Assessment of Water Quality in the Bore Wells of a Centenary School in Southern Kerala, India

The present study aims to evaluate the quality of drinking water from borewells in the Government Higher Secondary School situated at Kazhakuttom in the Trivandrum district of Southern Kerala. Bore well water samples were collected from 12 sampling sites in the school premises during the pre-monsoon, monsoon, and post-monsoon seasons of the year 2018. The physico-chemical, bacteriological and statistical analysis were carried out for evaluating the quality of the drinking water. The results revealed that the concentrations of the majority of the parameters are within the permissible limits of drinking water quality standards except that of iron and lead. The metal index values are less than 1 which means below the threshold limit. Also, there was no evidence of microbial contamination in all the borewells sampled as the total coliform and fecal coliform count was zero. This study recommends that the old rusted iron pipes used for water supply in the school and those with leakage should be replaced with new ones, and the quality of drinking water, with special reference to lead should be checked periodically.