Drinking water quality assessment from selected sources of Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan (T-1315) (MFN 6251)

Abstract

Water is the most important element on Earth to sustain life. Water has covered 80 % of the Earth’s surface, but the supply of freshwater to greater extent has become a limiting factor. According to an estimate, about 1 billion people are without safe drinking water throughout the world. Large number of these people belong from sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and East Asia. Due to drinking and using polluted water, the number of lives lost annually are countless (WHO, 2006). In many developing and underdeveloped countries, ground water is considered as a source to provide safe drinking water especially to the rural populations. The quality of ground water in any region is assessed by both natural processes like (dissolution and precipitation of minerals, velocity of ground water, interaction with other types of aquifers and quality of recharge waters) and human activities (de Andrade et al., 2008; Devic et al., 2014). Ground water can be acquired from different sources like surface water sources (including springs, rivers, lakes and reservoirs) and from ground water sources (underground aquifers) (Baig et al., 2009). Now a days ground water contamination is one of the most serious environmental issues and the variety of contaminants that pollute water resources. Ground water generally have good natural chemical quality, but higher concentrations of some ingredients can result in water use problems. Excessive agricultural discharge into the groundwater can cause significant change in the quality of groundwater. These manmade changes to the groundwater quality are serious threats to the groundwater users. Once polluted, the quality of ground water cannot be reinforced by controlling pollutants at sources. Therefore, it becomes necessary to regularly assess the quality of groundwater and to look for the ways and means to protect it (Bairu et al., 2011).