MICROBIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION IN GROUNDWATER OF WAH AREA

Abstract

During the past few decades the population of Pakistan has increased at a very fast rate and the centers of population growth were the industrial cities where better job opportunities exist. The town of Pakistan Ordinance Factories Wah stretched many fold during 1980 to 2010. Due to this expansion, construction of new settlements took place in the surrounding of the town without adequate town planning and allied facilities such as clean drinking water and online sewage disposal system. In
these settlements the local inhabitants disposed off their wastes in open channel or through dugwells which caused contamination of shallow aquifer. To investigate microbiological contamination in groundwater of Wah cantonment area, 30 water samples were collected, 20 samples from unconfined shallow aquifer and 10 samples from deep aquifer. These samples were analyzed by multiple tube method for estimation of coliform and faecal coliform bacteria. The results reveal that the unconfined shallow aquifer (45-85 feet deep) has been found highly polluted where as the deep aquifer (180 – 300 feet depth) is still safe and found uncontaminated. Shallow aquifer has been found 100 % contaminated with coliform and faecal coliform. Management measures to protect the groundwater have also been discussed for rehabilitation of the contaminated aquifer.