Groundwater Quality Characterization of North Brahmaputra Basin using Positive Matrix Factorization
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Groundwater Quality Characterization of North Brahmaputra Basin using Positive Matrix Factorization Richa Chaturvedi1,2 • Bodhaditya Das1 • Saumen Banerjee1 • Chira R. Bhattacharjee2
Received: 4 March 2019 / Revised: 18 June 2020 / Accepted: 21 August 2020 The National Academy of Sciences, India 2020
Abstract This study applies positive matrix factorization (PMF) to 140 groundwater samples collected from four different Public Health Centers in North Brahmaputra basin, Assam, India. The aim of this technique is to identify and quantify the pollution sources (natural and anthropogenic) that affect the water quality. Multivariate statistical analysis, especially factor analysis, is successful in interpreting the water quality data, but it has some limitations: It does not consider analytical uncertainty and factor loadings may be negative which do not give a clear representation of the data. Therefore, we applied PMF to groundwater data and compared the results with those obtained from factor analysis. The major findings from the study are as follows: The first and the second factors show that the natural means are the main source of pollution where Cl, SO4, Ca, Mg, TA and TH were the main contributors from erosion and weathering of rocks. The Pb and NO3 from the third and the fourth factor, respectively, are the major sources of contamination from anthropogenic activities such as the use of fertilizers. The fifth factor
& Richa Chaturvedi [email protected] Bodhaditya Das [email protected] Saumen Banerjee [email protected] Chira R. Bhattacharjee [email protected] 1
Department of Chemistry, Defence Research Laboratory (DRL), Defence Research and Development Organization, Tezpur, Assam 784001, India
2
Department of Chemistry, Assam University, Silchar, Assam 788011, India
results in Fe, As, Mn and Cr, suggesting that both natural and anthropogenic processes are the main pollution contributors. PMF exhibits a more realistic representation of data and helps us to better understand the major sources of contamination and the variation in groundwater quality data. Hence, it can be successfully used for the characterization of groundwater chemistry. Keywords Multivariate analysis Groundwater quality Positive matrix factorization Physico-chemical parameters North Brahmaputra basin
1 Introduction Groundwater is the primary source of potable water. The groundwater quality is being deteriorated by human activities such as industrialization and agricultural irrigation [1]. It is a major source of drinking water for almost two billion of the world’s population [2]. The heavy metals which are non-biodegradable cause toxicity to the ecosystem [3, 4] when exceed the threshold limiting value [5]. The drinking water is deteriorated, and unhygienic conditions contribute directly to 80% of all diseases [6, 7]. Rock–water interactions influence the chemical composition of groundwater [8]. Many studies have been done on trace metals, metalloid and heavy metals in gro
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