BANGLADESH RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS JOURNAL ISSN: 1998-2003, Volume: 4, Issue: 3, Page: 226-234, September - October, 2010 SANITARY QUALITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH SIGNIFICANCE OF DRINKING WATER OBTAINED FROM DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES Md. Atiqul Haque 1 , Md. Shamim Ahasan * 2 , MM Rahman 1 Md. Atiqul Haque, Md. Shamim Ahasan, MM Rahman. (2010). Sanitary Quality and Public Health Significance of Drinking Water Obtained from Different Communities. Bangladesh Res. Pub. J. 4(3): 226-234. Retrieve from http://www.bdresearchpublications.com/admin/journal/upload/09172/09172.pdf Abstract Safe drinking water and good sanitary measures are important determinants of public health of a community. The aims of the present study were to assess the bacteriological quality of water supplies to the different communities of Mymensingh district during the period from March, 2007 to November, 2007 relating to the socioeconomic status of the inhabitants and to suggest interventions in minimizing microbial contamination. The communities were of enlighten, slum, densely populated, urban, rural and BAU campus. Microbiological and orgnanoleptic quality test of water were carried out in this study. For determination of microbiological quality total viable count (TVC), total coliform count (TCC), total streptococcal count (TStC) and for determination of organoleptic quality taste panel score attributes (color, odor, taste and transparency) were studied. The result showed that there was a significant (p<0.01) relationship between the mean values of TVC, TCC, TStC and taste panel scores of water samples of different communities. Moreover, the water quality of enlighten community was superior and the slum community was poor. TCC was considerably present in slum, densely populated, rural and BAU campus communities. Salmonella and E. coli were found in water supplies to the slum and densely populated communities. In conclusion, most of the communities in the study area were consuming unhygienic water and maintaining poor sanitary measures which warrant further major improvement of the utility services owing to good public health. Key words: Safe drinking water, community, sanitary measures, microbiological quality, orgnanoleptic quality. Introduction Unsafe drinking water is the growing concern among the world communities. This is; however, very alarming issues for densely populated countries like Bangladesh. Increasing concern for water potability and purity has, therefore, been attributed to two main factors: firstly, water is consumed internally *Corresponding Author, Email: Shamim.bau10@yahoo.com 1 Department of Microbiology and Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh 2 Department of Medicine, Surgery and Obstetrics, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Science, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur 5200, Bangladesh