INTRODUCTION:

Water is most vital liquid for maintaining the life on the earth. About 97% water is exists in
oceans that is not suitable for drinking and only 3% is fresh water wherein 2.97% is comprised
by glaciers and ice caps and remaining little portion of 0.3% is available as a surface and ground
water for human use. Safe drinking water is a basic need for good health and it is also a basic
right of humans (Mohsin et al.,2013). Water, a prime natural resource and precious national
asset, forms the chief constituent of ecosystem. Water sources may be mainly in the form of
rivers, lakes, glaciers, rain water, ground water etc. Besides the need of water for drinking, water
resources play a vital role in various sectors of economy such as agriculture, livestock
production, forestry, industrial activities, hydropower generation, fisheries and other creative
activities (Tyagi et al.,2013). Fresh water is already a limiting resource in many parts of the
world. In the next century, it will become even more limiting due to increased population,
urbanization and climate change. Unfortunately, in developing countries (i.e. Pakistan) the
drinking quality of water is continuously being contaminated and hazardous for human use due
to high growth of population, expansion in industries, throwing away of waste water and
chemical effluents into canals and other water sources (Mohsin et al.,2013). In this modern era
there is a huge decline in freshwater may be due to the population increase, urbanization,
industrialization, and concentrated agricultural actions. The insufficient availability of surface
water makes people dependent on ground water resources to fulfil their needs (Poonam et
al.,2013).

Surface waters are also an integral part of the global water cycle, continuously exchanging mass
with the atmosphere and the oceans, making them a key component of the climate system and its
variability. However, freshwater storage and fux, their spatial distribution and variability, remain
highly unknown in many regions of the world, preventing the development of adequate and
sustainable strategies to manage water resources (Papa et al.,2023). Groundwater is an important
natural resource especially for drinking and irrigation uses. Water quality assessment is essential
for human health and the definition of water quality depends on the desired use of water (Sappa
et al.,2014).

Having access to safe drinking water is a basic human right to all people, regardless of
nationality, religion, color, wealth or creed. Typically, the drinking water quality is affected by
the quality of source water, the treatment in water treatment plants before distributed, the water
distribution system and the containers/tanks used for water storage and the household filters.
However, in rural areas and small municipalities the drinking water is usually pumped directly
from wells or obtained from rivers/lakes/reservoirs without adequate treatment, and therefore,
the quality of source water plays a critical role in determining the drinking water quality (Li and
Wu., 2019). Water is essential for life and a nominal supply of clean safe drinking water is
required for the sustenance of life. Human health is closely related with the groundwater quality
and is threatened by the poor quality of groundwater caused by excessive application of
fertilizers and unsanitary conditions. In the past few decades, there has been a tremendous
increase in the demand for fresh water due to the rapid growth of population and the accelerated
pace of industrialization. Rapid urbanization which caused groundwater pollution has affected
the availability and quality of groundwater due to its over exploitation and improper waste
disposal. Groundwater quality depends on the quality of recharged water, atmospheric
precipitation, inland surface water and subsurface geochemical processes. Temporal changes in
the origin and constitution of the recharged water, hydrologic and human factors may cause
periodic changes in groundwater quality. Inadequate environmental protection measures in the
industries as well as waste dumps, coal washeries, coking coal plants, thermal power plants,
steel, fertilizer and cement plants have resulted in significant water pollution. Water pollution not
only affects water quality but also threats human health economic development and social
prosperity. Once groundwater is polluted, it is hard to stop the pollution and restore the water
quality. It, therefore, becomes imperative to regularly monitor the quality of groundwater and to
device ways and means to protect it. The purpose of having drinking water quality guidelines and
regulations is to ensure that all human beings within a country have access to safe drinking water
(Amiri et al.,2014).

pH is one of the most important parameters of water quality. It is defined as the negative
logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration (Spellman,2017), (Edzwald,2010). It is a
dimensionless number indicating the strength of an acidic or a basic solution (Hammer,2011).
Acidic water contains extra hydrogen ions (H+) and basic water contains extra hydroxyl (OH−)
ions (Alley,2007). pH or the concentrations of hydrogen ions (H+) is the measure of the acidity
or alkalinity of a solution of water. pH was positively correlated with electrical conductance and
total alkalinity (Gupta et al.,2009). pH ranges from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. pH of less than
7 indicates acidity, whereas a pH of greater than 7 indicates a base solution (Alley,2007). Safe
ranges of pH for drinking water are from 6.5 to 8.5 for domestic use and living organisms need
(WHO,2011). Exceedingly alkaline water (>9) is dangerous as ammonia toxicity increases
rapidly. It is an important chemical parameter to consider because it affects the metabolism and
other physiological processes of culture organisms. A certain range of pH (6.8–8.7) should be
maintained for acceptable growth and production. The higher pH values observed suggests that
carbon dioxide, carbonate bicarbonate equilibrium is affected more due to change in physio-
chemical condition (Karanth,1987).

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is considered to be one of the most important parameters of water
quality in streams, rivers, and lakes. It is a key test of water pollution (APHA,2005). The higher
the concentration of dissolved oxygen, the better the water quality. Oxygen is slightly soluble in
water and very sensitive to temperature. For example, the saturation concentration at 20°C is
about 9 mg/L and at 0°C is 14.6 mg/L (Tchobanoglous et al.,2003). The water will slowly absorb
oxygen and other gasses from the atmosphere until it reaches equilibrium at complete saturation
(Czuba et al.,2011). The actual amount of dissolved oxygen varies depending on pressure,
temperature, and salinity of the water. Dissolved oxygen has no direct effect on public health but
drinking water with very little or no oxygen tastes unpalatable to some people. There are three
main methods used for measuring dissolved oxygen concentrations: the colorimetric method—
quick and inexpensive, the Winkler titration method—traditional method, and the electrometric
method (APHA,2005).

Conductivity is a numerical expression of an aqueous solution's capacity to carry an electric

current. This ability depends on the presence of ions, their total concentration, mobility, valence
and relative concentrations, and on the temperature of the liquid. Solutions of most inorganic
acids, bases, and salts are relatively good conductors. In contrast, the conductivity of distilled
water is less than 1 μm hos/cm. Because conductivity is the inverse of resistance, the unit of
conductance is the mho (ohm spelled backward), or in low conductivity of natural water. The
electrical conductivity (EC) was recorded with a minimum value of 970 μS/cm and maximum of
1825 μS/cm.

Solids occur in water either in solution or in suspension. These two types of solids can be
identified by using a glass fiber filter that the water sample passes through [22]. By definition,
the suspended solids are retained on the top of the filter and the dissolved solids pass through the
filter with the water. If the filtered portion of the water sample is placed in a small dish and then
evaporated, the solids as a residue. This material is usually called total dissolved solids or TDS.

The residue of TSS and TDS after heating to dryness for a defined period of time and at a
specific temperature is defined as fixed solids. Volatile solids are those solids lost on ignition
(heating to 550°C).

Drinking water contamination with different chemicals and heavy metals, released from different
anthropogenic sources has become a global concern (Rapant and Krcmova, 2007).The
contamination of water resources has important repercussions for the environment and human
health (Emmanuel et al., 2009; Muhammad et al., 2011).Generally, drinking water containing
different anions and heavy metals including Cd, Cr, Co, Hg, Ni, Pb, Zn etc., has significant
adverse effects on human health either through deficiency or toxicity due to excessive intake.
Nitrate (NO3) and nitrites (NO2) are found naturally in water (Jordao et al., 2002) According to
an estimate, 20% of the population in eight countries of sub-Saharan Africa uses limited drinking
water services (WHO/ UNICEF 2017). Similarly, 669 million people in Asia still do not even
have access to safe drinking water sources (WHO/UNDP/ADB/UNESCAP 2006). In a very
recent study by Akhtar et al. (2019), 71% water supply schemes in Mianwali were found to be
bacteriologically unfit and polluted with fecal coliform bacteria, thereby posing risk to human
health. Consequently, monitoring of drinking water quality on regular basis is important in these
areas because ingestion of contaminated water results in various structural and functional effects,
infectious diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, dysentery, cholera, enteric fever, cytotoxicity,
mutagenicity and carcinogenicity etc. (Bain et al. 2014). In recent years, many developing
countries have set reduction of waterborne diseases and development of safe water resources as
their major public health goal, and the situation has slightly improved. However, the situation is
far from perfect, particularly in rural areas, and this slightly improved situation may even be
damaged by the increased demand of water and reduction of water availability due to population
growth and economic development (Li and Qian 2018a). Therefore, there still is a long way
before gaining the harmony between human, resources and environment (Li et al. 2017a). Abtahi
et al. (2015, 2016) proposed two drinking water quality indices to understand the general
conditions of drinking source water quality in rural communities and the overall drinking water
contribution to intakes of dietary elements. Particularly, Soldatova et al. (2018) carried out a very
comprehensive health risk assessment study by considering the potential toxic impacts of 11
drinking water contaminants including NO3 –, NH4 +, Fe, Mn, As, aluminum (Al), NO2 –,
selenium (Se), mercury (Hg), thallium (Tl) and lead (Pb). Joshi et al. (2018) assessed the
association of drinking water quality and meteorological factors with the incidence of enteroviral
diseases among children in seven metropolitan provinces of Korea, and concluded that the
drinking water quality was one of the major determinant son enteroviral diseases. There are also
some further studies on the governance of drinking water quality from the point of view of what
governance conditions contribute to the realization of water quality objectives (Wuijts et al.
2018) and how emerging chemical contaminants governance helps in drinking water
improvement (Hartmann et al. 2018).Scheili et al. (2016a, b) explored the impacts of raw water
quality, climate factors and human operational factors on drinking water quality in small water
distribution systems of Canada, which indicated that the drinking water quality was mainly
affected by the source water quality and the quality of source water was further influenced by
meteorological and climate factors, while the variability of human operational factors was the
only factor that could explain the daily scale variability of drinking water quality. Human health
is adversely affected by various agents like pathogens, bacteria, various minerals, and organic
substances that are present in unsafe drinking water. A significant proportion of population in
developing countries is suffering from health-related issues due to unsafe drinking water and
microbial contamination (F. X. R. Van Leeuwen,2000). The present study aimed to: (1) assess
the quality of groundwater which provides all of the water used by the local population for
drinking purpose; (2) examine the spatial distribution patterns of water quality parameters for
selected urbanized areas of Gujranwala; and (3) recommend safety measures to ensure that water
sources remain suitable for human consumption since last two decades is the major objective of
the study. This study also examined the relationship between microbiological contamination of
water sources and the incidences of waterborne diseases due to the consumption of groundwater
by local communities.