An important aspect of school environmental health practices: Water

 To assess the current status of The Primary schools regarding water hygiene.
 In this study, the water quality of the primary schools in Kecioren were determined. For this aim, physical, microbiological and chemical water quality levels of a representative sample of 31 primary schools were tested. Water samples collected in sterile black bottles (one from toilet, the other from tank) were analyzed at GMMA Department of Public Health Laboratories. For Microbiologic analyses, samples were initially filtrated by using membrane filtration device (Millipore^®) and then inoculated into ENDO culture and kept for 24 hours at 37°C in an incubator. For Chemical analyses the same samples were tested by using spectrophotometer (Spectroquant NOVA 60®). Data were analyzed by SPSS.

All of the primary schools (31 schools, 44606 students) in the study were using the city water network with exception of two, which were using water tanks. According to the principals, 19.3% of the schools (6 schools) had rarely a water outage in the recent six month. 93.5% of the primary schools (29 schools) had a tank for water storage; the number of schools with the tanks without having any periodic maintenance for more than two years was 6 (19.9%). Only 5 schools (16.1%) integrated actively their water tanks to the network. No microbiologic reproduction was determined at either Networks or tanks of all primary schools in the study.   Active chlorine levels of network water samples were at suggested levels for 22 schools (71 %), but only two schools had an appropriate chlorine levels for the tank water samples (9.5%). For network samples pysical parameters like pH, turbidity, hardness, color and chemical parameters arsenic, chromium, fluoride, chloride, sulfate, potassium magnesium, calcium were within allowed limits.

By considering chemical pollution for chronic disease, the potable water  should be provided under continuous monitoring to all schools.  

Supported by TUBITAK