Microbiological Quality Evaluation Of Pre And Post Monsoon Groundwater Of Villages Of Punjab

Abstract

The present study investigates the impact of microbiological parameters on quality of groundwater in rural households of Punjab. The experiment was undertaken during 2019 in three zones of Punjab on the basis of depth of underground water. Through field survey, a total of 150 household ground water samples were collected, comprising 50 households from each district i.e., from village Killianwali from district Shri Muktsar Sahib, Talwandi Khurd from district Ludhiana and Rode from district Moga. From the selected households, water samples were collected during pre- and post-monsoon periods (year 2019) from the main water sources i.e., government rural water supply taps and privately owned submersible pumps and analyzed for microbiological properties for assessing the water quality. Among the different villages, Killianwali village had highest number of Total Coliform positive water samples followed by Rode and Talwandi Khurd during both monsoon periods. The major pathogenic organism detected in bacteriologically contaminated water samples was identified as Campylobacter spp. (73.3% and 81.6%) in comparison to others. Highly significant and positive correlation was found between Total Coliform Count (TCC) and physical-chemical properties of water samples in both pre-monsoon and post monsoon periods. Killianwali village reported poor quality groundwater than the other two compared villages. This might be due to less distance between the water source and the sanitation units than is recommended (15 m), which causes microbiological contamination of ground water. Regular maintenance of on-site sanitation system, its construction design, compatibility with the soil type and depth of underground water was found to be major reasons for contamination of ground water.