Assessment of quality of water samples collected from different areas of Kolkata district of West Bengal, India

As a result of rapid urbanization and huge increase in population in city like Kolkata in West Bengal, India, limits the adequate supply of pure and safe potable water to the city-dwellers. Overcrowding in a congested city like Kolkata possesses threats for contamination of potable water supply which may deteriorate the physical, chemical as well as the bacteriological quality. The sanitary effluents when contaminate the drinking water supply sources which may cause potential health hazards to a huge number of residents and can even lead to spread of infective pathogenic bacterial strains within the population. Keeping this view the present study aims in the survey of potable water samples collected from different sources in and around the Kolkata district. Direct contact and intake of those water samples are very common phenomenon for the people residing in a congested city like Kolkata. A number of water samples from different areas consisting of varying population densities and also having numerous sources are collected and analyzed using commercially available kits. The study mainly based on observing the physical parameters as well as the chemical and bacteriological quantity and quality of the source sample of drinking water mainly from domestic sources as well as the water collected from open water bodies and the municipality supplies including tap water and deep tube wells. The presence of pathogenic bacterial strains along with the coliform contamination of the sample water tested signified a threat to the suitable drinking water in certain selected areas of this crowded city like Kolkata. If the contaminated water sources are not purified the surviving outrageous intensity of fecal E. coli, Vibrio cholera, Salmonella species and other pathogens will pose unfavorable difficulty by upgrading recurrence of water borne infection. The present survey will throw light on the current situation of the quality of potable water in certain areas of Kolkata so that necessary action should be undertaken in those areas to cope up with the situation for the benefit of the people residing there and to provide safe and pure drinking water following WHO guidelines.