Assessment of water quality during the floods in may 2014, Serbia

Abstract

Floods are considered to be the most common natural disaster which causes more destructive effects than other natural disasters including loss of human life, property and infrastructure damage, as well as a negative impact on social and economic development. Besides these consequences, floods also affect water quality. The aim of this paper is to present water quality impairment caused by the floods in Serbia in May 2014. The parameters of water quality were measured 13 times in 2014 (12 ordinary monthly measurements and one extraordinary measurement during the flood) in hydrological stations Ostruznica and Sabac (on the river Sava) and Badovinci (on the river Drina). The Canadian Water Quality Index (CWQI) was used for water quality assessment. This method calculates the overall water quality and the water quality for specific conditions and purposes including: drinking, aquatic habitats, recreation, irrigation, and livestock. Water quality decline was recorded in all the stations in overall water quality as well as for specific uses. Turbidity and heavy metals values were tens of times higher than normal ranges. The most drastic example was Al with the values which were thousand(s) of times higher than the objective.