Microbiological Analysis of Borehole Water Quality

Abstract

Groundwater is often used as a primary resource by those who have boreholes inside their properties; however, this has caused concerns among health professionals. This water may contain microorganisms or substances that are harmful. The main objective of this study was to microbiologically analyse the quality of the water coming from boreholes in the village of Santo Ovídio, Setúbal, by searching for bacteria that indicate faecal contamination, —such as total and faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, faecal Enterococci, Clostridium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa—and quantifying them via the membrane filtration method. The research method was a quantitative, simple, descriptive, level I study with a sample size of 20 participants. It was found that 60% of the samples contained at least one of these microorganisms.

Keywords

• pathogenic microorganisms
• water quality
• faecal contamination
• membrane filtration method