Water Evaluation for Microbial Pathogens of Station Treated and Groundwater Wells via Chromogenic Culture Media in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Majed M Albokari

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), P. O. Box 6086, Riyadh - 114 42, Saudi Arabia.

ABSTRACT: Evaluation of water quality for the presence of water borne pathogens has been considered a critical issue with a great concern especially in developing countries, this is a comparative study aims to assess the quality of water treated by the National Water Company and compare it with groundwater wells using chromogenicculture media as a specific, rapid, sensitive and reliable technique for the detection of the presence of microbial pathogens.A total number of 12 samples has been collected randomly and tested, 9 from water stations while the other 3 samples from groundwater wells locatedin city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Some physicochemical parameters have been analyzed including pH with range of 7.1 and 7.3 to 8.1 in treated water and groundwater respectively, TDS for treated water ranged from 243 to 781 ppm which lies within the acceptable range while for the groundwater it showed a remarkable elevation of 636 to 2185 ppm. Results of the chromogenic media revealed the safety of treated water by the National Water Company for the publicuse while for the groundwater, attention is immediately required for such water resources due to the presence of microbial pathogens includingBacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and some yeast and moulds.

KEYWORDS: Water evaluation; Chromogenic culture media; Microbial pathogens; Physicochemical parameters

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