The assessment of water quality of shushica river (vlora) based on preliminary data of benthic macro invertebrates

Abstract

This study was carried out on Shushica River, a branch of Vjosa River, located in the Vlora district south west Albania, during 2017. This river flows from the Kuçi area parallel with the main road in all her longitude. The recent process of rehabilitation of this road and the process of human population growth in this region is expected to have a severe impact in watershed and water quality of this area through reduction of microhabitat diversity and its associated biodiversity. During this study three stations were chosen randomly on the stream and samples were taken seasonally (Spring and Summer 2017). Here we are presenting the preliminary data based on the identification of a total number of 841 organisms. The collected samples include organisms from class: Annelid (Oligochaeta) and Insecta. Insects are dominating throughout all the sampling period. Between organisms of class Insecta dominant are the families Chironomidae and Simulidae (Diptera), Elmidae (Coleoptera), Hydropsychidae (Trichoptera), and Heptagenidae (Ephemeroptera). Based on the collected data the EPT index (abundances in the sample of the organisms belonging to the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera in comparison to the total number of organisms in the sample) was calculated. Based on the published data of different recent studies the water quality of the river is related directly with the higher relative abundance of those taxa.