Application of CCME Water Quality Index to Monitor Water Quality: A Case Study of the Mackenzie River Basin, Canada

Abstract

All six ecosystem initiatives evolved from many years of federal, provincial, First Nation, local government and community attention to the stresses on sensitive habitats and species, air and water quality, and the consequent threats to community livability. This paper assesses water quality aspect for the ecosystem initiatives and employs newly developed Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME WQI) which provides a convenient mean of summarizing complex water quality data that can be easily understood by the public, water distributors, planners, managers and policy makers. The CCME WQI incorporates three elements: Scope - the number of water quality parameters (variables) not meeting water quality objectives (F(1)); Frequency - the number of times the objectives are not met (F(2)); and Amplitude. the extent to which the objectives are not met (F(3)). The index produces a number between 0 (worst) to 100 (best) to reflect the water quality. This study evaluates water quality of the Mackenzie - Great Bear sub-basin by employing two modes of objective functions (threshold values): one based on the CCME water quality guidelines and the other based on site-specific values that were determined by the statistical analysis of the historical data base. Results suggest that the water quality of the Mackenzie-Great Bear sub-basin is impacted by high turbidity and total (mostly particulate) trace metals due to high suspended sediment loads during the open water season. Comments are also provided on water quality and human health issues in the Mackenzie basin based on the findings and the usefulness of CCME water quality guidelines and site specific values.

Trophic state categorisation and assessment of water quality in Manjirenji Dam, Zimbabwe, a shallow reservoir with designated multi-purpose water uses

“…Though various trophic state categorisation indices have been utilised for lakes and rivers in Southern Africa, the majority of indices are a modification of the Carlson Trophic State Index and use phosphorus as a determinant (Van Ginkel, 2002), whilst the choice for using the (CCME) Water Quality Index was premised on it being a convenient means of summarising complex water quality data that can be easily understood by the public, water distributors, planners, managers and policy makers (Lumb et al, 2006). Oberholster et al (2013) used the phosphorus sensitivity index (LPSI) by isolating phosphorus as the key driver of productivity and an efficient indicator of early signs of eutrophication in the upper Olifants River and Lake Loskop.…”

Development of river water quality indices—a review

“…Several studies in the literature have applied this index for various purposes. In Canada, it was used to evaluate the water quality status of several river basins (Khan et al 2003;Lumb et al 2006;Davies 2006), to evaluate drinking water quality (Khan et al 2004;Hurley et al 2012) and to assess water quality in metal mines (de Rosemond et al 2009). In addition to the above-mentioned applications of CCME WQI in Canada, this index also has been adopted in several other countries.…”

Indicadores de la calidad del agua: evolución y tendencias a nivel global

“…Si revisamos a Lumb, Halliwell y Sharma [13], vemos que los intentos de clasificar el agua de acuerdo con su grado de pureza se remontan a mediados del siglo XX con los estudios de Horton en la década del sesenta y Landwehr en la del setenta. Más adelante, Ott y Steinhart revisaron más de veinte índices de calidad del agua que fueron utilizados hasta finales de los setenta.…”