This study was conducted to evaluate water quality utilizing principal component analysis in the Nakdong River Estuary. From the results of analysis, water quality in the Nakdong River Estuary could be explained up to 65.3 percentage by three factors which were included in river loading(wastes from the Nakdong River and rainfalls ; 39.1%), sediment resuspension(13.7%) and metabolism(12.5%). In the eastern part of estuary in flowing the Nakdong River, river loading factor score(factor 1)was higher than that in western part. Sediment resuspension factor score(factor 2) was high in shallow water, while metabolism factor score(factor 3) was high in deeper water. For seasonal variations of factors score, factor 1 was highly related to rainfall season.

• 신성교(부산광역시 정책개발실) | Sung-Kyo Shin (Pusan Metropolitan City Policy Development Institute)
• 박청길(부경대학교 환경공학과) | Chung-KiI Park (Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Pukyong National University)
• 송교육(부산발전연구원) | Kyo-Ook Song (Pusan Development Institute)