Characterisation of the water quality from open and rope-pump shallow wells in rural Cambodia

An 8 month investigation into the quality of water from open and rope-pump shallow wells in rural Cambodia was conducted. Wells were analysed for indicators of the health (arsenic, fluoride, manganese, nitrate, total coliforms, E. coli, male-specific coliphage) and aesthetic (iron, chloride, conductivity, total dissolved solids, hardnesss, turbidity, pH) quality of the water, and referenced to the Cambodian Drinking Water Standard when available. The shallow aquifer was chemically less of a health risk than the deep aquifer; however, microbial contamination was considerable for both shallow well types with mean E. coli loads of 10(3) CFU/100 mL and male-specific coliphage contamination of 10(2) PFU/eluate. Temporal variation in microbial contamination was significant (p