Assessment of drinking water quality and its health impact on local community in coastal belt Karachi

Abstract

For survival of human beings clean water is an essential commodity whereas contamination in drinking water threatens to mankind. The main cause of water contamination is social and development activities of human being along with increasing population. The community in the study area has acute shortage of drinking water along with about 40 to 60% has no access to safe drinking water. This study indicates drinking water quality of two major sources of coastal belt of Karachi one is supplied by Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB) as tap water and the other through groundwater. The physicochemical analysis was carried out by following the standard methods for checking the quality of drinking water. The analyzed results showed that the quality of groundwater was unfit as potable water. The most critical situation was observed as high level of contamination followed by high turbidity and increased salinity levels. TDS in surface water were found 12% above and TDS in groundwater was 20% below the National Drinking Water Quality Standards (NDWQS) of Pakistan as well as the permissible WHO drinking water quality guidelines.