Assessment of water quality of the Tisa River (Vojvodina, North Serbia) for ten year period using Serbian water quality index (SWQI)

Abstract

Assessment of water quality of the Tisa river (Vojvodina, North Serbia) for ten year period using Serbian Water Quality Index (SWQI) IntroductionOnly healthy and unpolluted aquatic ecosystem is an integral part of life and is an essential resource for meeting the needs of many. Therefore, water protection becomes imperative, the key for the sustainable development in order to preserve the quality of the environment, social welfare and economic security, areas that are essentially intertwined and dependent. On the other hand, pressure on aquatic ecosystems are extremely large, and the regenerative ability of aquatic ecosystems is limited (Belić, et al., , 2005Josimov-Dunđerski, Belić, 2005a). The most common cause of degradation of the quality of aquatic ecosystems is polluted water. These are waters that have changed their original composition of the release of harmful substances, whose presence causes a change in the physical, chemical, biological or bacteriological water conditions to an extent that may limit or prevent its use. Water quality is variable in time and space. Therefore, it is extremely important monitoring and knowledge of the current state of water quality (Josimov-Dunđerski, Belić, 2005b). Water Quality index attempts to provide a mechanism for presenting a cumulatively derived numerical expression defining certain level of water quality (Miller, et al., 1986), and is useful for comparative purposes and when general questions are addressed (Hallock, 2002;Bordalo, et al., 2006). In this study, the water quality status, as well as the spatial and temporal trends over ten year period (from 2003-2012) is assessed on three different locations along the Tisa River in Vojvodina (North Serbia). AbstractThe WQI method is most frequently used in expert and scientific research and basically it provides a mechanism for cumulative representation, numeric expression and defining a certain level of water quality. This paper aims to assess water quality of the Tisa River in Vojvodina (North Serbia) for the 2003 -2012 period. Serbian Water Quality Index (SWQI) was used for assessment of the river water quality. WQI is expressed as a single value ranging from 0 to 100 (best quality) derived from numerous physical, chemical, biological and microbiological parameters. The results of SWQI for the Tisa River were mainly rated as good. Also, in this study it is noticed a clear decrease in water quality during warmer period of the year. Also, this study shows that water quality along the Tisa River decreases slightly but steadily downstream, from Martonoš to Titel station and all along the length of the river provides values that according to SWQI descriptive quality indicator has been defined as good (72-83). The main problem of SWQI used in this paper is that it does not involve parameters of heavy metals concentration.

Hydrological drought assessment of the Tisza river

“…The area of the Tisza River basin is about 157,220 km 2 and the length of the river is 966 km, and it represents the largest tributary of the Danube River. The basin of this river lies in the territories of five countries: Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine and Serbia (Leščešen, Pantelić, Dolinaj, & Lukić, 2014). For the purpose of determining the SDI of the Tisza River in Hungary and Serbia, monthly discharge values obtained from Vásárosnamény, Szolnok, Szeged and Senta gauging stations were used ( Figure 1).…”