Evaluation Of Water Quality In
Public Drinking Fountains
Author(s)
M. H. Rebelo, A. S. Cardoso & S. A. Feliciano
Abstract
This work is a prospective study in the Sintra Municipality. The objective was to
identify and to characterize health risk for the population due to the consumption
of drinking water from public fountains. To achieve this objective, water quality
was evaluated and the physiochemical and bacteriological stability was
monitored throughout the hydrologic year. For this study 42 public drinking
fountains were selected whose water was subjected to bacteriological and
physiochemical analysis from February 2006 to April 2007. The analytical
protocol and the assessment of the obtained results were based on the quality
requirements for drinking water, defined in Portuguese Law 243/2001 of
September 5. The bacteriological analyses were made with monthly periodicity;
the physiochemical characterization analyses were made every two months; the
metals were analyzed every six months and the pesticides and polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons were analyzed once during the period of the study. The
obtained results emphasize the poor quality of the water, observed in almost all
the springs studied due, particularly, to bacteriological alterations. For this
reason, water consumption from the studied public fountains in the Sintra
Municipality seems to present a high risk for the population’s health, due to the
potential contamination with pathogenic microorganisms. The risk of chronic
intoxication, though of smaller importance due to the irregular consumption of
these waters, should not be excluded since some springs presented a high content
of nitrate, nickel, lead and manganese.
The obtained results provide the necessary information for health risk
management by the Health Authorities, through implementation of corrective
measures for protection of water quality, and/or alerting the population to the
health risk due to the consumption of unsafe water.
Keyword: water quality, drinking water fountains, risk assessment, water spring
quality, contamination of spring waters.
Keywords
water quality, drinking water fountains, risk assessment, water spring
quality, contamination of spring waters.
Related Book
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