Spatial Variability of Escherichia coli in Rivers of Northern Coastal Ecuador.

ABSTRACT: The use of contaminated surface water continues to be a pressing issue in areas of the world where people lack improved drinking water sources. In northern coastal Ecuador, many communities rely on untreated surface water as their primary source of drinking water. We undertook a study to explore how microscale river hydrodynamics affect microbial water quality at community water collection locations at three rivers with varying stream velocity and turbidity profiles. To examine how the distance from river shore and physiochemical water quality variables affect microbial contamination levels in the rivers; we collected a total of 355 water samples within six villages on three rivers; and tested for Escherichia coli concentrations using the IDEXX Quanti-tray method. We found that log<

SUBMITTER: Rao G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4435963 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature