Objectives To investigate the drinking water safety in rural areas of Hezhou city, to find out and correct the major hidden dangers in order to make sure the safety of drinking water for both human and livestock.
Methods Drinking water supply in rural areas of Hezhou city was inspected and samples collected in 2007-2011 were analyzed.Twenty eight indexes (including sensory indexes, chemical indexes and microorganisms) were tested and the results were evaluated according to the Standards for Drinking Water Quality (GB 5749-2006).
Results The average qualified rate of all indexes was 26.5%, and the lowest was 18.0% in 2008. The total bacterial count and coliform were 45.4% and 47.4% respectively. The average qualified rates of manganese and nitrates were relatively low (both at 95.6%).
Conclusions The major hidden dangers for drinking water in rural areas of Hezhou city are unqualified bacteriologic indexes and superstandard of manganese, which is associated with more manganese mine in this area. Therefore, it is necessary to instruct residents to sterilize water effectively before dinking and not to drink raw water directly, and to protect the water source from manganese mine pollution.
DownLoad: