Abstract
Analysis of temporal patterns of high-dimensional time-series water quality data is essential for pollution management worldwide. This study has applied dynamic factor analysis (DFA) and cluster analysis (CA) to analyze time-series water quality data monitored at the five stations installed along the La Buong river in Southern Vietnam. Application of the DFA identified two types of temporal patterns, one of the run-off driven parameters (total suspended solid (TSS), turbidity, and iron) and the other of diffuse source pollution. The association of the variables like BOD5 and COD at most stations to the run-off-driven parameters revealed their sharing of drivers. On the contrary, separating variables like phosphate (PO43) at the three upstream stations from the run-off patterns suggested their local point-source origin. The DFA-derived factors were later used in the time-point CA to explore the seasonality of water quality parameters and their pollution intensities compared to regulatory levels. The result suggested intensification in wet season of Fe, TSS, BOD5, and COD concentrations at most sites, which are unobservable in run-off detached parameters like reactive nitrogen, phosphate (PO43−), and E. coli. These findings generated robust insights to support water quality management for river habitat conservation.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed for the study are available on reasonable request (Dr. Nguyen Hong Quan with the email address nh.quan@iced.org.vn).
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This research is funded by the Vietnam National University of Ho Chi Minh (VNU-HCM) city under grant number C2020-24–09/HD-KHCN.
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All authors contributed to the study in various aspects. LHP developed the concept, conducted data analysis, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript, while DDT contributed to revising the structure and editing. TDHL performed correlation analysis and, together with QTD, writo various parts of the manuscript. NHQ provided monitoring data and revised the manuscript. DNK, NTTH, NHA, and DTA presented their comments on the methods and discussion.
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Box and whisker plots of seasonal raw values of 21 monitoring parameters of data measured at the five monitoring stations
Dendrograms of clustering at the five monitoring stations
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Pham, L.H., Tran, D.D., Le, T.D.H. et al. Dynamic multivariate analysis for pollution assessment and river habitat conservation in the Vietnamese La Buong watershed. Environ Monit Assess 194 (Suppl 2), 774 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10184-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10184-8