Year: 2024 | Month: July | Volume: 14 | Issue: 7 | Pages: 309-320
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijhsr.20240741
Microbial Quality of Water Used as Drinking Sources in Urban and Rural Households of Gujarat, India: A Cross-Sectional Study
Dr. Sucheta Lakhani1, Neil Shah2, Dr. Nidhi Bhalodia3, Dr. Tanuja Javadekar4, Dr. Himani Pandya5
1Professor, Department of Microbiology, SBKSMI&RC, Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Piparia, Vadodara
2Medical Student, 3rd Year MBBS, SBKSMI&RC, Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Piparia, Vadodara
3Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, SBKSMI&RC, Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Piparia, Vadodara
4Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, SBKSMI&RC, Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Piparia, Vadodara
5Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, SBKSMI&RC, Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Piparia, Vadodara
Corresponding Author: Dr. Nidhi Bhalodia
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Globally nearly 2 billion people have no access to safely managed drinking water services and over 1.7 billion lack adequate or basic sanitation facilities. India is a growing and developing nation and the quality of ground water and drinking water needs to be regularly monitored. There are several diseases in India that spread due to contaminated water. Annually about 37.7 million Indians are affected by waterborne diseases.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This research has been undertaken with the Aim and Intent to study, test, assess, evaluate and understand the aspects of Microbial quality of water used as drinking sources in urban and rural households.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: The 40 numbers of drinking water samples were collected.20 water samples from the urban area of Vadodara city and 20 water samples from the rural areas on outskirts of Vadodara city. Multiple Tube Fermentation Technique was used for detecting presence of coliforms. The free residual Chlorine was measured by use of Chloroscope equipment
RESULTS: A total of about 17 water samples (11 rural samples of untreated water and 06 urban samples of treated water) showed a higher MPN. The growth of E. coli which indicates the fecal contamination rate was noted in 09 water samples which is about 22.50% (09 water samples - 06 rural samples and 03 urban samples). The absence of fecal streptococci, E. coli and total coliforms was found in only 6 samples which is about 15.00%.
CONCLUSION: Pathogens, coliforms and other microorganisms were found in water samples collected from both urban as well as rural areas. It is now important to educate and bring awareness among local people about quality of their water source, the importance of clean surrounding near water source, boiling of drinking water to eliminate contamination.
Key words: Fecal coliforms, E. coli, Chloroscope