2. Effective water quality management through the use of algal indices as water quality indicator
Speaker/Author – Lucia Marais
Co-Author – Prof. Sandra Barnard

3. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION OBJECTIVE STUDY SITE METHODOLOGY
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
CONCLUSION

4. INTRODUCTION
“The wars of the twenty-first century will be fought over water” ~ Ismail Serageldin (1995)
Water Quality
Management of water resources
Qualitative & quantitative information needed

5. BIO-INDICATORS INTRODUCTION
Species provide info on physical or chemical characteristics
ADVANTAGEOUS
Reflects the overall water quality
Integrating effects of different stress factors
Detects long term environmental effects
Physical-chemical – a snapshot

6. BIO-INDICATORS INTRODUCTION Phytoplankton Rapid Reliable
Relatively inexpensive
to record environmental conditions

7. OBJECTIVES To determine the Mooi River water quality by means of:
Phytoplankton assemblage
Algal indices

8. STUDY SITE
Fig. 1: Map indicating the location of the Mooi River from source to confluence with the Vaal River
(Barnard et al, 2013).

9. STUDY SITE
Fig 2: Map illustrating the sampling points along the Mooi River gradient Site 1: BVO, Site 2: KKD, Site 3: BWFS, Site 4: AWFS, Site 5: BKD, Site 6: PD, Site 7: WWTP, Site 8: EBR

10. PHYTOPLANKTON ANALYSIS
METHODOLOGY
PHYTOPLANKTON ANALYSIS
Preparation & Enumeration:
Sedimentation technique
The Inverted Microscope

11. 1.PALMER INDEX – organic pollution
METHODOLOGY
1.PALMER INDEX – organic pollution
Table 1: Palmer’s Algal Genus Pollution Index score
Table 2: The Palmer Index score interpretation (adapted from Aslam, 2009).
Palmer index score
Pollution level
0-10:
Lack of organic pollution
10-15:
Moderate pollution
15-20:
Probable high organic pollution
20 or more:
Confirms high organic pollution

12. METHODOLOGY 2. SHANNON WIENER INDEX – Inorganic pollution
Pi = S/N S = Number of individuals of one genus N = Total number of all individuals in the sample ln = Natural logarithm
Table 2: The Shannon-Wiener Diversity index score interpretation
SPECIES DIVERSITY
POLLUTION LEVEL
Slight pollution
Light pollution
Moderate pollution
Heavy pollution

13. 3. MARGALEF SPECIES RICHNESS INDEX
METHODOLOGY
3. MARGALEF SPECIES RICHNESS INDEX
S = Total number of genera
N = Total number of individuals in the sample
ln = Natural logarithm

14. 4. PIELOU SPECIES EVENNESS INDEX
METHODOLOGY
4. PIELOU SPECIES EVENNESS INDEX
H = Shannon-Wiener Index
S = Total number of genera in the sample
ln = Natural logarithm

15. METHODOLOGY Table 3: Physical-Chemical & Biological Analysis ANALYSIS
INSTRUMENT/METHOD
Nitrate and Nitrite (NO3 & NO2)
Gallery Plus Automated Chemistry Analyser/ Colorimetric
Orthophosphate(PO4-P)
Continues Flow Analyzer/ Colorimetric
E.coli
Colilert-18H

16. PHYTOPLANKTON ABUNDANCE
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
PHYTOPLANKTON ABUNDANCE
MESOTROPHIC TO EUTROPHIC STATE
Fig 3: Relative abundance of the phytoplankton classes present for the study period in the Mooi River. Cyan: Cyanophyceae, Bacill: Bacillariophyceae, Chloro: Chlorophyceae, Crypto: Cryptophyceae, Chryso: Chrysophyceae, Dino: Dinophyceae

17. RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Table 4:The scores of the four biotic indices calculated for the sites for the study period
SITE
Palmer algal index score
Shannon Wiener index score
Margalef Species Richness index score
Pielou Species Evenness index score
Site 2 KKD 29
1.89
5,17
0,47
Site 3 BWFS 37
3.18
7,91
0,77
Site 4 AWFS 28
3.2
8,42
0,83
Site 5 BKD
1.58
3,95
0,41
Site 6 PD 38
2.91
6,26
0,70
Site 7 WWTP
2.79
5,74
Site 8 EBR 30
2.11
6,78
0,54

18. MARGALEF & PIELOU RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Fig 4: Graphs depicting the species richness (A) and species evenness (B) of the sites along the Mooi River. Site 2: KKD, Site 3: BWFS, Site 4: AWFS, Site 5: BKD,
Site 6: PD, Site 7: WWTP, Site 8: EBR

19. RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Table 5: Genera present at each site used for the Palmer Index calculation.

20. MESOTROPHIC TO EUTROPHIC STATE
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Table 5: Summary of the descriptive statistics for the physico-chemical and biological variables determined
Variable
Descriptive
River
Site 1 BVO
Site 2 KKD
Site 3 BWFS
Site 4 AWFS
Site 5 BKD
Site 6 PD
Site 7 WWTP
Site 8 EBR
Nitrate and
Mean
0.877
1.528
0.25
1.137
0.367
0.36
1.684
1.47
Nitrite
Minimum
0.8
0.78
mg/L
Maximum
4.3
2.9
1.3
1.9
3.9
Ortho - phosphate
0.163
0.028
0.035
0.049
0.113
0.567
0.464
Mg/L
0.025
2.0
0.07
0.32
1.1
E.coli
828 65 81
497
1124
145
209 11
4425
 cfu/100ml 3 31 36
219
420 89
121
1414
4840
111
114
722
235
308 26
MESOTROPHIC TO EUTROPHIC STATE
CONFIRMED

21. CONCLUSION
Considering phytoplankton index analysis – high levels of organic pollution
High feacal load
River is in a meso- to eutrophic state
THUS …

22. CONCLUSION
Algal indices can successfully be used as water quality indicators 
Reliable results
Relatively inexpensive – Microscopic method
Knowledge transfer and enrichment

23. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
NWU – Potchefstroom
Midvaal Water Company