Management of the quality of water for human consumption in the Chiguata district and its impact on the health of the population during the year 2023

Abstract

The district of Chiguata is located southeast of the city of Arequipa and has 2,939 inhabitants who have access to water from 4 springs; 2,586 people have water treated with chlorination systems and 353 inhabitants do not have this service. Our objective is to determine the quality of the water consumed by the population and its impact on their health; the work consists of 2 parts: the first part diagnoses the quality of the water using national and international standards; the second part proposes the elaboration of an informative brochure to improve the quality of the water they consume. This is explanatory descriptive research; school and specialized laboratory analyses were used in 5 supervised samples, interviews, surveys, data collection and fieldwork. The results obtained in the water samples that have chlorination systems indicate the presence of Total Coliforms affecting 2.01% of the population, Mercury 2.01%, Boron 20.65% and Sodium 3.84%, which affect their health. We conclude that the water is contaminated with microorganisms and metals above national and international standards, that the health of the population is at imminent risk, the systems are exposed to extreme weather conditions, the operators do not guarantee water chlorination and the authorities do not take action to solve the problem. We propose the dissemination of an informative brochure to improve water quality.