Measuring the Pollution of Three Main Drinking Water Treatment Plants with Coliform Bacteria in Sharqat District

ABSTRACT The current study encompasses three major drinking water purification projects situated on the left side of Sharqat city, which rely on raw Tigris River water as their water source. The projects are arranged from north to south as follows: Safina Water Project, Lower Asdira Water Project, and Tal Muhammad Water Project. During the study period, we collected samples of raw river water and samples from each sedimentation and filtration process to measure the presence of faecal coliform bacteria, evaluate the effectiveness of these processes in eliminating faecal coliform bacteria, and assess the suitability of the prepared water for drinking and its compliance with international standard specifications for drinking water. The study period lasted ten months, starting in August 2020 and ending in May 2021. Among the most prominent results of the current study are the following: The three project sites exhibited significant similarities in the percentage of unacceptable samples, with two sites reporting a percentage of 60% and the third site reporting a percentage of 70%. The results also revealed significant similarities in the months when the samples were deemed acceptable or unacceptable. For instance, the Tal Muhammad water project saw acceptable samples in December, January, and February, with the Safina and Asdira water projects following suit in March. The Safina and Asdira water projects saw unacceptable samples in August, September, October, November, April, and May, while the Tal Muhammad water project saw them in March.