Abstract
Abstract Poor waste management in the Kathmandu valley has deteriorated the water quality of surface and groundwater sources. The objective of this study was to assess the status of water quality (WQ) in drinking water sources of groundwater and municipal supply (tap water) from the Bagmati river basin in Kathmandu valley. A total of 52 water samples from deep tube-well, tube-well, dug-well, and tap water were collected and analyzed for physical, chemical, and microbiological parameters using standard methods. The results revealed that chloride, total hardness (TH), copper, nitrate, sulfate, and turbidity were within the recommendations of the National Drinking Water Quality Standard (NDWQS). Total coliform (TC) bacteria in 84.6% of the samples exceeded drinking water guidelines. Similarly, the isolates of different enteric bacteria, namely Escherichia coli (21.5%), Citrobacter spp. (20.9%), Klebsiella spp. (19.8%), Proteus spp. (13.9%), Enterobacter spp. (8.72%), Salmonella spp. (5.8%), Shigella spp. (5.2%), and Pseudomonas (4.1%) were identified in the samples collected from the respective sources. Out of the 52 water samples, 7.7% of samples had fecal contamination of somatic coliphage. The groundwater and municipal water supply in the study area are not safe for drinking purposes. Treatment of water is required before its use for household applications.
Highlights
Water quality of the Bagmati river in the Kathmandu valley has swiftly deteriorated due to the discharge of untreated wastewater in the river and disposal of municipal solid waste in the open fields near the river bank (Regmi )
Kathmandu valley is densely populated, and limited municipal water supply cannot fulfill the large demand for water
The pH of tap water was within the recommendations of National Drinking Water Quality Standard (NDWQS)
Summary
Water quality of the Bagmati river in the Kathmandu valley has swiftly deteriorated due to the discharge of untreated wastewater in the river and disposal of municipal solid waste in the open fields near the river bank (Regmi ). The state of the river and its tributaries are in degraded condition owing to indigent water quality. Such situations can negatively affect the groundwater quality along the riverside and can contaminate soil and air quality. This can affect the availability of safe drinking water as groundwaters are largely been used for drinking purposes (Gurung et al ). The diarrheal disease remains a leading cause of illness and death in the developing world, which alone causes 2.2 million of the 3.4 million water-related deaths per year. Unsafe drinking water is responsible for a large number of diseases, such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis, protozoan, and helminthic infections
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