QUALIDADE FÍSICO-QUÍMICA E MICROBIOLÓGICA DA ÁGUA DE FUROS (POÇOS ARTESIANOS) PARA CONSUMO ESCOLAR EM CHIMOIO - MOÇAMBIQUE: Estudo em três escolas públicas

The present work aimed to analyse the physicochemical and microbiological qualities of the water collected in the boreholes of public supplies for human consumption in the city of Chimoio. However, three public schools were selected where there are boreholes that supply the local population, the choice of these data collection points was randomly based on probabilistic sampling, for the data collection the methodology described by APHA was followed, aiming to analyse the physicochemical parameters (pH, total hardness, turbidity and electrical conductivity) and microbiological parameters (total coliforms, total bacteria count and Escherichia coli), the samples were processed and analysed in triplicate in the FIPAG laboratory and the resulting data were submitted to analysis of variance and the means were compared by Tukey's test at 5% of significance in the Statistix version 8 statistical package using a completely randomized design. From the results found, significant differences were found between the three data collection points, where the physicochemical parameters of the 1º de Maio and Cabeça de Velho Schools are within the legislated limits, with pH values ranging from 5.7 to 6.7, total hardness from 6.66 to 48.30mg/l, turbidity from 0.47 to 0.60NTU and electrical conductivity ranging from 147.39 to 169.58 μ/cm, the 7 de Setembro School presented the pH value lower than recommended, regarding the microbiological parameters, it was found that all collection points have contamination by microorganisms of faecal origins, especially coliform bacteria. It is concluded that the physicochemical composition of the schools 1º de Maio and Cabeça de Velho is healthy for human consumption, except for the water from the boreholes of the 7 de Setembro school, has a pH below the recommended, thus, the microbiological composition of the borehole waters of the schools are compromised by contamination of pathogens harmful to human health.