Spatial and Temporal Variations in Surface Water Quality of Pithoragarh District, Uttarakhand (India)

The water quality of six drinking surface water sources of Pithoragarh district of hilly state Uttarakhand has been accessed. The spatial and temporal variations of water quality parameters have been explained with the help of Box and Whisker plots. The selected surface water sources of Pithoragarh district were evaluated on pre-monsoon and post monsoon basis for two consecutive years of 2010 and 2011. The analyzed water quality data was interpreted through various statistical tools and softwares viz. Box and Whisker Plots, Piper and Trilinear Diagram, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Water Quality Index (WQI). The seasonal variation in water quality parameters in surface water might be ascribed mainly due to anthropogenic and hydro-geological activities. Further, Pearson Correlation Coefficient revealed positive and negative correlations, which indicated the interrelationships and interactions between certain water quality parameters. The WQI values pointed out th...