An overview of water quality indices as promising tools for assessing the quality of water resources

Integration of Water Quality Indices and Multivariate Modeling for Assessing Surface Water Quality in Qaroun Lake, Egypt

“…Natural and human processes, as well as the transfer of nutrients and trace elements to surface waters have an impact on water quality in any region [9,10,18,19]. Water quality indices (WQIs) are crucial in this process, which are considered a communication tool for transferring water quality data and should be cal-culated to monitor water quality [20][21][22]. Therefore, some documented water quality indices, such as WAWQI, HPI, MI, C d and PI were utilized in this research to determine the current state of surface water hydrochemistry and the appropriateness of water for aquatic ecosystems.…”

Hydrogeochemical Evaluation of Groundwater for Drinking and Irrigation Purposes in the Upper Piedmont Area of Haridwar, India

“…For the study of WQI, 11 parameters (pH, TDS, Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + , K + , HCO 3 – , SO 4 2– , NO 3 – , Cl – , and F – ) were selected. The weight of parameters was assigned with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5 on the basis of their importance in the quality assessment . The weight of the parameters is depicted in Table .…”

“…Water is the most crucial natural resource on Earth and exists in glaciers, surface water, and groundwater. − Humans utilize these sources of water to meet their daily needs; ∼43% of agricultural land is irrigated using groundwater globally. − In the 21st century, groundwater quality is degrading due to natural and anthropogenic factors triggered by rapid industrialization and urbanization. Some natural factors affecting groundwater aquifers are lithological, hydrological, topographical, and climatic. − In addition, overexploitation, anthropogenic activities such as intensification of the urban and industrial sectors, and agricultural practices affect the hydrochemical properties by enhancing the cation and anion properties and heavy metals contamination. − …”

“…Nevertheless, conserving groundwater aquifers is one of the most challenging tasks in preventing a drinking water crisis in the near future. − Most developed and developing countries are seriously affected by these problems and are working on restoring groundwater aquifers. − The depletion of groundwater quality via organic and inorganic pollutants will certainly have ill effects on humans, flora, and fauna. − Some recent studies reported various diseases, namely, hypertension, dental fluorosis, methemoglobinemia, seizures, epilepsy, neurological disorders, cardiovascular malfunction, kidney disorders, and carcinogenicity. − Therefore, collecting information related to water quality monitoring, the status of water resources, water types, and contributing factors that degrade quality is essential for management of groundwater aquifers. , Various techniques for assessing the status of water quality are available, including the water quality index (WQI), which can be used to determine water quality for both drinking and irrigation purposes. , For the evaluation of groundwater types, the responsible geogenic process that regulates the hydrochemistry can be determined by using the piper trilinear diagram method, Gibbs diagram, cation exchange, Durov plot, etc. , However, several statistical techniques, namely, principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis (CA), and discriminant analysis (DA), are utilized to assess the responsible factors or elements that degrade groundwater quality. − Here, some specific tools, namely CA, convert the huge set of data into groups or indices with similar characteristics, while PCA transforms the larger set of data into a simple data structure. , These techniques help in the assessment of water quality status for drinking and irrigation purposes. In most countries, many researchers used these techniques to evaluate the water quality status and obtained good results, which helps in maintaining and enhancing water quality. ,, Gitika et al and Sathe et al , evaluated the prevalence of arsenic, iron, and fluoride mobilization and the effect on groundwater quality near Brahmaputra floodplain in northeastern India using various techniques such as PCA, a Gibbs diagram, cation exchange, etc.…”