Comparison of water quality indexes for inland river

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ABSTRACT:

The present study assessed water quality parameters and attempts to compare four different Water

Quality Indexes (WQIs) for consistency, similarity and reliability in assessing the water quality of

river Benue -an inland river- under wet and dry seasons. The results demonstrate that River Benue

is continually being polluted in both dry and wet seasons by different sources, particularly domestic

sewage and storm runoffs from farmlands. The quality of the water generally exceeded

physiochemical and microbiological infection risk limits recommended in water quality guidelines

concerning their use for domestic, recreational and irrigational purposes. Proper sewage treatment

and river quality monitoring are needed to guard against hazards to public health and vulnerable

river water resources. The WQIs applied were: CCME WQI, BC WQI, Dinius’ WQI and Weighted

Arithmetic WQI. To evaluate the differences between these indexes, data on ten water quality

parameters (Temperature, pH, total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, Nitrates, Phosphates,

biochemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen and faecal coliform count) for two distinct seasons

from 6 river monitoring sites along the river Benue at Makurdi reach, were used. Significant

discrepancies were observed in classification results between the Dinius’ WQI and the other three WQIs. Similarly, the WA and BC WQIs showed an over-optimistic rating due to their eclipsing

limitation. Among others, it was concluded that any of the four indexes except Dinius’ index can be

adopted but the CCME water quality index would be best suited for assessing water quality in River

Benue

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Comparison of water quality indexes for inland river

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