Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.21860/medflum2017_179762

Safety of drinking water in Gorski Kotar – five-year period 2011 – 2015

Darija Vukić Lušić ; Medicinski fakultet Sveučilišta u Rijeci, Rijeka
Andrea Đandara ; Medicinski fakultet Sveučilišta u Rijeci, Rijeka
Vanda Piškur ; Nastavni zavod za javno zdravstvo Primorsko-goranske županije, Rijeka
Željko Linšak ; Nastavni zavod za javno zdravstvo Primorsko-goranske županije, Rijeka
Lovorka Bilajac ; Medicinski fakultet Sveučilišta u Rijeci, Rijeka
Dražen Lušić orcid.org/0000-0002-1636-6512 ; Medicinski fakultet Sveučilišta u Rijeci, Rijeka

Abstract

Aim: Ensuring the safety of potable water is a necessity of every human being. Taking into account long-term microbiological contamination of water supply network of Gorski Kotar, the results of 5-year County monitoring program of potable water safety in that region have been analysed. The aim of this study was to monitor the impact of amendment of legal standards as well as sanitary and technical requirements – the insertion of higher number of chlorinators on the number of examined samples deriving from the water supply system as well as the influence on the results of testing of the health parameters of water intended for human consumption. This study compared the contamination profile of water for human consumption in Gorski Kotar and other regions of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. Methods: This study presents the elaborated and interpreted results of the County monitoring program of potable water safety in the region of Gorski Kotar during the 5-year period (2011–2015; the number examined samples N = 7,047). Results: Application of the Regulations on the parameters of assessment and methods for the analysis of water for human consumption (Official Gazette 125/2013, 141/2013/, 128/2015) provides six times lesser number of samples for the monitoring of water supply system network in Gorski Kotar, but the number of analysed parameters was increased. Installation of automatic chlorinators (2012 and 2013) resulted with twice smaller number of non-compliant samples of drinking water. Conclusions: Application of the the Regulations (Official Gazette 125/2013, 141/2013, 128/2015) resulted with the significant reduction of samples for certain water supply systems making the objective assessment of their condition much harder. The installation of automatic chlorinators reduced the number of non-compliant water samples in Gorski Kotar by half. The main reason for non-complying samples of water for human consumption in the water supply systems of Gorski Kotar is faecal contamination, while for the other parts of the County major deviation from stipulated criteria are turbidity, increased number of colonies (Heterotrophic Plate Count – HPC) and chlorination by-products.

Keywords

drinking water; faecal pollution; water pollution; water safety; water supply

Hrčak ID:

179762

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/179762

Publication date:

1.6.2017.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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