Chemical and Microbial Analysis of Drinking Water in the Villages Under Rural Health Training Center, Apollo Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Hyderabad

Ravipati, Sri Vishnupriya; Das, Manick; Mathur, Neeta; Das, B. N; Balakrishna, N; Pattnaik, Snigdha

doi:10.4103/ijehe.ijehe_58_20

Chemical and Microbial Analysis of Drinking Water in the Villages Under Rural Health Training Center, Apollo Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Hyderabad

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Sri Vishnupriya Ravipati ¹

Manick Das ²

Neeta Mathur ²

B. N Das ²

N Balakrishna ²

Snigdha Pattnaik ²

¹ Department of Community Medicine, Apollo Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

² Department of Microbiology, Apollo Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

10.4103/ijehe.ijehe_58_20

Abstract

Aim:
The primary concern regarding the quality of drinking water in developing countries is microbiological contamination. The rural people of Moinabad Mandal use 20 L bubble top water cans for drinking. The purpose of the study is to check the chemical and microbial quality of the water obtained from these packaged water cans. The study analyses the basic parameters such as chlorine content and coliform count in the drinking water.
Methods:
Out of 37 villages for the study, we randomly took 10 villages and from those randomly 10 houses were selected who were using 20 L bubble top water cans for drinking purpose. From each house, 150 ml water sample was obtained in a sterile container and two tests were applied: Chlorine estimation by orthotolidine test and coliform count by single strength and double strength MacConkey broth. Basic statistical parameters such as minimum, maximum, mean, median, and deviation standard are used to analyze the data.
Results:
The study shows that none of the samples have free residual chlorine which indicates that the chances of contamination of the water are high. Forty-one percentage of the total 100 samples are contaminated with Escherichia coli and the other 59% samples with Gram-negative bacteria other than E. coli which indicates environmental contamination making it unfit for drinking.
Conclusions:
As most of the people in Moinabad Mandal depend on packaged water, and hence authorities need to monitor drinking water quality to safeguard consumers’ health.

Keywords

Chlorine

coliform count

drinking water quality

Escherichia coli

microbial contamination

packaged drinking water