Microbial quality of well water from rural and urban households in Karnataka, India: A cross-sectional study

SummaryObjectiveThe objective of this study was to evaluate the microbial quality of the well water used as a drinking source in urban and rural households.MethodsA total of 80 household well water samples were analyzed by the multiple fermentation tube method to determine the presumptive coliform count/most probable number of coliforms, and the isolates were identified using standard procedures, followed by susceptibility testing.ResultsFecal indicator organisms, including Escherichia coli and Enterococcus spp. were isolated from 22 (27.5%) samples, and the majority (92.5%) of the water sources were contaminated with coliforms. A total of 170 bacterial isolates were obtained, including coliforms (70%), Enterococcus spp. (1.8%) and saprophytes (28.2%). A significant number of isolates were multi-drug resistant, which is a cause of concern. A comparison of the microbial quality of the water between urban and rural households revealed no significant differences.ConclusionIt might be prudent to monitor the bacteriological quality of well water at the source in addition to resistance profiles of the isolates.

► Iron-inserted carbon nanoparticles were obtained by laser pyrolysis technique.
► Two different structures (shell-shape and turbostratic) were found in the same experiment.
► Increasing the pressure causes the increasing in carbon crystallinity/decreasing the Fe content.
► Iron nanoinclusions are protected from oxidation by the carbon matrix.
► Magnetism-related applications of these nanoparticles in life sciences are proposed.