Water
Water Quality Measurement and the Water Quality Index (WQI)
A programme in measuring the physical, chemical and microbiological parameters of water quality and comparing them with reference standards, and in calculating the Water Quality Index (WQI) by its main methods to summarise the state of a water source or monitoring network in a single value that can be presented to decision makers.
Overview
About the programme
Duration
4 days
Training hours
12 hours
Delivery
Training hall · Virtual · At your premises
Language
Arabic or English
Objectives
Training outcomes
- Select the quality parameters suited to each use: drinking, irrigation, industrial use and the aquatic environment.
- Take the basic field measurements with multi-parameter instruments and record them reliably.
- Compare results with the Saudi and Gulf drinking-water standards and the World Health Organization guidelines.
- Calculate the Water Quality Index by the weighted arithmetic method, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment method (CCME WQI) and the National Sanitation Foundation method (NSF WQI), and understand how they differ.
- Assess the suitability of water for irrigation using salinity and the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR).
- Present index results and their limitations in monitoring reports.
Content
What the programme covers
Day 1: water quality parameters and standards
- Physical parameters: temperature, turbidity, colour, electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids.
- Chemical parameters: pH, alkalinity, hardness, major ions, nitrate, fluoride and heavy metals; microbiological parameters: total coliforms and Escherichia coli.
- Reference standards: the Saudi and Gulf drinking-water standards, the World Health Organization guidelines, and irrigation water quality requirements.
Day 2: field measurement and its quality control
- Multi-parameter instruments: calibrating pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and turbidity probes with standard solutions.
- Planning monitoring points and measurement frequency, recording readings, and field quality control with duplicates and blanks.
Day 3: calculating the Water Quality Index
- Steps in building the index: selecting parameters, converting them to sub-indices, assigning weights, aggregating, and classifying the result.
- Applying the weighted arithmetic method and the CCME and NSF methods to real monitoring data in a spreadsheet.
- Irrigation suitability indices: salinity, the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), sodium percentage and residual sodium carbonate (RSC).
Day 4: interpretation and reporting
- Limitations of the index: the effect of the choice of parameters and weights, the risk that aggregation hides an exceedance in a single parameter, and when to go back to the detailed results.
- Presenting results over time and space with tables, charts and maps, and writing the quality section of a monitoring report.
- A final exercise on monitoring data from a water source, followed by the assessment.
Who it is for
Target audience
Chemists and technicians in water laboratories, water quality monitoring staff in government bodies and water companies, and engineers and environmental specialists who prepare quality reports on water sources.
Method
Delivery method
Short explanations followed by hands-on calculation of the index on data sets prepared by the centre; the organisation’s own monitoring data can be used if it is shared with the centre before the programme. Day 2 includes practice on field instruments when the programme is delivered in person. Delivered in person or online, in Arabic or English.
Questions
FAQ
Do participants need special software?
No. Calculations are done in a spreadsheet such as Excel, and participants receive the calculation files used in the exercises so they can apply them to their own data afterwards.
Can the index be calculated on our own monitoring data?
Yes. If the organisation shares its monitoring data with the centre before the programme, the exercises are built on it and the parameters and weights suited to its sources are discussed.
How does this programme differ from Standard Methods for the Analysis of Water Pollutants?
This programme focuses on field measurement, quality assessment and calculating and interpreting the index; the standard methods programme covers the laboratory methods of analysis themselves and their quality control.
A programme tailored to your organisation
The duration and topics of the programme are adjusted to the organisation's needs, and it is delivered at its site, in a training hall arranged by the Center, or virtually.