Water quality assessment using multivariate statistical techniques in Río Tercero Reservoir, Argentina

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matias Bonansea ◽  
Claudia Ledesma ◽  
Claudia Rodriguez ◽  
Lucio Pinotti

Water quality monitoring programs generate complex multidimensional data sets. In this study, multivariate statistical techniques were employed as an effective tool for the analysis and interpretation of these water quality data sets. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were applied to evaluate spatial and temporal variation of water quality in Río Tercero Reservoir (Argentina). Six sampling sites were surveyed each climatic season for 21 parameters during 2003–2010. The results revealed that PCA showed the existence of four significant principal components (PCs) which account for 96.7% of the total variance of the data set. The first PC was assigned to mineralization whereas the other PCs were built from variables indicative of pollution. Hierarchical CA grouped the six monitoring sites into three clusters and classified the different climatic seasons into two clusters based on similarities in water quality characteristics.

2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 823-833
Author(s):  
Svetlana Vujovic ◽  
Srdjan Kolakovic ◽  
Milena Becelic-Tomin

This paper illustrates the utility of multivariate statistical techniques for analysis and interpretation of water quality data sets and identification of pollution sources/factors with a view to get better information about the water quality and design of monitoring network for effective management of water resources. Multivariate statistical techniques, such as factor analysis (FA)/principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA), were applied for the evaluation of variations and for the interpretation of a water quality data set of the natural water bodies obtained during 2010 year of monitoring of 13 parameters at 33 different sites. FA/PCA attempts to explain the correlations between the observations in terms of the underlying factors, which are not directly observable. Factor analysis is applied to physico-chemical parameters of natural water bodies with the aim classification and data summation as well as segmentation of heterogeneous data sets into smaller homogeneous subsets. Factor loadings were categorized as strong and moderate corresponding to the absolute loading values of >0.75, 0.75-0.50, respectively. Four principal factors were obtained with Eigenvalues >1 summing more than 78 % of the total variance in the water data sets, which is adequate to give good prior information regarding data structure. Each factor that is significantly related to specific variables represents a different dimension of water quality. The first factor F1 accounting for 28 % of the total variance and represents the hydrochemical dimension of water quality. The second factor F2 accounting for 18% of the total variance and may be taken factor of water eutrophication. The third factor F3 accounting 17 % of the total variance and represents the influence of point sources of pollution on water quality. The fourth factor F4 accounting 13 % of the total variance and may be taken as an ecological dimension of water quality. Cluster analysis (CA) is an objective technique to identify natural groupings in the set of data. CA divides a large number of objects into smaller number of homogenous groups on the basis of their correlation structure. CA combines the data objects together to form the natural groups involving objects with similar cluster properties and separates the objects with different cluster properties. CA showed similarities and dissimilarities among the sampling sites and explain the observed clustering in terms of affected conditions. Using FA/PCA and CA have been identified water bodies that are under the highest pressure. With regard to the factors identified water bodies are: for factor F1 (Plazovic, Bosut, Studva, Zlatica, Stari Begej, Krivaja), for factor F2 (Krivaja, Keres), for factor F3 (Studva, Zlatica, Tamis, Krivaja i Keres) and for factor F4 (Studva, Zlatica, Krivaja, Keres).


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 26-31
Author(s):  
Muntasir Shareef

The present study uses the multivariate statistical techniques by applying the Factor Analysis (Principle component method) to explain the observed water quality data of Tigris river within Baghdad city. The water quality was analyzed at eleven different sites, along the river, over a period of one year (2017) using 20 water quality parameters. Five factors were identified by factor analysis which was responsible from the 72.291% of the total variance of the water quality in the Tigris river. The first factor called the pollution factor explained 34.387% of the total variance and the second factor called the surface runoff and erosion factor explained 11.875% of the total variance. While, the third, fourth, and fifth factors explained 10.213%, 8.861% and 6.956% of the total variance and called pH, Silica and nutrient factors, respectively. Multivariate statistical techniques can be effective methods to aid water resources managers understand complex nature of water quality issues and determine the priorities to sustain water quality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasant Wagh ◽  
Shrikant Mukate ◽  
Aniket Muley ◽  
Ajaykumar Kadam ◽  
Dipak Panaskar ◽  
...  

Abstract The integration of pollution index of groundwater (PIG), multivariate statistical techniques including correlation matrix (CM), principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis (CA) and various ionic plots was applied to elucidate the influence of natural and anthropogenic inputs on groundwater chemistry and quality of the Kadava river basin. A total of 80 groundwater samples were collected and analysed for major ions during pre- and post-monsoon seasons of 2012. Analytical results inferred that Ca, Mg, Cl, SO4 and NO3 surpass the desirable limit (DL) and permissible limit (PL) of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in both the seasons. The elevated content of total dissolved solids (TDS), Cl, SO4, Mg, Na and NO3 is influenced by precipitation and agricultural dominance. PIG results inferred that 52.5 and 35%, 30 and 37.5%, 12.5 and 20%, 2.5 and 5% groundwater samples fall in insignificant, low, moderate and high pollution category (PC) in pre- and post-monsoon seasons, respectively. PC 1 confirms salinity controlled process due to high inputs of TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, Cl and SO4. Also, PC 2 suggests alkalinity influence by pH, CO3, HCO3 and F content. PIG and statistical techniques help to interpret the water quality data in an easier way.


2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-60
Author(s):  
Ky Minh Nguyen ◽  
Lam Hoang Nguyen

The aims of this research are to assess water quality by organic and nutrient matters and identifying the environmental pressures, examine the impact of the loads to Nhu Y River, Thua Thien-Hue Province. Five stations were sampled at Nhu Y River, the research had monitoring of water quality parameters such as Temperature (Temp), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Nitrate (NO3-) and Phosphate (PO43-). The research used multivariate statistical techniques such as correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) to assess water quality. The correlation analysis shown a strong positive correlation exists between water quality parameters such as TempDO and BOD5COD (p<0.01). The PCA technique was applied to water quality data sets, which was obtained from Nhu Y River and the results show that the indices which has changed water quality. The results of the PCA using a varimax rotation technique were illustrated with two principal components (PC) and accounts for 62.207% of the overall total variance. The first PC accounted for 40.873% of the total variance, which was loaded with Temp, DO, BOD5 and COD. The second PC consists of NO3- and PO43- which accounts for 21.334% of the total variance, it can be due to the discharge of agricultural activities. Similarly, the CA has identified two major clusters involving: BOD5, COD, Temp, DO (the first cluster) and NO3-, PO43- (the second cluster).


2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 577
Author(s):  
Nícolas Reinaldo Finkler ◽  
Taison Anderson Bortolin ◽  
Jardel Cocconi ◽  
Ludmilson Abritta Mendes ◽  
Vania Elisabete Schneider

The natural factors and anthropogenic activities that contribute to spatial and temporal variation in superficial waters in Caxias do Sul’s urban hydrographic basins were determined applying multivariate analysis of data. The techniques used in this study were Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis. The monitoring was executed in 12 sampling stations, during January, 2009 to January, 2010 with monthly periodicity in total of 13 campaigns. Between chemical, biological and physical, 20 parameters were analyzed. The results state that with the use of ACP, a data variance of 70.94% was observed. Therefore, it testifies that major pollutants that contribute to a water quality variation in the county are classified as domestic and industrial pollutants, mainly from galvanic industry. Moreover, two clusters were found which differentiated regarding their location and distance from areas with a high human density, corroborating on identifying of impact due to human activities in urban rivers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 4401-4424
Author(s):  
Christian Lehr ◽  
Ralf Dannowski ◽  
Thomas Kalettka ◽  
Christoph Merz ◽  
Boris Schröder ◽  
...  

Abstract. Time series of groundwater and stream water quality often exhibit substantial temporal and spatial variability, whereas typical existing monitoring data sets, e.g. from environmental agencies, are usually characterized by relatively low sampling frequency and irregular sampling in space and/or time. This complicates the differentiation between anthropogenic influence and natural variability as well as the detection of changes in water quality which indicate changes in single drivers. We suggest the new term “dominant changes” for changes in multivariate water quality data which concern (1) multiple variables, (2) multiple sites and (3) long-term patterns and present an exploratory framework for the detection of such dominant changes in data sets with irregular sampling in space and time. Firstly, a non-linear dimension-reduction technique was used to summarize the dominant spatiotemporal dynamics in the multivariate water quality data set in a few components. Those were used to derive hypotheses on the dominant drivers influencing water quality. Secondly, different sampling sites were compared with respect to median component values. Thirdly, time series of the components at single sites were analysed for long-term patterns. We tested the approach with a joint stream water and groundwater data set quality consisting of 1572 samples, each comprising sixteen variables, sampled with a spatially and temporally irregular sampling scheme at 29 sites in northeast Germany from 1998 to 2009. The first four components were interpreted as (1) an agriculturally induced enhancement of the natural background level of solute concentration, (2) a redox sequence from reducing conditions in deep groundwater to post-oxic conditions in shallow groundwater and oxic conditions in stream water, (3) a mixing ratio of deep and shallow groundwater to the streamflow and (4) sporadic events of slurry application in the agricultural practice. Dominant changes were observed for the first two components. The changing intensity of the first component was interpreted as response to the temporal variability of the thickness of the unsaturated zone. A steady increase in the second component at most stream water sites pointed towards progressing depletion of the denitrification capacity of the deep aquifer.


2009 ◽  
Vol 59 (11) ◽  
pp. 2219-2226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyung Hwa Cho ◽  
Yongeun Park ◽  
Joo-Hyon Kang ◽  
Seo Jin Ki ◽  
Sungmin Cha ◽  
...  

The Yeongsan (YS) Reservoir is an estuarine reservoir which provides surrounding areas with public goods, such as water supply for agricultural and industrial areas and flood control. Beneficial uses of the YS Reservoir, however, are recently threatened by enriched non-point and point source inputs. A series of multivariate statistical approaches including principal component analysis (PCA) were applied to extract significant characteristics contained in a large suite of water quality data (18 variables monthly recorded for 5 years); thereby to provide the important phenomenal information for establishing effective water resource management plans for the YS Reservoir. The PCA results identified the most important five principal components (PCs), explaining 71% of total variance of the original data set. The five PCs were interpreted as hydro-meteorological effect, nitrogen loading, phosphorus loading, primary production of phytoplankton, and fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) loading. Furthermore, hydro-meteorological effect and nitrogen loading could be characterized by a yearly periodicity whereas FIB loading showed an increasing trend with respect to time. The study results presented here might be useful to establish preliminary strategies for abating water quality degradation in the YS Reservoir.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-82
Author(s):  
Maryam Ravanbakhsh ◽  
Yaser Tahmasebi Birgani ◽  
Maryam Dastoorpoor ◽  
Kambiz Ahmadi Angali

Discriminant analysis (DA) and principal component analysis (PCA), as multivariate statistical techniques, are used to interpret large complex water quality data and assess their temporal and spatial variation in the basin of the Zohreh river. In this study, data sets of 16 water quality parameters collected from 1966 to 2013) in 4 stations (1554 observations for each parameter) were analyzed. PCA for data sets of Kheirabad, Poleflour, Chambostan and Dehmolla stations resulted in 4, 4, 4, and 3 latent factors accounting for 88.985%, 93.828%, 88.648%, and 88.68% of the total variance in water quality parameters, respectively. It is indicated that total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), chlorides (Cl−), sodium (Na), sodium absorption ratio (SAR), and %Na were responsible for water quality variations which are mainly related to natural and anthropogenic pollution sources including climate effects, gypsum, and salt crystals in the supratidal of Zohreh river delta, fault zones of Chamshir I and II, drainage of sugarcane fields, and domestic and industrial wastewaters discharge into the river. DA reduced the data set to only seven parameters (discharge, temperature, electrical conductivity, HCO3-, Cl-, %Na, and T-Hardness), affording more than 58.5% correct assignations in temporal evaluations and describing responsible parameters for large variations in the quality of the Zohreh river.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Lehr ◽  
Ralf Dannowski ◽  
Thomas Kalettka ◽  
Christoph Merz ◽  
Boris Schröder ◽  
...  

Abstract. Time series of catchment water quality often exhibit substantial temporal and spatial variability which can rarely be traced back to single causal factors. Numerous anthropogenic and natural drivers influence groundwater and stream water quality, especially in regions with high land use intensity. In addition, typical existing monitoring data sets, e.g. from environmental agencies, are usually characterized by relatively low sampling frequency and irregular sampling in space and/or time. This complicates the differentiation between anthropogenic influence and natural variability as well as the detection of changes in water quality which indicate changes of single drivers. Detecting such changes is of fundamental interest for water management purposes as well as for scientific analyses. We suggest the new term dominant changes for changes in multivariate water quality data that concern (1) more than a single variable, (2) more than one single site and (3) more than short-term fluctuations or single events and present an exploratory framework for the detection of such dominant changes in multivariate water quality data sets with irregular sampling in space and time. Firstly, we used a non-linear dimension reduction technique to derive multivariate water quality components. The components provide a sparse description of the dominant spatiotemporal dynamics in the multivariate water quality data set. In addition, they can be used to derive hypotheses on the dominant drivers influencing water quality. Secondly, different sampling sites were compared with respect to median component values. Thirdly, time series of the components at single sites were analysed for seasonal patterns and linear and non-linear trends. Spatial and temporal heterogeneities are efficiently used as a source of information rather than being considered as noise. Besides, non-linearities are considered explicitly. The approach is especially recommended for the exploratory assessment of existing long term low frequency multivariate water quality monitoring data. We tested the approach with a large data set of stream water and groundwater quality consisting of sixteen hydrochemical variables sampled with a spatially and temporally irregular sampling scheme at 29 sites in the Uckermark region in northeast Germany from 1998 to 2009. Four components were derived and interpreted as (1) the agriculturally induced enhancement of the natural background level of solute concentration, (2) the redox sequence from reducing conditions in deep groundwater to post oxic conditions in shallow groundwater and oxic conditions in stream water, (3) the mixing ratio of deep and shallow groundwater to the streamflow and (4) sporadic events of slurry application in the agricultural practice. Dominant changes were observed for the first two components. The changing intensity of the 1st component during the course of the observation period was interpreted as response to the temporal variability of the thickness of the unsaturated zone. A steady increase of the 2nd component throughout the monitoring period at most stream water sites pointed towards progressing depletion of the denitrification capacity of the deep aquifer.


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