The precursors of deterioration of immaculate Kashmir Himalaya water bodies are apparent. This study statistically analyzes the deteriorating water quality of the Sukhnag stream, one of the major inflow stream of Lake Wular. Statistical techniques, such as principal component analysis (PCA), regression analysis, and cluster analysis, were applied to 26 water quality parameters. PCA identified a reduced number of mean 2 varifactors, indicating that 96% of temporal and spatial changes affect the water quality in this stream. First factor from factor analysis explained 66% of the total variance between velocity, total-P, NO3–N, Ca2+, Na+, TS, TSS, and TDS. Bray-Curtis cluster analysis showed a similarity of 96% between sites IV and V and 94% between sites II and III. The dendrogram of seasonal similarity showed a maximum similarity of 97% between spring and autumn and 82% between winter and summer clusters. For nitrate, nitrite, and chloride, the trend in accumulation factor (AF) showed that the downstream concentrations were about 2.0, 2.0, and 2.9, times respectively, greater than upstream concentrations.

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Multivariate techniques, discriminant analysis, and WQI were applied to analyze a water quality data set including 27 parameters at 5 sites of the Lake Wular in Kashmir Himalaya from 2011 to 2013 to investigate spatiotemporal variations and identify potential pollution sources. Spatial and temporal variations in water quality parameters were evaluated through stepwise discriminant analysis (DA). The first spatial discriminant function (DF) accounted for 76.5% of the total spatial variance, and the second DF accounted for 19.1%. The mean values of water temperature, EC, total-N, K, and silicate showed a strong contribution to discriminate the five sampling sites. The mean concentration of NO 2 -N, total-N, and sulphate showed a strong contribution to discriminate the four sampling seasons and accounted for most of the expected seasonal variations. The order of major cations and anions was Ca 2+ > Mg 2+ > Na + > K + and Cl − > SO4 2− > SiO 2 2− respectively. The results of water quality index, employing thirteen core parameters vital for drinking water purposes, showed values of 49.2, 46.5, 47.3, 40.6, and 37.1 for sites I, II, III, IV, and V, respectively. These index values reflect that the water of lake is in good condition for different purposes but increased values alarm us about future repercussions.

Wular Lake in the Kashmir Himalayan part of the Indian subcontinent is facing severe eutrophication due to the enhanced nutrient loads from its catchment. For holistic management of this lake, quantifying the nutrient loads from all of its inflow streams is compulsory for establishing a scientific basis for managing its highest loading watersheds. The present work has been carried out in the Sukhnag stream and is one of the major inflow streams of the Wular Lake. The analyses presented hereof are the initial results of the comprehensive assessment taking place in all the other inflow streams of this lake. Here, we present an analysis of the 12-month water quality data of this stream at five different locations, whereof we have estimated the concentration and export coefficients of the nutrients and major ions and their relation with the discharge and precipitation regimes. The results revealed statistically significant relationship of stream flow with ortho-phosphorus, total phosphorus, NO 3 -N, Ca 2+ , Na + , total suspended solid (TSS), and total dissolved solid (TDS) and insignificant relationship with NO 2 -N, NH 4 -N, organic nitrogen, and total nitrogen. Seasonal variation in nutrient load and export coefficients showed a linear relationship with high concentrations during spring and summer and low concentrations during autumn and winter. Further, the results showed that this stream during the observational period loaded 0.15×10 8 g of orthophosphorus, 0.53×10 8 g of total phosphorus, 0.96×10 8 g of NO 3 -N, 0.05×10 8 g of NO 2 -N, 0.14×10 8 g of NH 4 -N, 0.61× 10 8 g of organic nitrogen, 1.75×10 8 g of total nitrogen, 22.9× 10 8 g of Cl − , 60.4×10 8 g of Ca 2+ , 13.4×10 8 g of Mg 2+ , 20.7× 10 8 g of Na + , 4.88×10 8 g of K + , 112.2×10 8 g of TSS, and 435.5×10 8 g of TDS into the Wular Lake. Seasonally, spring contributed the maximum average loads of about 62.18 % followed by summer (18.86 %) while as winter and autumn contributed about 9.61 and 9.35 %, respectively. This analysis on the Sukhnag stream is the first and key step toward a complete nutrient load analysis of all the inflow streams of the Wular Lake.