Quality of River Water and Impact on the Health of Populations in the Village of M'pody (Anyama, Ivory Coast)

Abstract

The study focuses on the evaluation of the quality of domestic water and its effects on the health of the population. Indeed, in rural areas of Côte d'Ivoire where it is difficult to have access to public water networks. Water, the population is interested in drinking water of various origins. Thus water samples from the rivers of the village of M'pody were analyzed using standard methods. The results indicated that these waters were weakly acidic (pH between 6.26 and 7.61), weakly mineralized (electrical conductivity between 24 and 59.2 µS/cm) and strongly turbid (turbidity between 15.7 and 46.8 UNT). Almost all major ions met the standards. Nevertheless iron was highly concentrated in almost all samples (0.04 to 4.4 mg/l). From a bacteriological point of view, the waters were highly polluted because all the samples contained significant loads of total coliforms, E. coli, E. faecalis, ASR and Pseudomonas sp. A retrospective study of these health data recorded in the village health center from 2014 to 2020 gave us a predominance of cases of simple malaria among the different cases of pathology studied. Children under 5 years old are much exposed to these different pathologies with 36% of cases of simple pulpitis, 30% of cases of dermatosis, 40% of dermatosis cases and 28% of diarrhea cases. These waters are therefore unfit for human consumption. Thus, to minimize possible health risks, urgent attention must be given to the adequate treatment of water before consumption.