Assessment of Surface and Groundwater Water Quality at Regional Scale: A Case Study of Laoshan District, China

This study investigates the natural and anthropogenic processes that influence the chemistry of surface and groundwater within Laoshan District using multivariate statistical techniques. A total of 3612 surface and groundwater samples were collected between 2003 and 2007, from 19 sites and analysed for their physico-chemical constituents. The chemical data set generated were subjected to Principal Component Analysis (PCA)/Factor Analysis (FA). PCA is a procedure for reducing data redundancy, while FA establishes the general relationship among variables. The results indicate three dominant processes or factors for surface water that explained 80.51% of the variance in the data set. In groundwater, the factors account for 80.93% of the total variance. The multiple natural and anthropogenic sources indicated by this study suggest proper measures to surface water and groundwater resource monitor and management.