Integrated Surface Water Quality Assessment Using Benthic Macroinvertebrates

Biomonitoring of waterbody provides an integrated and cumulative assessment of its water quality over a particular time period. This paper presents a review of concepts and use of biomonitoring methods for water quality monitoring. The benthic macroinvertebrates are the most common indicators of biomonitoring, which can be used independently for water quality assessment. This paper reviews the various methods of benthic macroinvertebrates collection i.e. rapid monitoring and use of artificial substratum. The common biomonitoring parameters are classified as Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) Score (Saprobic Score) and Sequential Comparison Index (Diversity Score) are discussed. The applications of biomonitoring are proposed to mainly include assessment of surface water quality and studies on the Biological diversity of surface water.