Microbiological Quality of Drinking Water in Rural Areas of a City

Background & Aims of the Study: Lack of access to safe drinking water can lead to undesirable aesthetic problems and adverse health effects such as infectious diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the microbiological quality of the drinking water distribution network in Divandareh City (Kordestan-western Iran). Materials & Methods: This study was performed in a 12 months period from March 2011 to February 2012. For purposes of drinking water resources quality measurement in Divandareh City, samples from springs, deep and semi-deep wells were analyzed for residual free chlorines, turbidity, total and fecal coliform. The size of samples was 2088 and the sampling was performed according to guidelines of WHO for water sampling. The results were analyzed using the Statistical software SPSS and Excel and for the comparison between average parameters ANOVA test were used. Results: In 95% of samples, the residual free chlorine was in the range of 0 to 0.5 mg/L, turbidity 0 to 1.8 NTU and total and fecal coliforms 0 to 240 and 0 to 9.1 (MPN/100mL), respectively. According to data analysis, the chlorine residual and turbidity had significant effect on the amount of thermophilic coliforms (P=0.047). Conclusions: High rate of total and fecal coliforms in the drinking water is due to failures in the transport system, lack of sanitation in the water resource, and lack or failure in the chlorination system.