Abdul Hameed M. Jawad Alobaidy, Bahram K. Maulood, Abass J. Kadhem
.
DOI: 10.4236/jwarp.2010.27072   PDF    HTML     9,573 Downloads   18,898 Views   Citations

Abstract

A water quality index (WQI) is a single value indicator of the water quality determined through sum-marizing multiple parameters of water test results into simple terms for management and decission makers. In this paper, thirteen parameters were considered. On the basis of these data, raw and treated drinking water from Tigris River within Baghdad were analyzed. Cluster analysis conducted on the WQI data in this area was applied to detect the fluctuation of water quality. In this study, WQI showed that Tigris water never reached “Excellent” levels nor fallen to “Unsuitable” condition, except in occasional untreated water samples. Effects of various sources of pollution were evident and the needs for intensive studies on WQI became evident.

Keywords

Water Quality Index, Tigris River, Drinking Water, Nature Iraq

Share and Cite:

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	E. D. Ongley, “Modernization of Water Quality Programs in Developing Countries Issues of Relevancy and Cost Efficiency,” Water Quality International, September -October 1998, pp. 37-42.
[2]	A. Sargaonkar and V. Deshpande, “Development of an Overall Index of Pollution for Surface Water Based on a General Classification Scheme in Indian Context,” Envi-ronmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 89, No. 1, 2003, pp. 43-67.
[3]	S. A. Abbasi, “Water Quality Indices: State-of-the-Art,” Centre for Pollution Control & Energy Technology, Pon-dicherry University, Pondicherry, 1999.
[4]	P. Debels, R. Figueroa, R. Urrutia, R. Barra and X. Niell, “Evaluation of Water Quality in the Chilla′n River (Central Chile) Using Physicochemical Parameters and a Modified Water Quality Index,” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 110, No. 1/3, 2005, pp. 301- 322.
[5]	N. Stambuk-Giljanovic, “Water Quality Evaluation by Index in Dalmatia,” Water Research, Vol. 33, No. 16, 1999, pp. 3423-3440.
[6]	N. Stambuk-Giljanovic, “Comparison of Dalmatian Water Evaluation Indices,” Water Environment Research, Vol. 75, No. 5, 2003, pp. 388-405.
[7]	W. W. Miller, H. M. Joung, C. N. Mahannah and J. R. Garrett, “Identification of Water Quality Differences in Nevada through Index Application,” Journal of Envi-ronmental Quality, Vol. 15, 1986, pp. 265-272.
[8]	N. Radwn, “Evaluation of Different Water Quality Pa-rameters for the Nile River and the Different Drains,” 9th International Water Technology Conference, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 2005.
[9]	R. K. Horton, “An Index Number System for Rating Wa-ter Quality,” Journal of Water Pollution Control Federation, Vol. 37, No. 3, 1965, pp. 300-306.
[10]	W. R. Ott, “Environmental Indices: Theory and Practice,” Ann Arbor Science Publishers Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, 1978.
[11]	D. Hallock, “A Water Quality Index for Ecology’s Stream Monitoring Program,” Technical Report, Washington Department of Ecology, Environmental Assessment Program, Olympia, 2002.
[12]	S. F. Pesce and D. A. Wunderlin, “Use of Water Quality Indices to Verify the Impact of Córdoba City (Argentina) on Suquìa River,” Water Research, Vol. 34, No. 11, 2000, pp. 2915-2926.
[13]	R. M. Brown, N. I. McClelland, R. A. Deininger and R. G. Tozer “A Water Quality Index: Do We Dare?” Water Sewage Works, Vol. 117, No. 10, 1970, pp. 339-343.
[14]	A. A. Bordalo, W. Nilsumranchit and K. Chalermwat, “Water Quality and Uses of the Bangpakonk River (Eastern Thailand),” Water Research, Vol. 35, No. 15, 2001, pp. 3635-3642.
[15]	C. Cude, “Oregon Water Quality Index: A Tool for Eva-luating Water Quality Management Effectiveness,” Journal of American Water Resource Association, Vol. 37, No. 1, 2001, pp. 125-137.
[16]	S. M. Liou, S. L. Lo and S. H. Wang, “A Generalized Water Quality Index for Taiwan,” Environmental Moni-toring and Assessment, Vol. 96, No. 1-3, 2004, pp. 35-52.
[17]	M. N. El-Gafy, A. Faria, A. El-Bahrawy, A. Khalifa, E. El-Basiony and M. Abdelmotaleb, “Decision Support System for Evaluation the Groundwater Quality,” Emi-rates Journal for Engineering Research,” Vol. 10, No. 1, 2005, pp. 69-78.
[18]	D. K. Sinha and A. Saxena, “Statistical Assessment of Underground Drinking Water Contamination and Effect of Monsoon at Hasanpur, J.P.Nagar (Uttar Pradesh, India),” Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, Vol. 48, No. 3, 2006, pp. 157-164.
[19]	S. E. Gómez, R. C. Menni, J. G. Naya and L. Ramirez, “The Physical-Chemical Habitat of the Buenos Aires Pe-jerrey, Odontesthes bonariensis (Teleostei, Atherinopsidae), with a Proposal of a Water Quality Index,” Environmental Biology of Fishes, Vol. 78, No. 2, 2007, pp. 161-171.
[20]	M. A. Fulazzaky, “Water Quality Evaluation System to Assess the Brantas River Water,” Water Resource Man-agement, Vol. 23, No. 14, 2009, pp. 3019-3033.
[21]	L. W. Canter, “Environmental Impact Assessment,” 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, USA, 1996.
[22]	M. A. House, “A Water Quality Index for River Man-agement,” Water and Environment Journal, Vol. 3, No. 4, 1989, pp. 336-344.
[23]	Canadian Council of Ministries of the Environment (CCMC), “Canadian Water Quality Index 1.0 Technical Report and User’s Manual,” Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines, Technical Subcommittee, Gatineau, 2001.
[24]	T. N. Tiwari and M. Mishra, “A Preliminary Assignment of Water Quality Index of Major Indian Rivers,” Indian Journal of Environmental Protection, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1985, pp. 276-279.
[25]	UNEP “Development of Water Quality Indices for Sus-tainable Development: A Case Study,” Proceeding of the Expert Group Meeting on the Implication of Agenda Re-gion, Amman, 2-5 October 1995.
[26]	A. S. Al-Adili, “Geotechnical Evaluation of Baghdad Soil Subsidence and their Treatments,” Ph.D. Thesis, Univer-sity of Baghdad, Iraq, 1998.
[27]	World Health Organization (WHO), “Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality,” 3rd Edition, Geneva, 2004.
[28]	R. D. Harkins, “An Objective Water Quality Index,” Journal of Water Pollution Control Federation, Vol. 46, No. 5, 1974, pp. 588-591.
[29]	J. H. Ward, “Hierarchical Grouping to Optimize an Ob-jective Function,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 58, No. 301, 1963, pp. 236-244.
[30]	T. Ouyang, Z. Zhu and Y. Kuang, “Assessing Impact of Urbanization on River Water Quality in the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, China,” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 120, No. 1-3, 2006, pp. 313- 325.