Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index Research Articles

Multivariate statistics and entropy theory for irrigation water quality and entropy-weighted index development in a subtropical urban river, Bangladesh.

Currently, a well-developed combination of irrigation water quality index (IWQIs) and entropy water quality index (EWQIs) for surface water appraisal in a polluted subtropical urban river is very scarce in the literature. To close this gap, we developed IWQIs by establishing statistics-based weights of variables recommended by FAO 29 standard value using the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI) compared with the proposed EWQIs based on information entropy in the Dhaleshwari River, Bangladesh. Fifty surface water samples were collected from five sampling locations during the dry and wet seasons and analyzed for sixteen variables. Principal component analysis (PCA), factor analysis (FA), Moran's spatial autocorrelation, and random forest (RF) model were employed in the datasets. Weights were allocated for primary variables to compute IWQI-1, 2 and EWQI-1, 2, respectively. The resultant IWQIs showed a similar trend with EWQIs and revealed poor to good quality water, with IWQI-1 for the dry season and IWQI-2 for the wet season is further suggested. The entropy theory recognized that Mg2+, Cr, TDS, and Cl- for the dry season and Cd, Cr, Cl-, and SO42- for the wet season are the major contaminants that affect irrigation water quality. The primary input variables were lessened to ultimately shortlisted ten variables, which revealed good performance in demonstrating water quality status since weights have come effectively from PCA than FA. The results of the RF model depict NO3-, Mg2+, and Cr as the most predominant variables influencing surface water quality. A significant dispersed pattern was detected for IWQImin-3 in the wet season (Moran's I>0). Overall, both IWQIs and EWQIs will generate water quality control cost-effective, completely objective to establish a scientific basis of sustainable water management in the study basin.

Spatio-seasonal variation of water quality influenced by land use and land cover in Lake Muhazi

Understanding the influence of land use/land cover (LULC) on water quality is pertinent to sustainable water management. This study aimed at assessing the spatio-seasonal variation of water quality in relation to land use types in Lake Muhazi, Rwanda. The National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSF-WQI) was used to evaluate the anthropogenically-induced water quality changes. In addition to Principal Components Analysis (PCA), a Cluster Analysis (CA) was applied on 12-clustered sampling sites and the obtained NSF-WQI. Lastly, the Partial Least Squares Path Modelling (PLS-PM) was used to estimate the nexus between LULC, water quality parameters, and the obtained NSF-WQI. The results revealed a poor water quality status at the Mugorore and Butimba sites in the rainy season, then at Mugorore and Bwimiyange sites in the dry season. Furthermore, PCA displayed a sample dispersion based on seasonality while NSF-WQI’s CA hierarchy grouped the samples corresponding to LULC types. Finally, the PLS-PM returned a strong positive correlation (+ 0.831) between LULCs and water quality parameters in the rainy season but a negative correlation coefficient (− 0.542) in the dry season, with great influences of cropland on the water quality parameters. Overall, this study concludes that the lake is seasonally influenced by anthropogenic activities, suggesting sustainable land-use management decisions, such as the establishment and safeguarding protection belts in the lake vicinity.

Spatial and temporal assessment of surface water quality using water quality index. The Saguling Reservoir, Indonesia

Developments in agriculture, industry, and urban life have caused the deterioration of water resources, such as rivers and reservoirs in terms of their quality and quantity. This includes the Saguling Reservoir located in the Citarum Basin, Indonesia. A review of previous studies reveals that the water quality index ( WQI) is efficient for the identification of pollution sources, as well as for the understanding of temporal and spatial variations in reservoir water quality. The NSFWQI (The National Sanitation Foundation water quality index) is one of WQI calculation methods. The NSFWQI is commonly used as an indi-cator of surface water quality. It is based on nitrate, phosphate, turbidity, temperature, faecal coliform, pH, DO, TDS, and BOD. The average NSFWQI has been 48.42 during a dry year, 43.97 during a normal year, and 45.82 during a wet year. The WQI helped to classify water quality in the Saguling Reservoir as “bad”. This study reveals that the strongest and most significant correlation between the parameter concentration and the WQI is the turbidity concentration, for which the coeffi-cient correlation is 0.821 in a dry year, and faecal coli, for which the coefficient correlation is 0.729 in a dry year. Both parameters can be used to calculate the WQI. The research also included a nitrate concentration distribution analysis around the Saguling Reservoir using the Inverse Distance Weighted method.

EVALUATION OF WATER QUALITY STATUS OF AMEENPUR LAKE, HYDERABAD, TELANGANA, INDIA USING WATER QUALITY INDEX (WQI) AND GEO-SPATIAL TECHNOLOGY

The present study was carried out to evaluate the water quality of the Biodiversity Heritage Site i.e., Ameenpur Lake (Telangana, India) using Water Quality Index (WQI) and spatial distribution technique. The water samples were collected during Pre-Monsoon, Monsoon and Post-Monsoon seasons of the year 2019-20 and analysed for physico-chemical parameters as per the American Public Health Association (APHA) standard methods for water and wastewater treatment. The WQI were calculated by using the standard method of Weighted Arithmetic Water Quality Index (WAWQI) and National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI). The WAWQI and NSFWQI methods indicated that overall water quality of the lake was found to be poor in all the seasons. According to the WAWQI map, majority of the samples were found be in the poor water quality in all the three seasons and according to the NSFWQI map, all the samples were found to be bad in condition in all the seasons. The same is represented in the spatial distribution maps. The decline in the quality of lake water is due to various anthropogenic activities like enrichment through surface and agricultural runoff and also due to discharge of untreated sewage and industrial effluents.

A coherent approach of Water Quality Indices and Multivariate Statistical Models to estimate the water quality and pollution source apportionment of River Ganga System in Himalayan region, Uttarakhand, India.

River Ganga covers around 26% of India's land area and sustains diverse ecosystems in this overly populated area. The globally accepted coherent approach of water quality indices (WQIs) and multivariate statistical models (principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA)) were applied on the dataset to evaluate the spatial-temporal variation and pollution source identification and apportionment. Twenty-two hydro-chemical parameters were analyzed by collecting the samples from 20 different vertically elevated monitoring locations for different seasons. The CA evaluation of data, grouped the monitoring locations into five clusters of varied water quality with human perturbations and geo-genic inputs. The PCA analysis of an extensive dataset indicated the seven significant principal components (PCs) explaining 93.0% of the total variance and finalized 8 water quality parameters out of preselected 22 to represent good aspects of the water quality. The seasonal variation in river water quality by the Canadian Council of Ministers for Environment Water Quality Index (CCMEWQI) showed the quality class at a marginal level in summer (62.16), monsoon (59.96), and post-monsoon (60.20) season, whereas in winters (71.18), water quality was in fair condition. The response of National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI) classified the river water in medium quality class for summer, monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter season, respectively. The present observations contribute in the usefulness of these statistical methodologies to interpret and understand large dataset and also provide reliable information to reduce the tedious and cost of water quality monitoring and assessment programs.

Evaluation of source water quality and the influencing factors: A case study of Macao

Macao's source water mainly comes from the West branch of Pearl River of China. Based on the monitored water quality data of raw water in Macao, this study adopted the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI) model to calculate the water quality index (WQI) from 2002 to 2019. The Principle Component Analysis (PCA) method was employed to select water quality parameters. The results show that the quality of raw water in Macao has been relatively stable in the period of interest and appeared an upward trend overall. The impact of influencing factors, including natural factors and human activities, on Macao source water has been discussed based on the acquired statistical results. This study can provide key intellectual and technical support for understanding Macao water quality data and their impacting factors. The potential benefits include early prediction of water quality issues and enhanced operational management in drinking water treatment plant.

Evaluation of Pasikhan River, north of Iran using water quality index (NSFWQI)

Water quality indices are among the current techniques for monitoring rivers. Among the general indices of water quality, applying the national sanitation foundation water quality index (NSFWQI) results in precise research outcomes in a short period. Moreover, it enables the classification of river water quality of different stations with a simple expression. The present study, through applying NSFWQI as a water quality index, aimed at determining the water quality of Pasikhan River, located in the north of Guilan Province, Iran. Six sampling stations were set up along the river mainstream, and water samples were collected from these stations during 4 seasons (from autumn 2015 to summer 2016). Nine parameters including water temperature, turbidity, fecal coliform, NO3-, TS, PO43-, pH, DO, and BOD were measured through standard methods. Based on the results, the quality of the river’s water was categorized in the medium and bad classes in all sampling stations for all seasons. Moreover, the results showed that during the sampling seasons, the minimum average of NSFWQI was 52.00 ± 3.94 in the 4th station, while the maximum was 59.50 ± 1.50 in the 3rd station. However, both of them were in the category of medium quality. In general, the water quality values of the stations varied from 46 to 70 in different seasons. According to the results, the Pasikhan River’s water quality is ranked in the category of medium quality.

River water quality management using a fuzzy optimization model and the NSFWQI Index

In this study, a novel multiple-pollutant waste load allocation (WLA) model for a river system is presented based on the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI). This study aims to determine the value of the quality index as the objective function integrated into the fuzzy set theory so that it could decrease the uncertainties associated with water quality goals as well as specify the river's water quality status rapidly. The simulation-optimization (S-O) approach is used for solving the proposed model. The QUAL2K model is used for simulating water quality in different parts of the river system and ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is applied as an optimizer of the model. The model performance was examined on a hypothetical river system with a length of 30 km and 17 checkpoints. The results show that for a given number of both the simulator model runs and the artificial ants, the maximum objective function will be obtained when the regulatory parameter of the ACO algorithm (i.e., q0) is considered equal to 0.6 and 0.7 (instead of 0.8 and 0.9). Also, the results do not depend on the exponent of the membership function (i.e., γ). Furthermore, the proposed methodology can find optimum solutions in a shorter time.

Temporal and spatial trend analysis of surface water quality in the Doce River basin, Minas Gerais, Brazil

In Brazil, specifically in the Doce River basin, there is still a great lack of studies on temporal and spatial trends in water quality, since the water quality in the monitoring campaigns is basically evaluated when it comes down to the concentrations of monitored variables. In this sense, the objective of this work was to perform a temporal and spatial trend analysis of water quality data in the Minas Gerais portion of the Doce River basin, Brazil. For this, the Mann–Kendall, seasonal Mann–Kendall and Spearman correlation tests were used in the temporal analysis and the cluster analysis in the spatial analysis. In the analysis of temporal trends, the analyses were performed using the values of the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI) and the variables that compose it. In the analysis of spatial trends, the stations were evaluated only based on the WQI. With the results of the analysis of temporal trend, it was identified that most stations did not present a statistically significant trend for the WQI. In the stations that presented trends of quality reduction, most of them are in densely populated areas, demonstrating the strong influence of the poor sanitary conditions of the municipalities to the water quality of the basin. When analyzing the variables that compose the WQI, the results found for nitrate demonstrated that water quality deterioration is also affected by the diffuse pollution originating from farming areas. The results for Escherichia coli reinforced the impact of the discharge of domestic effluents and demonstrated the absence of a significative trend is still of concern because it can represent the maintenance of a degradation state in the water bodies. In the spatial trend analysis, the CA grouped the monitoring stations into six clusters based on their similarity among the WQI values, and, together with the results of the other analyses, it was verified that the Caratinga River basin (UGRH5 Caratinga) presented the highest degree of pollution. It was also possible to identify five stations that can be reallocated or deactivated since they have similarities with other stations located in the same watercourse.

Determination of the Water Quality Index (NFS WQI) of water bodies in the Huasteca Potosina, Mexico

The water quality of water bodies in Huasteca Potosina was assessed by the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NFS WQI) depending on nine water quality parameters include physical, chemical, and biological properties. The water quality obtained at the sampling site 50-90 in the NSF-WQI range shows the medium quality. Results revealed that the Moctezuma River in Tanquian de Escobedo has low water quality with a score of 50, the Tancuilin and Axtla Rivers have good water quality, and the Moctezuma River (Tampamolón Corona), Amajac River, Valles River, Panuco River, Patitos Lagoon, Plan de Iguala Lagoon were all located in medium water quality. This indicates that the water quality of the Huasteca Potosina is irregular, due to the presence of contaminating agents coming from fertilizers, pesticides, domestic water, and residual water from the communities adjacent to the rivers and lagoons, causing an environmental impact to the aquatic ecosystems of the place. However, this research shows the importance of making use of the water quality index in this region, this to relate the environmental impacts responsible for the contamination of surface water and interpret the experimental data of this water quality monitoring to facilitate decision making and consider frequent monitoring of the quality of water bodies in the Huasteca Potosina.

A comparative study on the performance of NSFWQIm and IRWQIsc in water quality assessment of Sefidroud River in northern Iran.

Local water quality indices (WQIs) are usually developed by modifying internationally recognized indices, which are considered reference index. In previous works on WQIs, the performance of local and reference indices has not been compared with each other. Therefore, the question crosses the mind whether using local or international indicators individually can show all qualitative aspects of a water resource. In this study, it was aimed to make this comparison between NSFWQIm (National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index) as the reference index and IRWQIsc (Iranian Water Quality Index for Surface Water Resource-Conventional Parameters) as the local one through a case study (Sefidroud River in northern Iran). Based on the results, the indices' performance in representing the seasonal and spatial fluctuations of the river water quality was almost similar. However, the water quality scores obtained by the two indices were somewhat different. Based on NSFWQIm, the average water quality score of the river was about 49.0, by which the water was categorized in "bad" class, while IRWQIsc represented an average score of 56.1, which corresponds to "fairly good" class. Therefore, NSFWQIm identified the water quality with stricter criteria than IRWQIsc, regarding the public health. On the other hand, according to relative standard deviations (0.17 for NSFWQIm, 0.21 for IRWQIsc) of the obtained water qualities, IRWQIsc better distinguished between high and low water qualities of the river. Accordingly, in order to better interpret the quality conditions of surface water resources in Iran, it is necessary to use both indices since NSFWQIm (reference index) attracts attention to stricter international standards and requirements, while IRWQIsc (local index) causes more focus on seasons or locations with the worst water quality.

SURFACE WATER (WETLANDS) QUALITY ASSESSMENT IN COIMBATORE (INDIA) BASED ON NATIONAL SANITATION FOUNDATION WATER QUALITY INDEX (NSF WQI)

All Water quality index (WQI) is a unique rating to depict the overall water quality status in a single term to address the issues. The present work aims at assessing the water quality in terms of National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index [NSF WQI] in the four wetlands namely Ukkadam, Kurichi, Singanallur and Perur in Coimbatore, India. The surface water samples were subjected to compressive physio-chemical analysis. For calculation of NSFWQI nine parameters, DO, FC, BOD, pH, Phosphate, Nitrate, Turbidity, Total Solids and Temperature were considered. It is apparent from NSFWQI values that surface water in Ukkadam wetland falls under bad category. The water quality in Kurichi, Singanallur and Perur belongs to medium category.

Análise da qualidade da água destinada ao consumo humano em comunidade rural no município de Coxim/MS

O uso das águas subterrâneas para consumo humano tem aumentado, principalmente entre as populações e comunidades rurais. As águas subterrâneas estão a uma maior qualidade em relação às águas superficiais e menores custos de tratamento. A água destinada ao consumo humano deve ser potável, portando atendendo aos limites permitidos pela legislação aplicável. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a qualidade físico, química e microbiológica de um poço tubular profundo utilizado para consumo humano em uma comunidade rural no município de Coxim (Mato Grosso do Sul). O estudo ainda analisou o Índice de Qualidade Natural das Águas Subterrâneas (IQNAS) no qual foi construído à semelhança do Índice de Qualidade de Água da National Sanitation Foundation (adaptado pela CETESB) e a Vulnerabilidade de Aquíferos utilizando a metodologia GOD que consiste em planejar três parâmetros físicos e assim gerar um índice de vulnerabilidade natural. Dos parâmetros analisados os resultados indicam que apenas Coliformes totais apresentam nos três pontos valores acima do estabelecido por lei, devendo ser investigada a causa, pois pode ser uma característica natural da água que pode ter sido contaminada na fase de construção do poço ou alguma transmissão na zona de recarga do mesmo. Os resultados do Índice de Qualidade da Água Subterrânea (IQNAS) apresentou condições ótimas e a estimativa da Vulnerabilidade do Aquífero foi classificada como insignificante.

Sustainable aquaculture of a protected species: The case of juvenile humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) around the Anambas Islands

Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), also called napoleon fish or “katepas “ in Anambas Archipelago Regency, Indonesia, is a reef fish which commonly found in tropical seas. Napoleon fish exploitation is still getting higher especially in Indonesia. Nevertheless, this species had listed as a protected species by the Indonesian Government as well as enlisted in Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). Following a dialog among Indonesian officials, FAO and CITES, quota permission has been given to the fisherman community of Anambas Regency. This permission was legally allowed the Anambas Fishermen to fishing the napoleon fish juveniles and reared them in floating net cages for 3-4 years to reach commercial size. About 147,000 napoleon fish were estimated to be reared in Anambas Island. The first export of Napoleon fish was recorded in 2018 by one of the Indonesian fish exporters from Anambas to Hong Kong with 1,000 fish or Rp 1 billion worth and equivalent to $ USD 71.4/kg. The aim of this research was to analyse spatial distribution, juveniles abundance and water quality of the Anambas Islands to improve the sustainability of napoleon fish juveniles resources. Juveniles and water quality data were collected during field survey in 2014 and 2015. The abundance of the juvenile was estimated from monthly data recording by fishermen and water samples were measured in-situ. Post to the measurement of the physical and chemical properties, water quality was determined by using the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSF-WQI) based on The Classification of the Index numerical values. The results showed that napoleon fish juveniles were concentrated in several specific locations around Anambas waters. The highest abundance of napoleon fish juvenile was observed in November and December. The waters quality indexes show good and very good conditions for culturing the juvenile in floating net cages. The success in napoleon fish juvenile rearing is a starting point to achieve the fish sustainable aquaculture-based fisheries management. This research concludes that the identified natural rearing areas of juvenile napoleon fish, good water conditions, and improved existing rearing technology might support sustainable ranching-based aquaculture of humphead wrasse in Anambas Islands waters.

Assessment of water quality in eutrophized water bodies through the application of indexes and toxicity

It is essential to have tools that can be used to diagnose water resources. For this reason, this study sets out on the one hand to assess water quality in three reservoirs in Spain (Salas, A Baxe and Conchas) with Cyano-Habs problems through the application of water quality indexes: The National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NFSWQI), the General Quality Index (GQI), the Trophic State Index (TSI), and the Trophic Contamination Index (ICOTRO). On the other hand, it seeks to learn how parameters such as nitrogen and phosphorus influence the presence of cyanotoxin, specifically Microcystis aeruginosa. To that end, samples from the three reservoirs are cultured and physical-chemical parameters and the toxicity of the water are measured. The results show that Salas reservoir has the worst water quality rating (GQI is bad and NFSWQI medium), while As Conchas and A Baxe obtain very good figures for NFSWQI. This contrasts with the data obtained via the TSI of moderately eutrophic conditions for all three reservoirs, and hypereutrophic levels for As Conchas and A Baxe downstream. On the other hand, the toxicity analysis shows levels of 1.12 ± 0.06 μg/l microcystin-LR (MC-LR) for As Conchas, 0.64 ± 0.04 μg/l MC-LR for Salas, and 1.24 ± 0.05 μg/l MC-LR for A Baxe, of which 20% corresponds to free MC-LR. This study finds that nitrogen is the parameter that most favors the production of MC-LR. We conclude that the eutrophication indexes are more reliable when studying the presence of cyanobacteria. Furthermore, nitrogen and phosphorous are the most significant parameters in this regard. They are taken into account in the quality indices (GQI, NFSWI), but they are not sufficiently representative. It is recommended as a future line of research that water quality indices be adapted or designed to incorporate eutrophication levels and even water toxicity.

Application of AHP-based water quality index for quality monitoring of peri-urban watershed

Conventional methods of determination of water quality index are main and popular approach to indicate surface water quality status. The present study tried to endeavor a unique index method which will be beneficial for any water quality parameters irrespective of places and water uses making calculation easy and less complex. In the present study, eight sampling stations and seven physiochemical parameters were selected based on citation frequency. Multi-criteria decision-making technique such as analytical hierarchical process was taken into account to determine weights of each selected parameter along with measuring attractiveness by a categorical based evaluation technique to validate the result. National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index was also used to compare results from new methodology with the results from existing conventional technique. Analytical hierarchical process showed SP5 is more affected than other stations which are similar to result from conventional method where both outcomes fall in the same range though values are different. It can be concluded that using multi-criteria decision-making techniques in water quality calculation is significant as it gives definite values with more accuracy and less effort making the process simple and less complex where different types of water use can be considered. Development of water quality index will be more accurate with increasing number of sampling stations, monthly variation of data set, continuous monitoring considering other conventional methods and multi-criteria decision-making techniques.

Development of water quality index for Godavari River (India) based on fuzzy inference system

In view of higher pollution strength of Indian rivers, prevalent water quality indices of the western countries like the National sanitation foundation water quality index (NSFWQI) and indigenous Vedprakash water quality index (VWQI) cannot truly represent the water quality status of Indian rivers. To overcome this limitation, fuzzy modeling has been used in this study for the prediction of water quality of Indian rivers. The fuzzy models have been developed using triangular and trapezoidal membership functions with centroid, bisector and mean of maxima (MOM) methods for defuzzification. It is observed that the fuzzy model with triangular membership function utilizing the bisector method of defuzzification performs better, compared to triangular and trapezoidal membership function utilizing the centroid and MOM method of defuzzification. The values of water quality index based on fuzzy logic have been compared with the NSFWQI and VWQI. It is observed that the values of fuzzy based water quality index are more representative to actual river water quality status of Indian rivers as compared to NSFWQI and VWQI. This is due to the fact that the adopted fuzzy logic approach is equally sensitive to all parameters and can truly represent the minor change in the value of any parameter, especially in case of river stretches having higher pollution.

A broader approach to recreational water quality assessment: Buenos Aires City case study

In the last decade, the world population has become more urban than rural, but the human contact with nature is still a necessity for a proper physical and mental development. The urban green areas are a significant part of the urban heritage, providing fundamental ecosystem services. They give us the possibility of having social and cultural interaction surrounded by nature. Water is usually part of the landscape of these areas. The quality of the recreational water in urban green areas impacts on multiple factors like soil, vegetation, aquatic and terrestrial life and public health. A complete evaluation of this quality requires applying different methodologies simultaneously. Samples were collected at eight sites of Buenos Aires City in order to assess the quality of its recreational water. Results were compared with water quality standards in established legislation and were ranked by the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSF-WQI). Euphotic zone transparency was used as a parameter of the impact on aquatic life, measuring the Secchi depth. A test for fecal coliform bacteria was used as a risk indicator for human health. In accordance with the NSF-WQI ranking, the eight sampling sites have medium or bad water quality. Fifty percent of the sites exceeded the allowed count of coliform bacteria. According to established legislation, five of the studied sites were found to be unsuitable for primary, secondary or passive aquatic activities. Of the remaining sites, two were suitable for passive activities and only one qualified to be suitable for all kinds of aquatic activities. Secchi depth measures reveal a bad water quality for aquatic life at four of the analyzed sites.

Assessment of water quality status of some water bodies in Kolkata

The water quality status of some water bodies in Kolkata were assessed during dry season through the analysis of various physico-chemical and biological components. Studies revealed that water of all the ponds were alkaline with pH value ranging from 7.80 to 8.41 at water temperature between 28.0 and 28.5. Total Dissolved solids (TDS) varied from 310 to 710 mg/L with higher in Science city (710 mg/L), followed by Victoria (366 mg/L), B.B.D.Bag (310 mg/L) and Minto park (250 mg/L). Minimum of 56% dissolved oxygen saturation values were observed in the pond of Science city implying presence of higher oxygen demanding waste and maximum (96%) in B.B.D.Bag indicating lowest level of reducing substances. Lower ratios of BOD/COD ranging from 0.18 to 0.29 implied the presence of comparatively higher level of non-biodegradable organic matter in water. According to National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSF-WQI) values, water quality of two ponds (Victoria and Minto park) were classified as good to excellent, one (B.B.D.Bag) is medium to good and another (Science city) is bad which corresponded to the class A, B and C respectively as classified by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Using multivariate analysis to develop irrigation water quality index for surface water in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt

Abstract At present, there is a little well-established irrigation water quality index (IWQI) for surface water in arid and semi-arid regions. Thus, the current work focused on establishing since-based weights of parameters adopted by FAO 29 guideline to develop IWQI based on the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI). The new index was then applied in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt as a case study. Forty-five geo-referenced water samples were collected from canals and drains during winter, spring, summer, and autumn of 2018 and analyzed for twenty-two parameters. Data were subjected to correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and factor analysis (FA). Weights were assigned for initial parameters based on PCA and FA to calculate IWQI-1 and IWQI-2, respectively. The two models resulted in similar trend and showed low to good water quality, with IWQI-2 being more recommended. The initial input parameters were reduced to finally shortlisted seven ones, including Na+, Zn, pH, HCO 3 − , As, NO 3 − , and B. These parameters showed better performance in representing water quality their when weights were derived from PCA rather than FA. Integrated use of PCA/FA and IWQI would make water quality control rapid, low-cost, less biased and more objective to form a base of sustainable development programs in the studied area.