Investigating Water Quality of Sufi Chay river using macrobenthos indicators

The present study investigates the water quality of Sufi Chay river in Maragheh, Iran using Benthos groups and their population structures in 2015.

Overall, 9samplingsites were selected in the region and Macrobenthos were sampled in triplicate at each siteusing a 25×50 surber. The samples were stabilized by Formaldehyde 4% and their species, family and genus were identified. A total of20Macrobenthos species from 19 families, 10 orders and 2 classes were evaluated. Baetis sp. was the dominant species in winter and summer.

The results indicate that the 7 and 9 sites with the aggregation of 47 and 128 Macrobenthos per m2 were dominant in winter and summer, respectively. Regarding Welch model, water quality of Sufichay river was moderate at most sites in both seasons. However, the water quality at the 7 site in winter and the 8 and 5 sites in summer was unsuitable. According to the BMWP Index, water quality of the river, except the 8 and 9 sites in winter, was suitable.

Regarding the results of this research it can be concluded that Macrobenthos community is an effective bioindicator to assess environmental conditions of the Sufi chay river. In addition, the results of this study display the relatively suitable water quality of Sufi Chay river.