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Seasonal impact on microbiological quality of drinking water in Solan City of Himachal Pradesh, India

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Abstract

Water contamination with faecal matter is usually the main cause of microbial waterborne diseases. Such diseases are an alarming situation for small cities in developing countries like India. In this research, to check the microbiological status of drinking water in Solan, Himachal Pradesh (India), water samples were collected from baories/stepwells (n = 14), handpumps (n = 9), and the municipal water distribution system (MWDS) (n = 2) in alternative months of the year (covering three main seasons). In 6 months, 150 samples were collected, and they were all examined for the presence of total coliforms and other bacterial pathogens. The associations between the isolates’ ecological and seasonal prevalence were also examined. The coliforms were detected by the Most Probable Number (MPN) method, whose range was noticed from the 2–540/100-ml MPN index. The colony forming unit (CFU) count for different samples at the base log 10 value ranged from 3.03 to 6.19. Different genera isolated and identified were Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteric subsp. enterica, Pseudomonas spp., Klebsiella spp., and Staphylococcus aureus. Overall, 74% of the isolates identified in water samples were from the Enterobacteriaceae family. E. coli was about 42.67% (n = 102), followed by Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica 20.92% (n = 50), Staphylococcus aureus 13.38% (n = 32), Pseudomonas spp. 12.55% (n = 30), and Klebsiella spp. 10.46% (n = 25) amongst the total of 239 isolates. The seasonal impact and the dependency of the occurrence of bacteria on one another were determined to be insignificant in the Spearman correlation test. These results showed that external factors (anthropogenic activities) are mainly responsible for the presence of these bacteria in water resources. The occurrence of bacterial isolates has been noticed in all water samples, irrespective of collecting site or season.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Table 2 is representing the data related to the CFU count. If required in a simple form, then it is attached to this submission.

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Acknowledgements

All authors are thankful to the Vice Chancellor, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, Solan for providing the necessary facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, Bajhol, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Mamta Devi Sharma, Saurav Chauhan, Pradeep Kumar & Saurabh Kulshrestha

  2. Center for Omics and Biodiversity Research, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, Bajhol, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Mamta Devi Sharma, Saurav Chauhan, Pradeep Kumar & Saurabh Kulshrestha

  3. Shoolini Institute of Life Sciences and Business Management, The Mall, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Payal Gupta

  4. RNA VAXBIO Pvt Ltd, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Ranjana Panwar & Sewa Singh

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  1. Mamta Devi Sharma
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Mamta Devi Sharma, Saurabh Kulshrestha; Methodology: Mamta Devi Sharma, Payal Gupta; Formal analysis and investigation: Mamta Devi Sharma, Ranjana Panwar; Writing -original draft preparation: Mamta Devi Sharma, Pradeep Kumar, Saurabh Kulshrestha; Writing - review and editing: Mamta Devi Sharma, Sewa Singh, Saurav Chauhan, Pradeep Kumar; Resources, Funding and Supervision: Saurabh Kulshrestha

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Correspondence to Saurabh Kulshrestha.

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Sharma, M.D., Gupta, P., Chauhan, S. et al. Seasonal impact on microbiological quality of drinking water in Solan City of Himachal Pradesh, India. Environ Monit Assess 195, 930 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11510-4

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