Evaluation of a dynamic index of water quality for supplying: a case study

Abstract

The Federal Designation nº 5440/05 establishes definitions and procedures for water quality control of supplying systems and defines mechanisms and instruments for transmitting information, to the general consumer, about the water quality for human consumption. The current guidelines for drinking-water standards (‘Portaria’ nº 518/04), item VI in article 9º of section IV: they charge the responsible ones for the operation of the water system to supply all the consumers information about the quality of the distributed water, in the terms of the Consumer Defense Code. A Water Quality Index (WQI) is a numeric expression used to evaluate the quality of given body of water, which is easily understood by the population. Therefore, the purpose in this paper is to identify, among the several water quality indices described in the literature, a dynamic index of water quality for supplying, which may be used as a tool to simplify the report of the water quality data.