Abstract:
In present study, water quality and microbial characteristics of Khanpur dam located on the Haro River near Potwar plateau and the village of Khanpur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan were studied. As we know that water from this dam is a source of drinking water in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. For this purpose twenty samples were collected from different locations of dam in sterilized glass bottles for physicochemical and microbiological analysis. Various physiochemical parameters including pH, Temperature, TDS, COD, Turbidity, Alkalinity and Hardness were measured by standard methods. Water samples were analyzed bacteriologically for total viable count and total coliform count by heterotrophic plate count method. Bacterial colonies isolated from water samples collected from dam were characterized by different physiochemical tests. Results showed that various physicochemical parameters such as Temperature, pH, E.C, TDS, COD, Alkalinity and Hardness were found to be within permissible limit prescribed by World Health Organization (WHO). Mean value for chlorides concentration was 154.2 mg/l. Only one sample showed highest value of chloride 269.4 mg/l which is not under permissible limit of WHO. The mean value showed that chlorides concentration was found to be within permissible limit of WHO at other sampling locations. It was found that there was a significant increase in the concentration of Fluoride and was above the permissible limit of WHO at ten locations. Results for microbiological analysis showed that water samples contain high microbial counts of different pathogenic bacteria like E.coli, Salmonella spp., shigella spp etc. It is recommended that regulatory authorities must monitor the quality and quantity of drinking water of the Khanpur Dam. It needs immediate attention from government as well as public participation.
