Analysis of urban rivers' water quality using multivariate approach

This study performed a multivariate analysis about the water quality of rivers that go across the urban perimeter of Toledo - PR. For this study five rivers were chosen, where the physicochemical data of the water was collected as sediment samples to determine the amounts of copper and zinc with the use of spectrometry of optical emission with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-OES). The results showed that the physicochemical parameters were influenced by the contribution of anthropic pollution and explained the desorption of copper and zinc from the river bottom sediments. The control graphs demonstrated some results outside control limits, however the most part results inside the limits do not represent the best parameters of water quality. Therefore, it was concluded that the technique used is one relevant tool to interpret the behaviour of physicochemical parameters, allowing that the quality of water of rivers may be monitored.