Sanitary Inspection And Microbiological Water Quality

This pilot study was carried out to determine the relationship between microbiological water quality parameters and the occurrence of health complaints among triathletes. Data were collected at an Olympic distance triathlon (n=314) and a run-bike-run (n=81; controls for exposure to fresh water). At the time of the triathlon, the concentrations of Escherichia coli , thermotolerant coliforms, faecal streptococci, entero- and reoviruses, F-specific RNA phages, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Aeromonas, Plesiomonas shigelloides, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were examined over the swimming course. Information on the occurrence of health complaints during the competition and in the week thereafter was collected through a written questionnaire. The results show that triathletes and run-bike-runners are comparable with respect to factors other than water exposure (age, sex, training history, physical stress, lower intestinal health complaints during the competition) that may influence the occurrence of health complaints in the week after the competition. Triathletes and run-bike-runners reported gastro-intestinal (7.7% vs 2.5%), respiratory (5.5% vs 3.7%), skin/mucosal (2.6% vs 1.2%), general (3.5% vs 1.2%) and total symptoms (14.8% vs 7.4%) in the week after the event. The health risks for triathletes for all symptom groups are not significantly higher than for run-bike-runners. The geometric mean concentration of faecal indicator bacteria is relatively low: E. coli 170/100 ml; faecal streptococci 13/100 ml, enteroviruses were present at concentrations of 0.1/l. The group of triathletes was homogeneusly and relatively intensely exposed to water; they all swam in the same body of water at the same time and 75% reported to have swallowed freshwater. It was concluded that this study design is suitable to study the relationship between health complaints and microbiological water quality. In the summers of 1993 and 1994, a study will be carried out concerning several run-bike-runs and triathlons in freshwaters of different quality.

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Nowcasting methods for determining microbiological water quality at recreational beaches and drinking-water source waters

Journal of Microbiological Methods ◽

10.1016/j.mimet.2020.105970 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 175 ◽

pp. 105970

Author(s):

Donna S. Francy ◽

Amie M.G. Brady ◽

Jessica R. Cicale ◽

Harrison D. Dalby ◽

Erin A. Stelzer

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Drinking Water ◽

Water Source ◽

Drinking Water Source ◽

Recreational Beaches ◽

Microbiological Water Quality ◽

Source Waters

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A Simple Off-Grid Incubator for Microbiological Water Quality Analysis

Water ◽

10.3390/w12010240 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 240 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Carolina Bernardes ◽

Ricardo Bernardes ◽

Camille Zimmer ◽

Caetano C. Dorea

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Low Cost ◽

Expanded Polystyrene ◽

Hot Water ◽

Quality Analysis ◽

Health Concern ◽

Culture Methods ◽

Conventional Culture ◽

Quality Testing ◽

Microbiological Water Quality

There is a need for accessible and low-cost microbiological water quality testing in contexts where diarrheal illness is a major public health concern. In most cases, the quantification of Escherichia coli and other microbial indicators by conventional culture methods requires an incubation step for processed samples at specific temperatures for bacterial growth over a prescribed time. However, incubators can be the most expensive equipment required for such microbial analyses, limiting the number and scope of water quality testing available in low-resource contexts. In this study, a low-cost incubator was developed using a locally available expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam cooler, with two water bottles filled with hot water to heat incubator to a target of 35 °C. The EPS incubator performance was validated by processing 150 water samples in duplicates using the Colilert Quanti-tray/2000 system, incubated in either the EPS incubator or a standard laboratory incubator set at 35 °C. Statistically significant correlations of results indicated that the quantification of E. coli was comparable between both methods. Risk categorizations from standard and EPS incubation results agreed for 141 of 150 (94%) samples, with zero false negatives. In addition to being reasonably mobile the EPS incubator would reduce the cost of such water quality testing, thus potentially increasing the scope of water quality testing coverage.

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Coliforms and other microbial indicators occurrence in water and biofilm in full-scale distribution systems

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2006.446 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 54 (3) ◽

pp. 41-48 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

M. Batté ◽

C. Féliers ◽

P. Servais ◽

V. Gauthier ◽

J.-C. Joret ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Residence Time ◽

Distribution Systems ◽

Full Scale ◽

Bacterial Indicators ◽

Total Coliforms ◽

E Coli ◽

Plate Counts ◽

Microbiological Water Quality ◽

Heterotrophic Plate Counts

Biofilm and microbial water quality were studied in four middle size full-scale distribution systems (DS) in France serving 5,000–30,000 inhabitants (maximum residence time 23–160 h) through three sampling campaigns over 1 year. Three of these DSs were chosen because of a quite high occurrence of bacterial indicators (i.e. total coliforms), the last DS was considered as a reference. Biofilm was studied on cast iron coupons incubated for more than 1 month in devices continuously fed with water from the DS in conditions imitating those met in DS. The devices were located at different points (4–6) along each DS. The abundance of bacteria in biofilm was estimated by heterotrophic plate counts (HPC) after detachment of the biofilm from the support by sonication. Microbiological water quality was estimated in parallel; analysis of total coliforms, E. coli, enterococci and anaerobic sulphide-reducing bacteria spores (ASRB spores) was carried out in biofilm and water. Over the period of the study, 171 water samples and 57 biofilm samples were collected. Over these 171 waters, 19 (11%) were positive for at least one of the measured indicators while two biofilm samples were positive (3.5%). Significant differences were observed in the levels of contamination between the DSs. High residence time in the DS, low disinfectant residual and high temperature increased the risk of indicator occurrence in the water phase. Due to the low number of biofilm samples positive for bacterial indicators, the data collected in the present study did not allow observation of a direct association between biofilm and water contaminations, even if the occurrence of indicators in water appeared on DSs with the highest density of biofilm (HPC).

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