International Journal of Environmental Sciences

Diseases related to contamination of drinking water constitute a major burden on human health. Interventions to improve the quality of drinking-water provide significant benefits to health. Therefore, in this study 28 drinking-water samples from Government Supply and Tube wells of 14 major towns of Rajkot District, Gujarat (India), where no information is available were collected. The various Physico-Chemical parameters studied were Colour, Odour, Taste, pH, Turbidity, TDS, TSS, DO, BOD, COD, EC, Total Hardness, Calcium, Magnesium, Chloride, Sulphate, Nitrate, Phosphate and Iron. The result indicated that physical parameters Colour, Odour, Taste, pH, TSS and DO were within the permissible limit. BOD and COD values were high, indicating high pollution load. EC and TDS in all samples exceeded the ICMR value, and particularly tube wells contained high concentration. The total hardness, concentration of calcium and magnesium in tube wells were more than potability limit. The concentration of chloride, sulphate and nitrate in tube wells were high and the concentration of phosphate and sulphate were within the permissible limit. In our investigation it was found that almost all sources were positive for TC and Salmonella differential analysis. This investigation revealed that only 50% source was completely fit for drinking purpose with respect to Physico-chemical parameters studied.