SURFACE WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF BHINDAWAS LAKE (HARYANA, INDIA) USING MULTIVARIATE STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES

Bhindawas Lake is an important resource for India relishing protected status since 1986. It is a man-made lake constructed to store excess waters of Jawaharlal Nehru Canal. It serves as an important breeding, feeding and wintering site for significant members of bird flora. Over past few years it is under serious pressures due to invasive species, eutrophication and siltation. The objectives of the present investigation were to (1) provide an overview of the present water quality in Bhindawas Lake, Haryana, India and (2) extraction of significant water quality parameters and identification of pollution sources using multivariate statistical techniques such as Cluster Analysis (CA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Factor Analysis(FA). Data matrix included analytical results of 17 water quality parameters at 18 sampling sites within the Lake monitored during pre-monsoon and monsoon season of 2014. Dendrogram resulting from cluster analysis grouped the sampling sites into 3 statistically significant clusters based on the spatial similarities in the Lake water characteristics. Principal component analysis and factor analysis yielded 5 factors that explained for 80.85% variation in the data. PCA/FA helped in identification of parameters namely minerals, salts, nutrients and organic pollutants, that greatly influence variation patterns of temporal data and contribute to high pollution loading for Bhindawas Lake. FA also suggested the probable sources of these pollution loadings could be soil leaching or erosion followed by runoff, non-point sources such as agriculture and anthropogenic sources. The results reveal that the Lake is under pressure due to non-point pollution sources and requires immediate attention and implementation of conservation and management strategies to maintain its ecological integrity.