Paper
Water Quality Index as a Simple Indicator of Drinking Water Source in the Dongjiang River, China
- Authors:
- Meiying Xu; Jun Guo; Wei Sun; Shaobin Huang; Guoping Sun; Zhenghui Liu
- Abstract
- Dongjiang River is the major source of drinking water supply for the Pearl River Delta in South China. In order to assess the spatio-temporal changes of water quality in the watershed, the water quality index (WQI) was applied to calculate scores based on water characteristics data from 2008 to 2010, and then water qualities were classified as excellent, good, medium, bad and very bad. The results indicated good water quality in the upper parts of the watershed. Medium water quality was shown in the middle and lower parts, mainly due to increasing population, frequent anthropogenic activities, sewage discharges and non-point pollution from agriculture in the Dongjiang basin. The applicability of WQI was satisfactory for evaluating the global variations of water quality on spatial and temporal scale in the river.
- Keywords
- Water Quality Index; Drinking Water Source; Spatio-temporal Change; Dissolved Oxygen
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