Abstract
Accurate and timely information on status and trends in the environment is necessary to shape sound water quality management policy and to implement water quality improvement programs efficiently. One of the most effective ways to communicate information on water quality trends to policy-makers, scientists, and the general public is with comprehensive water quality indices. The derivation and structure of a water quality index (WQI) for the classification of surface water quality is discussed. The WQI generally developed through the selection, transformation and weighting of determinants with rating curves based on legal standards and quality directives or guidelines. The representative pollutants should be included in the index, and the relationship between the quantity of these pollutants in the water and the resulting quality of the water should be based on scientific results. The WQI be simply and meaningfully formulated that nonscientifically trained users can easily become familiar with the framework of the system and use the output data to evaluate their own pollution problems.