Rapid assessment of drinking-water quality in the - WHO/UNICEF ...

3.3 Aesthetic parameters
The three aesthetic parameters tested were conductivity, iron content and turbidity. Conductivity was
used as a surrogate for the level of dissolved solids in the water supplies and hence was a measure of
the salinity of the water. For almost the entire country, conductivity was above the Jordanian
permitted limit of 700 S/cm, although none of the water supplies exceeded the Jordanian maximum
limit of 2100 S/cm (Table 3.6).
Table 3.6
Broad area
Compliance of Jordanian utility piped water supplies with
WHO recommendations and national standards for
conductivity a
Conductivity
a
n
Satisfying WHO
suggested value of
1400 S/cm (%)
Compliance with
allowed national
standard of 700
S/cm (%)
Compliance with
maximum national
standard of 2100
S/cm (%)
Amman 611 100.0 3.3 100.0
Albalqa 146 100.0 33.6 100.0
Alzarqa 244 94.7 0.4 100.0
Madaba 25 100.0 0 100.0
Irbed 270 100.0 15.9 100.0
Almafraq 73 100.0 38.4 100.0
Jarash 73 100.0 28.8 100.0
Ajloun 49 100.0 18.4 100.0
Alkarak 73 91.8 15.1 100.0
Altafiela 25 100.0 96.0 100.0
Ma’an 25 100.0 44.0 100.0
Aqaba 25 100.0 56.0 100.0
National 1 639 98.8 14.1 100.0
n = total number of samples assessed.
Water supplies in the Albalqa, Alzarqa and Ajloun governorates were contaminated with iron, which
likely was caused by rusting pipes and intermittent water supplies (Table 3.7). Generally, Jordanian
water supplies were clear: All of the samples had a turbidity of less than 5 NTU, and 99.8% of the
samples were in compliance with the more stringent allowed national standard of 1 NTU (Table 3.8).
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