Abstract
The availability of safe and clean drinking water is very limited across the world. However, it is essential to have access to safe and quality drinking water to lead a healthy life and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 by 2030. This study examines the quality of drinking water in Palghat village of South Twenty-Four Parganas, West Bengal, considering households’ level factors. A total of 78 households were selected for the study, which represents 15% of the total households. A cross-sectional research design was used and purposive sampling method was applied to conduct the household-level survey. Different improved sources of water were selected using random sampling techniques for the analysis of water quality. The water quality was determined using the water quality index (WQI). We found that 53.8% of the households in the village were dependent on tube wells for drinking water. Besides, 82.1% of the households were directly consuming drinking water without purification. The study depicts that the ordinary tube wells are slightly contaminated with arsenic heavy metals (\(0.05 \mathrm{mg}/\mathrm{L}\)), and the overall water quality of the village is 'unfit for consumption' (WQI: 190.87). Therefore, the authors suggest paying special attention to the water quality of the ordinary hand pumps in the study area. Besides, monitoring of shallow tube wells and spreading public awareness about clean and safe drinking water can improve the water quality and human health in the region.
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Data availability
The data was collected through a primary survey with proper consent from the households. Household-level data will be available with reasonable request to the corresponding author. Furthermore, physico-chemical parameters of different improved water sources data are available in the manuscript.
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Acknowledgements
Chandan Roy is a recipient of Indian Council of Social Science Research Doctoral Fellowship. His/her article is largely an outcome of his/her doctoral work sponsored by ICSSR. However, the responsibility for the facts stated, opinions expressed and the conclusions drawn is entirely that of the author.
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Indian Council of Social Science Research, RFD/2022-23/GEN/HLTH/240, Chandan Roy.
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CR contributed to the conceptualization and study design. CR and SP performed the household-level survey. CR performed the physicochemical analysis of water samples and statistical analysis. CR interpreted the results and discussed the findings. CR, SK, VPS, and SP finalized the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
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Roy, C., Kumar, S., Sati, V.P. et al. Investigating the physico-chemical properties of drinking water: a case study of South Twenty-Four Parganas, West Bengal. SN Soc Sci 3, 187 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-023-00778-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-023-00778-5