Tap water quality and satisfaction of water users to village ground water supply in Houy Sam Mor Basin, Khon Kaen province (Thai)

Abstract

Of the water users of 8 village ground water supply systems in 7 villages of Hour Sam Mor Basin, Khon Kaen Province, 44.80 % paid between 31-60 baht/month (median 50 baht, min 10 baht and max 300 baht) for water use, while the volume used was mostly below 10 m3/month (54.50%). Most respondents (98.30%) drank rain water and only 0.70% of them drank tap water after filtration. The reasons for the respondentû s not drinking tap water were that it was tasteless (44.80%) and they did not trust the water quality (30.80%). All tap water quality did not meet the ground water quality standard. The tap water quality problem was mainly due to the excess of hazardous chemicals and biological criteria exceeding the standard quality at 12.50% and 43.15% respectively. However, all water samples met the physical criteria. The overall satisfaction result of tap water quality was at a moderate level of 46.49% (3.60 + 1.09) and tap water service was at a moderate level of 69.23% (3.54 + 0.89). High satisfaction of water user was due to the service, care of officers (3.91 + 0.86) and service convenience (3.77 + 0.94), whereas the moderate satisfaction was shown for cost of water usage (3.70 + 0.92), coordination of officers (3.64 + 0.90), obtaining data (3.18 + 0.85) and water supply service (3.17 + 0.89). The excess of cadmium, nitrate, hardness, and bacteria in drinking water had an impact on health so officers should provide safe water for consumers by using filtration and chlorination disinfection before service, while educating about appropriate technology to treat drinking-water for households.