Multivariate analysis of water quality of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

Abstract Understanding ambient water quality characteristics is critical for identifying the key issues related to water quality and for deriving potential solutions for protecting public and environmental health. Water quality monitoring is used to characterize physical and chemical characteristics...

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Main Authors: Rahul Kumar, Prachi Pandey, Aditya Pandey, Ujjwal Kumar, Vikrant Singh, Patricia Gilbert, Lydia Kenison, Jeffrey Caudill, Vijay P. Singh, Pramod K. Pandey
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2025-04-01
Series:Discover Water
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/s43832-025-00213-1
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author Rahul Kumar
Prachi Pandey
Aditya Pandey
Ujjwal Kumar
Vikrant Singh
Patricia Gilbert
Lydia Kenison
Jeffrey Caudill
Vijay P. Singh
Pramod K. Pandey
author_facet Rahul Kumar
Prachi Pandey
Aditya Pandey
Ujjwal Kumar
Vikrant Singh
Patricia Gilbert
Lydia Kenison
Jeffrey Caudill
Vijay P. Singh
Pramod K. Pandey
author_sort Rahul Kumar
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Understanding ambient water quality characteristics is critical for identifying the key issues related to water quality and for deriving potential solutions for protecting public and environmental health. Water quality monitoring is used to characterize physical and chemical characteristics, and data driven approaches are often employed for evaluating water quality. However, observation-based data driven approaches pose challenges in decision making because of temporal and spatial variability of water quality, which lead to challenges in decision-making. Combining the monitoring approach with multivariate statistical analysis may provide an improved understanding of water quality of ambient water bodies. In this study, we used rapid and portable sensors to determine water quality of samples collected from four different locations in Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Then, we used a multivariate statistical technique to evaluate spatial water quality characteristics. Four sampling sites with seven water quality parameters produced clusters reflecting different pollution levels. Factor analysis extracted two varifactors explaining a majority of the total variance and representing the dominant water quality parameters. In this study, we used handheld sensors, which are relatively in-expensive, and easy to use with accuracy varying between 5 and 10%, which is comparable to conventional sensors. These traditional sensors are relatively expensive and challenging to use compare to portable the rapid test sensors. The results showed that the average pH of delta water was within permissible limit for drinking water (6.5–8.5 pH). However, the average turbidity value was often greater than the permissible limit for drinking water, which is set to less than 1 NTU. The range of turbidity varied depending on the sampling locations (0.1–7.5). The permissible conductivity value for drinking water is set to 1000 μS/cm, and the delta water conductivity was found to vary between 305 and 6,600 μS/cm. The study presented here conducted a water quality sampling to evaluate the water quality, and demonstrates the capacity and application of multivariable statistical analysis for water quality assessment and identifying pollution factors in ambient waterbodies.
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spelling doaj-art-e5b80d87fee54af9a6cd6b0dabef043c2025-08-20T02:17:49ZengSpringerDiscover Water2730-647X2025-04-015111710.1007/s43832-025-00213-1Multivariate analysis of water quality of Sacramento-San Joaquin DeltaRahul Kumar0Prachi Pandey1Aditya Pandey2Ujjwal Kumar3Vikrant Singh4Patricia Gilbert5Lydia Kenison6Jeffrey Caudill7Vijay P. Singh8Pramod K. Pandey9Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-DavisDepartment of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California-DavisDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California-DavisSchool of Environment and Natural Resource, Doon UniversityDepartment of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-DavisCalifornia Department of Parks and Recreation, Aquatic Invasive Species Branch, Division of Boating and WaterwaysCalifornia Department of Parks and Recreation, Aquatic Invasive Species Branch, Division of Boating and WaterwaysCalifornia Department of Parks and Recreation, Aquatic Invasive Species Branch, Division of Boating and WaterwaysDepartment of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and Zachry Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Texas A&M UniversityDepartment of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-DavisAbstract Understanding ambient water quality characteristics is critical for identifying the key issues related to water quality and for deriving potential solutions for protecting public and environmental health. Water quality monitoring is used to characterize physical and chemical characteristics, and data driven approaches are often employed for evaluating water quality. However, observation-based data driven approaches pose challenges in decision making because of temporal and spatial variability of water quality, which lead to challenges in decision-making. Combining the monitoring approach with multivariate statistical analysis may provide an improved understanding of water quality of ambient water bodies. In this study, we used rapid and portable sensors to determine water quality of samples collected from four different locations in Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Then, we used a multivariate statistical technique to evaluate spatial water quality characteristics. Four sampling sites with seven water quality parameters produced clusters reflecting different pollution levels. Factor analysis extracted two varifactors explaining a majority of the total variance and representing the dominant water quality parameters. In this study, we used handheld sensors, which are relatively in-expensive, and easy to use with accuracy varying between 5 and 10%, which is comparable to conventional sensors. These traditional sensors are relatively expensive and challenging to use compare to portable the rapid test sensors. The results showed that the average pH of delta water was within permissible limit for drinking water (6.5–8.5 pH). However, the average turbidity value was often greater than the permissible limit for drinking water, which is set to less than 1 NTU. The range of turbidity varied depending on the sampling locations (0.1–7.5). The permissible conductivity value for drinking water is set to 1000 μS/cm, and the delta water conductivity was found to vary between 305 and 6,600 μS/cm. The study presented here conducted a water quality sampling to evaluate the water quality, and demonstrates the capacity and application of multivariable statistical analysis for water quality assessment and identifying pollution factors in ambient waterbodies.https://doi.org/10.1007/s43832-025-00213-1Ambient water qualityMultivariate analysisClusteringHeterogeneityObservational data
spellingShingle Rahul Kumar
Prachi Pandey
Aditya Pandey
Ujjwal Kumar
Vikrant Singh
Patricia Gilbert
Lydia Kenison
Jeffrey Caudill
Vijay P. Singh
Pramod K. Pandey
Multivariate analysis of water quality of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Discover Water
Ambient water quality
Multivariate analysis
Clustering
Heterogeneity
Observational data
title Multivariate analysis of water quality of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
title_full Multivariate analysis of water quality of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
title_fullStr Multivariate analysis of water quality of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
title_full_unstemmed Multivariate analysis of water quality of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
title_short Multivariate analysis of water quality of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
title_sort multivariate analysis of water quality of sacramento san joaquin delta
topic Ambient water quality
Multivariate analysis
Clustering
Heterogeneity
Observational data
url https://doi.org/10.1007/s43832-025-00213-1
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