“…However, the generated databases are large and complex that their analyses require robust analytical tools. Multivariate statistical techniques, such as principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis (FA), are widely used for the evaluation of both temporal and spatial variations and the interpretation of large and complex water quality datasets (Bhat et al, 2014;Duan et al, 2016;Juahir et al, 2011;Kim et al, 2005;Kowalkowski et al, 2006;Kumar et al, 2014;Muangthong and Shrestha, 2015;Mustapha and Aris, 2012;Schaefer and Einax, 2010;Shrestha and Kazama, 2007;Simeonov et al, 2003;Singh et al, 2004Singh et al, , 2005Singh et al, , 2012Wunderlin et al, 2001;Xiao et al, 2016). PCA/FA is a dimension-reduction technique that provides information by the most significant factors with a simpler representation of the data.…”