Water Quality Assessment Using Multivariate Statistical Techniques: A Case Study of Devika Stream of Udhampur District in Lower Shivalik Region

Abstract

Our knowledge of the water quality of small mountainous water streams (rivulets) is based on very limited data; therefore, the current study has been carried out to assess the impact of human activities on the water quality of ‘Devika’ stream, a rivulet flowing through Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir by following physico-chemical parameters, such as temperature, pH, EC, hardness, major anions and major cations. The Piper diagram showed that 30% of water samples belonged to the Ca²⁺ type, whereas 70% of the remaining samples were in no dominant cation facies. Similarly, for anions, 50% of samples were categorised into Cl^- type, 30% in no dominant type, 20% HCO₃^- type, therefore, facies classification indicated that maximum samples were CaCl₂ type. The indices Na%, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), permeability index (PI), magnesium hazard (MH) and residual sodium carbonate (RSC) were applied to check the appropriateness of water for the irrigation purpose and their average value was found to be 24.19, 0.75, 47, 48.06, and 1.12 meq/L, respectively. These values revealed that despite various human activities, all the water samples were found suitable for irrigation purposes.