ASSESSMENT OF DRINKING WATER QUALITY IN SELECTED AREA OF GUJRAT, PAKISTAN

Abstract

This study was conducted to analyze the drinking water quality of Tanda Gujrat. The residents mainly get their drinking water from bore wells and hand pump water. The aim of the study was to examine parameters of the drinking water. The physicochemical parameters, presence of selected heavy metals and microbes. All the parameters were analyzed while using the standard methods. For that purpose, 40 samples of drinking water were collected, 20 samples of bore well and 20 samples of hand pump (total samples 40) from Tanda, Gujrat. In the study we found the ranges of physicochemical parameters as follows, pH ranged 7.05-8.3 for bore well and 7.27-8.2 for hand pump, Temperature 12-13 for Bore Well 11.2-12.9 for Hand Pump, Electrical Conductivity 406-1100 for Bore Well and 273-1032 for Hand Pump, Salts 196-544 for Bore well and 176-657 for Hand Pump, Turbidity 0-1808 for Bore Well and 0-25.63 for Hand Pump, TDS 288-778 for Bore Well and 259-726 for Hand Pump respectively. All the samples are within the permissible limits except for some samples. The atomic absorption spectrometer was utilized to evaluate traces of heavy metals and statistical techniques were used. Each sample water sample was tested for eight heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Ni, Cr, Zn, Fe, Cu and As). Calculations revealed that the hand pump were Fe > Pb > Zn > Cd > Cu > As, Cr, Ni. For the bore well samples the trend is as Fe > Zn > Cu > Pb > Cd > As, Cr, Ni. While for the biological analysis the plate count method was used with nutrient agar, EMB and SS agar. The range for biological parameters is as follows, NA 1-99 for Bore Well and 3- 150 for Hand Pump, EMB 0-12 for Bore Well and 0-13 for Hand Pump, SS 0 for both Bore Well and Hand Pump samples. Considerable part of the population relies on bore water for their daily water intake. The results of the samples' microbiological studies revealed that microbial contamination was present which made them unfit for consumption. Similarly, each source has one sample that demonstrates microbial growth on EMB. On SS Agar, none of the bore well or hand pump samples show any growth, and the primary microbial growth is on Nutrient Agar.