Survey on drinking water safety in 2005 in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China.

Objective To know rural drinking water safety and the affecting factors in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.Methods The survey was conducted through a combination of census and spot-checks during January to May 2005,taking villages as the survey units,the basic situation of water supply,coverage of tap water,running of water supply facilities,and the distribution and types of water sources,pollution of water sources,water sources and beneficiary population were investigated.The water samples were collected and tested with related standard methods on July and November,2005.Results The total rural population in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was 41.424 0 million,13.858 1 million people were served with central water supply,accounted for 33.45%.There were 14 260 township and village level central water supply systems.Of these systems,only 1 157 had water purification facilities,accounted for 8.11%.A total of 475 water samples were tested,the eligible was 25.68%.The eligible rates were 23.71% and 27.57% in rainy and dry seasons,respectively.The bacteriological indexes were the main noneligible indexes,as for total coliform,the eligible rate was less than 40%.The rural population consuming unsafe drinking water was 17.768 6 million,accounted for 42.9%.Conclusion The drinking water safety in rural areas in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is to be solved urgently.Special focus should be paid to the construction and management of rural drinking water safety projects.