TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparative assessment of water quality indices—a case study to evaluate water quality for drinking water supply and irrigation in Northern Mexico
AU - Gaytán-Alarcón, Ana Patricia
AU - González-Elizondo, M. Socorro
AU - Sánchez-Ortíz, Eduardo
AU - Alarcón-Herrera, María Teresa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2022/8
Y1 - 2022/8
N2 - Water quality indices (WQIs) are numerical measures used by researchers and water managers to communicate water quality status to the public. This study analyzes the official databases from the CONAGUA monitoring network of the main tributary rivers in the middle basin of the San Pedro-Mezquital River in Durango, Mexico, for a 6-year period (2013–2018). We applied three WQIs to 432 data (18 sampling sites, four samples per year, 6 years): Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) WQI, National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) WQI, and Secretariat of Urban Development and Ecology (SEDUE) WQI. The Canadian index proved to be a flexible, appropriate, and rigorous methodology for assessing water quality based on its use. Results classify the water quality in the studied reservoirs as good, while river water was rated for public use, as marginal to very poor. No statistical significant differences in the quality of water between the rainy (June–October) and dry (November–May) seasons were found. However, tendency shows that in the rainy season the water quality was lower, mainly attributed to agricultural runoffs and bank erosion. The main contamination problem was the presence of fecal coliforms in high concentrations, which is associated to the high population density in the area, low sanitation efficiency, and multiple non-point discharges.
AB - Water quality indices (WQIs) are numerical measures used by researchers and water managers to communicate water quality status to the public. This study analyzes the official databases from the CONAGUA monitoring network of the main tributary rivers in the middle basin of the San Pedro-Mezquital River in Durango, Mexico, for a 6-year period (2013–2018). We applied three WQIs to 432 data (18 sampling sites, four samples per year, 6 years): Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) WQI, National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) WQI, and Secretariat of Urban Development and Ecology (SEDUE) WQI. The Canadian index proved to be a flexible, appropriate, and rigorous methodology for assessing water quality based on its use. Results classify the water quality in the studied reservoirs as good, while river water was rated for public use, as marginal to very poor. No statistical significant differences in the quality of water between the rainy (June–October) and dry (November–May) seasons were found. However, tendency shows that in the rainy season the water quality was lower, mainly attributed to agricultural runoffs and bank erosion. The main contamination problem was the presence of fecal coliforms in high concentrations, which is associated to the high population density in the area, low sanitation efficiency, and multiple non-point discharges.
KW - Irrigation
KW - Public water supply
KW - San Pedro-Mezquital River
KW - Surface water
KW - Water quality index
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85134272343&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10661-022-10198-2
DO - 10.1007/s10661-022-10198-2
M3 - Artículo
C2 - 35840867
AN - SCOPUS:85134272343
SN - 0167-6369
VL - 194
JO - Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
JF - Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
IS - 8
M1 - 588
ER -