Application of Integrated-Weight Water Quality Index in Groundwater Quality Evaluation

Thanh Giao Nguyen, Kim Anh Phan, Thi Hong Nhien Huynh

Abstract


Groundwater is one of the most crucial freshwater resources in many parts of the world. However, the growth of the population and different economic activities have negatively impacted groundwater quality. This study aims to assess the groundwater quality in An-Giang province, Vietnam, from 2017–2020 and investigate its suitability for drinking via a new integrated-weight water quality index (IWQI). The samples were collected at thirteen wells in dry and rainy seasons and analyzed for eleven physicochemical parameters, including pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness, nitrate (NO3ˉ), ammonium (NH4+), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), and coliform. These values were compared to the Vietnamese standard. The entropy weight method and the Criteria Importance Though Inter-criteria The correlation weighting method was integrated to compute the weights in IWQI. The results showed that NH4+and coliform concentrations were consecutively higher than the standard over the study period. No detection of As, Hg, and Pb concentrations in groundwater was in 2019 – 2020. There were significant statistical differences between parameters from 2017–2020 in the dry and rainy seasons. The results of IWQI revealed that about 40% of the total samples in 2020 were categorized as unsuitable for drinking. IWQI values range from 72 to 7973 in 2020, 12 to 3020 in 2019, 21 to 1115 in 2018, and 53 to 2246 in 2017. Most samples with high IWQI values are located near the burial pits of African fever-infected swine. The findings of this study could provide further information about the changes in groundwater quality from 2017–2020 in An Giang province, Vietnam, and the IWQI method can be proposed for other studies to evaluate groundwater quality effectively.

 

Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-11-020

Full Text: PDF


Keywords


Coliform; Groundwater; Integrated-Weight Water Quality Index (IWQI); An-Giang (Vietnam).

References


Gao, Y., Qian, H., Ren, W., Wang, H., Liu, F., & Yang, F. (2020). Hydrogeochemical characterization and quality assessment of groundwater based on integrated-weight water quality index in a concentrated urban area. Journal of Cleaner Production, 260, 121006. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121006.

Ram, A., Tiwari, S. K., Pandey, H. K., Chaurasia, A. K., Singh, S., & Singh, Y. V. (2021). Groundwater quality assessment using water quality index (WQI) under GIS framework. Applied Water Science, 11(2). doi:10.1007/s13201-021-01376-7.

Al-Ahmadi, M. E. (2013). Groundwater quality assessment in Wadi Fayd, Western Saudi Arabia. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 6(1), 247–258. doi:10.1007/s12517-011-0337-0.

Negi, P., Mor, S., & Ravindra, K. (2020). Impact of landfill leachate on the groundwater quality in three cities of North India and health risk assessment. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 22(2), 1455–1474. doi:10.1007/s10668-018-0257-1.

Li, Z., Yang, Q., Yang, Y., Xie, C., & Ma, H. (2020). Hydrogeochemical controls on arsenic contamination potential and health threat in an intensive agricultural area, northern China. Environmental Pollution, 256, 113455. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113455.

Adimalla, N., & Venkatayogi, S. (2018). Geochemical characterization and evaluation of groundwater suitability for domestic and agricultural utility in semi-arid region of Basara, Telangana State, South India. Applied Water Science, 8(1). doi:10.1007/s13201-018-0682-1.

Giao, N. T., Anh, P. K., & Nhien, H. T. H. (2022). Groundwater Quality Assessment Using Groundwater Quality Index and Multivariate Statistical Methods and Human Health Risk Assessment in a Coastal Region of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. Applied Environmental Research, 44(2), 68–85. doi:10.35762/AER.2022.44.2.6.

Minh, H. V. T., Avtar, R., Kumar, P., Tran, D. Q., Van Ty, T., Behera, H. C., & Kurasaki, M. (2019). Groundwater quality assessment using fuzzy-ahp in an Giang Province of Vietnam. Geosciences (Switzerland), 9(8), 330. doi:10.3390/geosciences9080330.

Davraz, A., & Özdemir, A. (2014). Groundwater quality assessment and its suitability in Çeltikçi plain (Burdur/Turkey). Environmental Earth Sciences, 72(4), 1167–1190. doi:10.1007/s12665-013-3036-1.

Egbueri, J. C. (2020). Groundwater quality assessment using pollution index of groundwater (PIG), ecological risk index (ERI) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA): A case study. Groundwater for Sustainable Development, 10, 100292. doi:10.1016/j.gsd.2019.100292.

Tran, D. A., Tsujimura, M., Loc, H. H., Dang, D. H., Le Vo, P., Thu Ha, D., Thu Trang, N. T., Chinh, L. C., Bich Thuc, P. T., Dang, T. D., Batdelger, O., & V. Nguyen, T. (2021). Groundwater quality evaluation and health risk assessment in coastal lowland areas of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Groundwater for Sustainable Development, 15, 100679. doi:10.1016/j.gsd.2021.100679.

Giao, N. T. (2021). Chemical and microbial characteristics of surface and ground water in the areas burying swine infected with African swine fever in An Giang Province. Vietnam. Journal of Energy Technology and Environment, 3(3), 1-10.

World Health Organization. (2017). Guidelines for drinking-water quality: fourth edition incorporating the first addendum. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Available online: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241549950 (accessed on August 2022).

Li, P., & Wu, J. (2019). Drinking Water Quality and Public Health. Exposure and Health, 11(2), 73–79. doi:10.1007/s12403-019-00299-8.

Giao, N. T., Anh, P. K., & Nhien, H. T. H. (2021). Spatiotemporal analysis of surface water quality in dong Thap province, Vietnam usingwater quality index and statistical approaches. Water (Switzerland), 13(3), 336. doi:10.3390/w13030336.

Dao, H. H., Nguyen, K. V., Tra, S. T., & Bui, V. T. (2016). Assessment of groundwater quality of middle – Upper pleistocene aquifer in Ca Mau peninsula. Science and Technology Development Journal, 19(1), 35–44. doi:10.32508/stdj.v19i1.503.

Horton, R. K. (1965). An index number system for rating water quality. Journal of the Water Pollution Control Federation, 37(3), 1965.

Giao, N. T., Nhien, H. T. H., & Anh, P. K. (2022). Groundwater Quality Assessment Using Classification and Multi-Criteria Methods: A Case Study of Can Tho City, Vietnam. Environment and Natural Resources Journal, 20(2), 179–191. doi:10.32526/ennrj/20/202100183.

Fu, D., Chen, S., Chen, Y., & Yi, Z. (2022). Development of modified integrated water quality index to assess the surface water quality: a case study of Tuo River, China. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 194(5), 1–15. doi:10.1007/s10661-022-09998-3.

Li, C., Gao, Z., Chen, H., Wang, J., Liu, J., Li, C., Teng, Y., Liu, C., & Xu, C. (2021). Hydrochemical analysis and quality assessment of groundwater in southeast North China Plain using hydrochemical, entropy-weight water quality index, and GIS techniques. Environmental Earth Sciences, 80(16). doi:10.1007/s12665-021-09823-z.

Kumar, P. J. S., & Augustine, C. M. (2022). Entropy-weighted water quality index (EWQI) modeling of groundwater quality and spatial mapping in Uppar Odai Sub-Basin, South India. Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, 8(1), 911–924. doi:10.1007/s40808-021-01132-5.

Zhang, Q., Qian, H., Xu, P., Hou, K., & Yang, F. (2021). Groundwater quality assessment using a new integrated-weight water quality index (IWQI) and driver analysis in the Jiaokou Irrigation District, China. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 212, 111992. doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.111992.

Yu, S., Liu, H., Bai, L., & Han, F. (2019). Study on the suitability of passive energy in public institutions in China. Energies, 12(12), 2446. doi:10.3390/en12122446.

Zhang, Q., Xu, P., & Qian, H. (2020). Groundwater Quality Assessment Using Improved Water Quality Index (WQI) and Human Health Risk (HHR) Evaluation in a Semi-arid Region of Northwest China. Exposure and Health, 12(3), 487–500. doi:10.1007/s12403-020-00345-w.

Wang, X., Xiao, C., Liang, X., & Li, M. (2022). Groundwater Quality Assessment in the Northern Part of Changchun City, Northeast China, Using PIG and Two Improved PIG Methods. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(15), 9603. doi:10.3390/ijerph19159603.

Berg, M., Stengel, C., Trang, P. T. K., Hung Viet, P., Sampson, M. L., Leng, M., Samreth, S., & Fredericks, D. (2007). Magnitude of arsenic pollution in the Mekong and Red River Deltas - Cambodia and Vietnam. Science of the Total Environment, 372(2–3), 413–425. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2006.09.010.

Erban, L. E., Gorelick, S. M., & Zebker, H. A. (2014). Groundwater extraction, land subsidence, and sea-level rise in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Environmental Research Letters, 9(8), 84010. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/8/084010.

Phan, K. A., & Nguyen, T. G. (2018). Groundwater quality and human health risk assessment related to groundwater consumption in An Giang province, Viet Nam. Journal of Vietnamese Environment, 10(2), 85–91. doi:10.13141/jve.vol10.no2.pp85-91.

Statistical Office of An Giang province. (2021).Report on socio-economic situation in the first 6 months of 2021. Statistical Office of An Giang province, Vietnam. (In Vietnamese).

American Public Health Association. (1998). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater (2nd Ed.) American Public Health Association (APHA), American Water Works Association and Water Environmental Federation, Washington, United States.

Shannon, C. E. (1948). A Mathematical Theory of Communication. Bell System Technical Journal, 27(3), 379–423. doi:10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x.

Sarath Prasanth, S. V., Magesh, N. S., Jitheshlal, K. V., Chandrasekar, N., & Gangadhar, K. (2012). Evaluation of groundwater quality and its suitability for drinking and agricultural use in the coastal stretch of Alappuzha District, Kerala, India. Applied Water Science, 2(3), 165–175. doi:10.1007/s13201-012-0042-5.

Boyd, C. E., & Claude, E. (2000). Water Quality: An introduction. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Norwell, United States.

Huang, Y., Miyauchi, K., Endo, G., Don, L. D., Manh, N. C., & Inoue, C. (2016). Arsenic contamination of groundwater and agricultural soil irrigated with the groundwater in Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Environmental Earth Sciences, 75(9). doi:10.1007/s12665-016-5535-3.

Nam, N. D. G., Akira, G., Kazutoshi, O., Trung, N. H., & Ngan, N. V. C. (2019). Assessment of groundwater quality and its suitability for domestic and irrigation use in the coastal zone of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Advances in Global Change Research, 64, 173–185. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-90400-9_10.

EPA/630/R-00/004. (1986). Guidelines for carcinogen risk assessment. Risl Assessment Forum, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, United States.

Agusa, T., Kubota, R., Kunito, T., Minh, T. B., Trang, P. T. K., Chamnan, C., Iwata, H., Viet, P. H., Tana, T. S., & Tanabe, S. (2007). Arsenic pollution in groundwater of Vietnam and Cambodia: a review. Biomedical research on trace elements, 18(1), 35-47.

Buschmann, J., Berg, M., Stengel, C., Winkel, L., Sampson, M. L., Trang, P. T. K., & Viet, P. H. (2008). Contamination of drinking water resources in the Mekong delta floodplains: Arsenic and other trace metals pose serious health risks to population. Environment International, 34(6), 756–764. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2007.12.025.

Ngoc, T. A. (2017). Assessing the Effects of Upstream Dam Developments on Sediment Distribution in the Lower Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 09(07), 822–840. doi:10.4236/jwarp.2017.97055.

Hassanzadeh, R., Abbasnejad, A., & Hamzeh, M. A. (2011). Assessment of groundwater pollution in Kerman Urban areas. Journal of Environmental Studies, 36(56), 101–110.


Full Text: PDF

DOI: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-11-020

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.




Copyright (c) 2022 Giao Thanh Nguyen, Nhien Thi Hong Huynh, Anh Kim Phan

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
x
Message