Yafteh

Background: Water is a vital liquid which is contaminatied by multiple biological agents such as; parasites, fungi, viruses and bacteria. The Enterobactriaceae, especially E.Coli are the most important indicator of fecal contamination of water. The aim of this study was to evaluate the Enterobacteriaceae in drinking water of  the wells in Romeshkan town.

Material and Methods: 160 of  2.5 liter water samples were collected and quickly transferred to the laboratory under the desired temperature then were concentrated by passing through a 0.45 µm filter. Then the bacteria were differentiated by culture in Macconkey medium and the grown single colonies were cultured on other differentiate media.

Results: 18 (%11.25) of the drinking water of the wells were contaminated with E.Coli which in most cases accompanied with other Enterobactoaceae such as; Enterobacter, Citrobacter and Klebsiella. These contaminations had significant relationship with distance between sewage wells and damaged lids of wells.

Conclusion: Although the contamination rate was lower than some previous studies, but according to standards of WHO, it is very high. It is suggested that authorities apply pipetting before wells waterborne diseases become epidemic.