Water is indispensable for life and its quality is directly related to public health. The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in public water supply in municipalities in São Paulo State, Brazil. Analyses were carried out at the Adolfo Lutz Institute between February and December 2016, and included physicochemical (chlorine, pH, color, turbidity and nitrate), and microbiological parameters (total coliforms and Escherichia coli), as well as P. aeruginosa, with susceptibility tests to antimicrobial agents and biofilm production capacity by the strains isolated. In total, 251 water samples were evaluated and 19 (7.6%) presented P. aeruginosa. No significant differences were observed between the physicochemical parameters found in the positive and negative samples for this bacterium, but the samples containing total coliforms were also those with the highest positivity for P. aeruginosa. All samples with P. aeruginosa reported chlorine concentrations between 0.2 and 2.0 mg/L, as required by Brazilian legislation, demonstrating this bacterium's resistance to conventional water treatment processes. Although not resistant to the antimicrobials tested, most strains isolated were classified as strong biofilm producers, emphasizing the need for further studies involving water supply quality.
The public water supply is a constant subject of concern since its quality depends on many different factors. The intention of this paper was to evaluate the quality of the public water supply in 38 cities from the midwest region of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, during the year of 2016. The parameters investigated included free residual chlorine, pH, apparent color, turbidity, fluoride, nitrate, and the presence of total coliforms and Escherichia coli. In total, from the 2,897 samples of water under analysis, 545 (18.81%) samples conflicted with the country's current legislation. The highest rates of noncompliance were related to fluoride contents and the presence of total coliforms. In addition, high nitrate concentrations (>10 mg/L NO3‐N) were observed in one of the cities’ water sample. Our data display the major critical points of the water offered to the population and expose the potential risks for human health, indicating the need of a regular surveillance of the water and the adoption of corrective and preventive measures, in order to avoid the waterborne diseases occurrence, thus contributing to the population's health improvement.
Practitioner points
Approximately 20% of the unsatisfactory water samples.
High nitrate concentrations in public supply water.
Potential risks for human health.
Introdução:No estado de São Paulo, a concentração de flúor na água de abastecimento público deve ser mantida na faixa de 0,6 a 0,8 mg/L, a fim de prevenir a cárie e evitar o risco de fluorose. Objetivo: Avaliar a concentração de fluoretos na água de abastecimento público dos municípios de abrangência do Grupo de Vigilância Sanitária de Bauru. Método: Os dados foram extraídos da rotina do Instituto Adolfo Lutz -Bauru e oriundos de 38 municípios monitorados pelo Programa de Vigilância da Qualidade da Água para Consumo Humano (Proágua), no período de 2007-2016. As análises laboratoriais foram realizadas utilizando-se o método potenciométrico com eletrodo íon-seletivo e a interpretação dos resultados baseou-se na Resolução SS nº 250/95 e na classificação proposta pelo Centro Colaborador do Ministério da Saúde em Vigilância da Saúde Bucal (CECOL). Resultados: Das 8.887 amostras analisadas, 31,1% apresentaram teores inadequados de íons fluoretos, sendo que 22,7% estavam abaixo e 8,4% acima do limite estabelecido pela legislação. De acordo com a proposta do CECOL, 59,4% das amostras exibiram benefício máximo para prevenção de cárie e 0,6% revelaram risco muito alto para produção de fluorose dentária. Conclusões: Tais dados apontam a necessidade de aprimorar o controle operacional do processo de fluoretação e enfatiza a importância da vigilância da qualidade da água.
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