Comparative Water Quality Evaluation of Fu River Using Multiple Methods

This study evaluated and compared three water quality assessment methods: Canadian Water Quality Index (CWQI), Weighted Euclidean Distance (WED), and Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation (FCE) to analyze the water quality of the Fu River in Baoding City, China. Water samples were collected from 19 monitoring sections along the river in 2018 and tested for pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen, and total phosphorus. The CWQI method provided relatively simple water quality rankings. In contrast, the WED and FCE methods incorporated fuzzy mathematical principles to produce more nuanced, multi-dimensional water quality assessments. All three methods indicated serious eutrophication and poor water quality in the Fu River, with ammonia nitrogen and total phosphorus as the primary pollution factors. The FCE method offered the most hierarchical and objective evaluation results. This comparative study demonstrates that employing multiple water quality evaluation techniques can produce more robust and holistic insights into river water quality. The findings provide valuable guidance for selecting site-specific water assessment methods.