Spatiotemporal Assessment of Water Quality in the Yamuna River (Delhi-NCR Stretch) Using Water Quality Index and Multivariate Statistical Analysis: A Seasonal Perspective

Spatiotemporal Assessment of Water Quality in the Yamuna River (Delhi-NCR Stretch) Using Water Quality Index and Multivariate Statistical Analysis: A Seasonal Perspective | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Spatiotemporal Assessment of Water Quality in the Yamuna River (Delhi-NCR Stretch) Using Water Quality Index and Multivariate Statistical Analysis: A Seasonal Perspective Viniti Nagar, Maya Kumari, V.K. Verma, Madhuri Kumari, Manoj Chandra Garg This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8832948/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 13 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The Yamuna River is an important freshwater source in northern India that has been highly degraded owing to intense urbanization, industrialization, and unlimited effluent release from domestic and industrial effluents. The water samples were collected on a seasonal basis (pre-monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter) at eight strategically located monitoring stations between Soniavihar and Majra Sekhpur, which is approximately 22 km from the most polluted portion of the river. The results showed significantly low water quality at all sampling points, and the WQI was more than 100 at all eight stations, which means that the water was not suitable for consumption and use in agriculture without proper treatment. Seasonal analysis revealed considerable changes in the water quality parameters. The maximum pollution loads were observed during the pre-monsoon season, which had high values of BOD (~ 52 mg/L), COD (~ 225 mg/L), TDS, and EC, with critically low DO values (as low as 1.4 mg/L). In the post-monsoon season, there were higher levels of turbidity and nitrates caused by agricultural runoff than in the winter samples, which had comparatively better conditions, with higher levels of DO and lower levels of biological activity. Spatial analysis revealed that Najafgarh, Shahdara, and Okhla were crucial pollution hotspots that were heavily fed on by domestic sewage and industrial effluents. This study highlights the pressing importance of strict pollution control measures, the development of a wastewater treatment system, and cooperation between governmental agencies and local agencies to rehabilitate and preserve the ecological conditions of the Yamuna River. Yamuna River Water Quality Index Physicochemical parameters Seasonal variation Pollution assessment Delhi stretch Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 07 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 05 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 27 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 21 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 18 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 18 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 16 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 16 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 09 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 09 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 09 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8832948","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":608136752,"identity":"9624d71f-c271-4680-b83c-8b84c8d4116d","order_by":0,"name":"Viniti Nagar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Amity University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Viniti","middleName":"","lastName":"Nagar","suffix":""},{"id":608136753,"identity":"feacbfa6-1f35-4ebc-9805-bde5b283bea9","order_by":1,"name":"Maya Kumari","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Amity University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Maya","middleName":"","lastName":"Kumari","suffix":""},{"id":608136754,"identity":"15a1c5a0-fec5-4183-94b7-a6da1fcb73bc","order_by":2,"name":"V.K. 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