Appraisal of seasonal variations in water quality of river Cauvery using multivariate analysis

ABSTRACT The present study determines the water quality (WQ) of river Cauvery and its distributaries in Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu state, India, through WQ parameters and also using multivariate analysis. The water samples were collected by grab sampling method during the four seasons, namely, winter, summer, southwest, and northeast monsoons of the year 2014–15. The study reveals that total dissolved solids, turbidity, total alkalinity, total hardness, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, and total coliform results of river Cauvery and the distributaries exceeded the drinking water standards, which are mainly in summer. Also, the outcomes of principal component analysis and cluster analysis confirmed the high pollution loads in the water samples. It could be caused by the sewage discharges from residential and commercial areas. Moreover, solid wastes dumping and all sorts of cleaning activities were found at all stations. The present study concluded that the water from river Cauvery and its distributaries are not potable directly. With awareness creation and water treatment methods among the consumers, the river system can be conserved for proper usages.