Evaluating the water quality index in dam lake for cold water fish farming

Abstract

Water quality monitoring and assessment in drinking water resources are of great importance. The entry of pollutants and nutrients into water resources may cause problems for public health and can increase the bioaccumulation and biodiversity risks. This issue is more critical for dam lakes with more retention time, a primary source for drinking, agriculture, fish farming, and industry. This study applies the universal water quality index (U-WQI) to evaluate the dam lake quality in an arid area and identifies the sources of upstream pollutants over time (2016–2020). For this, 16 physical, chemical, and microbial parameters were quarterly measured in three points of Ilam dam lake in Ilam City, Iran. Then, U-WQI was calculated to evaluate water quality for drinking and cold water fish farming. Over the course of monitoring, the average U-WQI for drinking and fish farming was 176.7 and 190.2, respectively. Seasonal changes in the index suggest that fish farming in spring is more suitable than other seasons since the U-WQI decreases in summer and winter.

Keywords

• Drinking water
• Fish farming
• Ilam dam
• Universal water quality index