Detection of Pathogenic and Non-pathogenic Bacteria in Drinking Water and Associated Biofilms on the Crow Reservation, Montana, USA

Abstract

Private residences in rural areas with water systems that are not adequately regulated, monitored, and updated could have drinking water that poses a health risk. To investigate water quality on the Crow Reservation in Montana, water and biofilm samples were collected from 57 public buildings and private residences served by either treated municipal or individual groundwater well systems. Bacteriological quality was assessed including detection of fecal coliform bacteria and heterotrophic plate count (HPC) as well as three potentially pathogenic bacterial genera, Mycobacterium, Legionella, and Helicobacter. All three target genera were detected in drinking water systems on the Crow Reservation. Species detected included the opportunistic and frank pathogens Mycobacterium avium, Mycobacterium gordonae, Mycobacterium flavescens, Legionella pneumophila, and Helicobacter pylori. Additionally, there was an association between HPC bacteria and the presence of Mycobacterium and Legionella but not the presence of Helicobacter. This research has shown that groundwater and municipal drinking water systems on the Crow Reservation can harbor potential bacterial pathogens.

Global Environmental Nontuberculous Mycobacteria and Their Contemporaneous Man-Made and Natural Niches

“…, M. algericum, M. arabiense, M. heraklionense ) have been cultured and identified from primary sludge samples of water treatment plants even after decontamination (Makovcova et al, 2015). M. avium, M. gordonae , and M. flavescens have been also been identified in non-traditional water sources including untreated, drinking well water in rural areas of Montana as well as in treated municipal wastewater from arid regions (Richards et al, 2015; Amha et al, 2017). Qualitative assessments were used to determine the risk of MAC exposure in Queensland, Australia, an area that utilizes rainwater catchment systems.…”

Identification and tracking of microorganisms from the biofilms of container walls used for water storage: Case of rural communities in Burkina Faso

“…This regrowth was observed more with total coliforms than with other indicator microorganisms studied. It is well known that total coliforms include a heterogeneous group constituting the genera Escherichia, Citrobacter, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Serratia and Rahnella (Richards et al, 2015). Although, these genera were not identified in this study, they could be released into the stored water and deteriorate its quality.…”

“…These diseases are usually infectious diarrhea such as cholera and typhoid among others. Whilst the detection of microbial pathogens has largely improved, several waterborne microorganisms may persist in so-called "safe" drinking water (Richards et al, 2015). Therefore, the issue of water quality in the transmission of diseases in humans remains a matter of great concern.…”

“…Factors known to affect recontamination of water during storage at home are size of the storage vessel mouth, transfer of water between containers from collection to storage, hand contact and dipping of utensils (Singh et al, 2013), but also bacterial regrowth within the storage container (Machdar et al, 2013) and prospering of organisms in biofilms of containers (Ahmed et al, 2013). A large variety of different heterotrophic bacteria from pathogenic to nonpathogenic ones have been isolated from drinking water biofilm (Richards et al, 2015). So, during storage, water can be deteriorated to a quality often not safe for human consumption.…”

Potential Health Risks from Uranium in Home Well Water: An Investigation by the Apsaalooke (Crow) Tribal Research Group

“…In sum, although there are numerous sources of uncertainty, particularly with regards to whether other potential (radionuclides and pesticides) and known (inorganic and microbial [80,81]) contaminants are contributing to the health risks, the potential for error in this study is primarily in having underrepresented the health risks to families using wells.…”