Drinking water quality for al-Mustansiriya University

Abstract EN

The aim of the research is to study water quality in Al-Mustansiriya university which is supplied by water through a4 inch diameter pipe, water collected in a very old ground tank supplying water to the university departments which have their only tanks.

Samples of water from the main pipe and for each department in the university were taken for seven months (Jan.

2011 -Jul.

2011) Physical, chemical and bacteriological tests have been done.

Residual chlorine reduced as the temperature increased during the year.

Samples from Arabic language department show the less residual chlorine content.

Turbidity readings did not apply to the Iraqi and WHO standards because the ground tank contains large amount of sediments and was not cleaned for a long time, maximum turbidity reading was 6.8 NTU.

The samples were analyzed also to find the chemical properties such as heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Pb, Zn) and other parameters of water (TDS, CL, Na, S.S, pH, Mn, Ca) Iron was the heavy metal which was found in large concentrations that exceeded the Iraqi and WHO standards because of the corrosion inside the ground tank, maximum iron reading was 8.4 mg/l.

The percent of samples exceeding the standard limits for sodium, sulphate, chloride, hardness 55, 9.04, 6.19, and 5.71 % respectively.

Bacteriological examinations of water (total coli form, E coli, and total plate count) show good results although some bacteria were detected but still within the allowable limits, this is attributed to the present of residual chlorine and the continuous feeding of water supply due to high consumption of water.