The effect of a septic tank on the microbiological quality of a well (Indonesia)

There are still many household septic tanks that do not meet the water quality standards in Koto Tangah District, Padang. One of the reasons for such situation may be septic tanks which are often not watertight and leak contaminated content into groundwater. This research looked at whether the septic tank could affect the presence of pathogens in the nearby well water. It appeared that the well water of the Koto Tangah community is contaminated, where presence of coliforms (total coliforms and Escherichia coli) clearly indicated contamination of well water by feces. It was also shown that the implementation of septic tanks can negatively affect the microbiological quality of community well water.