Protozoan Countingon Springwater: A Stable Basis for aSafe Drinking Water for the Residents of Barangay Patungan Sta. Mercedes Maragondon, Cavite

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Spring water represents an important source of drinking water and its quality is currently threatened by a combination of over-abstraction and microbiological and chemical pollution (Amanial, 2018). Residents are still dependent on unprotected water sources such as springs. Barangay Patungan is one of the barangays that is far from the city to buy bottled water that's why residents opt to drink water springs. To the best of researchers' knowledge, there are no protozoan counting studies of the spring water in the Municipality of Maragondon, Cavite. This study aims to quantitatively investigate the presence of protozoa in spring water in Brgy. Patungan Sta. Mercedes Maragondon, Cavite to determine if the spring water is safe drinking water for the residents.

METHODS

A mixed method research design was implemented. Spring water samples were collected from Brgy. Patungan Sta. Mercedes Maragondon, Cavite called "Hulo Spring" in a place called Bitanghol and spring water samples were sent to DENR CALABARZON for laboratory analysis. The samples were subjected to investigate the presence of protozoa (amoeba, flagellates, free-swimming ciliates, crawling ciliates, stalked ciliates, metazoan and shelled/testate species). The data collection tools used were compound microscope with 3 powers (4x, 10x, 20x), clean glassware, Sedgewick rafter counting chamber (50mm long, 30mm width, 1mm depth) and 20 mesh size net (strainer) to separate the identified organism.

RESULTS

The average presence protozoa found in spring water was thirty-two percent. Six species protozoa were observed (Amoeba, Flagellates, Free Swimming Ciliates, Crawling Ciliates, Stalked Ciliates, Metazoan) with crawling and stalked ciliates being the most pre-dominant protozoa (Twenty-eight percent).

DISCUSSIONS

According to water safety standard (Jaoquin Quillez, 2015), these laboratory findings show that protozoan concentrations are very low and do not represent any health risks to the nearby residents. However, findings from this research implies further investigation on the water quality of the said spring in terms of other factors such as bacterial and fungal presence, acidity, and salinity among others.