Assessment of heavy metal pollution of surface water through multivariate analysis, HPI and GIS techniques

Presence of heavy metals in surface metals is the mounting concern in the world due rapid industrialization and modernization of society, and surface water is being utilized both as source and sink for water consumption and wastewater discharge, respectively. The chemometric method were applied on river for pre and post monsoon seasons to determine the potential heavy metals and development of heavy metal pollution index (HPI). The cluster and factor analysis were applied on thirteen heavy metals monitored over eleven locations for characterizing the highly correlating and potential, respectively heavy metals. The proliferation of health risks of heavy metals was determined through cluster analysis and GIS. The Fe and Mn found exceeding the permissible limits in river and drain samples for both the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon season, whereas other heavy metals were found within the permissible limits throughout the study period. The study suggested that classification of pollutants and assessment of associated risk to human health could provide a valuable insight for the development of remediation measures to minimize the degradation of public health and appropriate treatment technology for minimizing the contamination of water sources.