Integrated Assessment of Water Pollution: Linking Physicochemical Indicators, Aquatic Bioassessment, and Human Health Risk

Water pollution affects the physical and chemical condition of water, the structure of aquatic communities, and the health of populations that depend on contaminated resources. This paper presents a literature-based synthesis of four surveyed studies addressing water-quality parameters, macroinvertebrate bioassessment, human-health risks, and water pollution in India. The reviewed literature identifies urban sewage, industrial discharges, agricultural runoff, sediment transport, mining-related inputs, geogenic contaminants, and emerging pollutants as relevant sources. The synthesis highlights the complementary roles of physical and chemical measurements and biological indicators. Physical and chemical parameters provide information about water conditions at the time of sampling, whereas biological communities can reflect ecological stress over longer periods. Human-health interpretation requires additional consideration of contaminant concentration, exposure route, duration, and population vulnerability. Based on these findings, an integrated assessment framework is proposed to connect pollution-source identification, physicochemical monitoring, biological assessment, and human-exposure screening. The study is secondary research and does not report new field measurements or laboratory results. The proposed framework is intended to guide the design of locally relevant monitoring programmes, particularly where a single water-quality indicator would provide an incomplete assessment.