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Classification of rivers based on water quality assessment using factor analysis in Taizi River basin, northeast China

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Abstract

A method for river classification based on water quality assessment (WQA) was introduced using factor analysis (FA) in this paper. Sixty-nine sampling sites and 20 water quality parameters in Taizi River basin were selected for monitoring and analysis. Five factors were determined in FA, denoted as general, hardness, trophic, nitrogen pollution, and physical factors. The total factor scores (TFSs) of the WQA results from all sampling sites were calculated by the eigenvalue and factor score of each factor. The TFSs of 69 sites were interpolated with the measure of inverse distance weighted in the river buffer zone generated by ArcGIS 9.2 software to form a continuous spatial distribution along river channels. All streams were divided into five classes marked “excellent”, “good”, “fair”, “poor”, and “seriously polluted”. The classification result showed that the water quality of Taizi River basin deteriorated gradually from the mountain area to the plain area. Sewage and intensive human activities contributed to the deterioration of water quality since towns and farmland were dotted densely along the river basin.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the “Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment in China” (Grant no. 2008ZX07526-001). The authors express their sincere gratitude to colleagues Weijing Kong, Xiaodong Qu, and Libin Chen for their assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Wan

  2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, 8 Dayangfang, Beiyuan, Anwai, Beijing, 100012, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Wan, Yuan Zhang & Wei Meng

  3. Laboratory of Riverine Ecological Conservation and Technology, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Wan, Yuan Zhang & Wei Meng

  4. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Hongmei Bu

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  1. Jun Wan
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  2. Hongmei Bu
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  3. Yuan Zhang
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  4. Wei Meng
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Correspondence to Wei Meng.

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Wan, J., Bu, H., Zhang, Y. et al. Classification of rivers based on water quality assessment using factor analysis in Taizi River basin, northeast China. Environ Earth Sci 69, 909–919 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1976-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1976-5

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