Bacteriological and physio chemical quality assessment of drinking water The case in shambu Town,Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

Water quality is a critical factor affecting human health and welfare. Ethiopia is one of the countries with worst health status in the world water quality problems where only 52%of its population has access to safe water. For this reason, 60-80% of the population suffers from water-borne and water-related diseases. Shambu town is not out of this problem. Since people are still using unprotected wells and springs for their domestic water supply. Therefore this research was aimed to evaluate the bacteriological and physico-chemical quality of water in Shambu Town. Two rounds of water samples were taken from each site with A total of 48 water samples. From water sources (n=4), from reservoir(n=1)from tap water (n=4) and from household containers (n=15) were considered for physico-chemical and bacteriological drinking water quality determination. A the Samples were analyzed for phisico chemical parameters like Temperature, Turbidity, PH, TDS, EC and the presence of indicator bacteria such as Total coliformes (TC) and fecal coli form (FC).The method of sample collection at each sampling point was according to the WHO Guidelines for drinking water quality assessment. Water samples were collected using systematic random sampling method. The result showed that Highest counts of TC,and FC were detected in the house hold water containers, followed by unprotected well, unprotected springs protected well and protected spring. All raw water samples were positive for TTC and FC. High bacteriological load were found in the household water containers. This research concluded that the water quality of shambu town at household storage were very poor and were not free from free from contaminates. Thus, deliberate awareness creation of the community about sanitation and hygienic practices is crucial. The water sources should be protected from entry of animals, human excretes and it should be treated before used for drinking.