Comparison of Using an Electronic System and Conventional Monitoring Method for Monitoring the Quality of Drinking Water and Defects Discovery in Rural Area Water Distribution Network of Abarkouh, Iran

Abstract

The used water for human consumption must be free of microorganisms and chemicals that cause risk in the human health. In this study, water quality of 18 rural area of Abarkouh was determined and compared the conventional monitoring method (According to ISIR (Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran), 1053 and 4208) and use of electronic system method (Patent in industrial property general office of Iran, 77815). Free chlorine monitoring and pH test done by health workers in the conventional method and the results will be sent to the Health Network monthly. Sampling for microbiological testing is done monthly based on population (According to ISIR, 4208). On the electronic system, the procedure is also done by health workers, but the result will be sent to the receiver device by using a cell phone. According to the chlorine test results if the free chlorine residual reported zero, microbiological sampling was done by a health expert. Finally, the number of chlorine test and microbiological sampling and the results of these experiments collected in the both methods and recorded in SPSS 22 then were analyzed by using chi-square test and Fisher exact test. The result of microbiological experiments shows that the sampling rate decreased 29% in using of electronic system method in comparison to the conventional monitoring method while the number of microbial defect detection increased 19% in drinking water networks monitoring by electronic system. Using of electronic system monitoring can reduce the rate and cost of microbiological sampling and its experiments and increase accuracy of these tests, in this way it will increase the quality and safety of drinking water in distribution network in small and dispersed rural communities.