Environmental and Sustainability Indicators 16 (2022) 100202

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Environmental and Sustainability Indicators

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Assessment of urban river water quality using modified NSF water quality
index model at Siliguri city, West Bengal, India
Samsad Parween a, Nigar Alam Siddique a, Mir Talas Mahammad Diganta b, c, d, e,
Agnieszka I. Olbert b, c, d, e, Md Galal Uddin b, c, d, e, *
a
Department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
b
Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
c
Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
d
MaREI Research Centre, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
e
Eco HydroInformatics Research Group (EHIRG), School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Rivers are the source of freshwater for any urban community and hence, monitoring of river water is an
Urban river obligatory yet challenging task. This study was conducted in a subtropical urban river in India with the view of
Water quality index developing a quantitative approach to assess its water quality (WQ) status. For the purposes of this study, water
Principal component analysis
samples were collected from five locations across the Mahananda River main streams encompassing both
NSF-WQI
Siliguri city
urbanised and non-urbanised parts of the Siliguri city during April to June of 2021 and collected samples were
analysed for fourteen common WQ indicators: pH, Temperature, Conductivity, TDS, Turbidity, Total Hardness
(TH), DO, BOD, COD, NO−3 , PO3− 4 , Cl , Fecal Coliform (FC) and E. coli for assessing water quality. In order to
−

obtain WQ status, the present study utilised the modified national sanitation foundation (NSF) water quality
index (WQI) model, whereas the crucial WQ indicators were identified using the principal components analysis
(PCA) technique. All WQ indicators were considered to compute the NSF-WQI except water pH and TH. Most WQ
indicators were breached the guideline values of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Indian Standards (IS)
for surface water. The modified NSF-WQI results revealed that the Mahananda River water quality was “good” to
“medium” quality and the water is only suitable for limited purposes under certain conditions. The findings of
this study provided evidence that the river WQ is heavily influenced by urban pressures because relatively
“good” WQ was found at the sampling location of the outer part of the urban area. The results of this research
could be effective in improving the Mahananda River’s water quality and maintaining its complex ecosystem in
order to ensure sustainable urban growth.

1. Introduction
Surface water is considered as one of fundamental natural resources
both for human survival and development related activities (Salem,
2021). Therefore, it is crucial to maintain the good status of surface
water quality for sustainable development and safety to human health
(Tripathi and Singal, 2019; Uddin et al., 2022a). However, in recent
decades a continued deterioration in the quality of surface water is
noticeable since surface water is more susceptible to pollutants from
both natural and anthropogenic sources such as industrial sewages,
disposed domestic waste, and irrigation drainage water (Asha et al.,
2020; Rahman et al., 2021; Uddin et al., 2020a, 2022b). Recently,
several studies have utilized the water footprint for identifying the
sources of water pollutants. Water footprint is a multidimensional in­
dicator approach represent water consumption volumes by users and
polluted volumes with type of pollution (Egan, 2011; Mekonnen and
Hoekstra, 2012). Commonly, three types including green, blue and grey
footprint used for assessing the water states whereas the grey footprint
used for assessing the polluted water, type of pollution and also its
sources like as various anthropogenic activities (Arunrat et al., 2022;
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2012; Sharma Vishavkirti and SharmaKumar,
2018). In that case, according to water footprint, the study area water
bodies dominated by the grey water footprint because a range of in­
dustrial and agricultural activities is performed both sides of the

* Corresponding author. Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
E-mail address: u.mdgalal1@nuigalway.ie (M.G. Uddin).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indic.2022.100202
Received 17 June 2022; Received in revised form 12 August 2022; Accepted 17 August 2022
Available online 27 August 2022
2665-9727/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
S. Parween et al.
Table 1
Description of sampling sites.
Sampling Sampling locations Site description
Sites
Lat. Lon.
Within SMC
S1 26◦ 45′ 13.06′′ N 88◦ 25′ 57.92′′ E Urban (domestic waste,
bathing)
S2 26◦ 43′ 12.05′′ N 88◦ 25′ 16.05′′ E Urban (municipal waste, urban
sewage, domestic waste,
bathing, fishing, cattle wading)
S3 26◦ 40′ 43.22′′ N 88◦ 24′ 46.73′′ E Urban (domestic waste,
bathing, fishing, cattle wading)
Outside of SMC
SO1 26◦ 47′ 1.87′′ N 88◦ 26′ 27.21′′ E outskirt (cooking, bathing)
SO2 26◦ 39′ 55.73′′ N 88◦ 24′ 39.82′′ E Outskirt (domestic waste,
bathing, fishing)
Mahananda riverbank (Mozumder et al., 2015; Rangarajan et al., 2019;
Shil and Singh, 2019). However, this issue is not only impacting
developed countries but also developing countries where the unplanned
rapid urbanisation and industrialization, and mass population are the
key factors that have worsen the surface water bodies especially rivers
within urban territory (Singh et al., 2005; Sun et al., 2019; Wu et al.,
2018). Although, developed countries have been adopting policies and
strategies to envisage this challenge, developing countries are still not
equipped with constitutional framework to tackle the imminent conse­
quences from this threat (Uddin et al., 2022c). Therefore, monitoring of
water quality holds great importance.
Usually, it is mandatory for monitoring programmes to measure the
physical, chemical, and biological water quality indicators in order to
have a comprehensive appraisal in the spatio-temporal variation of
surface water quality (Siddique et al., 2022). However, these monitoring
approaches usually generate a large datasets, which require proper
interpretation tools and techniques. At the same time, it does not pro­
vide a complete scenario for the overall status. In this regard, Water
Quality Index (WQI) models are very popular as it transforms a complex
set of data into a unit less numerical expression that indicates an overall
status of water quality and reflects its suitability for various uses (de
Andrade Costa et al., 2020; Uddin et al., 2021; Şener et al., 2017; Zotou
et al., 2018). Commonly, this technique follows four steps: (i) water
quality indicator selection; (ii) sub-index process; (iii) weighting of
water quality indicators; and (iv) aggregation function (Gupta and
Gupta, 2021; Sutadian et al., 2016; Uddin et al., 2021). Details of the
WQI models and their uses can be found in Uddin et al. (2021).
Geographic Information System (GIS) based geo-spatial models is being
another widely used tool allows performing geostatistical analysis and
visualize spatial variability and distribution of water quality indicators
in the studied area (Uddin et al., 2022b). Other widely utilized tools are
multivariate statistical techniques such as Principal Component Analysis
(PCA) and Cluster Analysis (CA) are quite proficient to classify and
interpret the monitoring data (Chakraborty et al., 2021; Misaghi et al.,
2017). Monitored data combined with such analytical tools can inform
aquatic managing bodies without losing any information yet concise and
facile enough for rapid decision making during emergencies.
Among the developing countries India is a water stressed nation with
1588 m3 per capita per annum water supply yet having 4% of world’s
water resources availability (Matta et al., 2020). Within the diversified
geographic regions of India, Siliguri under the district of Darjeeling of
West Bengal is a major urbanised city and an important industrial area in
terms of its strategic position near international and national borders.
The Mahananda River lies in the core for most commercial and domestic
activities within the Siliguri Municipal Corporation area (IDP, 1965).
Siliguri city is one of the fast-growing cities in West Bengal with a huge
economic boom, especially in the trade and commerce sectors, which
were developed based on the Mahananda river. It flows across 10 km of
this city and plays a vital role in the expansion of economic and urban
2
Environmental and Sustainability Indicators 16 (2022) 100202
growth. Each year, the Mahananda River receives considerable amounts
of effluent water without any treatment from various sources like do­
mestic sources, industrial effluents, unplanned urbanization, and inap­
propriate management of waste, which might significantly impact the
quality of its water (Abrahão et al., 2007; Mondal et al., 2016;
Mukherjee et al., 2013; Mozumder et al., 2015; Rangarajan et al., 2019;
Roy et al., 2021; Shil and Singh, 2019). As a consequence, pollutants
have increased dramatically due to rapid urbanization and a lack of
space. Rivers have frequently been used as dumping sites in Siliguri (Shil
et al., 2019). Despite being a river with interdistrict, interstate, and in­
ternational relevance, information regarding the scenario of its surface
water quality is limited. To the best of the author’s knowledge, there are
no studies of urban growth’s impact on Mahananda river water quality
in terms of spatial variation of various development functions in urban
and its fringe areas. Therefore, this study was undertaken to address the
existing knowledge gap with the objectives of a) assessing the impact of
urban growth on water quality in the Mahananda River, (b) to develop a
modified water quality index approach for assessing water quality, and
c) analysing the spatial variation of the water quality index for the
Mahananda River considering urbanized and non-urbanized areas of
Siliguri City in order to identify major sources of pollutants. The findings
of this study would be conductive for urban planners, policymakers, and
environmental managers to take appropriate initiative for the manage­
ment of aquatic bodies as well as to researchers as a data bank and tool
selection framework for future studies.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Study area
The Mahananda River is a transboundary river with a length of 360
km where majority portion of its in India (324 km) and rest in
Bangladesh (36 km) (Shil and Singh, 2019; Mandal, 2013). The source of
the Mahananda River is Mahaldiram hill, a range of Shivalik in
Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India. Throughout its course of
journey, the river travels through a series of rocks in the hilly region of
Darjeeling Himalaya while the rest over the new alluvium of Bengal
Basin. The river joins the Padma River (part of Ganges in Bangladesh) at
Nawabganj Sadar Upazila of Nawabganj district in Bangladesh through
passing the Malda district of India (Mandal, 2013; Galib et al., 2016).
Due to the associated various functional events around Siliguri City, a
significant amount of pollutants loads into the Mahananda River. As a
result, water quality has degraded day by day. Details of the various
functional activities are provided in Table 1.
The river basin belongs to a warm tropical climate at the foothill of
Darjeeling Himalaya and a temperate climate at the plain (Ghosh et al.,
2017). Fig. 2 provides a statistical summary of the air temperature and
precipitation in the region of the study area. The climatic data was
retrieved from https://power.larc.nasa.gov/data-access-viewer/. Dur­
ing the study period, average 23.96 ◦ C air temperature was recorded,
with the highest being 28.51 ◦ C in the month of April, whereas the
lowest was recorded in January (16.59 ◦ C) (Fig. 2a). This river is
regarded as a rain fed river implying higher water level during monsoon
(mid-June to September) than compared to summer (March to early
June) and winter (October to February). The average precipitation was
recorded at 6.68 mm, with the highest precipitation of 18.93 mm in the
month of August, whereas the lowest precipitation was recorded in the
months of January and February, while no rainfall (0 mm) was recorded
over the study period (Fig. 2b). This study covered the river area flowing
across the Siliguri city (Fig. 1), which is located along the bank of the
Mahananda River and is mainly situated at the Himalayan foothills at an
average of 122-m elevation from sea level (M. Roy et al., 2021). The
geographical extension of the city is from 26.71 N latitude to 88.47 E
longitude. This city covers an area of 41.9 km2 with 513000 inhabitants
(CDP report Siliguri, 2015).
S. Parween et al. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators 16 (2022) 100202

Fig. 1. Study area and sampling sites in Mahananda River.

Fig. 2. A statistical summary of the air temperature and precipitation in the region of the study area (Source: power.larc.nasa.gov/data-access-viewer/).

2.2. Water sampling and analysis
Total 14 water samples (15 cm below the surface) were collected
from 5 sampling sites (Fig. 1) of the studied area during the summer
season in the year of 2021 following the standard guidelines (APHA
et al., 2012) and the detailed information about the sampling sites were
provided in Table 1. The sampling sites were selected horizontally in a
manner to include both the urbanized Siliguri Municipal Corporation
(SMC) area and the non-urbanized area outside of SMC with considering
factors such accessibility to the site, bathing stations, convenience and

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Table 2 Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSF-WQI) is regarded as a

Physico-chemical and microbiological parameters of river water and analytical modified version of the Horton model (Uddin et al., 2021; Lumb et al.,
methods. 2011) which was later Brown developed in 1965 (Uddin et al., 2021;
Water quality Abbreviation Adopted analytical Analytical instruments/ Abrahão et al., 2007). Although, there are a number of different types of
indicators method techniques WQI available, the NSF-WQI is regarded as one of the most compre­
pH – IS 3025 (Part Electrometric method hensive model among all (Uddin et al., 2021). Recently, several studies
11):1983, (Eutech pH 700) have utilised the state-of-the-art WQI for assessing river water quality in
Reaffirmed, 2017 India (Chakravarty and Gupta, 2021). In this research, the modified
Temperature Temp. Glass Thermometer
–
NSF-WQI model was used for the assessment of Mahananda River water
(range:0 ◦ C to 100 ◦ C)
Total TDS IS 3025 (Part Gravimetric method quality because recent study have revealed that this modified techniques
Dissolved 16):1984, is effective to assess surface water quality in order to reduce model
Solid Reaffirmed:2017 uncertainty (Uddin et al., 2022a, 2022c). In addition, this technique
Turbidity Turb. IS 3025 (Part Nephelometric method widely used for assessing different dynamics surface waterbodies (de
10):1984, (Lovibond TB 300 IR)
Reaffirmed, 2017
Andrade Costa et al., 2020; Gradilla-Hernández et al., 2020; Matta et al.,
Conductivity Cond. Method 2510 B WTW -InoLab-Cond 2020). The fundamental structure of WQI models mainly follow four
(APHA 23rd Edition 7110 steps and the similar steps were followed for calculating the NSF-WQI
Laboratory method, for this study which has been described below (Abbasi and Abbasi,
2017)
2012; Sutadian et al., 2018):
Total TH IS 3025 (Part EDTA Titrimetric
Hardness 21):1983 Method
Reaffirmed, 2014 2.3.1. Selecting water quality parameter
Dissolved DO – DO meter WTW, multi WQ indicators selection is the initial step in developing a WQI model
oxygen 3420 German with DO (Gradilla-Hernández et al., 2020; Khalil et al., 2010, 2014; Sutadian
probe
et al., 2017, 2018; Uddin et al., 2021). A number of techniques have
Biological BOD3 Method 5210 (APHA Respirometric method
oxygen 23rd Edition, 2017) used for the selection of crucial water quality indicators including expert
demand opinion, data availability, and the environmental significance etc.
Chemical COD Method 5220 B Open Reflux method (Uddin et al., 2021). In this regard, the Delphi technique was one of the
oxygen (APHA,23rd Edition,
most utilized method by following expert opinion formulated through
demand 2017)
Nitrate NO−3 IS 3025 (Part 34) Spectrophotometric interviews or surveys (Abbasi and Abbasi, 2012; Dunnette, 1979; House,
method 1989; Uddin et al., 2021). However, this technique has been found to
Phosphate PO3-4 IS 6361 Colorimetric method produce uncertainty and bias for WQI model. Hence, Principal Compo­
Chloride Cl− IS 3025 (Part Argentometric method nent Analysis (PCA) and Factor Analysis (FA) are also used instead of
32):1988
Delphi to overcome these problems and these techniques is believed to
RA: 2014
Faecal FC IS 1622:1981 Membrane filter produce noble WQI (Islam et al., 2017; Jahin et al., 2020; Tripathi and
Coliform Reaffirmed:1993 technique Singal, 2019; Teixeira de Souza et al., 2021). After applying statistical
Reprint (2003) pre-treatment on raw data, the present study applied the PCA technique
E. coli IS 1622:1981 Membrane filter
–
for the selection of water quality parameters in NSF WQI through the
Reaffirmed:1993 technique
Reprint (2003
RStudio (Version, 2022.02.0) by implementing R language using the
following equation:
Z = ai1 x1j + ai2 x2j + … + aim xmj (1)
safety, flow of stream, proximity to households and mixing zone of
pollutants from domestic waste. The two sampling sites i.e., SO1 and
Where, Z stands for the component score, a, i, j, m and x are the
SO2 has been taken 1.5 km far from the main boundary of SMC. Prior to
component loading, component number, sample number, total number
sampling, these bottles were rinsed at least three times with water
of variables and the measured values of variables, respectively (Das
samples to be collected at each of the sampling sites. Later samples were
et al., 2019).
collected in triplicate from the middle of the stream and banks through
the grab and bucket sampling technique and each samples were stored in
2.3.2. Sub-index (SI) generation
1.5 L polyethylene plastic bottles, which were preconditioned with 5%
For the purposes of sub-index generation of WQ indicators, selected
concentrated HNO3 and rinsed with double-deionized water (Ahsan
indicators concentrations were transferred into unit less values which
et al., 2019). After collecting the samples, all bottles were covered with
ranges from 0 (worst water quality) to 100 (excellent water quality)
airtight cap and placed in an ice bath for transporting to the laboratory
(Abbasi and Abbasi, 2012; Uddin et al., 2022a). If parameters actual
for analysis.
concentration falls within guideline values, the assigned sub-index value
Analytical methods for the 14 investigated water quality indicators
score is 100, otherwise 0 is assigned automatically (Uddin et al., 2021;
of which 4 were physical, 8 were chemical and other two were micro­
Sutadian et al., 2016). The present study was employed the BIS and IS′
biological indicators has been summarized in Table 2. In-situ measure­
surface water quality guidelines values, whereas reference materials
ment was done for Temp. while dissolved oxygen (DO), Nitrate (NO−3 )
were not available for certain indicators, the EPA, CPCB, and WHO
and Phosphate (PO3− 4 ) were tested within 6 h of sample collection at the
recommended values were utilised to obtain SI (Table 4).
Jalpaiguri SWID Laboratory (Government of West Bengal). Remaining
10 parameters were tested in Dakshin Raipur Water Treatment Plant
2.3.3. Obtaining parameters weight values
Laboratory (NABL approved), Kolkata within 24 h after collection.
After the selection of parameter, the most important method is
estimation of weight and for this estimation different researchers
2.3. Assessing water quality using modified NSF-WQI model applied different weight estimation method such as equal weight
method (equal weight to all parameter) subjective or objective method
Water Quality Index (WQI) is a part of the mathematical instrument (Tripathi and Singal, 2019; OCED, 2008; Sutadian et al., 2016).
that convert a large number of water quality data into a single value in a Recently, a few studies have revealed that the equal weighting approach
comprehensive manner (Sharma and Kansal, 2011; Kannel et al., 2007; is effective than other technique in terms of uncertainty (Uddin et al.,
Bordalo et al., 2001; Cude, 2001; Uddin et al., 2017). The National

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Table 3 2.4. Statistical analysis

Classification schemes of the NSF-WQI index.
No. of class Classes Range of WQI scores
1 Excellent 90–100
2 Good 70–89
3 Medium 50–69
4 Bad 25–49
5 Very bad 0–24
2022d). However, most of the WQI model followed unequal weighting
approach where summation of all water quality parameters weight
values shows equals to 1 (Sutadian et al., 2016).
The present study used the equal weight method for generating the
weight of each indicator in NSF-WQI. The equal weight method (EW)
involves minimal knowledge concerning the priorities of criteria along
with inputs from the decision maker. In addition, if the decision maker
lacks information of true weight, then it could be distributed equally
with the help of a formula. Commonly, this technique was used when the
weight value of an individual parameter is unknown; therefore, it could
be given equal weight to all the individual parameters, simply that
performs as the uniform distribution (Roszkowska, 2013). The formula
of this method is following:
1 be illustrated by a dendrogram (McKenna, 2003). Ward’s method (Lattin
wj (EW) =
n et al., 2003) with Euclidean distances were implied here, which can be
where j = 1, 2, 3, …, n, n is a number of water quality variables.
2.3.4. Aggregation formula
The entire WQI models used a range of aggregation methods such as
additive, multiplicative, minimum operators function etc. The NSF
model followed both the additive aggregation and multiplicative func­
tions to aggregate all water quality information converting into a single
numerical form, i.e. single water quality index score (Uddin et al., 2021;
Sutadian et al., 2016). The current study utilised the multiplicative
function to calculate the Mahananda River’s index scores. Details of the
WQI calculation process can be found in Supplementary Table S1. The
aggregation function is as follow:
∑
n
NSF − WQI = = si wi
i=1
where n is the number of water quality indicators, si is the sub-index of
ith indicators, and wi is the weight value of ith indicators. The final
scores were evaluated using the NSF-WQI’s recommended classification
scheme. The details of the classification scheme are provided in Table 3.
Prior to WQI calculation and any statistical analysis, variance infla­
tion factor (VIF) was applied to the dataset for detecting multi­
collinearity among the water quality indicators through the following
equation:
1 1
VIF = = (4)
1 − R2 Tolerance
Low tolerance value indicates a high occurrence of multicollinearity
among the studied variables. The classification of VIF values denotes no
correlation (VIF = 1), moderate multicollinearity (1 < VIF < 5), medium
multicollinearity (VIF = 5) and high multicollinearity (5 < VIF < 10)
(Shrestha, 2020). This study considered VIF < 2.5 for further analysis
and calculated VIF values by SPSS statistical package (version 26) can be
found in Supplementary Table S1.
The Pearson’s correlation test was performed to evaluate significant
association between the water quality indicators and to identify the link
between them (Wenning and Erickson, 1994; Ahamed and Loganathan,
2017). Cluster analysis (CA) was applied here for classifying homoge­
neous water quality indicators. Hierarchical agglomerative clustering is
one of the most popular approach, which provides intuitive similarity
relationships between any one sample and the entire data set which can
(2)
expressed by following equation:
∑
n
( )2
D2ij = Zik − Zjk (5)
k=1
Uk
Zik = Xik − (6)
σk
Where, D2ij donates the squared Euclidean distance between object i and
object j, and Zik and Zjk are the normalized values for variable k (for k =
1 ….. n), which reduces the effects of differences in measurement units
and renders the data dimensionless. Also, Xik is the measured value, Uk is
the average value, and σk is standard deviation of the variable k. All
statistical techniques including plots were performed using RStudio
(3) (Version, 2022.02.0) by implementing R language.
Spatial variation of WQ indicators and NSF-WQI was illustrated by
utilizing the inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation technique
through the ArcGIS Pro geographical software (version 2.8.6). The IDW
technique is one of the most applied deterministic method for multi­
variate interpolation, which calculates an unknown grid value using a
linear combination of known grid points (Jha et al., 2010; Xiao et al.,
2016; Uddin et al., 2020a, 2020b). Commonly, this technique predicts
value at each point using the weighted average of the nearest known

Table 4
Statistical summary of water quality parameters in the Mahananda River.
a
WQ Indicators Unit Mean Max. Min. SD CPCB/aBIS/aIS/aWHO a
EPA, Ireland

pH – 7.96 8.1 7.82 0.11 6.5–8.5 –

Temp. ◦
C 28.9 29.5 28 0.55 – 25 ◦ C
Cond. μS/cm 94.2 156 63 35.94 10–1000 1000
TDS mg/L 57.6 95 39 21.69 500–2000 –
Turb. NTU 237.98 460 31.7 196.24 1–5 –
TH mg/L 53.42 72.9 36.4 14.16 – 151–250
DO mg/L 6.86 7.24 6.05 0.47 5–8 40
BOD mg/L 6.28 7 6.4 1.03 5 –
COD mg/L 23.88 27.7 16 6.28 <3 5
NO−3 mg/L 1.86 2.6 0.4 1.36 45 50
PO4-3 mg/L 0.06 0.08 0.06 0.04 – 0.01–0.03
Cl− mg/L 10.42 13.7 8.2 2.31 250 250–1000
FC MPN/1000 ml 5800 11000 800 4221.37 500–2500 –
E. coli MPN/100 ml 2240 4000 500 1706.75 0 MPN for drinking water –
a
CPCB: Central Pollution Control Board, India; BIS: Bureau of Indian Standard; IS: Indian Standard; WHO: World Health Organization, EPA: Environmental Protection
Agency, Ireland, COD: Chemical oxygen demand; BOD: Biochemical oxygen demand; DO: Dissolved oxygen; E-coli: Escherichia coli.

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S. Parween et al. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators 16 (2022) 100202

Fig. 3. Variation of water quality parameters using in different sampling sites of Mahananda River.

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S. Parween et al. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators 16 (2022) 100202

Fig. 4. Spatial distribution of water quality indicators in Mahananda River.

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S. Parween et al. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators 16 (2022) 100202

Table 5 guidelines values (Table 4). Surface water Temp. exceeded the guideline
Varimax-rotated component matrix for water quality parameters of Mahananda levels for surface water (25 ◦ C) at all the sampling sites (Fig. 3b;
River. Table 4). Previously Rangarajan et al. (2019) also reported elevated
Parameters PC1 PC2 PC3 water Temp. for this river due to the direct discharge of warm water
pH − 0.67 0.40 0.62
from few small-scale industries at certain zones. Both Cond. and TDS
Temp. ¡0.84 − 0.31 0.43 were found within the prescribed limit of WHO (Fig. 3c; Fig.3d; Table 4).
Cond. 0.52 ¡0.80 0.28 Turb. exceeded the standard limit at all sampling site while TH were
TDS 0.52 ¡0.80 0.28 found in the range of standard guideline limit (Fig. 3e; Fig. 3f; Table 4).
Turb. 0.60 0.71 − 0.30
Discharge of drainage water from the surrounding areas might have
TH 0.43 − 0.65 − 0.28
DO − 0.49 − 0.44 0.75 influenced the elevated level of turbidity in the river system (Das et al.,
BOD 0.91 0.28 0.31 2021).
COD 0.95 − 0.004 − 0.15 Dissolved oxygen (DO) level was found ranging from 6.05 mg/L to
NO−3 0.78 − 0.04 0.63 7.24 mg/L with a mean value of 6.86 ± 0.47 mg/L (Table 4) which was
PO4- − 0.14 0.82 0.48
Cl−
3
0.35 − 0.60 0.72
within the thresholds set by WHO (2017). Within any aquatic
EC 0.46 0.78 0.41 ecosystem, the level of DO acts as a crucial role WQ indicator and its
E-coli 0.31 0.73 0.49 variation is related with photosynthesis (O’Boyle et al., 2009). The
Eigenvalues 5.25 4.90 3.12 tolerance limit of BOD in surface water is 5 mg/L for aquatic life and it
% total variance 37.46 35.00 22.32
reflects the amount of unstable organic matters in waterbodies (WHO
Cumulative % variance 37.46 72.46 94.78
2017; Loucif et al., 2020). Except the upstream sampling site SO1 all
other sampling sites surpassed the limit implying the presence of organic
points. Whereas, the weight values are estimated using the invers dis­ pollutants from untreated industrial wastewater and domestic wastes
tance between known and predicted sample points (Uddin et al., 2018, (Fig. 3h) (Mozumder et al., 2015). Higher BOD loading usually implies
2022b; Xiao et al., 2016). Measurements of distances can be defined as: the presence of organic pollutants from untreated industrial wastewater
∑n zi and domestic wastes (Saifullah et al., 2016). Similar to BOD, COD in the
D = ∑n 1i
1 dp
(7) surface water exceeded the safe level for aquatic life at all the sampling
1 dp
i
sites with a mean value of 23.88 ± 6.28 mg/L (Fig. 3i; Table 4). The level
of COD was also found higher than BOD, which is not staggering since
where, D refers to the predicted point, n is the number of the neighbours more organic compounds can be chemically oxidised than that of bio­
nominated for the prediction, p is the power of distance, zi is the known logical oxidation (Thotagamuwa and Weerasinghe 2021). The present
point of ith observation, and di denotes to the distance between un­ findings for COD were consistent with Mozumder et al. (2015) for
known and known points. similar river of interest. Generally, higher COD is an indication of dis­
charged effluents from massive industrial and municipal application
3. Result and discussion (Uddin et al., 2016).
The concentration of NO−3 varied between 0.4 mg/L to 2.6 mg/L
3.1. Descriptive statistics of water quality indicators having an average value of 1.86 mg/L and in addition to that, level of
NO−3 was within the limit recommended by EPA and WHO (Table 4).
Fundamental statistical measure (mean, max, minimum, standard Phosphate (PO3− 4 ) on the other hand was found exceeding the guideline
deviation) for the studied WQ indicators along with the guideline values limit with a maximum and minimum concentration of 0.08 mg/L and
were given in Table 4 while Fig. 3 represented the average values of the 0.06 mg/L, respectively (Table 4). Phosphate’s natural presence in the
WQ indicators. The water pH was found slightly alkaline (7.82–8.1) in waterbodies are linked to the decomposition of organic matter (Kumar
nature through the sampling sites (Fig. 3a) which indicated the presence et al., 2018). However, higher PO4− 3 concentration might have attrib­
of CO2−
3 , Ca
2+
and Mg2+ in the surface water of the Mahananda River uted to the intense input of fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural
(Billah et al., 2016). However, the obtained pH values for the sampling land, detergents that are abundant in waste and sewage effluents
sites within the Mahananda River were within the recommended (Agbazue et al., 2015; Kumar et al., 2018). Higher levels of PO4−3 usually

Fig. 5. Dendrogram plot showing clusters of water quality indicators at the Mahananda River.

8
S. Parween et al.
Fig. 6. Correlation analysis of water quality indicators.
contributes significantly to the eutrophication process in the standing
water resulting in the loss of dissolved oxygen (Pamei et al., 2022).
Chloride (Cl− ) was the dominant anions in the surface water of Maha­
nanda River followed by NO−3 > PO3− 4 (Table 4). However, Cl con­
−
centration was found within the guidelines value at all the sampling sites
(Fig. 3).
Biological degradation of water quality usually reflected by the
prevalence of Faecal Coliforms (FC) in the aquatic system. Except at
sampling site M1 and SO1, the level of FC exceeded its safety limit
(Fig. 3m; Table 4). FC mainly derives from humans faeces, livestock and
wild animals, surface water receiving wastewater discharges, and agri­
culture, urban and rainwater, soil and other environments (Medema
et al., 2003; US-EPA, 2015; Guemmaz et al., 2020). The unsanitary
conditions of inhabitants around the river and the release of untreated
domestic wastewater into river might have increased coliform load in
river water. For further assessing the faecal contamination scenario in
the river, E. coli was also studied. E. coli varies from 500 MPN/100 mL to
4000 MPN/100 mL with mean value of 2240 ± 1706.75 MPN/100 mL
(Table 4). Slum dwellers with poor sanitation system living in areas
adjacent to rivers might have leaded to higher bacterial load in surface
water.
3.2. Spatial distribution of water quality indicators in Mahananda River
Fig. 4 represents the interpolated maps showing the spatial
9
Environmental and Sustainability Indicators 16 (2022) 100202
distribution of studied WQ indicators in the Mahananda River. The
water pH remained mostly alkaline for all the sampling sites (Fig. 4a).
Water temperature was not uniform at the sampling points and water
temperature decreased from upstream to downstream (Fig. 4b). Spatial
distribution of Cond. and TDS followed similar distribution pattern and
both of these WQ indicators were found at higher levels starting from
sampling site S1 to SO2 and lower at SO1, which might have attributed
from untreated municipal sewage (Fig. 3c; Fig. 4d). Water turbidity
followed the sequence in the order of: SO2 > S3 > S2 > S1 > SO1, clearly
visualizing the input from the urbanised part and continuing elevated
turbidity level on the water in the downstream part while the spatial
variation of TH showed identical distribution throughout the sampling
sites (Fig. 4e; Fig. 4f).
Concentration of DO decreased from upstream sampling sites to
downstream sampling sites while BOD and COD showed reverse distri­
bution pattern than DO implying urban effluent flow from sampling site
S1 and propagated to subsequent sampling sites (Fig. 4g–i). All the three
studied anions (NO−3 , PO3−4 and Cl ) displayed homogeneous spatial
−
variability with higher levels at sampling points within urban vicinity
(S1, S2 and S3) tracing the source of elevated concentration for NO−3
(Fig. 3j), PO3−4 (Fig. 3k) and Cl (Fig. 3l) might be linked with the
−
discharge of untreated urban sewage and domestic waste in the Maha­
nanda River. The FC and E-coli shared similar distribution pattern within
the sampling sites and the concentration of FC and E-coli decreased
following the sequence of: S2 > S3 > SO2 > S1 > SO1 (Fig. 4m; Fig. 4n).
S. Parween et al.
Fig. 7. Calculated NSF-WQI score in different sampling site in the Mahananda River.
Such pattern of distribution could be influenced by open defecation
activities done by urban slum located along the riverbanks. Usually, the
alteration in spatial dependence on the water quality indicators in river
water could be influenced by the fluctuation of sewage inflow, rainfall
events, surface runoff and point discharges of industrial and municipal
effluents (Weerasinghe and Handapangoda, 2019). Therefore, those
processes may be affected to change the physicochemical parameters of
the lake. Besides several factors such as sampling strategy and sampling
period and data structure can also affect the performance of interpola­
tion methods (Li and Heap, 2014).
3.3. Multivariate statistical analysis
3.3.1. Selection of WQ indicators using PCA analysis
The first three components (PCs) explained eigenvalues >1 and were
accounted for 94.78% of variance for the total datasets (Table 5). The
components in the PCs were classified as ‘weak’, ‘moderate’ and ‘strong’
based on their factor loading values (>0.75, 0.75–0.50 and 0.50–0.30,
respectively) (Liu et al., 2003). The first component (PC1) explained
37.45% of the total variance with an eigenvalue of 5.25 and it included
most crucial WQ indicators influencing the water quality of the river i.e.,
Temperature, BOD, COD and NO−3 (Table 5). Previously the spatial
distribution of these parameters was found to be associated with their
anthropogenic origins such untreated municipal sewage and domestic
waste. Previously, Hore and Roy (2021) also stated that the WQ in­
dicators in PC1 were found to be prominent variables to influence the
entire hydro-chemical quality of the Mahananda River. The PC2 was
elucidated at 35% of the total variance with an eigenvalue of 4.90
(Table 5). Water Quality indicators such as Cond., TDS, Turb., PO3−4 , FC
and E. coli were predominant in the PC2 indicating both lithologic and
10
Environmental and Sustainability Indicators 16 (2022) 100202
anthropogenic input of these variables in the river water. The final
component PC3 included only two indicators: DO and Cl− and repre­
sented 22.32% of the total variables at eigenvalue of 3.12 (Table 5). The
PC3 components indicates possible different point sources such as pre­
cipitation events associated with anthropogenic influences and urban
effluents since spatial distribution of Cl− and DO aren’t identical hence
implying the impact on the availability of dissolved oxygen from con­
taminants. The PCA analysis identified twelve WQ indicators as signif­
icant variables from the first three components for this study and these
indicators were later applied to calculate the NSF-WQI.
3.3.2. Cluster analysis
The present study employed cluster analysis (CA) on the studied WQ
indicators by applying the Ward’s method and the Euclidean distance as
a measure of similarity, which identified two main clusters in the
dendrogram at phenon line placed to a rescaled distance of about 5 to
display statistical homogeneity (Fig. 5). Like, similar approach was also
previously applied by de Andre de Andrade Costa et al. (2020) for Pia­
banha River of Brazil, Saifullah et al. (2016) for Sibuti River of Malaysia
and Sharma et al. (2021) for the Parbati River of India.
Cluster 1 included 12 WQI out of the studied 14 WQ indicators e.g.,
Temperature, pH, Cond., TDS, Turb., TH, DO, BOD, COD, NO−3 , PO3− 4
and Cl− (Fig. 5). The cluster 1 confirmed similar source of origin for the
physiochemical WQ indicators within the sampling sites. The cluster 2
contained two WQ indicators FC and E. coli, which indicated improper
disposal of human and animal excreta and sewage contamination was
present along the riverbanks. A similar association of water quality in­
dicators was found in the PCA results. The results of cluster analysis
were supported by the PCA in order to select crucial indicators.
S. Parween et al. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators 16 (2022) 100202

Fig. 8. Spatial distribution of NSF-WQI scores for the sampling sites in Mahananda River.

3.3.3. Relationship between WQ indicators As discussed in earlier sections, a combination of both techniques
The statistically valid association between the studied WQ indicators (PCA, cluster analysis, and correlation analysis) could be effective to
of the Mahananda River revealed a number significant positive and identify the important indicators in order to develop a WQI model.
negative correlation through Pearson’s correlation test at a 99% confi­ Because all techniques have revealed that, the most water quality in­
dence level (Fig. 6). Water pH displayed significant positive relation dicators played a vital role in associating water quality in the Maha­
with water Temperature (r = 0.71, p < 0.01) and DO (r = 0.62, p < nanda River during the study period.
0.01), while negative association was found with COD (r = − 0.74, p <
0.01). Such association was previously reported by Anwar et al. (2017)
3.4. Assessment of water quality using NSF-WQI
for the Jamuna River in Bangladesh and by S. Roy et al. (2021) for the
Shilabati River of West Bengal, India. Water temperature was found to
The water quality status for the Mahananda River was evaluated
be positively correlated with DO (r = 0.87, p < 0.01) and negatively
using the NSF-WQI and the calculated score of NSF-WQI for each of the
correlated with turbidity (r = − 0.75, p < 0.01) and BOD (r = − 0.71, p <
sampling sites has been presented in Fig. 7 while the spatial distribution
0.01).
of the NSF-WQI scores has been showed in Fig. 8. The detailed calcu­
Both Cond. and TDS demonstrated significant positive relationship
lation of the NSF-WQI can be found in the Supplementary Table 2. Good
with Cl− (r = 0.84, p < 0.01) and this was in agreement with the river
status of water quality was found for upstream sampling site SO1 with an
system of Ganga, India (Dimri et al., 2021). Besides, significantly strong
NSF-WQI score 74.7 (Fig. 7). However, the subsequent sampling sites
positive correlation between Cond. and TDS (r = 1.00, p < 0.01) was
demonstrated moderate water quality status for S1 (66.4), S2 (58.1), S3
also well documented by Kabir et al. (2020) for an urban subtropical
(58.1) and SO2 (58.1) implying the impact from urban and municipal
river. Turb. had positive relationship with BOD (r = 0.62, p < 0.01), FC
waste into the river water (Fig. 7).
(r = 0.75, p < 0.01) and E. coli (r = 0.69, p < 0.01) and negative rela­
Spatial distribution analysis further supported this argument visu­
tionship with water Temperature (r = − 0.75, p < 0.01) and DO (r =
alizing the interpolated score of the NSF-WQI (Fig. 8). Based on the score
− 0.77, p < 0.01). Dissolved Oxygen (DO) had significant positive cor­
of the NSF-WQI, the order of water quality status in the sampling sites
relation with NO−3 (r = 0.65, p < 0.01), PO3− 4 (r = 0.60, p < 0.01) and
followed the order of SO1 > S1 > S2 ≥ S3 ≥ SO2. The sequence also
Cl− (r = 0.64, p < 0.01) which earlier also have been well explained by
indicated that the water quality of the river was in good status before
Chatanga et al. (2019) for NO−3 in the Mohokare River of Lesotho and by
entering into the urbanised area of the Siliguri City and later were
Anonna et al. (2022) for Cl− in the Mahananda River of Bangladesh.
degraded due the input of untreated domestic and industrial effluent,
Biological Oxygen Demand had positive association with COD (r = 0.74,
which continued to flow outside of the municipal boundary and further
p < 0.01) and FC (r = 0.78, p < 0.01). Nitrate confirmed positive rela­
to the downstream sampling site SO2. This finding pointed out sampling
tionship PO3−4 (r = 0.69, p < 0.01) and Cl (r = 0.73, p < 0.01) which
−
sites S1, S2 and S3 as the hotspot zones for the degradation of the river
could be due to having similar source of origin since there was also a
water quality. Present findings were found to be coincided with Shil
positive correlation between PO3− 4 and Cl (r = 0.81, p < 0.01). FC
−
et al., (2019) for the similar study area and with Anonna et al. (2022) for
positively correlated with E. coli (r = 0.94, p < 0.01) confirming the
this river flowing within Bangladesh. Although the water quality of the
hypothesis from cluster analysis (Fig. 6).
river wasn’t found to be in worse condition, but it might get severely

11
S. Parween et al.
impacted if effluents and wastes continued to get dumped in its existing
scale.
4. Conclusion
The aim of this research was to assess the water quality of the
Mahananda River using modified NSF-WQI model. The major conclu­
sions from the research are as follows:
(i) the PCA identified Temperature, Cond., TDS, Turb., DO, BOD,
COD, NO−3 , PO4−3 , Cl , FC and E. coli as crucial WQ indicators
−
governing the water quality of the Mahananda river.
(ii) Most of the WQ indicators were found in elevated levels across
the river at the inside of the Siliguri Municipal boundary.
(iii) NSF-WQI results showed low WQI score the similar sampling
points implying moderate water quality while the upstream
sampling site has good water quality status.
(iv) The results of this study have revealed that the urban stresses are
heavily influenced the river water quality, because relatively
“good” water quality status was found at the outer part of the
urban river whereas “medium” water quality was investigated in
urban part.
Therefore, the river requires precautionary management plans for
protection from continued dumping of contaminants in its water. To
tackle future water pollution related hazards, the results of this research
might be insightful for future planning purposes for adopting proper
strategies to minimize the input of wastes and contaminants from the
source of origin. The major limitation of the present study is that the
water quality was analysed only using the summer seasons in order to
assess the impact of urban growth on water quality in the Mahananda
River. In spite of its limitations, the study was certainly effective in
obtaining knowledge on the spatial distribution pattern of the urban
stress on the Mahananda river’s water quality. For the development of
an effective WQI model, further study should be focused on the impact
of urban growth on water quality in terms of the temporal resolution of
the WQI model. However, the results of this study not only reflect the
urban pressures on river water quality; they are also helpful in identi­
fying the potential sources of contaminants. The findings of this study
could help to improve the water quality-monitoring program in Maha­
nanda River.
Funding information
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding
agencies or organizations.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
The first author would like to thank the Chairman, Department of
Geography, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India for providing
necessary supports and laboratory facilities. The authors are also
thankful to the Regional Chemical and Hydrological laboratory, Raj­
baripara, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India and the Dakshin Roypur water
Treatment Plant, Kolkata, West Bengal, India for providing all analytical
facilities to perform this research. Moreover, the authors also sincerely
acknowledge the Eco HydroInformatics Research Group (EHIRG),
School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National
University of Ireland Galway, Ireland and National University of Ireland
Galway, Ireland for providing all necessary supports to perform this
12
Environmental and Sustainability Indicators 16 (2022) 100202
study through the international co-supervision.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.indic.2022.100202.
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