Health Risk Assessment Related to Waterborne Pathogens from the River to the Tap

Pauline Jacob, Annabelle Henry, Gaëlle Meheut, Nadine Charni-Ben-Tabassi, Valérie Ingrand and Karim Helmi
Additional contact information
Pauline Jacob: Veolia Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, Centre de recherche de Saint Maurice, 1 place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France
Annabelle Henry: Veolia Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, Centre de recherche de Saint Maurice, 1 place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France
Gaëlle Meheut: Veolia Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, Centre de recherche de Saint Maurice, 1 place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France
Nadine Charni-Ben-Tabassi: Veolia Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, Centre de recherche de Saint Maurice, 1 place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France
Valérie Ingrand: Veolia Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, Centre de recherche de Saint Maurice, 1 place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France
Karim Helmi: Veolia Recherche et Innovation, Immeuble le Dufy, Centre de recherche de Saint Maurice, 1 place de Turenne, 94417 St Maurice Cedex, France

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: A two-year monitoring program of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts, Giardia duodenalis cysts, Escherichia coli , Clostridium perfringens spores and adenovirus was conducted in three large rivers in France used for recreational activities and as a resource for drinking water production. Fifty-liter river water and one thousand-liter tap water samples were concentrated using hollow-fiber ultrafiltration and analyzed by molecular biology or laser-scanning cytometry. In order to evaluate watershed land use influence on microorganism concentration changes, occurrence and seasonality of microorganisms were studied. The highest concentrations of protozoan parasites and C. perfringens were found for one of the three sites, showing a high proportion of agricultural territories, forests and semi-natural environments, which may be partly attributable to soil leaching due to rainfall events. On the contrary, the highest concentrations of adenoviruses were found at the two other sites, probably due to strong urban activities. Health risk assessment was evaluated for each waterborne pathogen regarding exposure during recreational activities (for a single or five bathing events during the summer). The calculated risk was lower than 0.5% for parasites and varied from 1% to 42% for adenovirus. A theoretical assessment of microorganism removal during the drinking water treatment process was also performed, and it showed that an absence of microorganisms could be expected in finished drinking water. This hypothesis was confirmed since all tested tap water samples were negative for each studied microorganism, resulting in a risk for drinking water consumption lower than 0.01% for parasites and lower than 0.5% for adenovirus.

Keywords: waterborne pathogens; health risk assessment; water; fecal pollution indicator; land use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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