The physical and chemical evaluation of the drinking water of the province of Samsun

Abstract

On the earth, only 3% of water supplies can be used as drinking water. In Samsun province, like many regions in our country, despite more surface and ground water supplies the amount of safely usable water is lessening day by day because of pollutants sourced from human settlements and agricultural and industrial areas. In this study, the kind, adequacy and disinfection status of drinking water supplies in urban and rural areas in Samsun province were investigated and also it was investigated whether environmental or chemical pollution was present nearby these supplies. 1480 samples, collected from 738 different points, were analysed at Public Health Institute of Samsun province. In this study, it was determined that 28.1% of the population of Samsun province had inadequate water, 40.8% had some pollutants nearby the water supplies and 35.0% were using drinking water without any disinfection process. House-connected water was used more frequently in urban areas whereas spring and well water was used in rural areas. In result, drinking-water used in rural areas was containing more chemical pollutants than used in urban areas. The mean hardness of drinking-water was 26.3 ± 0.3 and the proportion of polluted water by chemicals was found 22.6% in Samsun province.