Harsimran Kaur Ghuman, Sanjay Gupta, Sanjiv Aggarwal, Shamim Monga,Rupali, Hobinder
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Waterborne diseases are still a burden on the economy of developing countries due to lack of awareness of among populations.
Methodology: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in urban area (Faridkot block) and rural area (villages under community health centre, Bajakhana) of district Faridkot, Punjab. The total of 80 water samples, 40 each from urban and rural areas were studied. The further distribution was 30 from Water Works, 10 from R.O system. The total of 3 Water Works and 13 RO systems were located in urban area. While the total of 53 Water Works and 53 RO systems were located under rural area. Finally, a list of 10 R.O systems and 10 samples each from 3 Water Works was prepared from urban and rural area by Simple random sampling. Results: Water available from water works in the urban area showed higher value of turbidity, pH, total dissolved solids, alkalinity and total hardness ( p value <0.005) as compared to rural area. In case of water filtered by RO system, turbidity, alkalinity and total hardness were more in case of rural water.
Conclusion: Results of present study concluded that RO treated water had better quality as compared to water available from water works both at rural and urban level.
Keywords: Total dissolved solids; Turbidity; Drinking water; Faridkot; Punjab