Hydrochemical characterization of surface water in the Babar watershed (Algeria) using environmetric techniques and time series analysis

ABSTRACT

Environmetric techniques such as cluster analysis (CA) and principal component and time series analysis were used to evaluate variations in surface water in the Babar watershed. The River Arab is monitored at the Babar dam. The later was build for drinking and industrial water supply for the local population. The impounded water is experiencing a degradation of its quality due to different types of pollution, in addition to the natural processes of erosion and leaching of various toxic elements. A total of 21 samples were collected. Eleven variables were determined on every sample representing three different sampling stations. TDS in the saline water was high in the eastern part (S1), low in the western part (S2), and intermediate in the dam (S3). The water type is for S1, for S2 and , mixed water in the dam. In the CA, 7 variables were classified into 2 clusters controlled by and 21 samples are grouped into 3 statistical groups coinciding with the stations S1, S2 and S3. Principal component analysis indicates two principal components (PCs), which explained 87% of the total variance in water quality data set. Two PCs, which are salinization and sulphates, explain 73% and 14% of the total variance, respectively. Time series analysis showed that Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, Cl⁻ and have very similar trend to TDS and K⁺ have a similar pattern to . It suggests that five components control TDS. K⁺ and resulted from fertilizers and domestic sewage inputs from the tributaries of river.

KEYWORDS:

• Surface water
• Hydrochemical
• Statistical analysis
• time series analyses
• Babar watershed-Algeria

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Abderrahmane Boudoukha http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7889-3863