Assessing the quality of drinking water from selected water sources in Mbarara city, South-western Uganda.

Autor: Abaasa CN; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Ayesiga S; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Lejju JB; Faculty of Science, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Andama M; Faculty of Science, Muni University, Arua, Uganda., Tamwesigire IK; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Bazira J; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda., Byarugaba F; Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2024 Mar 28; Vol. 19 (3), pp. e0297794. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Mar 28 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297794
Abstrakt: This study assessed the physical, chemical, and microbiological quality with emphasis on risk score, source apportionment, geochemistry, feacal coliforms and water quality index of drinking water from selected water sources. A cross-sectional study was conducted in six villages in Mbarara city, south-western Uganda. Each selected source was inspected using a WHO-adopted sanitary inspection questionnaire. Each source's risk score was calculated. Thirty-seven samples were taken from one borehole, nine open dug wells, four rain harvest tanks, and twenty-three taps. The values for apparent color and phosphate were higher than the permissible level as set by the World Health Organization and Ugandan standards (US EAS 12). The isolated organisms were Klebsiella spp. (8.11%), Citrobacter divergens (62.16%), Citrobacter fluendii (2.7%), E. coli (35.14%), Enterobacter aerogenes (8.11%), Enterobacter agglomerus (5.4%), Proteus spp. (2.7%), Enterobacter cloacae (13.5%), and Proteus mirabilis (2.7%). Twelve water sources (32.4%) had water that was unfit for human consumption that was unfit for human consumption (Grade E), Five sources (13.5%) had water that had a very poor index (Grade D), nine (24.3%) had water of poor index (Grade C), eight (21.6%) had water of good water index (Grade B), and only three (8.1%) had water of excellent water quality index (Grade A). The piper trilinear revealed that the dominant water type of the area were Mgso4 and Caso4 type. Gibbs plot represents precipitation dominance. PCA for source apportionment showed that well, tap and borehole water account for the highest variations in the quality of drinking water. These results suggest that drinking water from sources in Mbarara city is not suitable for direct human consumption without treatment. We recommend necessary improvements in water treatment, distribution, and maintenance of all the available water sources in Mbarara City, South Western Uganda.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Abaasa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: