| dc.description.abstract | This research addresses the decline of well water-quality and its impact on human health after the
2019 massive flood havoc in Kerala. The research was carried out in the six villages of Kozhikode and
Wayanad districts. Water samples from flood-affected but treated wells were collected to assess the
water-quality through an eight key parameters such as turbidity (NTU), Total Dissolved Solids (mg/l),
Total hardness as CaCO3
(mg/l), Chlorides as Cl
-
(mg/l), Nitrates-N (mg/l), Sulphate as SO4
2-
(mg/l),
Total Coliform (CFU/100ml), and E.coli (CFU/100ml) using the APHA, 2017 method. A significant
increase in turbidity, total dissolved solids (TDS), Coliforms and E.coli content was noticed in the
flood-affected but treated water samples. Additionally, a random survey has been conducted in sixty-one
flood-affected houses with wells to understand the water-quality experienced right after the flood but
before treatments and to analyse the treatment method adopted, potential risk factors and policy
relevance. Significant variations in water quality determinants such as color, odor and oil sheen were
noticed in the wells immediately after the flood. Unlike the flood-affected countries like Bangladesh and
China, no significant disease outbreak has been identified in the study areas. This was achieved through
proper awareness and good water consumption practices such as boiling and filtering. However,
chlorination, a commonly adopted treatment method in the food affected area, is found to be inefficient
and is suspected to cause chronic disease like cancer in the vulnerable populations. This research
concludes that people in the flood-affected areas are at risk from consuming poor quality water mainly
due to the financial crisis in adopting improved well-water treatments and ignorance from government
authorities. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Flood, Well-water quality, E.coli, Odor, Color, Turbidity, Septic tank/wastewater tank, Chlorination | en_US |
