present study attempts to examine the comparative performance of seven different WQIs, as they were computed for Polyphytos Reservoir-Aliakmon River in Greece, based on water quality monitoring data for the period between June 2004 and May 2005. The WQIs applied were: Prati’s Index of Pollution, Bhargava’s Index, Oregon WQI, Dinius’ Index, CCME WQI, NSF WQI and the Weighted Arithmetic WQI. Significant discrepancies were observed in classification results between the different methodologies. Among others, it was concluded that NSF and Bhargava indices classify the reservoir in higher quality classes, Prati’s and Dinius indices in medium, while CCME and Oregon in lower quality categories.

Highlights

The continuous pressures on the existing water systems, due to both natural and man‐made causes, require systematic monitoring and evaluation of their quantitative and qualitative status
The European framework only gives the general guidelines and does not provide any specific tools in order to evaluate and classify the aquatic systems. This has a negative effect on the compatibility between the methodologies that different member States utilize as well as on the ability of comparing classification results derived for different types of aquatic systems [1,2]
It becomes clear that significant discrepancies are recorded in the qualitative classification among the individual methodologies

Summary

Introduction

The continuous pressures on the existing water systems, due to both natural and man‐made causes, require systematic monitoring and evaluation of their quantitative and qualitative status. According to the EU 2000/60 Water Framework Directive, measures should be applied to improve the water quality of aquatic systems in Europe and, in particular, to ensure that all water bodies achieve “good” water quality by 2015. For this purpose, a prior assessment and classification of their ecological and chemical status needs to be implemented. The European framework only gives the general guidelines and does not provide any specific tools in order to evaluate and classify the aquatic systems. This has a negative effect on the compatibility between the methodologies that different member States utilize as well as on the ability of comparing classification results derived for different types of aquatic systems (i.e., lakes, rivers, groundwaters, coastal areas etc.) [1,2]

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