Microbial treatment of tube wells water for improved water quality

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using microbe treatment (MT) in improving the water quality in tube wells. MT is a biological treatment solution produced by fermentation process using banana peel, milk, rice water, rice bran and red soil. Microbe solutions (MS1 and MS2) were produced by fermentation of different composition of rice water, milk, banana peels, and brown sugar within 2-5 weeks. MT1 and MT2 were produced in a ball form by mixing the MS1 and MS2 with red soil at different compositions. Water samples from three tube wells, designated as station 1, station 2, and station 3, were used to analyze the quality of water. The location of tube well resources for this study was located at Kampung Jeli, Kelantan and water samples from tube wells were taken and their quality were analyzed by using physical and microbes test in the lab. MT1 and MT2 could reduce the value of pH, turbidity, TDS, Escherichia coli and total coliform. The results showed that MT2 was more effective than MT1 in improving the water quality which at station 1 pH was 7.35, turbidity was 4.93, TDS level was 35.65, E. coli and total coliform were not detected. At station 2, pH was 7.27, turbidity was 2.14, TDS level was 31.11, E. coli and total coliform were not detected. At station 3, pH was 7.06, turbidity was 3.04, TDS level was 26.22, E. coli and total coliform were not detected.