Application of Water Quality Index for the Assessment the Water Quality in River Lepenci

The physicochemical parameters of water play an important role in determining aquatic life and its development. In this study, the water quality index is used in order to assess the water quality in river Lepenci River. For the calculations of this index, eighteen physicochemical parameters were analysed, which were measured in 3 years during the years 2009, 2010 and 2014 in three stations of the main flow of river Lepenci during all months of the years. From the results, it is concluded that the better quality of water was in station SP1- Brezovica with a WQI value of 83 and it belongs to the Good category, lower quality of water has been shown in station SP3- Hani Elezit with a WQI value of 53 belonging to the marginal category. The average value for all measurement periods resulted in 70.44 which has shown that the water quality of the river Lepenci, based on the physicochemical parameters, belongs to the Fair category. Based on these results, we conclude Water quality impairment is mainly associated with an increase in population, urbanization, industrialization, and agricultural production, among others, and the development of ecotourism and hospitality in high areas near the source areas.