Assessment of the Quality of Drinking water of Thari Mirwah Town and Surrounding villages, District Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

The ground water of Thari Mirwah town, Sindh, Pakistan and its surrounding villages was studied to check the chemical and physical suitability for drinking purpose. We measured several physicochemical parameters; such as total dissolved salts (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), chlorides, sulfate, phosphorus, nitrate-nitrogen, total hardness, alkalinity and total organic matter. The obtained results were in the range of: pH 6.9-8.1, temperature 25-30 ⁰C, electrical conductivity 540-3140 μS/cm, total dissolved solids 362-2104 mg/L, chlorides 14.8-1657 mg/L, sulfate 69-308 mg/L, phosphate-phosphorus 0.003-0.56 mg/L, nitrate-nitrogen 0.00-9.9 mg/L, total hardness 58- 760 mg/L, alkalinity 383-950 mg/L and total organic matter 0.022-0.89 mg/L. All these samples were analyzed using the standard methods of American Public Health Association (APHA) by atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). The concentration of analyzed metals was found in the range of: sodium (Na) 2.57-1066.74 mg/L, calcium (Ca) 8.35-329.33 mg/L, manganese (Mn) 0.003-0.401 mg/L, nickel (Ni) 0.006-0.154 mg/L, zinc (Zn) 0.002-0.533 mg/L, copper (Cu) 0.004- 0.169 mg/L, cobalt (Co) 0.00-0.040 mg/L, chromium (Cr) 0.0054-0.0322 mg/L, iron (Fe) 0.002- 0.499 mg/L and cadmium (Cd) 0.00-0.014 mg/L. Study reveals that above parameters are not within safe limits of WHO/EPA/EU guidelines and all ground water samples were not fit for drinking and irrigation purposes.