Assessment of water quality of the Tisa River (Vojvodina, North Serbia) for ten year period using Serbian water quality index (SWQI)

The WQI method is most frequently used in expert and scientific research and basically it provides a mechanism for cumulative representation, numeric expression and defining a certain level of water quality. This paper aims to assess water quality of the Tisa River in Vojvodina (North Serbia) for the 2003 - 2012 period. Serbian Water Quality Index (SWQI) was used for assessment of the river water quality. WQI is expressed as a single value ranging from 0 to 100 (best quality) derived from numerous physical, chemical, biological and microbiological parameters. The results of SWQI for the Tisa River were mainly rated as good. Also, in this study it is noticed a clear decrease in water quality during warmer period of the year. Also, this study shows that water quality along the Tisa River decreases slightly but steadily down- stream, from Martonoš to Titel station and all along the length of the river provides values that according to SWQI descriptive quality indicator has been defined as good (72-83). The main problem of SWQI used in this paper is that it does not involve parameters of heavy metals concentration