Assessment of water quality variations under non-rainy and rainy conditions by principal component analysis techniques in Lake Doam watershed, Korea

Abstract

Abstract This study was based on water quality data of the Lake Doam watershed, monitored from 2010 to 2013 at eight different sites with multiple physiochemical parameters. The dataset was divided into two sub-datasets, namely, non-rainy and rainy. Principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis (FA) techniques were applied to evaluate seasonal correla -tions of water quality parameters and extract the most significant parameters influencing stream water quality. The first five principal components identified by PCA techniques explained greater than 80% of the total variance for both data-sets. PCA and FA results indicated that total nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, total phosphorus, and dissolved inorganic phos-phorus were the most significant parameters under the non-rainy condition. This indicates that organic and inorganic pollutants loads in the streams can be related to discharges from point sources (domestic discharges) and non-point sources (agriculture, forest) of pollution. During the rainy period, turbidity, suspended solids, nitrate nitrogen, and dis-solved inorganic phosphorus were identified as the most significant parameters. Physical parameters, suspended solids, and turbidity, are related to soil erosion and runoff from the basin. Organic and inorganic pollutants during the rainy period can be linked to decayed matters, manure, and inorganic fertilizers used in farming. Thus, the results of this study suggest that principal component analysis techniques are useful for analysis and interpretation of data and identification of pollution factors, which are valuable for understanding seasonal variations in water quality for effective management.