Resumen

TORRES, Patricia; CRUZ, Camilo Hernán  y  PATINO, Paola Janeth. Water quality index in surface sources used in water production for human consumption: A critical review. Rev. ing. univ. Medellín [online]. 2009, vol.8, n.15, suppl.1, pp.79-94. ISSN 1692-3324.

The deterioration of water supply sources directly affect the existing levels of sanitary risks and the type of required treatment to reduce them; water quality evaluation allows taking action in order to control and mitigate these risks, guaranteeing the availability of safe fresh water. One of the tools which can be used is Water Quality Index -WQI, the multiplicative types are more sensitive to water quality variations than the additive types. Those WQI which take into consideration variations in time and space and that also allow making a comparison with the current regulations and norms in the area of study, such as CCME - WQI and DWQI, are more suitable to be used in water sources as the Cauca River which is exposed to constant quality variations. For the use of these sources of water supply for human consumption, values falling between 90 and 100 of the general WQI require minor treatments such as disinfection, while values falling between 50 and 90 require conventional treatments and in certain cases, special treatments which entitle greater costs and complexity treatment.

Palabras clave : sanitary risk; water quality; water quality index - WQI; water treatmen.

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