Assessment of Chlorination Efficiency and Quality of Municipal Drinking Water in Gwalior City, Madhya Pradesh, India

The quality of drinking water at the point of delivery to the consumer is crucial in safeguarding peoples health. This study was carried out to study effectiveness of chlorination throughout drinking water distribution system and quality of water supplied to households in Gwalior city. Water samples were collected from 10 sampling points within the city. The collected water samples were subjected to physicochemical and microbiological analysis by using standard methods and values recorded were compared with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for drinking water. The results of the study demonstrated that physicochemical and bacteriological quality of water just leaving water treatment plant was satisfactory. In the distribution system, physicochemical quality of water was satisfactory while most of the samples contained bacteriological contamination and residual chlorine concentration in distribution system was decreasing considerably with increase in distance from water treatment plant. Average concentration of residual chlorine from all sampling location was between 0.08 to 0.98 mg/l. Total coliform was found at most of the sampling locations in the range of 0.82 to 7.15 MPN/100ml. Diarrhoea was most the prevalent health problem in the study area as reported by 33 % of households followed by Typhoid (21.5 %). Among the methods of treatment, 32 % of households were using boiling, 18 % aqua guard and 16.5 % alum for treatment of tap water before drinking it. Possible causes of contamination were leaking of 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 chlorine residuals at the consumer end to eliminate the bacteriological contamination.