Abstract:
Water is one of the most essential of all-natural resources known on the earth. The safety of
drinking water is important for health. However, water quality is affected by various
contaminants such as physicochemical and bacteriological which cause serious health problems.
The spring water in Bure Town is vulnerable to contamination by livestock and other human
activities. Thus this study was aimed to determine the bacteriological and physicochemical
quality of spring water and investigate the sanitation status of the study site in Bure Town. A
cross-sectional prospective study was conducted from November 2019 to April 2020. A total of
60 water samples were collected purposively from the most vulnerable site for pollution spring
water, 30 samples from piped and 30 samples from none piped spring. Bacteriological qualities
of the springs were determined using an indicator organism with multiple fermentation tube
technique. Physicochemical parameters like temperature, electrical conductivity, turbidity and
pH were determined on-site. The average value of total and faecal coliform of piped spring 6.67
and 1.2 was CFU per 100 ml and in none piped were 58 and 16.37 CFU per 100ml respectively.
The temperature at all sampling points was above the permissible limit of 15°C, while pH and
electric conductivity of all sites were obtained within the recommended limit of the World
Health Organization (WHO). The turbidity of pipe water was within the recommended limit of
WHO which is below 5 NTU but none piped was above the recommended. There was a
statistically significant difference between water sources concerning total coliform (TC) and
faecal coliform (FC) (p < 0.05) and there was a statistically positive correlation between coliform
counts and physicochemical parameters. Defecation and agricultural activity near the spring are
the causes of contamination. All water did not meet the acceptable limit of the bacteriological
quality of drinking water. Avoiding the disposal of waste near the spring water and fencing the
surrounding are important to deliver safe drinking water in the study site.