Drinking Water Quality Change from Catchment to Consumer in the Rural Community of Patar (Senegal)

In 2008, the G. Tovini Foundation (Brescia, Italy), together with the Universities of Brescia (Italy) and Dakar (Senegal), started a cooperation project (23PA07a) in the rural community of Patar (Senegal). The aim of the project was to improve the living conditions of the village people by controlling the quality of drinking water. Therefore, a “multiple barrier approach”, based on risk prevention, risk management, monitoring and compliance for insuring a safe drinking water supply, was applied including water treatment at household level and the assessment of the chemical-microbial risk. Water treatment was applied in order to reduce fluoride concentration in groundwater. Risk assessment was done throughout the chain from the catchment to the consumer so as to initiate appropriate remedial and preventive actions. Water was sampled from different points all along the supply system in order to verify the evolution of water quality and to identify the sources of pollution. Fluorides and microorganisms exceeded the World Health Organisation Guide Values, thus representing a serious health problem. In addition, while fluorides are naturally present in groundwater, microbiological contamination is mainly due to human habits (lack of hygiene) and therefore it increased during water transport and domestic storage.