Modeling relationships between catchment attributes and river water quality in southern catchments of the Caspian Sea
Increasing land utilization through diverse forms of human activities, such as agriculture, forestry, urban growth, and industrial development, has led to negative impacts on the water quality of rivers. To find out how catchment attributes, such as land use, hydrologic soil groups, and lithology, can affect water quality variables (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, Cl⁻, HCO₃⁻, pH, TDS, EC, SAR), a spatio-statistical approach was applied to 23 catchments in southern basins of the Caspian Sea.