Abstract
The component analysis of some chemical parameters such as half‐life period, pH, salinity, total organic carbon (TOC), clay mineral concentration (Kaolinite, Illite, Montmorrillonite) and the elemental concentrations (Al, Fe, Ti) showed that only three components collectively retained 98% of variation of the original data. The first component carries maximum co‐variance with salinity and TOC, the second component is due to clay‐montmorrillonite, and the third component is attributed to TOC and Fe. The first component accounted for 69%, the second 28% and the third for 3% of total variation. The impact of TOC on the stability of pesticide, DDVP is much more pronounced by its negative covariance with the half life period as revealed by the first principal component.