Assessment of Ground Water Quality with Respect to Bacteriological Contamination in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India

• Published in: Clean : soil, air, water Vol. 42; no. 10; pp. 1351 - 1362
• Main Authors: Patel, Mittal, Baxi, Krushnakant, Dayma, Paras, Upadhyay, Devang, Parmar, Navalsang, Kundu, Saurav, Haldar, Soumya, Mody, Kalpana H., Jha, Bhavanath
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2014; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Acinetobacter; Antibiotic resistance; Bhavnagar; Citrobacter; Escherichia coli; Groundwater; Heterotrophic bacteria; Pathogenic bacteria; Serratia; Water quality; India, Gujarat, Bhavnagar; India, Gujarat
• ISSN: 1863-0650; 1863-0669
• DOI: 10.1002/clen.201300461

The present work aimed to make an assessment of physicochemical parameters and bacteriological contamination associated with 24 ground water resources used by more than 5% of total population, classified under four characteristic locations of Bhavnagar, a growing city of Gujarat. Ground water quality was evaluated with respect to most probable number of Escherichia coli, and presence of heterotrophic bacteria including some pathogens. Based on morphological differences and sites, 27 isolates were randomly selected and identified accurately. Scanning electron microscopy was also performed for each representative genus to understand morphology. Resources from thickly crowded areas were dominated by Aeromonas and Acinetobacter, residential area by Citrobacter and Serratia and sites adjacent to drainage canals by Pseudomonas spp. Further, bacterial community structure of 24 different resources was determined by Biolog EcoPlates™ and species richness and diversity were evaluated. Antibiotic resistance pattern revealed emergence of multidrug resistance among some of the identified strains. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on detailed bacteriological analysis of ground water resources of Bhavnagar city including bacterial identification using polyphasic approach, community study, antibiotics resistance profiling, and interpretation of data using suitable statistical tools. Furthermore, this study can be considered as a model for understanding ground water quality of other cities also. Groundwater quality of Bhavnagar, India was evaluated with respect to bacterial contamination. Resources from thickly crowded areas were dominated by Aeromonas and Acinetobacter, residential area by Citrobacter and Serratia, and sites adjacent to drainage canals by Pseudomonas spp. Antibiotic resistance pattern revealed presence of multidrug‐resistant bacteria.