Assessment of the Efficacy of Home Remedial Methods to Improve Drinking Water Quality in Two Major Aquifer Systems in Jaffna Peninsula, Sri Lanka

Table 1

Mean ± SD of water quality parameters of the domestic wells in Vadamaradchi and Chunnakam areas during the study period, drinking water standards established by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI 614, 2013 [18, 19]), and the percentage of sampled wells exceeding SLSI drinking water standards. In Vadamaradchi and Chunnakam columns, different superscripts ( and ) at each row (for each water quality parameter) indicate significant differences from each other at 95% level of significance (p < 0.05, Student’s t-test, n = 10). The range of water quality parameters of the domestic wells in Vadamaradchi and Chunnakam areas is given within parentheses.

Parameter	Vadamaradchi	Chunnakam	SLSI drinking water standards	Percentage of wells exceeding the drinking water standards (%)
pH	(7.53–8.33)	(7.03–7.57)	6.5–8.5	0
DO (mg/L)	(6.89–8.60)	(5.0 to 8.6)	Not mentioned	—
EC (µS/cm)	(168.8–905.0)	(503.0–950.3)	Not mentioned	—
TDS (mg/L)	(80.1–758.2)	(247.3–467.2)	500	0
Salinity ()	(0.08–0.58)	(0.24 to 0.46)	Not mentioned	—
Temperature (°C)	(29.53–30.03)	(29.72–30.1)	Not mentioned	—
Total solids (mg/L)	(95.6–957.8)	(445.3 to 654.0)	Not mentioned	—
Total hardness (mg/L, CaCO3)	(67.5–332.3)	(192–252.5)	250	20
COD (mg/L)	(4.65–9.97)	(4.09–7.89)	10	0
Oil & grease (mg/L)	(0.011–0.033)	(0.113–0.373)	0.2	35
Nitrate N (mg/L)	(0.021–7.87)	(3.11–40.1)	11.2	30
Total phosphate (mg/L)	(0.07–0.113)	(0.05–0.113)	2.0	0