This study evaluated the seasonal and spatial variations in the presence of Giardia and Cryptosporidium in rural drinking water supply systems of different municipalities of Antioquia. The municipalities evaluated were Envigado, Caldas, Sabaneta, La Estrella, Itagüi, Bello, Barbosa, Copacabana, and Girardota, located in the department of Antioquia, Colombia. The experimentation was carried out over 9 sampling campaigns in the period between July 2019 and November 2020. This period encompassed the two seasons presented in Colombia: dry and wet. Each municipality included in this study has a conventional basic drinking water treatment system (DWTS) which includes sand trap, rapid filtration, and chlorination. The results showed good removal efficiencies of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in the DWTS evaluated. However, evaluation of other characteristics of water quality and of the water quality risk index for human consumption (IRCA) showed concerning water quality conditions in the rural drinking water systems supply. The prevailing risk levels of the drinking water are medium, high, or non-viable sanitary, which means the population is supplied with water that does not meet the minimum quality criteria established by Colombian regulations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.