المستخلص: |
Rainwater is usually considered a safe and suitable source of potable water; little is done for monitoring the quality of stored rainwater tanks. For this reason, it is very important to evaluate the quality of rainwater collected and, stored in different storage tanks types. In this study, samples of harvested rainwater were collected from three different storage tanks types which are, metal tanks, plastic (PVC), and concrete tanks. The storage tanks types showed statistically significant differences (p<0.05) in some quality parameters such as pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), trace and heavy metals. The results of the analyses were compared with valid quality guidelines to evaluate its suitability for domestic uses. The stored rainwater samples tested positive for faecal coliform and the bacteria count were above the permissible limits of World Health Organization (WHO). The trace and heavy metals in the water samples were within the permissible limits of the (WHO) except for copper (Cu) and iron (Fe) concentrations in metal tanks. In this study found well-constructed concrete tanks and Plastic (PVC) tanks are the most suitable storage tanks types. It was concluded that collected rainwater may not be suitable for direct drinking, without treatment, but could be used for other domestic purposes.
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