Determination Of Water Quality Index Of Simly Dam, Islamabad Using Physicochemical Parameters

Abstract

Water quality is of great importance due to its impact on human health and aquatic systems Since Islamabad and Rawalpindi gets its drinking water from Simly dam located in the Rawalpindi district, this makes the Simly dam an important drinking water source for the twin cities. In this study water samples collected from Simly Dam were analysed for water quality parameters for the calculation of WQI using Arithmetic weighted method. Since Simly dam is the main drinking water source for people living in the twin cities. Twelve Physico-chemical parameters of water quality including: pH, Biological Oxygen Demand, Dissolved Oxygen, Total Alkalinity, Total Hardness, Total Chloride, Calcium, Nitrates, Potassium, Electrical Conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids and Sodium to estimate the sentient and water quality of the Simly Dam. The water samples were collected in the duration of September to October 2019. Fifteen water samples were collected directly from the dam while five water samples were collected from the filtration plant installed in the facility in order to assess the Water Quality Index of both raw dam water and filtered dam water dam. The samples were analysed using the standard procedures. All values excluding pH were measured in in mg/l while Electrical conductivity was measured in micro-siemens per centimetre. The water quality index was determined using the drinking water quality standards established by the World Health Organization, APHA. The results from the analysis showed all the parameters were within the permissible limits. The water quality index of raw dam water was found to be 62.79 while that of filtered dam water was 49.43. The WQI of the unfiltered raw dam water was found to be falling in class C that is “poor” category, while the filtered dam water was falling in Class B that refers to “good” category.