Efficacy Assessment of a Rural Water Supply in Sakon NaKhon Province

Abstract

Water supplies in rural areas suffer from deficient maintenance thereby causing a problem in the water quality standard. The purposes of this research are to study the maintenance procedures of the water supply production and to evaluate the efficiency of the water system management in Sakon Nakhon Province (SNP). A research questionnaire was answered by the local administrators in SNP (e.g. staffs and manager). Tap water was randomly sampled in nearby villages. The outcomes showed that 95 % of villages in SNP have a water supply system of which 60% use groundwater without filtration. Maintenance of the water supply performed by village councils was not performed according to the system maintenance standards of the Department of Water Resources. Therefore, the coliform bacteria of the tap water samples were measured at 50% consistent with free chlorine of 90% lower limit. However, such problems were not found where the water supply was being maintained by the municipality appointed from the sanitary district and Provincial Waterworks Authority. On the other hand, the analyzed parameters of water quality met the quality standard of tap water of Department of Health (2010) 50-80%. Based on the results of this study, the operation and maintenance procedures have to be improved and developed urgently

Keywords

• water supply system management
• water quality
• rural water supply