Page 166 - AJWEP-22-6

Yadav, et al.

indicator, and its correlation with Cl⁻ suggests sewage Cl and conductivity, indicating contamination likely
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leakage or wastewater infiltration into groundwater. 87,89 linked to human, animal, or industrial waste, as both
Therefore, while Cl⁻ is not a direct contaminant, its are associated with sewage inputs. Importantly, no
association with E. coli implies co-contamination strongly negative correlations were observed in the
from organic waste. PO and NO showed a very dataset. The findings align with previously reported
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strong positive correlation, significant at the 0.01 statistical evaluations of groundwater quality in the
level (r = 0.970), indicating that both nutrients often literature. 2,54,66,85,88,89,96,115,117-119,121,122
originate from similar sources (e.g., agricultural runoff There was a strong and favorable correlation between
or wastewater). Furthermore, pH and NO displayed F and sulfate, as reported by Dobaradaran et al.
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a moderate positive correlation, significant at the 0.05 However, a negative correlation between NO and pH
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level (r = 0.886, p=0.045), implying that higher NO and sulfate was observed. Memon et al. also computed
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levels may be associated with higher pH, possibly due correlation coefficients among various parameters,
to the presence of alkaline substances or their effect on showing less significant correlations between them.
the buffering capacity of water. Free CO demonstrated A linear regression equation was developed to predict
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a strong correlation with NH (r = 0.985, p=0.002), the concentration of elements influencing water quality.
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suggesting that NH levels may be influenced by CO There was a very strong positive correlation, ranging
2
3
levels, likely through pH shifts affecting the NH /NH between 1% and 5%, across many parameters. The results
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equilibrium. Free CO also showed a strong positive for sulfate (0.994), Cl (0.988), and TH (0.969) were
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correlation with Cl⁻ (r = 0.944, p=0.016), possibly deemed significant using the conventional significance
indicating a shared source, such as industrial pollution criterion (0.05). However, there were no appreciable
or waste discharge. A strong correlation was also found changes in overall water quality. Mumtaz et al.
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between Cl⁻ and NH (r = 0.945, p=0.015), suggesting collected groundwater samples to determine the WQI
3
a link between Cl and NH levels, potentially from and measured the levels of water quality parameters that
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human or animal waste or fertilizer application. exceeded standard limits. As these districts do not meet
Similarly, TDS and E. Coli showed a strong positive APHA standards, they are considered unfit for human
correlation (r = 0.928, p=0.023), indicating that high consumption according to the WQI scale. However,
levels of dissolved solids are associated with microbial neither arsenic nor total suspended solids were detected
contamination, likely due to the presence of organic in any of the samples. To assess the present state
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matter. Meanwhile, TH and E. coli demonstrated a of groundwater quality, Ashfaq and Ahmad also
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moderate correlation (r = 0.847, p=0.070), suggesting evaluated groundwater characteristics in Agra city,
a potential link between water hardness and bacterial including pH, Cl , turbidity, TDS, TH, and alkalinity.
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presence. Some parameters exhibited low correlation As a result, the correlation and regression analyses by
(r < 0.5), indicating minimal or no relationship—for identifying the most influential variables and measuring
example, pH and E. coli (r = 0.117, p=0.851), suggesting the strength and direction of their linear relationships
no direct link between pH and microbial contamination. helped simplify and better interpret the complexity of
Similarly, pH and PO 4 3− (r = 0.823, p=0.087) groundwater quality variations. The statistical study
demonstrated a moderate but not statistically significant revealed a substantial positive association between
correlation. Similarly, NO and E. Coli showed a weak conductivity and TDS, alkalinity, hardness, free CO ,
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correlation (r = 0.440, p=0.459), suggesting that NO NH , and PO . There was a modest correlation between
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3−
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levels alone do not significantly influence the presence TH and PO , and a strong positive correlation between
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of E. coli. TH and total alkalinity, CO , and NH . Regression
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Conductivity was highly correlated with nearly analysis using a first-degree linear equation further
all other parameters, especially TH, total alkalinity, validated the correlations among the aforementioned
free CO , and Cl , indicating that dissolved minerals water quality metrics.
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significantly influence water chemistry. This suggests In 2024, Das et al. carried out more sophisticated
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that conductivity is a good indicator of overall water research by examining and monitoring groundwater
quality, as it reflects the concentration of dissolved pollution in coastal areas using state-of-the-art
ions. TH and total alkalinity are almost perfectly technologies, including PCA and factor analysis (FA),
correlated, reinforcing the idea that they are influenced multiple linear regression (MLR), and the ground-
by similar factors (e.g., dissolved CO 3 2− and HCO ). WQI (GWQI). By using these advanced methods over
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E. coli showed strong positive correlations with conventional approaches, complicated analytical tasks
Volume 22 Issue 6 (2025) 160 doi: 10.36922/AJWEP025120083