Recreational water quality assessment at selected waterfalls in Selangor / Abdul Raof Mohd Ali

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2003, recreational water activities can have substantial benefits to health and well-being. Swimming pools, beaches, lakes, rivers and spas provide environments for rest and relaxation, physical activity, exercise, pleasure and fun. Yet they also present risks to health. Polluted and unsafe recreational waters can lead to infections, exposure to chemicals, injuries and death. Study locations were selected waterfalls throughput Selangor Darul Ehsan. The study design is cross sectional study. Sampling data collection is according to American Public Health Association (APHA) method. A statistical analysis that is statistical package for the social science (SPSS) version 17 was used in the study. The result for physical parameters found out that only two parameters exceed the standards which are dissolved oxygen and biological oxygen demand with readings of 2.62mg/L and 5.67mg/L. For biological no parameters exceed standard and chemical parameters the exceed readings are boron (1.64mg/L), manganese (2.08mg/L), cadmium (0.021 mg/L) and barium (7.96mg/L). Comparison between weekdays and weekends found out that total dissolved solid (18.2mg/L), conductivity (33.8mg/L), salinity (0.12mg/L), suspended solid (16.33mg/L) and ph (8.31) for physical parameters higher during weekend. For biological parameters, total coliform is higher during weekends (1754.98 counts). While Chromium (0.072mg/L), Nickel (0.027mg/L), Zinc (0.29mg/L), Nitrogen (0.1 Om/L), Barium (9.53mg/L) and Fluoride (0.33mg/L) for chemical parameters. Comparisons between waterfalls found out that Sungai Tua is the most contaminated streams between the five selected waterfalls which further proved with calculation of water quality index (WQI) where Sungai Tua WQI is 67.39 (slightly polluted). Health risk assessment found out that it indicates that there is likely potential adverse health effect that is associated with the exposure of the chemicals in recreational water (Hl>1 ). The recreational water quality is good on weekdays when compared to weekends, suggesting that the water quality is poor on weekends. Health risk assessment result it indicates that there is likely potential adverse health effect that is associated with the exposure of the chemicals in recreational water.