A comprehensive procedure to develop water quality index: A case study to the Huong river in Thua Thien Hue province, Central Vietnam

This work proposed a novel procedure of Water Quality Index (WQI) development that could be used for practical applications on a local or regional scale, based on available monitoring data. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the monthly data of 11 water quality parameters (pH, conduct...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-09, Vol.17 (9), p.e0274673-e0274673
Main Authors: Nguyen Van, Hop, Nguyen Viet, Hung, Truong Trung, Kien, Nguyen Hai, Phong, Nguyen Dang Giang, Chau
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ammonia
Aquatic resources
Biochemical oxygen demand
Biology and Life Sciences
Case reports
Chemical oxygen demand
Dissolved oxygen
Earth Sciences
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Evaluation
Management
Mathematical analysis
Methods
Oxygen
Parameters
People and Places
Physical Sciences
Principal components analysis
Quality assessment
Quality control
Research and Analysis Methods
River water quality
Rivers
Sanitation
Solid suspensions
Statistical analysis
Surface water
Surface water quality
Suspended solids
Vietnam
Water quality
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Summary:This work proposed a novel procedure of Water Quality Index (WQI) development that could be used for practical applications on a local or regional scale, based on available monitoring data. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the monthly data of 11 water quality parameters (pH, conductivity (EC), total suspended solid (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), five -day biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia (N-NH.sub.4 ), nitrate (N-NO.sub.3 ), phosphate (P-PO.sub.4 ), total coliform, and total dissolved iron monitored at 11 sites at Huong river in the years 2014-2016. From the PCA, the three extracted principal components explained 67% of the total variance of original variables. From the set of communality values, the weight (w.sub.i) for each parameter was determined. Linear sub-index functions were established based on the permissible limits from the National Technical Regulations on Surface Water Quality set up by the Vietnam Environment Agency (VEA) to derive the sub-index (q.sub.i) for each parameter. The multiplicative formula that is the product of the sub-indices (q.sub.i) raised to the respective weights (w.sub.i ), was used for calculation of the final WQI values. The proposed index (WQI) was then applied to the river with quarterly data of the 11 parameters monitored at ten sites in the years 2017-2020. The WQI representatively reflected the actual status of the river overall water quality, of which 97.8% of the WQI values belonged to grades of EXCELLENT and GOOD, and 2.2% of grade MODERATE. Comparison between the river water quality evaluations resulting from the developed WQI with the WQI adopted by National Sanitation Foundation (NSF-WQI) and the index issued by Vietnam Environment Agency (VN-WQI) indicated that the proposed WQI was more suitable for river quality assessment.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0274673