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Comprehensive assessment of water quality and associated health risk by using physicochemical quality indices and multivariate analysis in Terme River, Turkey

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Abstract

The ecosystem and water quality of Terme River, an essential drinking and irrigation water source in the region, are at risk due to anthropogenic pressures. Therefore, the present study aim to present a comprehensive overview of the water quality state and pollution sources of the river. Some physicochemical water quality parameters were analyzed by standard methods along the surface water of river spatiotemporally. The concentrations of major elements and heavy metals (Na, Mg, K, Ca, Al, Cr, Fe, Co, Mn, Ni, Zn, Cd, Cu, Pb, As) were measured in water samples. Relationships between physicochemical data were assessed by using multivariate statistical analysis (MSA) methods. The order of the mean values of cations were as follow: Ca2+ > Mg2+ > Na+ > K+ > NH4+ (32.66, 26.82, 13.29, 6.45, 0.305; mg/L), and order of anions: SO42- > NO3– >F- > NO2– (7.88, 3.988, 1.01, 0.0316; mg/L). Increases in ion concentrations in the downstream zone have been monitored in the summer and autumn months. Average water quality index (WQI) 22, heavy metal pollution index (HPI) 15.61, heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) 0.78, and nutrient pollution index (NPI) 0.404 values indicated that the general water quality of Terme River was fine. All hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) values in this study were calculated below the risk threshold (<1). HI-total values (2.48E-01) in children were higher than in adults (2.14E-01). This suggests that children’s health is at higher risk than adults. Principal component analysis (PCA) data formed four principal components (PCs) explaining 85.22% of the total variance. These PCs revealed that the significant changes in water quality occurred from point and diffuse sources, including rock types of the basin, soil erosion, domestic wastewater discharges, and agricultural flow of inorganic fertilizers.

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Availability of data and materials

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Funding

This research was funded by the Scientific Project Office of Giresun University (FEN-BAP-A-150219-30).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, Faculty of Arts and Science, Giresun University, Gure Campus, 28200, Giresun, Turkey

    Fikret Ustaoğlu & Yalçın Tepe

  2. Faculty of Arts & Sciences Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Hydrobiology Section, Ordu University, Cumhuriyet Campus, 52200 Altınordu, Ordu, Turkey

    Beyhan Taş & Halim Topaldemir

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  1. Fikret Ustaoğlu
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  2. Beyhan Taş
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  3. Yalçın Tepe
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  4. Halim Topaldemir
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Fikret Ustaoğlu: conceptualization, statistical analysis, methodology, funding acquisition, project administration, and data curation. Beyhan Taş: investigation, writing — original draft, and visualization. Yalçın Tepe: conceptualization, data curation, and writing — review and editing. Halim Topaldemir: investigation and laboratory analysis of samples. All authors read and approved the final manuscript

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Correspondence to Yalçın Tepe.

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Ustaoğlu, F., Taş, B., Tepe, Y. et al. Comprehensive assessment of water quality and associated health risk by using physicochemical quality indices and multivariate analysis in Terme River, Turkey. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 62736–62754 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15135-3

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