Water quality evaluation of the upper stretch of the river Jhelum using multivariate statistical techniques
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Water quality evaluation of the upper stretch of the river Jhelum using multivariate statistical techniques Riyaz Ahmad Mir 1 & Khalid Muzamil Gani 2 Received: 7 February 2018 / Accepted: 24 June 2019 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2019
Abstract Water quality assessment is considered essential for the evaluation of river pollution and its variation, resulting due to either natural or point/non-point anthropogenic sources. This study describes the water quality of the upper stretch of the Jhelum River located in Kashmir Himalaya using multivariate statistical techniques. The descriptive statistics and correlation matrix were applied to explore the correlations between the determined water quality variables whereas; principal component/or factor analysis (PCA/FA) was employed to take out the important factors that control the seasonal water quality variations. The hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was employed for the extraction of monitoring stations that can be developed for continuous water quality assessment in this area. Based on the PCA/FA, 95.7% of the total variance in the summer season was described by six factors while 85.8% of the total variance, in the winter season, was described by only four factors. HCA based on two seasons and different levels of pollution grouped the sampling stations into 3 classes described as low-, medium-, and high-pollution regions. Overall, the results illustrated that river water quality has deteriorated progressively from upstream to downstream areas and the methodology adopted can be used for the subsequent water quality surveys to highlight any temporal evolution of river water quality. Keywords Jhelum River . Statistics . Multivariate . Water quality . Influencing factors
Introduction The river water quality is affected by pollution from anthropogenic and natural routes. The urban, agricultural, and industrial activities are the main anthropogenic sources of pollution. However, the input from precipitation, erosion, and weathering of crustal materials are the natural sources (Karbassi et al. 2008; Nouri et al. 2008) of pollution. From prehistoric times, the riverine systems have played an essential role in the development of human civilizations by providing an essential and easily accessible fresh water supply for domestic, irrigation, and industrial purposes. However, the rivers across the globe have Editorial handling: Antonio Pulido-Bosch * Riyaz Ahmad Mir [email protected] 1
Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee -247667, India
2
Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban -4001, South Africa
been heavily influenced by discharging of untreated or partially treated wastewater. Considering these facts, it is thus very imperative to continuously assess the river water quality through an ample and effective approach such as the long-term water quality monitoring surveys and programs for sustainable water management strategies. It is notable that such programs may pro
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