Vol. 8(33), pp. 1661-1671, 9 September, 2013 DOI: 10.5897/IJPS2013.3999 ISSN 1992 - 1950 © 2013 Academic Journals http://www.academicjournals.org/IJPS International Journal of Physical Sciences Full Length Research Paper Physicochemical investigation of the drinking water sources from Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Naeem Khan 1, 2 *, Syed Tasleem Hussain 1 , Abdus Saboor 1, 3 , Nargis Jamila 1, 4 and Kyong Su Kim 2 1 Department of Chemistry, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat-26000, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. 2 Department of Food and Nutrition, Chosun University, Dong-gu, Gwangju, 501-759, Republic of Korea. 3 UNICEF, UNOCA Compound, Jalalabad Road, Kabul, 54, Afghanistan. 4 School of Chemical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800, Malaysia. Accepted 4 September, 2013 A total of 39 drinking water sources were analyzed for important physicochemical parameters to evaluate their suitability for human consumption. Samples were collected from the ground water supplies (tube wells, open wells and hand pumps) of highly populated 13 union councils from the urban area of district Mardan. Physical parameters studied include temperature, color, taste, odor, total dissolved solids (TDS), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and turbidity. The chemical parameters analyzed were, total hardness, calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), bicarbonate (HCO 3 ) and alkalinity. Results showed that EC of 38%, taste of 23%, hardness of 20% and TDS of 15% samples were not in the permissible ranges specified by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Pakistan recommended standards for drinking water. The deterioration of various drinking water sources were found to be dependent upon the geological strata of the area, waste sources and damaged outlived distribution system passing through sewage lines. Key words: Drinking water, Mardan, physicochemical investigation, World Health Organization (WHO). INTRODUCTION Water is an essential element for life. Fresh water comprises 3% of the total water on earth but only a small percentage (0.01%) of this fresh water is available for human consumption (Hinrichsen and Tacio, 2002). Safe drinking water is the basic need for safeguarding the health and well-being of humans all over the world (Ahmad, 2005). Being the most drinking fluid by living things and universal solvent, water is often a potential source of causing infections (Joyce et al., 1996). Nearly 75% of the world wide communicable diseases are water borne (Shengji et al., 2004). World Health Organization (WHO) declares that in developing countries, 80% of all human diseases are water borne (Abera et al., 2011). Drinking water quality has been debated throughout the world (Thurman et al., 1998; Leoni et al., 2005). Generally the major sources of water pollution and ultimately of waterborne diseases are considered to be the direct discharge of domestic and industrial effluent wastes, leakage from water tanks and poor management of farm wastes (Jain et al., 2005; Huttly, 1990). Various researchers have shown that drinking water in many countries does not meet WHO standards (Aydin, 2007; Gupta et al., 2009; Gyamfil et al., 2012). Water pollution is one of the major threats to public health in Pakistan. Drinking water quality is poorly managed and monitored. It is deteriorating mainly as a result of disposal of the municipal and industrial wastewaters and also because of the saline drainage flow from agricultural areas (Tahir et al., 1998; Chilton et al., 2001). Polluted drinking water causes outbreak of *Corresponding author. E-mail: nkhan812@gmail.com. Tel: +92-333-9302834.