Assessment of Seasonal Variation in Surface Water Quality of Savitri River by Using Multivariate Statistical Techniques

An attempt was made to study the physico-chemical parameters of Savitri river water using multivariate statistical techniques such as principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis. In this study, data of 26 water quality parameters for six sampling locations were analyzed during monsoon, winter and summer season of June, 2004 to May, 2007. Scree plots for the eigenvalues obtained in this study shows pronounced seasonal change in slope. Water Quality Index (WQI) values were found to be increasing during the seasons and indicate the deterioration of water quality in summer season. Cluster analysis demonstrates that the surface water character changes significantly with seasons.