Bobita Bordoloi^1,, Samujjal Saharia²

Water pollution due to rapid urbanization and industrialization has become a major issue of concern worldwide. Water plays a vital role in human life, but access to safe drinking water has become a scarce commodity nowadays due to drastically increasing water pollution. Thus, water-borne diseases have become a common health hazard. So, basic monitoring of water quality has been necessitated to observe the level of water pollution. The quality of drinking water is determined by its biological, chemical, and physical features. In this study, the physicochemical and bacteriological analyses of some drinking water sources of Jorhat town were carried out to ascertain their suitability for consumption and other domestic uses. The water samples were collected from different sites based on their use by the local people. The results obtained were compared with WHO potability parameters. The study revealed that most of the samples' physicochemical parameters were within the permissible limits except for nitrate, hardness, turbidity in a few samples, which were beyond the permissible limits. Moreover, one groundwater sample was found to contain arsenic which can be a serious health threat if untreated used for a prolonged period. The most probable number (MPN) count from the bacteriological study revealed coliforms in most of the samples. This may be due to poor sanitation and unawareness about personal hygiene and cleanliness. The presence of these bacteria in drinking water increases the risk of water-borne diseases and health issues. The study showed that not all the water samples were potable and fit for drinking as most of the parameters were beyond the permissible limits. Thus, the present investigation suggests that the collected sources' water needs urgent measures to control pollution and to aware the local people to treat the water before using it properly.

bacteriological, coliform, MPN, physicochemical, water pollution, waterborne disease, WHO