Biological indices for classification of water quality around Mae Moh power plant, Thailand

The algal communities and water quality were monitored at eight sampling sites around Mae Moh power plant during January-December 2003. Three biological indices, viz. algal genus pollution index, saprobic index, and Shannon-Weaver index, were adopted to classify the water quality around the power plant in comparison with the measured physico-chemical water quality. The result shows that the Shannon-Weaver diversity index appears to be much more applicable and interpretable for the classification of water quality around the Mae Moh power plant than the algal genus pollution index and the saprobic index