Isolation and Identification of Coliform Bacteria from the Drinking Water of the Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur

Abstract

Contamination of drinking water in a developing countries is mostly due to the lack of awareness of the risks, and inadequate training of personnel and management working on drinking water systems. This usually results in avoidable disease outbreaks. A study was carried out to isolate and identify coliform bacteria in the drinking water of Shah Abdul Latif University, Campus, Khairpur (Mir’s) Sindh, Pakistan. Several water samples from different sites of the University were collected and analyzed for coliform bacteria. E.coli was used as an indicator organism, and various types of coliform bacteria were detected. Most of the samples isolated from the campus were contaminated with multiple bacteria. The main water supply of the university showed contamination with E.coli, Salmonella, Enterobacter, Shigella, and Neisseria. The most common microorganism found in water samples was E coli. It is recommended that efforts should be made to de-contaminatethe water supply of the university which might result in catastrophic outbreaks of the disease if the water supply remains contaminated.