Trend in chemical composition of precipitation during 2005-2009 at a rural station of Bhubaneswar, eastern India

Abstract

Precipitation samples collected during 2005-2009 from a rural forest station of Bhubaneswar were analyzed for their chemical composition. The samples were collected through a wet-only (WO) collector and two bulk (B1 and B2) collectors. The ions were evenly balanced indicating good data quality. The overall pH of rainwater was slightly acidic and similar to 47% of all rain events during the period were acidic (pH < 5.6). Multilinear regression analysis showed relation between the free acidity (H+) and other components in rainwater. Enrichment factors (EF) of the major components with respect to their sources such as marine and crustal were calculated. Maximum EF was observed for NO (3) (-) for both marine and crustal sources for all the three collectors. Source apportionments were also carried for the ions. Trend analysis showed continuous increase in most of the ions over years during the study period driven by anthropogenic emissions. Statistical/factorial analysis established correlation among different ions.