Groundwater from private drinking water wells: Imminent public health issue

Abstract

Abstract⎯Water is an essential resource to all living beings and its quality is fundamental to assure human health. There are few studies concerning groundwater from private drinking water wells which are not covered by the current quality legislation. Hence, we determined several physicochemical (pH, alkalinity, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, chloride, nitrate, turbidity, hardness, biochemical oxygen demand, and chemical oxygen demand) and microbiological parameters (total microorganisms at 22 and 37°C, total coliform and Escherichia coli, intestinal enterococci, and Clostridium perfringens) in eleven groundwater sam ples from private drinking water wells. The physicochemical results revealed that 72.7% were very acidic (pH < 6.5), 72.7% presented high turbidity (>4 NTU), 63.6% had very low values of hardness (<150 mg/L), 9.1% presented high biochemical oxygen demand (>5 mg/L), and, finally, 54.5% presented high chemical oxygen demand (>10 mg/L). In addition, none of the samples were appropriate for consumption in microbi ological terms: 81.8 and 72.7% of the samples presented values of total microorganisms higher than 100 CFU/mL at 22°C and 20 CFU/mL at 37°C, respectively. The presence of total coliform and E. coli was reported in 54.5% of the analysed water samples, intestinal enterococci in 54.5%, and C. perfringens in 81.8%. Overall, we concluded, based on European and Portuguese legislation and World Health Organization guide lines, that none of the samples were appropriate to human consumption, in physicochemical and/or micro biological terms. This constitutes a major public health issue, as it could be a hazard to the human health, and special control measures should be taken.

Household Perceptions about Drinking Water Quality and Human Health: A Comparative Analysis of Urban and Rural Areas in Pakistan

“…The importance of water is not only because of accessible and adequate supply but also of water quality (Sousa et al, 2015). Access to clean drinking water has become a major issue at the national and regional level as a matter of health and development (Wang et al, 2018).…”