Evaluation of Water Quality Using Physicochemical Parameters and Aquatic Insects Diversity

Abstract

Biomonitoring studies focus on the component of biodiversity, its natural habitats, and species populations which display the ongoing variations in ecosystem and landscape. Physicochemical parameters are important water quality parameters of river water i.e., pH, temperature, turbidity, conductivity, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, total alkalinity, sulfate, nitrate, heavy metals, and phosphate. This chapter focuses on assessing water quality through Physicochemical Parameters and Aquatic Insects Diversity. The case study investigated the effect of pollutants produced by the human dwelling, agricultural and industrial activities on aquatic invertebrate communities of water of part of Soan River, Pakistan. Four sites were selected based on variation in microhabitat accessibility to examine the pollution in water. Samples were collected from these sites during spring, 2015. Water samples for physio-chemical analysis and macroinvertebrates were collected from all sites. Results showed that conductivity, dissolved oxygen, sodium, and cadmium at all sites were higher than the drinking water quality of WHO standards while potassium, chromium, and manganese were higher in concentration at most downstream sites. However, all other studied parameters were within recommended range of WHO standards. A total of 412 individuals of aquatic insects were collected from the studied sites, belonged to 6 orders and they were the most abundant in April. Total abundance was used to estimate the quality of water at the sites. Most biotic indexes showed that water was of good quality at upstream stations rather than downstream stations, while water quality index (WQI) showed fair water quality at downstream sites. This study showed that aquatic insects could be useful as bioindicators for biomonitoring of water quality along with physiochemical parameters.