Quantitative Assessment of First Nations Drinking Water Distribution Systems for Detection and Prevalence of Thermophilic Campylobacter Species

Izhar U. H. Khan (), Anita Murdock, Maria Mahmud, Michel Cloutier, Thomas Benoit, Sabrin Bashar, Rakesh Patidar, Ruidong Mi, Bahram Daneshfar, Annemieke Farenhorst and Ayush Kumar
Additional contact information
Izhar U. H. Khan: Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 960 Carling Ave., Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, Canada
Anita Murdock: Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
Maria Mahmud: Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 960 Carling Ave., Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, Canada
Michel Cloutier: Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 960 Carling Ave., Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, Canada
Thomas Benoit: Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 960 Carling Ave., Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, Canada
Sabrin Bashar: Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
Rakesh Patidar: Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
Ruidong Mi: Department of Soil Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
Bahram Daneshfar: Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 960 Carling Ave., Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, Canada
Annemieke Farenhorst: Department of Soil Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
Ayush Kumar: Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: Water is considered a major route for transmitting human-associated pathogens. Although microbial water quality indicators are used to test for the presence of waterborne pathogens in drinking water, the two are poorly correlated. The current study investigates the prevalence of thermophilic DNA markers specific for Campylobacter spp. ( C . jejuni and C. coli ) in source water and throughout the water distribution systems of two First Nations communities in Manitoba, Canada. A total of 220 water samples were collected from various points of the drinking water distribution system (DWDS) between 2016 and 2018. Target Campylobacter spp. were always (100%) detected in a home with a fiberglass (CF) cistern, as well as the community standpipe (SP). The target bacteria were also frequently detected in treated water at the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) (78%), homes with polyethylene (CP) (60%) and concrete (CC) (58%) cisterns, homes with piped (P) water (43%) and water truck (T) samples (20%), with a maximum concentration of 1.9 × 10 3 cells 100 mL −1 ( C. jejuni ) and 5.6 × 10 5 cells 100 mL −1 ( C. coli ). Similarly, target bacteria were detected in 68% of the source water samples with a maximum concentration of 4.9 × 10 3 cells 100 mL −1 ( C. jejuni ) and 8.4 × 10 5 cells 100 mL −1 ( C. coli ). Neither target Campylobacter spp. was significantly associated with free and total chlorine concentrations in water. The study results indicate that there is an immediate need to monitor Campylobacter spp. in small communities of Canada and, particularly, to improve the DWDS in First Nations communities to minimize the risk of Campylobacter infection from drinking water sources. Further research is warranted in improving/developing processes and technologies to eliminate microbial contaminants from water.

Keywords: First Nations communities; households; tap water; Campylobacter spp. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/17/10466/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/17/10466/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:17:p:10466-:d:895059

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().