Evaluation of Major River Water Quality in Gwangju Using Real-Time Water Quality Index(RTWQI)

This study calculated the water quality index (WQI) by using the water quality monitoring data for the last 10 years (2014-2023) for the Gwangju, identified rivers with high pollution level through water quality evaluation, and analyzed the trends of major rivers. WQI compensates for the shortcomings of evaluating water pollution status with a single parameter such as BOD and can be useful for practical water quality improvement by comprehensively describing water quality conditions. For the calculation of the water quality index, the real-time water quality index (RTWQI) developed by the Ministry of Environment in Korea was used. RTWQI is a comprehensive water quality index developed by modifying the Canadian Council Ministers of the Environment (CCME) WQI for the domestic environment. To evaluate the suitability of RTWQI, cross-analysis with living environment standard grades according to BOD and T-P were conducted. As a result, it was found to be statistically significant correlation between each water quality grade. Therefore, it was confirmed that RTWQI was suitable as a comprehensive water quality index that could evaluate rivers by reflecting living environmental standards.