Author(s): Kah Yee Lim, Nor Azazi Zakaria, Keng Yuen Foo
Linked Author(s): Kah Yee Lim
Keywords: Bacteriological parameter, flood, heavy metal, water-borne disease, water quality
Abstract: Floods are the most significant disasters which have brought miseries to the life of thousands of Malaysians, and inflicted damages worth several millions of ringgit a year. The severe flood incidence in 2014 had submerged nearly half of the country in water for one month. During this period, the quality of the river water has deteriorated significantly, with elevated levels of fecal indicators and microbial pathogens in the flood water. In this work, the hydrologic sampling has been conducted according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) standard protocol along the Pahang River. Water quality parameters, including the pH and dissolved oxygen (DO) are measured in-situ, while the analytical determination of biological oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonical-nitrogen (NH3-N) and total suspended solids (TSS) are determined according to the ex-situ standard methods. Results show that the pH, DO, BOD5, COD, TSS and NH3-N were ranged between 5. 02-5. 52, 3. 15-4. 48 mg/L, 1. 00-31. 00 mg/L, 4. 00-125. 00 mg/L, 3. 50-37. 75 mg/L and 0. 91-2. 11 mg/L, respectively. According to Interim National Water Quality Standard (INWQS) proposed by the Department of Environment (DOE), the major part of the river was categorized as class V, derived as highly polluted. The collected water samples detected high level of heavy metals content, in the descending order of: Fe3+>Zn2+>Cr3+>Pb2+>Ni2+>Cu2+>Cd2+. Water supplies in the flood-prone regions were contaminated with low levels of Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium and Shigella flexneri, ranging from ? 50 cfu/100 mL to 96 x 103 cfu/100mL. The available findings indicated that the Pahang River basin has been drastically altered by the flood events to which it places a pressing pressure on the morbidity, mortality, social and economical disruption, and establishment of better health-care facilities
Year: 2017