Ensuring access to safe drinking water to protect public health in many communities underserved or unserved by centralized water systems in the US requires regular water quality testing and reporting. Following testing, access to easy-to-comprehend water quality information may be challenging. Households served by water utilities have access to water quality information. However, households depending on unregulated water systems like wells and springs are often unaware of their water quality. Therefore, this study utilized multiple water quality parameters to determine the quality of karst spring water using two Water Quality Index (WQI) methods.
In-situ measurements of physico-chemical parameters (pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, turbidity, conductivity, specific conductance, total dissolved solids, oxidation reduction potential were taken at 50 karst springs in east Tennessee during Summer 2021. Water samples were analyzed for microbial (fecal coliform, and E. coli), nutrients (nitrate and nitrite), and radiological (radon) constituents using standard analytical methods. Springs generally met federal and state water quality safe limits for physicochemical parameters, but 100% of water samples contained fecal coliform and 90% contained E. coli revealing widespread fecal contamination; 60% of springs exceeded radon concentrations of 300 pCi/L.
WQI method 1 (Brown et al. 1972) rated 12 % of springs as very poor water quality and 88% as unfit for drinking. WQI method 2 (NSFWQI) rated 4% of the sampled springs as good, 92% as moderate and 4 % as bad. Water treatment procedures for microbial pollution purification are advised before the studied springs are used as a drinking water source.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-1949 |
| Date | 06 April 2022 |
| Creators | Fashina, Lukman, Luffman, Ingrid E |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum & Jay S. Boland Undergraduate Research Symposium |
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