Water Quality Assessment Using Principal Component Analysis

Water quality assessment is always a vital task, regardless of its use by humans, animals, or even for crops. The principal component analysis is a multivariate technique that is mostly used for data reduction or to remove the multicollinearity of the variables. In this research article, an indicator based on principal components is developed to assess the water quality, which can be a good alternative to the existing method of finding the water quality index. Data from 5 sites of water reservoirs in Aurangabad, Maharashtra (India) are selected for the present study. Water samples were collected throughout the year on a monthly basis to study the 19 different water quality parameters. The ranks evaluated using PCA are compared with existing NSFWQI. It is also found that all the water reservoirs under study are polluted. Among the 5 sites, two sites are moderately polluted, and three sites are highly polluted.