Determination of effective water quality parameters of Aras River using Principal Component Analysis

The aim of current study is effective water quality parameters of Aras River using principal component analysis (PCA) from 2015 to 2016. Samples were collected at four seasons and analyzed using standard methods (titration and spectrophotometer instruments). In this study, thirteen parameters such as water temperature, DO, BOD5, COD, TDS, Turbidity, TA, CO2, pH, DIP, NH4/N, NO2/N and NO3/Nwere analyzed. Results showed that based on PCA test, six parameters were involved in the first component (with variance of 34%) and DO and COD contained high loading factor which there were selected as the main parameters of the first component. Also, in the second component (with 23% variance), the parameters of carbon dioxide and pH, in the third component (with 16% variance), the parameters of BOD5 and NO2- and in the fourth component (with 12% variance), the TA were contributed. This study showed that the PCA test is a suitable and effective method for determining the effective water quality parameters and also dominance source of various contaminations.