Abstract:
Rainwater Harvesting Systems are considered best, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. They have the potential to supply low-cost decentralized water to urban and rural population. Untreated harvested rainwater consumption has association with significant aesthetic and public health risk. This health risk is linked with the contamination of harvested rainwater through addition of raw sewerage and surface runoff from the nearby area. NUST authorities have constructed lakes for collecting rain water, which gets polluted while passing through various terrains and drains before entering into lakes. In order to monitor the quality of three lakes, a study was designed to assess the pollution status of three lakes. Based on quality, water was treated using indigenously designed (Pakoswiss) water filter employing physico-chemical methods for improving its quality. Water quality was identified in terms of its biological, and physico-chemical parameters: odor, color, turbidity, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness, total chlorides, total alkalinity, total phosphorus, total nitrates, total bacterial count and total coliform. Results showed that t bacterial count, t coliform, turbidity, hardness and color of water relatively high when compared with national standard for drinking water quality. This indicates presence of considerable evidence of water pollution load. The effectiveness of Pakoswiss treatment by physico-chemical methods (Coagulation, Filtration, and Chlorination) was extremely found to be significant. It was found that water quality improved and was under the permissible limits of National standards drinking water quality.
