Water Quality Assessment of Seven Rivers in Noto Peninsual Using Epilithic Diatom Communities on River Bed as Biological Indicators
1984 Volume 45 Issue 2 Pages 134-141
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1984 Volume 45 Issue 2 Pages 134-141
WATANABE (1982) developed an equation to obtain the river pollution index (RPIB) in an attempt to estimate the general state of river pollution. This equation has been obtained from the water quality chart acquired through the traditional method of water quality estimation by indicator organisms.
The value of RPIB obtained from such a water quality chart was somewhat ambiguous for estimation of the degree of pollution, because the traditional water quality chart indicates the distribution of an area with only four to six different degrees of water pollution. The present authors consider that the degree of water pollution in the river actually changes gradually and continuously and that they can not thus be divided numerically into definite classes by degrees.
From the above-mentioned point of view, SUMITA and WATANABE (1983) proposed a new approach to the general estimation of river pollution using a new diatom community index (NDCI). In this study the river pollution indices (RPID) were computed in seven rivers in the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture using the new method proposed by SUMITA and WATANABE (1983).
From the values obtained, it became clear that the water quality of the rivers was worse than expected and that the degree of water pollution approximated those of rivers polluted by waste water.
