Application of multivariate statistical analysis in the assessment of groundwater quality of Tan Thanh district, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province

In the present study, Multivariate Statistical Analysis (MSA) such as Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis (CA) were applied to determine the temporal and spatial variations of groundwater quality in Tan Thanh district, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province. Groundwater samples were collected from 18 monitoring wells in April (dry season) and October (wet season) during the year 2012. Fifteen parameters (pH, TH, TDS, Cl-, F-, NO3-, SO42-, Cr6+, Cu2+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, HCO3- and Fe2+) were selected for MSA. PCA identified a reduced number of mean three latent factors of groundwater quality. Three factors called salinization, water-rock interaction and anthropogenic pollution explanined 70,5% (dry season) and 71.28% (wet season) of the variances. Cluster analysis revealed two main different groups of similarities between the sampling sites. This study presents the necessity of MSA in order to extract more precise information from a huge minitoring data, which will be usefull to groundwater quality management.