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Research Query : Ranking Water Quality Parameters

Submitted by iwp on January 26, 2010 - 02:36


   I am a research scholar doing studies on river water quality. I want to know which parameter is the most important one for drinking water. I have tested over 25 parameters like pH, BOD, DO, Coliforms etc. I have to calculate the WQI now, in this regards please tell me the list of parameters which are to be considered for drinking water quality and also for the calcualtion on WQI and what will be the order (please assign a rank value in the order of importance, i.e. rank 1 for most important parameter). Kindly help me with the same

Thanking you,
Indu.V.Nair   

induvnair00@gmail.com

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Comments

1. Dear Indu.V.Nair, I am giving

Submitted by IWP-Ask the Expert on January 28, 2010 - 08:59.

Dear Indu.V.Nair,


I am giving my personal views. I am not aware if the subject has been formally available in a standard form.


The parameters significant for drinking water arranged in descending order of importance may be taken as follows:



  • Faecal coliform count.

  • Concentration of heavy metals.

  • Toxic matter content (such as pesticides).

  • Acceptable range of pH.

  • Acceptable threshold of dissolved solids, salinity, turbidity, taste, odour and temperature.

 With regrds  


 Paritosh Tyagi


Chairman (Retired)


Central Pollution Control Board


New Delhi

2. Dear Nair, The Central

Submitted by IWP-Ask the Expert on January 28, 2010 - 09:02.

Dear Nair,


The Central Pollution Control Board has classified water resources of the country according to their uses for setting water quality objectives for different water bodies. The classification system is presented below:-


Primary water quality criteria for various uses of fresh water
















Designated best use


Class


Criteria


Drinking water source without conventional treatment but after disinfections

A

*Total coliform organisms MPN/100mL


shall be 50 or less.


*pH between 6.5 and 8.5


*Dissolved oxygen 6 mg/l or more


*Biochemical oxygen demand 2 mg/l or Less


Outdoor bathing (organised)

B

*Total coliform organisms MPN/100ml


shall be 500 or less


*pH between 6.5 and 8.5


*Dissolved oxygen 5 mg/l or more


*Biochemical oxygen demand 3 mg/l or Less


 
























Designated best use


Class


Criteria


 


Drinking water source with con-ventional treatment followed by disinfection

                                               C

*Total coliform organisms MPN/ 100ml


shall be 5000 or less


*pH between 6 and 9


*Dissolved oxygen 4 mg/l or more


*Biochemical oxygen demand 3 mg/l or


Less


Propagation of wild life, fisheries

                                               D

*pH between 6.5 and 8.5


*Dissolved oxygen 4 mg/l or more


*Free ammonia (as N) 1.2 mg/l or less


Irrigation, industrial cooling, con-trolled waste disposal

                                               E

*pH between 6.0 and 8.5


*Electrical conductivity less than 2250 micro mhos/cm


*Sodium absorption ratio less than 26


*Boron less than 2mg/l


With best regards,


Abhishek Mendiratta


Jupiter Knowledge Management and Innovative Concepts Private Limited (JKMIC)


New Delhi

3. Dear Nair, Following

Submitted by IWP-Ask the Expert on January 28, 2010 - 09:05.

Dear Nair,


Following parameters may be considered for analysing water quality index.


 



  • Coliform count (faecal & total)

  • BOD

  • COD

  • DO

  • Turbidity

  • Colour

  • Other parameters as per analysis

WQI may be determined using Standard methods.


Regards


 


Dr Arunabha Majumder


Chairman, Indian Water Works Association (IWWA) and Ex-Director-Professor & Head, Department of Sanitary Engineering, AIIH&PH, Kolkata and  Guest Lecturer, School of Water Resources Engg., J.U.

4. Dear Nair, Please convey my

Submitted by IWP-Ask the Expert on January 28, 2010 - 09:09.

Dear Nair,


Please convey my response.


If it is river water and we are concerned with drinking water quality, then accorring to me ranking should be as follows:



  • Bacteriological quality (total and feacal coliform count)

  • Turbidity.

  • pH

Now a day’s river pollution due to human activities is known factor. In that case, we have to take care of chemical contamination due to Industrial activities. Permissible parameters for all type of pollution for Drinking water have been mentioned in BIS code IS: 10500. Please consult this code.


 With best regards,


Diponkar Bordoloi


Assistant Engineer


Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED)


Guwahati, Assam

5. Dear Indu, BIS (BIS: 10500 �

Submitted by IWP-Ask the Expert on January 28, 2010 - 10:24.

Dear Indu,


BIS (BIS: 10500 � 1991) as well as other regulatory agencies like USEPA have standards for drinking water. BIS has included various parameters, which include health as well as consumer acceptance in BIS 10500:1991, where USEPA has two lists. One for parameters, which affect health and secondary regulations for other components which affect aesthetic characteristics. WHO has specified guidelines for the maximum permissible level for various parameters for drinking water .Here is the link for USEPA. You can get WHO and BIS standards from West Bengal PHED site


 http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/DrWater/drinkingwaterepastds.htm


 www.wbphed.gov.in


You have mentioned that you have tested river water for 25 parameters. If it is to be used for drinking (without treatment), then parameters which affect health should be considered first. Thus coliforms, turbidity (although may not have health effects, it can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth. It may also indicate the presence of microbes) are very important. Since it is river water, fluoride levels may be low. Other wise this is another parameter which is of health significance .If you have done analysis for heavy metals, you should consider as they can have various health effects. After these, you may go to parameters, which will affect consumer’s acceptance. These are TDS, hardness, etc. Being the surface water, most of these can be within the limits.


With best wishes


Leela Iyengar


Advisor              


Arghyam


Bangalore

6. WATER QUALITY INDEX.

Submitted by RANAJI on January 28, 2010 - 11:14.

Dear Indu,

Mainly the following Nine parameters (weight factors) are tested for calculating the WQI of river water

1.     D.O.  (0.17)     2.    Feacal Coliforms   0.16    3.   pH    0.11    4.   BOD    0.11

5.   Temperature (0.10)    6.  Total Phosphate  (0.10)   7.   Nitrate    (0.10)   

8.   Turbidity  (0.08)   9.  Total Solids  (0.07).

for further information you can visit the following link

   www.water-research.net/watrqualindex/index.htm

with best wishes

 

AMIT KR. SINGH,
GOVT. OF HARYANA,
PUBLIC HEALTH ENGG. DEPARTMENT,
WATER TESTING LAB,KARNAL-132001(HARYANA)
09416204204,09729248248,
ak_ranaji3@yahoo.co.in

7. Useful Website for WQI calculations

Submitted by Janaky on January 29, 2010 - 22:53.

Dear Indu,

While the USEPA and WHO set drinking water standards, the calculation of WQI primarily uses 9 parameters. Additional information about this along with the weighted mean for the different parameters is available in the following website:

http://www.water-research.net/watrqualindex/index.htm

In the U.S., the Safe Drinking Water Act is the main federal law that regulates drinking water requirements while individual states tend to have more stringent requirements.  Water-Quality Requirements represent a known or assumed need based on prior experience of the user while Water-Quality Standards are statutory requirements set by a governmental agency.

 I think the above website will be very helpful for your calculations and you may go to SDWA website for more information for your research.  

Good luck

Janaky Ramaswamy

Janaky Ramaswamy

Arghyam