Drinking Water Quality among Marginalized Barangays of Malaybalay City

Abstract

The study investigated the quality of drinking water in the marginalized communities of Malaybalay City. It determined the microbiological quality of drinking water; compared microbiological quality of water within and between water sources; and correlated the microbiological counts with the occurrence of waterborne diseases. Results showed that majority of these barangays show a high count for all microbiological properties in all water sources. A General Linear Model was used to find out if difference existed on the number of microbes during the trial periods. It showed no significant evidence for source effect. Also, the number of microbes in each source did not change over time for fecal coliform, E.coli and total coliforms. Tukey Simultaneous Test revealed a difference on the number of microbes between sources. Fitted Line Plot Cubic Model showed a greater coefficient of correlation R2 suggesting a slight positive association between the occurrence of microbes from water in the main source and diarrhea, and a moderately positive association between the microbiological counts from the water in the faucet and occurrence of diarrhea.Keywords: microbial counts, water quality, marginalized barangays, water resources