POLLUTION RISKS IN DRINKING WATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK OF A HEALTHCARE FACILITY IN TIARET, ALGERIA

Abstract

Water plays an important role in the healthcare field and can become the source of health problems due to microbial or chemical contamination. However, the quality of water used in hospitals has not been well studied in developing world. This study aimed to assess bacteriological and physicochemical drinking water quality at the hospital of Tiaret Town to get insight into any potential health risks due to waterborne diseases. To evaluate water quality of hospital, five sampling sites were determined and water quality parameters were selected for physico-chemical and bacteriological analysis. The analysis results were compared with maximum permissible limit values recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) and Algerian drinking water standards (JORA). The obtained results indicate that, the water temperatures ranged between 18.10 and 18.40 °C. The pH ranged between 7.93 and 7.99. The electrical conductivity (EC) with maximum value of 1149 ìS/cm. The HCO3 – content with a value of 146 mg/l at all sample points. The chloride (Cl–) values ranged from 114.30 to 115.10 mg/l and sulfate (SO4–2) values from 189.70 to 197.20 mg/l. The physico-chemical analysis indicated that parameters values of the water were far below drinking water standards. The microbiological results show that the microbial load of total germs and fecal coliforms is very important. The levels of total germs at 22 °C and 37 °C ranged between 2 CFU/100 ml to 128 CFU/100 ml and 40 CFU/100 ml to 134 CFU/100 ml respectively, while, the levels of total coliforms and fecal coliforms ranged between 13 CFU/100 ml to 146 CFU/100 ml and 00 CFU/100 ml to 371 CFU/100 ml respectively which indicates the contaminated than the hospital drinking water. The results show that the microbiological qualities of the water generally worsen from hospital taps.