WATER QUALITY INDEX – AN INSTRUMENT FOR WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
PAIU MĂDĂLINA, BREABĂN IULIANA GABRIELA
ABSTRACT. Water Quality Index – An Instrument for Water Resources Management. Water quality status assessment can be defined as the evaluation of physical, chemical, biological state of the water in relation with the natural state, anthropogenic effects and future uses. Water quality index reduces the number of parameters used in monitoring water quality to a simple expression in order to facilitate interpretation of the data, allowing public access to water quality data.
This study is a summary of an interdisciplinary research program on surface water quality monitoring carried out during the years 2011-2012 in the eastern part of Romania. Water quality index provides a single value expressing the average quality of water at a time, based on analytical values of physico-chemical parameters. For the water quality index calculation were used six physico-chemical parameters: pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), nitrate (NO3) and phosphate (PO4).
Keywords: water quality index aquatic, ecosystems, monitoring.