Assessment of Surface Water Quality Using Multivariate Analysis: Case Study of the Crati River, Italy

The water vulnerability of the Crati river (Calabria, Italy), was assessed by applying chemometric methods on a large number of analytical parameters. This study was applied to a data set collected in the years 2015-2016, recording 30 physical-chemical and geological parameters at 25 sampling points, measured both for water and for sediments. The processing of the data by principal component analysis (PCA) allowed for highlighting the influence of the components most responsible for pollution. The accumulation of heavy metals in the water was detected only in two samples near the source of the river. On the contrary, their concentration values in the sediments exceeded the legal limit in several sites, probably due to their proximity to urban areas. In this case, high concentrations of chromium, mercury and nickel were detected both at the mouth of the river and along the valley. Lead was only detected in one sediment sample. The multivariate analysis techniques proved to be very useful to completely characterize the areas surrounding a river course and facilitate the development of a risk map to monitor health risks to the local population.