Drinking Water Quality Assessment of Kotli and Associated Areas, Ajk

Water is one of the most important compounds for life. Contamination of drinking water poses serious threats for the health and survival of life forms on earth. Azad Jammu and Kashmir is also facing water pollution problem as its most of the surface water sources are not monitored periodically. The present study was an effort to find out the physical, chemical and biological contamination level in drinking water sources of District Kotli and its peripheral areas. Physical parameters include temperature, turbidity, electric conductivity (EC), salinity, total dissolved solids (TDS), hardness, taste and color. Chemical parameter selected for the study include Iron, Arsenic, Nitrates, Nitrites, Sulphates , Floride, Phosphorus and Phosphate while total and fecal coli forms were the biological contamination source in drinking water from the study area. One Sample t-test and Descriptive test were applied for the analysis. Mostly parameters were within the World Health Organization (WHO), however, fecal and total coli forms differ significantly (P: 0.01) from WHO level. It showed that environmental burden majorly generated due to miss management.All form of contamination could be reduced.