Assessment of spatial and temporal changes in water quality of a tropical river in Southern Western Ghats, Kerala, India, using physicochemical quality indices and multivariate analysis

Saha, Ajoy and Paul, T T and Sudheeshan, Deepa and Suresh, V V R and Das, B K and Manoharan, S and Vijaykumar, M E and Samanta, S and Jana, Chayna (2022) Assessment of spatial and temporal changes in water quality of a tropical river in Southern Western Ghats, Kerala, India, using physicochemical quality indices and multivariate analysis. Natural Resources Research, 31. pp. 1-27. ISSN 1573-8981

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Abstract

Water quality is a critical environmental issue, because all forms of life depend on water. The present study focused on the spatiotemporal trends of 22 physicochemical parameters of the water in the Chaliyar River, which originates from the Western Ghats, Kerala, in India, and drains into the Arabian Sea. Water samples were collected from eight stations located along the river in different seasons (pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon) during two annual cycles (2017 to 2019). Most of the water quality parameters showed significant seasonal variations with spatial heterogeneity. Water quality index (WQI) and comprehensive pollution index (CPI) were used to analyze the river water for its potability and pollution status, respectively. The WQI showed “good” to “unsuitable” category and the CPI showed “sub-clean” to “severely polluted” status at the various stations of the river. The nutrient enrichment of water, analyzed using the trophic state index, showed “mesotrophic” to “high eutrophic” state at various stations, indicating that the river is tending toward eutrophication particularly along the downstream stations. Pearson’s correlation demonstrated the influence of natural sources on the riverine water composition. The results of factor analysis revealed that the highest factor loadings were on total hardness, Ca, Mg, chlorinity and salinity, suggesting that non-point inorganic pollution, largely due to river basin geology and salinity ingress, was responsible mainly for potable water quality deterioration. Based on the results, the eight stations along the river were grouped into three clusters of “less,” “moderately” and “highly” polluted and recorded a decrease in water quality from upstream to downstream. The study also highlighted the importance of multivariate statistical techniques in identifying the pattern of variability of parameters, besides helping in developing management strategies to improve river water quality by identifying relatively significant parameters causing the maximum water quality degradation.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Hydrochemistry; Eutrophication; Water quality index; Pollution index; Western Ghats; Chaliyar River
Subjects:	Freshwater Fisheries Marine Environment > Water quality management
Divisions:	CMFRI-Kochi > Mariculture Division Subject Area > CMFRI > CMFRI-Kochi > Mariculture Division CMFRI-Kochi > Mariculture Division Subject Area > CMFRI-Kochi > Mariculture Division
Depositing User:	Arun Surendran
Date Deposited:	29 Jan 2025 09:43
Last Modified:	29 Jan 2025 09:43
URI:	http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/id/eprint/19272

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