A framework for characteristics identification and source apportionment of water pollution in the Jinjiang River of China was proposed in this study for evaluation. A total of 114 water samples which were generated between May 2009 and September 2010 at 13 sites were collected and analysed. First, support vector machine (SVM) and water quality pollutant index (WQPI) were used for water quality comprehensive evaluation and identifying characteristic contaminants. Later, factor analysis with nonnegative constraints (FA-NNC) was employed for source apportionment. Finally, multi-linear regression of the absolute principal component score (APCS/MLR) was applied to further estimate source contributions for each characteristic contaminant. The results indicated that the water quality of the Jinjiang River was mainly at the third level (65.79%) based on national surface water quality permissible standards in China. Ammonia nitrogen, total phosphorus, mercury, iron and manganese were identified as characteristic contaminants. Source apportionment results showed that industrial activities (63.16%), agricultural non-point source (16.50%) and domestic sewage (12.85%) were the main anthropogenic pollution sources which were influencing the water quality of Jinjiang River. This proposed method provided a helpful framework for conducting water pollution management in aquatic environment.
