College of Engineering

Environmental Engineering

Lecture No. 4

Prof. Dr.- Eng.: Mosaad Khadr

Civil Engineering Department

Water quality index (WQI)

 A water quality index (WQI) provides a convenient means of

summarizing complex water quality data and facilitating its
communication to a general audience

 A water quality index (WQI) can be defined as any mathematical

approach which aggregates data on two or more water quality
variables to produce a single number

 It consists of water quality variables such as dissolved oxygen,

total phosphorus and fecal coliform, each of which has specific
impacts to beneficial uses.

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 2

Water quality index (WQI)

• Water quality index method

– an approach to combine the complex data into a single

indicative value.

• Several key parameters are aggregated into a single

dimensionless number – indicator of quality

• A single numeric expression - easily understood by non

technical people, for decision making.

• Indicative of trends over time

• Information for the public (not technical)

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 3

Water quality index (WQI)

• Concept of WQI – first introduced in Germany in 1848

• Mainly qualitative in nature – later on numerical value associated:

– Horton’s Index (1965)
– National Science Foundation (US) – NSF WQI method (1970)
– Modified arithmetic mean (1983), Solway modified weighted
sum (1985)

• Many countries have adapted their own WQI method: Malaysia,

Canada, Poland, New Zealand, India, UK, Taiwan

• Minimum Operator - Smith (1990)

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 4

 Water quality index (WQI)

NSF WQI method (1970)

• A physico-chemical water quality index mostly, but also
bacteriological to a lesser extent
• Four steps:

– Indicator selection – (variable of concern – oxygen level,

eutrophication, health aspects, dissolved solids)

– Indicator transformation – (Dimensionless scale & Rating curve)

– Indicator weighting – (Some indicators have a higher importance

than others)

– Index Aggregation
Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 5
Water quality index (WQI)

NSF WQI method (1970)

• NSF carried out a detailed survey and identified the following key
parameters (9), for water quality:
– Temperature,
– pH,
– Dissolved Oxygen,
– Turbidity,
– Feacal Coliform,
– Biochemical Oxygen,
– Total Phosphates,
– Nitrates &
– Total Suspended Solids

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 6

 Water quality index (WQI)

NSF WQI method (1970)

• For each parameter identified by NSF, A
rating curve based upon a 100 point
scale (A) has been derived. A
B

• The Q value (B) is read off from the

corresponding curve for a known value
of the parameter – here Phosphate level

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 7

 Water quality index (WQI)

NSF WQI method (1970)

• Water quality factors & weights Parameter Weights

DO 0.17
Feacal C. 0.16
• Some parameters have more
pH 0.11
importance than others
BOD 0.11
Temperature 0.10
• A weightage factor is associated Phosphate 0.10
with each one.
Nitrate 0.10
Turbidity 0.08
TSS 0.07

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 8

Water quality index (WQI)

NSF WQI method (1970)

• Aggregated value =

Σ Qphosphate*Weightphosphate + QpH*WeightpH + QDO*WeightDO….

• Aggregated value compared to NSF WQI legend:

Range Quality
90-100 Excellent
70-90 Good
50-70 Medium
25-50 Bad
0-25 Very Bad

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 9

Water quality index (WQI)

NSF WQI method (1970)

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 10

Water quality index (WQI)

NSF WQI method (1970)

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 11

Water quality index (WQI)

NSF WQI method (1970)

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 12

Water quality index (WQI) NSF WQI method (1970)

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 13

Water quality index (WQI) CCME WQI

 the CCME WQI (the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment) relies on
measures of the scope, frequency and amplitude of excursions from objectives (

 The methods by which these measures are calculated differ somewhat in each
index and will thus provide different results when applied to the same data set.

 The CCME WQI consists of three measures of variance from selected water
quality objectives (scope, frequency, amplitude).

 These three measures of variance are combined to produce a value between 0

and 100 that represents the overall water quality.

 Thus, in the CCME WQI a value of 100 is the best possible index score and
a value of 0 is the worst possible.

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Water quality index (WQI)
CCME WQI

Once the CCME WQI value has been determined, water quality is ranked by relating it to one
of the following categories:
 Excellent: (CCME WQI Value 95-100) – water quality is protected with a virtual absence
of threat or impairment; conditions very close to natural or pristine levels.
 Good: (CCME WQI Value 80-94) – water quality is protected with only a minor degree of
threat or impairment; conditions rarely depart from natural or desirable levels.
 Fair: (CCME WQI Value 65-79) – water quality is usually protected but occasionally
threatened or impaired; conditions sometimes depart from natural or desirable levels.
 Marginal: (CCME WQI Value 45-64) – water quality is frequently threatened or impaired;
conditions often depart from natural or desirable levels.
 Poor: (CCME WQI Value 0-44) – water quality is almost always threatened or impaired;
conditions usually depart from natural or desirable levels.

Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Eng. Mosaad Khadr 15

 Water quality index (WQI) CCME WQI
Calculation of the Index

 After the body of water, the period of time, and the variables and objectives have been
defined, each of the three factors that make up the index must be calculated. The
calculation of F1 and F2 is relatively straightforward; F3 requires some additional steps.

F1 (Scope) represents the percentage of variables that do not meet their objectives at least
once during the time period under consideration (“failed variables”), relative to the total
number of variables measured:

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 Water quality index (WQI) CCME WQI
Calculation of the Index

F2 (Frequency) represents the percentage of individual tests that do not meet objectives
(“failed tests”):

F3 (Amplitude) represents the amount by which failed test values do not meet their objectives.
F3 is calculated in three steps.

1. The number of times by which an individual concentration is greater than (or less than, when
the objective is a minimum) the objective is termed an “excursion” and is expressed as
follows. When the test value must not exceed the objective:

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Water quality index (WQI) CCME WQI
Calculation of the Index
For the cases in which the test value must not fall below the objective:

2. The collective amount by which individual tests are out of compliance is calculated by
summing the excursions of individual tests from their objectives and dividing by the total
number of tests (both those meeting objectives and those not meeting objectives). This
variable, referred to as the normalized sum of excursions, or nse, is calculated as:

nse =

F3 is then calculated by an asymptotic function that scales the normalized sum of the
excursions from objectives (nse) to yield a range between 0 and 100.

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Water quality index (WQI) CCME WQI
Calculation of the Index

Once the factors have been obtained, the index itself can be calculated by summing the three
factors as if they were vectors. The sum of the squares of each factor is therefore equal to the
square of the index. This approach treats the index as a three-dimensional space defined by
each factor along one axis. With this model, the index changes in direct proportion to
changes in all three factors.

The CCME Water Quality Index (CCME WQI):

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