The determining of water quality with biotic indices in the Melen River and its tributaries

In this study, we carried out a research of biotic indices at Melen River (Turkey) and its tributaries situated in the Black Sea Region as a part of the project of supplying water for Istanbul. The Melen River system is affected by many pollutants. Therefore, we have chosen 11 representative sampling points for this study to identify and explain the benthic macroinvertebrates monthly scoring Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP), Trent Biotic Index (TBI) and Belgium Biotic Index (BBI) values for one-year periods. Their annual (2001-2002) means are used for determining the water quality of Melen River and its tributaries for all sampling locations, which was found to be high at the 1st, but very low at the 5th sample point. At the other points (6th, 7th, 8th, 9th) the water quality is increasing, but is still worse at the 10th and 11th location.