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DEVELOPMENT OF A LONG ISLAND SOUND-SPECIFIC WATER QUALITY INDEX USING CLUSTER ANALYSIS AND DISCRIMINANT ANALYSIS
Impact/Purpose:
Develop a Long Island Sound-specific water quality index
Description:
The objective of this project is to develop a Long Island Sound-specific water quality index. The water quality index will be computed using multivariate cluster analysis and discriminant analysis of a set of individual water quality indicators. A numerical water quality index (around -1 to 1) will result, with a value close to 1 indicating good water quality (oligotrophic), a value close to -1 indicating poor water quality (eutrophic), and a slight negative value representing mesotrophic conditions (intermediate water quality). The new method will be applied to the Long Island Sound water quality data (past 15 years at ~20 stations) collected by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. Monthly water quality indices will be computed for every station, and seasonal and annual trends in the water quality indices will be examined. The outputs of this project include a new LIS-specific water quality index and an automated procedure for computing the index. The numerical water quality index will give clear indications of the trophic status of LIS waters for routine water quality assessments.