CHECKING THE PURITY OF WATER SAMPLES COLLECTED FROM A RURAL AREA AND ASSURING THE PUBLIC SAFETY BY CREATING AWARENESS TO THE PEOPLE LIVING IN THAT AREA.

Water is the basic and primary need of all vital organisms. It plays a significant role for the sound health of all living organism including plant and animal life. Polluted water (containing solids and dissolved organic compounds) serves as an excellent medium for the growth and multiplication of microorganisms and it also impart offensive odour to the water. With the increasing industrialization and population growth water sources and its availability for various purposes such as drinking, recreation, aquaculture, agriculture, have been adulterated with industrial as well as animal and human wastes. The organisms typically found in different types of water belong to fungi, protozoa, algae, bacteria, actinomycetes and viruses for example, the causative agents of dysentery, typhoid, cholera, giardiasis, hepatitis etc. Sewage consists of 99.9% water and 0.02-0.03% suspended solids and other organic and inorganic matters. The following techniques were conducted respectively to check the purity of the water samples taken from different places of a rural area. TDS was determined as the residue left after evaporation of the filtered sample. DO in the water sample was determined using titrimetric method. BOD, which is used as a parameter to express the strength of sewage by measuring the volume of oxygen required by bacteria to metabolize the organic compounds in sewage, was determined. COD, another technique which is more efficient to estimate the organic matter in water by using the oxidability of organic matter by a chemical oxidant such as potassium permanganate or potassium dichromate was determined. Acidity, Alkalinity and Chlorine content of each sample was also determined. SPC was done, which is one of the routine procedures to determine the number of microbes in water. The purity of drinking water was evaluated by testing for the presence of coliforms, which is an indicator of fecal contaminations. It was done by using MPN analysis. Detection and confirmation of the presence of E.coli was done by using IMViC test. Rapid methods to detect E. coli are important to identify the source of outbreaks and to assure public safety. The overall results were compared with ISI specification and CPCB standard values for the discharge of treated water.