Assessment Of Drinking Water Quality And Waterborne Diseases In Primary Schools Of District Khyber, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the drinking water quality and assess the prevalence of water-borne diseases in primary schools in the district Khyber. A simple random - sampling technique was used for selection of schools and 63 schools were selected (8%) for in-depth investigation.  Three drinking water samples were collected from each school and were analyzed for physical, chemical parameters and coliform bacteria.  The World Health Organization's (WHO) drinking water quality standards were found to be met by all of the physical and chemical parameters. Among all the Schools, 34% of the schools were found positive for coliform bacteria. By comparing government and public (private) schools, drinking water in 41% of government school was unsafe while (25%) private schools water was found unsafe in terms of drinking water quality. To assess the drinking water quality and prevalence of waterborne diseases, a questionnaire survey was also conducted in the selected schools. The data from the questionnaire revealed that there were three main sources of water, tube well, dug well and spring. 30% of schools have no access to clean drinking water and 70.8% have no water quality monitoring system in the schools. It also revealed that Diarrhea was the most common waterborne disease among the school children. It is recommended to regularly disinfect water storage facilities and to monitor water quality on a regular basis and make the available water safe for drinking.