A New Approach to Evaluate the Ecological Status of a River by Visual Assessment

Most water management methodologies require comprehensive studies and thus, entail voluminous data, time, and scientific expertise. Sensorial evaluation techniques were thus, considered as these represent methods with minimal cost and can involve the local communities. This study applied the Sarno River Visual Assessment Protocol (SRVAP), a modified version of the Stream Visual Assessment Protocol developed by the United States Department of Agriculture, to Sarno River, Italy and tested its reliability as a river assessment tool. SRVAP scores has a statistically significant positive correlation with Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and shows that local knowledge is important and increases the viability of incorporating public participation in the evaluation. Correlation between SRVAP and organic content greatly increased barring seasonal variability and a significant positive relationship was found between SRVAP score and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and COD during spring, as well as during summer. The resulting regression equations may be used as rapid estimates of COD and BOD levels in Sarno River for the seasons of spring and summer.