Integrated approach of heavy metal pollution indices and complexity quantification using chemometric models in the Sirsa Basin, Nalagarh valley, Himachal Pradesh, India

Chemometric techniques and pollution assessment indices were applied to determine the source and intensity of pollution in the Sirsa River, Himachal Pradesh,India. Results show EC, Cr, Fe, Mn, and Ni were above the permissible limit as per the Bureau of Indian Standards.The heavy metal pollution index（HPI） and contamination index（Cd） provided contrasting outcome and poor correlation was observed. A heavy metal evaluation index（HEI）method was developed using a multiple of the mean and correlation coefficient values to provide an alternative pollution classification. The criteria of HEI adopted for reclassification of HPI and Cdproduced comparable results; 40 % samples were labeled as low contamination,50 % as medium contamination, and 10 % as high contamination for all indices. Principal component analysis along with cluster analysis was used to identify the main factors responsible for degradation of water quality,namely discharge of industrial effluent, river bed mining,agricultural runoff, and minor natural or geogenic input.The methods and chemometric study proposed here can be used as effective tools to gather information about water quality and water resource management.