Development and Assessment of a Water Quality Index (WQI) Analyzer for Palanadu District Based on IS 10500: 2012 Standards

Abstract

Water Quality Indices (WQIs) generate a single numerical value based on different physicochemical parameters. This facilitates the interpretation of data and assists with monitoring and public health decisions. This work presents the development and validation of a Python-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) WQI Analyzer. It was coded in the PyCharm (Integrated Development Environment) based on the Tkinter library, according to Indian Standard IS 10500:2012. It is made for use in the Palanadu district of Andhra Pradesh. It computes WQI based on eleven major physicochemical parameters: pH, Hardness, Fluoride, Total Alkalinity, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Chloride, Sulphate (SO?²?), Calcium (Ca²?), Magnesium (Mg²?), Nitrate (NO??), and Iron (Fe). People can enter real-time measurements or mean values to obtain the WQI score and the corresponding water quality category. Field evaluation using 110 water samples revealed WQI values between \"Excellent\" to \"Poor\". Levels at some sites exceeded the levels for Hardness, TDS, Fluorine and Alkalinity. The analyzer is a trusted, user-friendly, and configurable tool for researchers, local government, and public health professionals to enhance drinking water quality assessment and management in rural parts of Palanadu district.

Introduction

Access to safe drinking water is essential for public health, economic productivity, and community well-being. In Palanadu District, Andhra Pradesh, groundwater quality is often compromised due to natural contaminants (fluoride, iron), agricultural runoff (nitrates, pesticides), and human activities that increase hardness, alkalinity, and TDS. Continuous monitoring is critical to prevent waterborne illnesses, and the Water Quality Index (WQI) provides a simplified method to assess overall water quality by combining multiple physicochemical parameters into a single score.

This study developed a Python-based GUI WQI Analyzer using Tkinter, covering eleven key parameters per IS 10500:2012 standards, enabling users to input real-time or laboratory data to calculate and classify water quality as Excellent, Good, Medium, or Poor. Groundwater samples from rural and urban handpumps were collected pre-monsoon to capture worst-case contamination scenarios. Results highlighted spatial variability in water quality, with issues particularly in hardness, TDS, and alkalinity.

The GUI WQI Analyzer offers a user-friendly, accurate, and efficient tool for water quality monitoring, supporting public health, rural development planning, and environmental policy implementation in Palanadu District and similar regions.

Conclusion

The created Python-based application effectively integrates data processing, sub-index calculation, and aggregation into one simple-to-use interface. Through direct input of the measured parameter values, the tool quickly calculates the WQI, hence simplifying the complicated manual calculations often needed in traditional methods. The calculated WQI values indicated spatial variability in drinking water quality within the study area. All samples fell into the \"good\" to \"poor\" water quality classes, which were largely dominated by high hardness and total dissolved solids. The results reflect the impact of the semi-arid climatic conditions and the pre-monsoon groundwater recharge status on water quality in the study area. In total, the WQI Analyzer developed is an effective and consistent decision-support tool for monitoring drinking water quality.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Chikkala Aditya Narayan, Dr. P. Mynar Babu, Kolagani Mohana Venkat. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.