Evaluation of Drinking Water Quality in the Mining Municipality of Moa
Keywords:
water treatment, water quality, WQI–NSFAbstract
The quality of drinking water supplied to the city of Moa, Cuba, was evaluated over the course of one year using the Water Quality Index of the United States National Sanitation Foundation (WQI-NSF), with the aim of verifying the efficiency of the treatment process for the water consumed by the population. The water entering the purification process comes from the Moa River, which is surrounded by a mining environment and a high percentage of deforested areas with slopes that favor runoff into the stream during rainy periods. These factors can affect water quality, requiring greater consumption of chemical reagents for treatment. Based on the analysis of 1,460 samples, nine physicochemical and microbiological parameters were integrated. The results showed that all parameters were within the permissible limits established by Cuban standards NC 1021:2014 and NC 827:2017. The WQI-NSF value ranged between 79,8 % and 84,6 %, with an average of 81,8 %, classifying the water in the "good quality" category according to the index scale. It is concluded that the purification process at the Treatment Plant is efficient and delivers good-quality water suitable for human consumption.Downloads
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