ASSESSMENT OF DRINKING WATER QUALITY IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS OF URBAN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN
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Date
0024-01-18
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Kinnaitd College for women Enviornmental Science Departement
Abstract
The availability of safe drinking water is necessary for healthy life but access to safe drinking
water has become a major problem around the world, especially in developing countries like
Pakistan. Young children are more vulnerable to the health impacts due to contaminated water
which often lead to waterborne diseases, affecting the overall well-being of students The study’s
goal was to assess the drinking water quality in primary schools of Punjab, and 17 of physio chemical and bacteriological parameters were considered to determine the water quality. For
analysis, 300 samples of drinking water were collected from primary public schools registered in
urban areas across 36 districts of Punjab.The findings revealed that majority of the water quality
parameters were within the permissible limits with reference to the physicochemical
parameters.The measured pH for water samples ranged from 7 to 10. Majority of the samples
had pH within the limit. Noticeable variation was observed in the turbidity levels of the collected
samples from tap as compared to the samples collected from the tanks. The turbidity levels
ranged between 8.22 NTU and 10.25 NTU.7.3% of the samples exceeded the permissible limit of
WHO for turbidity. The maximum TSS value i.e 670 mg/l was observed in the samples collected
from Vehari.For TDS,15.6 % of the samples exceeded the limit.In addition, colonies of E. Coli
and fecal coliform were detected in majority of the samples. Moreover, in some samples colonies
of E. Coli and colonies of fecal coliform were uncountable.The highest value of F-
was observed
in the samples of Sialkot(7.2 mg/L).21% of the samples exceeded the limit set by WHO and
NDWQS. The highest detected concentration for As was 67.21 µg/l with 55 % of the samples
exceeded the permissible limit which is 10ug/l.The Cancer Risk(CR) values ranged from 0.1863
to 7.787. The calculated CR values were significantly higher than the permissible limit of 10 to 6
set by USEPA. Drinking Water Quality Index categorized, 0.66 % asexcellent,10.3%, 19%,
11.3%, 8% and 1% water samples as good, fair,poor,very poor and unfitfor drinking
respectively. The questionnaire survey also indicated that 52% of the studentssuffered from
cholera and typhoid while, 46% suffered from other waterborne diseases