A Preliminary Study of the Quality of Seawater at Rasfannu Beach of Male’ City

The coastal waters of Malé, Maldives, suffer from pollution due to sewage anduntreated waste effluent discharge. Unlike other islands, Malé lacks natural beaches, leading tothe creation of two artificial beaches. These beaches are overcrowded, and concerns about waterquality persist due to poor water circulation and nearby sewage pipes. This study aims to assessthe water quality of Rasfannu, a recently created artificial beach. Water samples were collectedweekly over four weeks and analyzed for physicochemical parameters (pH, turbidity,conductivity, nitrate, nitrite, nitrogen ammonia) and bacteriological parameters (E. coli, fecalcoliform, total coliform). The membrane filtration method was used for bacterial analysis, whileabsorption spectroscopy was used for measuring nitrate, nitrite, and nitrogen ammonia. The pHand conductivity were measured using the Mettler Toledo pH meter. The results were comparedwith guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO), United States EnvironmentalProtection Agency (USEPA), recreational water guidelines from Canada, California, and theEuropean Union (EU). The hypothesis was that the water at Rasfannu beach is contaminated andunsafe for recreational purposes. However, the results indicated that all parameters fell withinacceptable ranges as per these guidelines, and the water quality index calculated following theNational Sanitation Foundation (NSF) rated the water quality as good. Thus, Rasfannu beach isdeemed safe for recreational use.