An assessment of drinking water quality supplied by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, India

The drinking water supplied by the greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation was analysed for physical, chemical and biological parameters. Data was collected from six different stations of Visakhapatnam City. Turbidity was high in Station I. Sodium, Potassium, Nitrite, Phosphate and microalgae densities were high in station VI and Sodium, Potassium, Calcium and Nitrite were low in station I. The data obtained was compared with the standard permissible limits prescribed by World Health Organization for drinking water. The water was found suitable for drinking except for higher values of some parameters such as conductivity, turbidity and total dissolved solids in certain months of the year. The microalgae were less in density and few in number in water samples. The density of microalgae was high in Station VI. Among the algal groups observed, Bacillariophyceae contributed much to the cell density. Oscillatoria, Merismopedia, Nitzschia, Navicula and Synedra were the commonly occurring genera in the drinking water.