Abstract
The remote coastal regions of Bangladesh have been identified as climate induced hazard-prone areas. The traditional drinking water sources (e.g. rivers, groundwater) in the coastal area have become contaminated due to saltwater intrusion from the rising sea levels and frequent natural disasters. The main objective of this study is to assess the quality of harvested rainwater (HRW). The rainwater quality assessment programme comprised of fifteen households with rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems, and an analysis was conducted on the physical, chemical and microbiological parameters. Additionally, a sanitary inspection survey was conducted for the RWH systems, which was used to compare the microbiological data obtained from HRW. The physical and chemical parameters of HRW were within the Bangladesh and World Health Organization (WHO) standards for drinking water quality, however the assessment for the microbial quality did not pass the requirements. All samples were contaminated by total coliforms (TC) and 60% samples were contaminated by faecal coliforms (FC). A positive correlation was found between FC and sanitary risk score (R2=0.6861). Additional treatment is recommended for the HRW due to frequent detection of microbial contamination and to achieve the new SDG target of ‘safely managed water’.
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Acknowledgement
This study was partially supported by Jashore University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Bangladesh. The authors would like to extend thanks to The World Academy of Science (TWAS) for instrumental facility under the COMSTECH-TWAS Joint Research Grants Programme (TWAS Ref: 13-371 RG/ENG/AS_C; UNISCO FR: 3240279207).
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Mostafa, A.I., Samina, Z., Tapos Kumar, C., Gopal Chandra, G. (2020). Assessment of Rainwater Quality from Harvested Rainwater in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh. In: Haque, A., Chowdhury, A. (eds) Water, Flood Management and Water Security Under a Changing Climate. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47786-8_12
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