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WQ Water Quality Index
WQ Water Quality Index
In an attempt to devise a system to compare rivers and lakes in various parts of the country, the National
Sanitation Foundation (NSF) created and designed a standard index called the Water Quality Index
(WQI). The WQI is one of the most widely used of all existing water quality procedures. The overall
results of nine separate tests can be used to determine if a particular stretch of river is healthy.
The WQI consists of nine tests:
Dissolved Oxygen
Fecal Coliform
pH
BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand)
Temperature
Total Phosphate
Nitrates
Turbidity
Total Solids
After completing the nine tests, the results are recorded and transferred to a weighting curve chart where a
numerical value is obtained. For each test, the numerical value or Q-value is multiplied by a weighting
factor. For example, dissolved oxygen has a relatively high weighting factor (.17); because it is more
significant in determining water quality than the other tests. The nine resulting values are then added to
arrive at an overall water quality index (WQI). The highest score a body of water can receive is 100.
Water Quality Index Ranges
90-100 Excellent
70-90 Good
50-70 Medium
25-50 Bad
0-25 Very Bad
If you are unable to run all nine tests and you want to estimate the Overall Water
Quality Index, students could determine the Q value of missing data by examining
known data. For example , if the fecal coliform test were not run, the results or Qvalue of three related tests (dissolved oxygen, nitrates, total phosphate) could be
averaged to get a score for that test. Using the table below as an example, the average
Q-value of the three tests is 62 - or a fecal coliform count of 20 colonies per 100 ml of
water.
Fecal coliform
0.16
pH
0.11
0.11
Temperature change
0.10
Total phosphate
0.10
Nitrates
0.10
Turbidity
0.08
Total solids
0.07
(colonies/100 ml)
(ppm)
(%sat)
(units)
(jtu)
(ppm)
(ppm)
(ppm)
Weight
Dissolved oxygen
0.17
Fecal coliform
0.16
pH
0.11
0.11
Temperature change
0.10
Total phosphate
0.10
Nitrates
0.10
Turbidity
0.08
Total solids
0.07
Based on the
Quality Index
factors entered,
The 100 point index can be divided into several ranges corresponding to the general descriptive
terms shown in the table below.
Water Quality Index Legend
Range
Quality
90-100
Excellent
70-90
Good
50-70
Medium
25-50
Bad
0-25
Very bad
CONCENTRATIONS in Water
1 gram/Liter
1 milligram/Liter
1 microgram/Liter
1 nanogram/Liter
http://www.water-research.net/watrqualindex/waterqualityindex.htm
http://www.waterontheweb.org/resources/conversiontables.html