Water Quality and Microbial analysis of water collected from the ponds nearby a Cement Plant through WQI and PCA

The present paper aims to analyze the water quality from the samples collected from the periphery of one of the cement plants located in Bhilai. Three different samples were collected in the summer season, covering the area around the cement plant considered. The samples were characterized by means of physicochemical parameters such as pH, TDS (mg/L), Turbidity (NTU), Total alkalinity (mg/L), Chloride (mg/L), Total hardness (mg/L), Fluoride (mg/L), and Nitrate (mg/L). The Water Quality Index (WQI) for the 03 samples collected was done and was found to be 166.264, 22.207, and 46.997, respectively. The dependency of WQI on various physicochemical parameters, along with the interdependency between the individual parameters, was analyzed using the loading plot obtained using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). It could be noticed that pH and fluoride contribute more to WQI in comparison to the other parameters included in this study. Z-score variance was also plotted to analyze the comparative stretching of the values of various individual parameters recorded. In addition, microbiological analysis was conducted using serial dilution, culturing, Gram staining, and biochemical testing. The presence of Bacillus spp, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp, Micrococcus spp, Pseudomonas spp., and Staphylococcus aureus was detected, indicating microbial contamination and possible health risks.