New Approach in Detection of Water Quality Indicators

Abstract

The microbial guidelines seek to ensure that drinking water is free of microorganisms that can cause disease. The provision of such a supply is of paramount importance to the health of a community. The most common and widespread health risk associated with drinking water is contamination, either directly or indirectly, by human or animal excreta and the microorganisms contained in faeces. If the contamination is recent, and those contributing to the contamination include carriers of communicable enteric diseases (diseases of the gut), some of the microorganisms that cause these diseases may be present in the water. Drinking such contaminated water or using it in food preparation may cause new cases of infection. Those at greatest risk of infection are infants and young children, people whose immune system is suppressed, the sick, and the elderly. Pathogenic (disease-causing) organisms of concern include bacteria, viruses and protozoa; the diseases they cause vary in severity from mild gastroenteritis to severe and sometimes fatal diarrhea