The Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water 1993 (PNSDW

1993) is designed to guide the Waterworks Officials, Developers and Operators

of Water Supply Systems both Government and Private entities, health and

sanitation authorities and the general public and all other concerned. The new

standards cover requirements for the acceptable values of the determined

parameters in measuring water quality. These parameters include

microbiological, physical, chemical and radiological compositions of the water.

The standard also delineates values established in conforming to the medical

and health implication of the parameters as opposed to values established

purely to satisfy aesthetic requirements. (DENR Administrative Order)

From the studies conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO),

around 1.6 million deaths of children per year can be attributed to unsafe

water, poor sanitation and lack of hygiene. Thus, the Philippine National

Standards for Drinking Water (PNSDW) stressed the importance of assuring the

quality of drinking water that is delivered to the public. (Sales, et al., 2015)

Also, the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) has always stressed to the

public the importance of ensuring a clean and potable water for their

consumption. People are always reminded to use clean water for drinking,

preparing beverages, cooking, brushing teeth, washing hands and face and
washing eating and cooking tools to avoid outbreaks of diarrhea and other

dangerous health effects. Water must be purified to ensure that it is clean and

fit for human consumption. Water that is not safe to drink can make people

sick from a few hours or up to several weeks after taking it. Clear water is not

necessarily safe to drink. Purifying it by boiling or dis infection will make it

potable. (Department of Health, 2012)

This activity is intended to increase the awareness of the students on the

different process of water treatment and water quality test being done by the

numerous drinking water stations around the community. Moreover, it also

aimed to conduct simple investigation on the results of water quality tests done

and compare values obtained for each parameter on the governing limits set

forth by the concerned national sector.

During the visit of the students at the drinking water station, it was

found and observed that one of the process being done by the facility to treat

their drinking water product is the so called reverse osmosis. In addition to

this, upon having conversation with the person managing the water station, he

had mentioned one important test they were also conducting regularly with
their water is the fecal coliform test. It was stressed that this test is important

to ensure that their water is free from any harmful bacteria as the person

explained to us.

REVERSE OSMOSIS

RO is a process by which a solvent passes through a porous

membrane in the direction opposite to that for natural osmosis when

subjected to a hydrostatic pressure greater than the osmotic pressure.

RO filtration improves taste, odor and appearance of water by

removing contaminants that cause taste and odor problems.

With an RO system, you can cancel your water delivery service and

stop purchasing cases of bottled water. Reverse Osmosis filtration

provides better-than-bottled water quality water for just pennies per

gallon.
RO systems have very few moving or replaceable parts make RO

systems easy to clean and service.

RO systems remove pollutants from water including nitrates,

pesticides, sulfates, fluoride, bacteria, pharmaceuticals, arsenic and

much more. An RO systems carbon filter will also remove chlorine and

chloramines.
FECAL COLIFORM TEST

Approved tests for total coliform bacteria include the membrane filter,

multiple tube fermentation, MPN and MMO-MUG ("Colilert") methods.

The membrane filter method uses a fine porosity filter which can retain

bacteria. The filter is placed in a petri (culture) dish on a pad with growth

enrichment media (mEndo) and is incubated for 24 hrs. at 35 degrees C.

Individual bacteria cells which collect on the filter grow into dome-

shaped colonies. The coliform bacteria have a gold-green sheen, and are

counted directly from the dish. Since some other bacteria may develop a

similar color, a confirmation test using more specific media is required.

The confirmation procedure requires an additional 24 to 48 hrs. to

complete the test for suspected positive total coliform tests.

The MPN (most probable number) method uses a test tube full of

media with a smaller inverted test tube inside which captures carbon

dioxide gas released from the growth of coliform bacteria. A series of

dilutions and replicates are set up, and those producing gas in 24 hrs. at

35 degrees C are counted. A statistical analysis is used to determine the

most probable number of bacteria cells present.

 The sample should be collected in a specially prepared, sterile whirl

pack bag for the test to be valid. The bags contain a small amount of

sodium thiosulfate to remove any chlorine present, and have been

sterilized. Sample collection should be done very carefully and directly

into the bottle from the tap to avoid contamination of the bottle from

hands or a transfer vessel such as a cup. The sample should be kept cool

and delivered to the lab within 6 to 24 hrs for analysis. Total when

compared to the cost for the determination of the concentration or

presence of viruses, Giardia, or Cryptosporidium.

From the document the students have acquired shows the water quality

test laboratory result of a drinking water station for the physical, chemical and

microbiological tests. It could be clearly seen that the water sample obtained

from the drinking water station showed a result for each parameter that were

within the limit of PNSDW which were marked as passed as it is seen on the

rightmost part of the report. Thus, we can say that this particular drinking

water station complies with the standards of the Philippine National Standards

for Drinking Water and values the health and safety of its consumers by
providing a clean and potable water which have undergone different process to

meet quality. Also the owner said that they regularly submit water samples

to the laboratory for testing, microbiological testing is done once in ever

year while the physico-chemical test is done on a monthly frequency.

RESULT OF THE PHYSICO CHEMICAL TEST

PHYSICO-CHEMICAL ANALYSIS is a method of investigating physicochemical

systems that makes possible a determination of the nature of the interactions

between the components of a system through a study of the relations between

the systems physical properties and composition. Physicochemical analysis

involves the measurement of various physical properties of systems, most often

phase transition temperatures and other thermal properties (thermal

conductivity, heat capacity, thermal expansion), electrical properties

(conductivity, dielectric permittivity), and optical properties (refractive index,

rotation of the plane of polarization of light). Also measured are the density,

viscosity, and hardness, as well as the dependence of the rate of the

transformations occurring in a system on the systems composition. X-ray

diffraction analysis and techniques of microscopic metallography are

extensively used in physicochemical analysis.

 RESULT OF THE MICROBIOLOGICAL TEST

The discharge of wastes from municipal sewers is one of the most important

water quality issues world-wide. It is of particular significance to sources of

drinking-water. Municipal sewage contains human feces and water

contaminated with these effluents may contain pathogenic (disease-causing)

organisms and, consequently, may be hazardous to human health if used as

drinking-water or in food preparation. Fecal contamination of water is routinely

detected by MICROBIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. It is impractical to attempt the

routine isolation of pathogens because they are present in relatively small

numbers compared with other types of micro-organism. Moreover, there are

many types of pathogen and each requires a unique microbiological isolation

technique. The approach that has been adopted is to analyze for indicator

organisms that inhabit the gut in large numbers and are excreted in human

feces. The presence of these indicator organisms in water is evidence of fecal

contamination and, therefore, of a risk that pathogens are present. If indicator

organisms are present in large numbers, the contamination is considered to be

recent and/or severe. Bacteria in water are, in general, not present individually,

but as clumps or in association with particulate matter.

STANDARD VALUES
PICTURES TAKEN FROM THE DRINKING WATER STATION
GROUP PICTURE