Abstract: Potable water is important for the sustenance and survival of human beings and other living organisms. The present study deals with the evaluation of the drinking water quality in a city of Selangor, Malaysia and to compare the quality of drinking water from various households and restaurants by measuring the various physical and chemical parameters such as dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, nitrate, pH, coliform, turbidity and phosphate using the water monitoring kit. All samples showed no abnormal values for dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), turbidity and nitrate. The results showed that the contents of total coliform, phosphate and pH exceeded the standard. It was seen that out of 100 drinking water samples, 38 samples had E. coli count exceeding the acceptable limit and hence are considered contaminated. 69 samples were collected from houses and 28 samples (40%) out of them were contaminated. Among the 27 samples collected from the restaurants, 10 samples (37%) were contaminated. The results revealed that there was no significant difference in the quality of drinking water collected from houses as compared to the restaurants (P value = 0.56). The pH levels for 99% of the samples were within the acceptable range. 1% of the drinking water samples had phosphate level that slightly exceeded the standards.
