Examining the Microbial Quality of Drinking Water in Kashan's Villages and the Role of Rural Water and Wastewater Company in its Improvement

The objective of the study is examining the microbial quality of drinking water in Kashan’s villages, and determining the usage of safe water in rural population in terms of microbial quality in the second-half 2007. Also the role of Kashan Rural Water and Wastewater Company (KRWWC) in improving drinking water quality in Kashan rural areas was investigated. In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, the water microbial quality was determined in all villages, in 3 rounds and based on 3 measurements, i.e. Total Coliform (TC), Fecal Coliform (FC), and Heterotrophic Plate Count (HPC). In this study, the mean data obtained from the 3 sampling rounds and the experiments are presented. The findings indicate that 100.0%, 47.71% and 92.99% of the population under coverage and non-coverage by KRWWC and all Kashan’s villages, respectively, use safe water in terms of FC and 98.4%, 21.2%, and 88.00% of the population under coverage and non- coverage by KRWWC and all Kashan’s villages, respectively, use safe water in terms of TC. There is also a significant difference in microbial quality of water between villages with coverage and non- overage by KRWWC. The results of the current study express that the fecal contamination condition in under coverage villages is very good, but unsuitable conditions are placed in villages with non-coverage by KRWWC. Generally the microbial quality in all Kashan’s villages is approximately equal to countrywide Microbial Index. It is also illustrated that the role of KRWWC is very important in supplying safe drinking water for rural population in terms of microbial quality.