The challenges of monitoring and controlling drinking-water quality in dispersed rural areas: a case study based on two settlements in the Colombian Caribbean

Water quality surveillance systems are hardly applied in rural contexts. To provide a comprehensive analysis of drinking-water quality in two rural settlements in the Colombian Caribbean drinking-water samples were collected and analyzed from storage containers in 42 homes. The results of physical, chemical, and microbiological analyses of the water samples were compared with values established by the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, and Colombian regulations. The Kruskal–Wallis test was applied to compare each parameter for supply source, season (rainy or dry), settlement, and types of storage. Drinking-water Quality Risk Index (IRCA) was calculated for each of the samples. The water supply sources were varied: well (33.3%), rainwater (23.8%), artificial pond (23.8%), and river (19.0%). One-hundred percent of the samples contained Escherichia coli and total coliforms. The IRCA varied between 57.3 and 83.9, with a median of 72.9. Eighty-eight percent of the samples exhibited high risk levels (35.1 < IRCA < 80.0) and 12% were unsanitary (80.1 < IRCA < 100.0). Artificial pond water was the source of supply with the worst IRCA (83.79). Drinking water in the El Cascajo and La Delfina settlements does not meet international and national drinking-water standards. A change is required whereby monitoring and quality control policies take into account the reality of rural settings.