The chemical characterization of the thermal waters in Budapest, Hungary by using multivariate exploratory techniques

Europe's largest naturally flowing thermal water system can be found in Budapest, Hungary. The thermal waters are used mainly for balneological purposes, and hence a huge database is available about the chemical status of these waters at the bath company. This study has been prepared with the purpose of characterizing the chemical composition of the thermal waters of Budapest through descriptive statistics and multivariate exploratory techniques. A further objective was to determine the factors influencing the physico-chemical parameters and to investigate the temporal changes in water quality. The characterization was based on a database containing regular quarterly water chemical analyses of wells and springs collected over several decades (1960-2009).