Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Application of Multivariate Statistical Methods and Water-Quality Index to Evaluation of Water Quality in the Kashkan River

  • Published:
Environmental Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Kashkan River (KR), located in the west of Iran, is a major source of water supply for residential and agricultural areas as well as livestock. The objective of this study was to assess the spatial and long temporal variations of surface water quality of the KR based on measured chemical ions. The Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment Water Quality Index (CCME WQI) technique was utilized using measurements from 10 sampling stations during a period of 36 years (1974–2009). The measured data included cations (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+), anions (HCO3 −, Cl−, SO4 2−), pH, and electrical conductivity. Principal component analysis was performed to identify which of the parameters to be included in the CCME WQI calculations were actually correlated and which ones were responsible for most of the variance observed in the water-quality data. In addition, KR water quality was evaluated for its suitability for drinking and irrigation purposes using conventional methods. Last, trend detection in the WQI time series of the KR showed water-quality degradation at all sampling stations, whereas the Jelhool sub-basin more adversely affects the quality of KR water in the watershed. Nonetheless, on average, the water quality of the KR was rated as fair.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Public Health Association (1985) Standard methods of water and waste water analysis, 13th edn. APHA, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • American Public Health Association (1995) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 19th edn. APHA, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association, Water Pollution Control Federation (1971) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. APHA, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Aris AZ, Praveena SM, Abdullah MH, Radojevic M (2012) Statistical approaches and hydrochemical modelling of groundwater system in small tropical island. J Hydroinform 14(1):206–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Awadallah AG, Fahmy H, Karaman HG (2010) Trend detection in water quality data using time series seasonal adjustment and statistical tests. Irrigation Drain 60(2):253–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ayers RS, Wescot DW (1985) Water quality for irrigation. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 20, Revision 1. FAO, Rome, Italy

  • Babaei SF, Hassani AH, Torabian A, Karbassi AR, Hosseinzadeh LF (2011) Evolution of a new surface water quality index for Karoon catchment in Iran. Water Sci Technol 64(12):2483–2491

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment (2001) Canadian water quality guidelines for the protection of aquatic life: CCME Water Quality Index 1.0, Technical Report. In: Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines (2001) Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. Winnipeg, Canada

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang H (2008) Spatial analysis of water quality trends in the Han River basin, South Korea. Water Res 42:3285–3304

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen Z, Ivanov PC, Hu K, Stanley HE (2002) Effect of nonstationarities on detrended fluctuation analysis. Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys 65(4 Pt 1):041107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cieszynska M, Wesolowski M, Bartoszewicz M, Michalska M, Nowacki J (2012) Application of physicochemical data for water-quality assessment of watercourses in the Gdansk municipality (South Baltic coast). Environ Monit Assess 184:2017–2029

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cude CG (2001) Oregon water quality index: a tool for evaluating water quality management effectiveness. J Am Water Resour Assoc 37(1):125–137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Domenico PA, Schwartz FW (1990) Physical and chemical hydrogeology. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Handa BK (1969) Description and classification of media for hydro-geochemical investigations. In: Symposium on ground water studies in arid and semiarid regions. Roorkee, India

  • Hem JD (1985) Study and interpretation of the chemical characteristics of natural water. United States Geological Survey Water Supply 2254

  • Hirsch RM, Alexander RB, Smith R (1991) Selection of methods for the detection and estimation of trends in water quality. Water Resour Res 27(5):803–813

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kantelhardt JW, Zschiegner S, Koscielny-Bunde E, Havlin S, Bunde A, Stanley HE (2002) Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis of nonstationary time series. Physica A Stat Mech Appl 316:87–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karamouz M, Zahraie B, Kerachian R, Mahjouri N, Moridi A (2006) Development of a master plan for industrial solid waste management. Int J Environ Sci Technol 3(3):229–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kendall MG (1975) Rank correlation methods. Griffin, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Keshtkar AR, Mahdavi M, Salajegheh A, Ahmadi H, Sadoddi A, Ghermezcheshmeh B (2011) Exploring the relationship between land use and surface water quality using multivariate statistics in arid and semi-arid regions. Desert 16:33–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan F, Husain T, Lumb A (2003) Water quality evaluation and trend analysis in selected watersheds of the Atlantic region of Canada. Environ Monit Assess 88:221–242

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li Z, Zhang YK (2007) Quantifying fractal dynamics of groundwater systems with detrended fluctuation analysis. J Hydrol 336:139–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liou SM, Lo SL, Wanga SH (2004) Generalized water quality index for Taiwan. Environ Monit Assess 96:35–52

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lumb A, Halliwell D, Sharma T (2006) Application of CCME WQI quality index to monitor water quality; a case study of the Mackenzie River basin, Canada. Environ Monit Assess 113:411–429

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mann HB (1945) Nonparametric tests against trend. Econometrica 13:245–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsoukas C, Islam S, Rodriguez-Iturbe I (2000) Detrended fluctuation analysis of rainfall and streamflow time series. J Geophys Res 105:29165–29172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meng XL (1994) Multiple imputation with uncongenial sources of input. Stat Sci 9(4):538–573

    Google Scholar 

  • Noori R, Karbassi A, Khakpour A, Shahbazbegian M, Mohammadi KBH, Vesali-Naseh M (2011) Chemometric analysis of surface water quality data: case study of the Gorganrud River Basin, Iran. Environ Model Assess 17(4):411–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ott WR (1978) Environmental indices: theory and practice. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Ann Arbor, MI

    Google Scholar 

  • Pejman AH, Bidhendi NGR, Karbassi AR, Mehrdadi N, Bidhendi EM (2009) Evaluation of spatial and seasonal variations in surface water quality using multivariate statistical techniques. Int J Environ Sci Technol 6(3):467–476

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Peng CK, Havlin S, Stanley HE, Goldberger AL (1995) Quantification of scaling exponents and crossover phenomena in nonstationary heartbeat time series. Chaos 5(1):82–87

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Piper AM (1944) A graphic procedure in the geochemical interpretation of water-analyses. Trans Am Geophys Union 25:914–928

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qadir A, Naseem R, Malik RF, Husain SZ (2008) Spatio-temporal variations in water quality of Nullah Aik tributary of the River Chenab, Pakistan. Environ Monit Assess 140:43–59

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Richards LA (1954) Diagnosis and improvement of saline and alkaline soils. United States Salinity Laboratory, Department of Agriculture Hand Book, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosemond SD, Duro DC, Dube M (2009) Comparative analysis of regional water quality in Canada using the water quality index. Environ Monit Assess 156:223–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salas JD (1993) Analysis and modeling of hydrologic time series. In: Maidment DR (ed) Handbook of hydrology. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sargaonkar A, Gupta A, Devotta S (2008) Dynamic weighting system for water quality index. Water Sci Technol 58(6):1261–1271

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sedeno-Diaz JE, Lopez-Lopez E (2006) Water quality in the Río Lerma, Mexico: an overview of the last quarter of the twentieth century. Water Resour Manag 9(3):379–385

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma A, Singh AK, Kumar K (2010) Environmental geochemistry and quality assessment of surface and subsurface water of Mahi River basin, western India. Environ Earth Sci 65:1231–1250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shuval HI, Adin A, Fiatal B, Raawitz E, Yekuterl P (1986) Wastewater irrigation in developing countries. Health effects and technological solutions. World Bank Technical Paper No. 52. World Bank, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh AK, Mondal GC, Kumar S, Singh TB, Tewary BK, Sinha A (2008) Major ion chemistry, weathering processes and water quality assessment in upper catchment of Damodar River basin, India. Environ Geol 54:745–758

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sojka M, Siepak M, Zioła A, Frankowski M, Błażejewska SM, Siepak J (2008) Application of multivariate statistical techniques to evaluation of water quality in the Mała Wełna River (Western Poland). Environ Monit Assess 147:159–170

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sorinejad A (2002) Estimation the runoff of KR by using GIS [in Persian]. Geogr Res Q 34(43):57–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Stambuk-Giljanovic N (2003) The water quality of the Vrgorska Matica River. Environ Monit Assess 83:229–253

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Szabolcs I, Darab C (1964) The influence of irrigation water of high sodium carbonate content of soils. Proceeedings of the 8th International congress of ISS Trans. Vol 2, pp 803–812

  • Talkner P, Weber RO (2000) Power spectrum and detrended fluctuation analysis: application to daily temperatures. Phys Rev E Stat Phys Plasmas Fluids Relat Interdiscip Topics 62:150–160

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Todd DK, Mays LW (2005) Groundwater hydrology, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York, p 636

    Google Scholar 

  • Water Resource Management Company (2010) River bank data: data of physicochemical quality of surface water. WRMC, Tehran

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (1993) Guidelines for drinking water quality. Vol 1. 2nd ed. Recommendations. WHO, Geneva

  • Yue S, Wang C (2004) The Mann–Kendall test modified by effective sample size to detect trend in serially correlated hydrological series. Water Resour Manag 18:201–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yue J, Zhao X, Shang P (2010) Effect of trends on detrended fluctuation analysis of precipitation series. Math Probl Eng. doi:10.1155/2010/749894

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaporozec A (1972) Graphical interpretation of water-quality data. Ground Water 10(2):32–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou F, Liu Y, Guo H (2007) Application of multivariate statistical methods to water quality assessment of the watercourses in Northwestern New Territories, Hong Kong. Environ Monit Assess 132:1–13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Institute (SCWMRI). The author thanks the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments, which were very useful in improving the manuscript. The writer is also thankful to the members of the Iranian WRMC for providing data.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Institute, 13445-1136, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Abazar Mostafaei

  2. Department of Geology, Shahid Chamran University, Ahvaz, Iran

    Abazar Mostafaei

Authors
  1. Abazar Mostafaei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abazar Mostafaei.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mostafaei, A. Application of Multivariate Statistical Methods and Water-Quality Index to Evaluation of Water Quality in the Kashkan River. Environmental Management 53, 865–881 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0238-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0238-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation