Abstract:
Sutana River is one of the two major rivers that crosses Injibara town. The river is important for
agriculture and domestic activities (e.g. drinking, washing etc.) of the surrounding people. The
main objective of the study was to assess the water quality of Sutana River by studying the
diversity of macroinvertebrates along the three sites of the river. Three sites were selected for
sampling macroinvertebrates and physicochemical parameters in the River from November 2015
to February, 2016. Macroinvertebrates samples were taken using D-frame nets. The mean pH,
temperature and water conductivity were higher in the downstream than the reference site.
Dissolved oxygen was lower in site 2 and 3 than the reference site (site 1). A total of 4456
individuals belonged to 36 families and 11 orders were identified in the present study. Insects
contribute the largest proportion when compared to the other groups of taxa. Downstream sites
were characterized by presence of tolerance taxa such as hirudinae (leeches), while
ephemeroptera, plecoptera and trichoptera dominated in the reference site. The result showed
that there was significance difference in macroinvertebrate metrics among sampling sites.
Percent EPT and Shannon diversity index were higher and percent dipterans, chironomidae and
family level biotic index were lower at the reference or upstream site. The sites based on
Hilsenhoff family level biotic index indicated that the downstream sites were slightly polluted. .
The result used for developing bioassessement tools for diagnosing for river ecosystem integrity.