Ron Pinder, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Environment, and students of the Water Management Class at the Technical Cadet Corp Programme (TCCP) recently conducted a three-fold testing of groundwater in the Marathon Constituency.
Following the tests, an official of the Department of Environmental Health Services said that the ground water in the constituency is unsafe for drinking.
The water was tested for bacteria and petroleum products.
“The ground water is no longer healthy and consumers can have health problems in the future if they do not purchase drinking water from stores,” said Anthony Ryan, Senior Technologist from the Department of Environmental Health Services.
The study focused on three components, firstly, the impact of septic tanks, outside toilets, petroleum products from abandoned vehicles and roadside mechanics on the quality of the ground water utilised by residents.
Secondly, the collection of city water provided by the Water and Sewerage Corporation from nearby government standpipes, which provide potable drinking water for residents and thirdly, a comparison of groundwater quality was compared to that of city water.
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Residual chlorine is used by the Water and Sewerage Corporation to sanitise the water provided to residents. The presence of residual chlorine in the water supply indicates the absence of coliform bacteria.
Environmental Health officials warned that Bahamians should be aware of the danger of using groundwater which has been associated with many health related problems, the most notable occurring in 1997 with the outbreak of Hepatitis A at most of the nations pre-schools.
