Assessment of hand pump waters in three tribal dominated districts of southern Rajasthan, India.

Udaipur, Banswara and Dungarpur districts of southern Rajasthan (India) have dominance of tribal population. In these districts besides other water resources, hand pumps are catering the need for drinking water. The present study was undertaken to assess the level of chemical and bacteriological status for comparing the water quality with the prevailing standards. 18 hand pumps were studied for selected water quality parameters such as, pH, hardness, chloride, fluoride, NO3 -N, EC, orthophosphate, TDS, TSS, BOD, total coliforms and faecal coliforms, following the standard methods. The data on chemical parameters revealed that in all 18 hand pumps the water quality was within the permissible level of WHO. However, in eight hand pumps the faecal coliforms were higher (2-6 MPN/100 mL) than the permissible limit which confirm organic contamination in these drinking water resources. On the basis of this study, suitable remedial measures for protection of water quality have been suggested.