A new model for organic contamination assessments using benthic macroinvertebrates as biological indicators

The main goal of this study was to develop a model for organic pollution assessment. Seven sampling sites in six rivers in the Rawang sub-basin, Selangor River, Malaysia, were selected with one reference site. The sampling sites near the fish farm were used to develop the model. SR2 was used for the validation of the developed model. Benthic macroinvertebrates and water sampling were conducted from April 2019 to March 2020. The Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and regression were conducted to select the most representing benthic macroinvertebrates family. Based on the score value (variance coefficient) of each benthic macroinvertebrates family, the cumulative score value of each sampling site was calculated (i.e., 18=6 sampling sites x 3 replicates). The nine benthic macroinvertebrate families (Baetidae, Libellulidae, Protoneuridae Chironomidae, Curbicullidae Hydropchysidae, Tubificidae, Lumbriculiade, and Naididae) were identified using PCA and regression. The cluster analysis and mean confidence intervals were used to classify water quality classes precisely. Finally, three different value scales were produced to represent the level of contamination (i.e., 0.87 as clean status). The newly developed model was validated. The results produced after validation were better than the water quality status from other studies based on the BMWP/BMWP score. This study concludes that the developed model can evaluate river organic contamination successfully.

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