An assessment study of septic tank based sewage disposal system on the quality of underground water

An assessment of septic tank based sewage disposal system made on the basis of quality of underground water is presented Machrala village is selected as the case study area where an ever-increasing number of septic tanks are posing great health threat,to,the inhabitants. Both hand pump and tube well water samples are analyzed far toxic trace metals (Mn, Fe, Cd and Co), phy sico-chemical parameters (pH, turbidity, conductance, total dissolved salts , Ca, Mg, Cl- and SO42-) and micro-organism population in terms of total vi able count, coliform count, MPN coliform and MPN faecal coliform. The metal s were analyzed by the flame atomic absorption method using standard proced ure. The study shows that the local underground water of the village is bei ng adversely affected by toxic metals and coliform bacteria. In most cases, the latter parameter exceeds 240 counts/ml. Besides, tube well water were found to have higher Pb concentrations (0.200 mg/mL) and the overall assess ment renders more than 50% of the water samples as unsatisfactory for human consumption.