Changes in Quality of Supplied Drinking Water from Sources to Households in Dhaka City

Abstract

The availability of safe drinking water is one of the most important public health requirements, especially in developing countries like Bangladesh. Alteration of the physicochemical and microbial property of drinking water supplied through a piped network is commonly caused by contamination at the source, supply systems, and different parts of household storage. The primary objective of this study is to assess the change in water quality and intrusion of pathogenic microorganisms in the supplied water system in Dhaka at various locations before it reaches the user, and to evaluate the possible factors that may influence the changes. Groundwater and household drinking water samples were manually collected from two different ‘Maintenance, Operation, and Distribution System’ (MODS) zones of Dhaka WASA and selected based on their overall socioeconomic context. Samples were tested for physical, chemical, and microbial qualities, and the test parameters were chosen according to WASA guidelines. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to visualize the overall water quality variation among the samples and the correlation between different parameters contributing to this variation.