Evaluation of Drinking Water Quality in Urban Areas of Pakistan: A Case Study of Southern Lahore

Authors

  • S. Haydar
  • M. Arshad
  • J. A. Aziz

Abstract

A study was carried out to evaluate the quality of water supplied by Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), Lahore. A portion of southern Lahore was selected for this purpose. Water samples from four different sources (tubewells) and eight house connections (two from each tubewell) were collected making a total of twelve sampling points. Two set of samples, one before monsoon and one after the monsoon were taken from each sampling point. Four physicochemical parameters (pH, turbidity, hardness and total dissolved solids) and two bacteriological parameters (total coliform and faecal coliform) were tested for each sample and values compared with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for drinking water. The results of the study demonstrated that physicochemical and bacteriological quality of water at sources was satisfactory. In the distribution system, physicochemical quality of water was satisfactory while 50 to 62.5% of the samples contained bacteriological contamination before monsoon. This percentage rose to 75% after the monsoon. Possible causes of contamination were leaking water mains and cross connections between water mains and sewers due to close proximity. It is recommended to carry out compulsory chlorination at water sources while maintaining reasonable residuals at the consumers’ end to eliminate the bacteriological contamination.

References

“Designing to codes and standards” Materials Selection and Designe, Vol. 20 ASM International 1990.

G.F. Vander Voorts, Metallograghy principles and practice, McGraw-Hill, 1988.

J. Schey, Manufacturing Process and their selection, Material Selection and Designe, Vol. 20, ASM Hand Book, ASM International, 1997. P 687-704.

W. D. Callister, Jr, Materials Science and Engineering. An International 3rd Ed. Wiley, 1994.

Private communication: Dr. F. Hasan, October 18, 2010.

“Corrosion Cost and Preventive Strategies in the United State,” FHWA-RD-01-156, supplement to Materials Performance, Vol. 3, July 2002.

“Corrosion of Metals and alloys-Corrosively of atmosphere-Classification,” ISO 9223: 1992.

“Corrosion of Metals and alloys-Corrosively of atmosphere-guide line values for the corrosivity categories,” ISO 9224: 1992.

“National Air Quality and Emission Trends Report, 2003 Special Studies Edition,” U.S Environment Protection Agency, 2003.

Corrosion Doctors: "Rupture and fire near Carlsbad New Mexico August 19, 2000." Available at http://corrosiondoctors.org/Pipeline/Carlsbad-exp...; accessed November 27, 2010.

Downloads

Published

2016-06-22

Issue

Section

City and Regional Planning, Environmental Engineering, Architecture