scholarly journals Detection of Microcystins in Lake Manatee and Lake Washington – Two Florida Drinking Water Systems

Author(s):  
Rajesh Melaram ◽  
Brandon Lopez-Dueñas

Clean, fresh, and safe drinking water is essential to human health and well-being. Occasionally, chemical pollutants taint surface water quality used for consumption. Microcystins (MCs) are toxic heptapeptides produced by freshwater cyanobacteria. These secondary metabolites can reach hazardous concentrations, impairing surface drinking water supplies. Inconsistent screening of MCs is not uncommon in Florida waters as no provisional guidance value is established to protect public health. The occurrence of MCs in Lake Manatee and Lake Washington was monitored over the potential peak algae bloom season (June-August). An indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA) quantified total MCs in two drinking water systems. Varied concentrations occurred between June and July, whereas concentrations peaked in August. Overall, MC prevalence was higher in Lake Manatee than Lake Washington. Colorimetric assays measured phosphate and nitrite in environmental water samples. Phosphate and nitrite concentrations strongly correlated with total MCs (p < 0.01). The results indicate the intrinsic nature of environmental MCs in surface drinking water supplies and the need to examine hepatotoxin dynamics to preserve drinking water quality in community served areas.

Water Policy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Kot ◽  
Graham A. Gagnon ◽  
Heather Castleden

Fundamental to community health and well-being is the capacity to access a sustainable supply of safe drinking water. Small community drinking water systems are the most vulnerable to contamination, and struggle to secure the funds necessary to improve water treatment and delivery systems, and meet increasingly stringent drinking water quality regulations. Little is known of the contextual and cultural differences between communities and the impact this has on regulatory compliance. This study explored the experiences and impact of individual actors within seven small community drinking water systems in locations across Canada. Qualitative, in-person interviews were conducted with water operators, consumers, and decision-makers in each community, and these findings were analysed thematically. Findings from the study show that communities approach and align with compliance challenges in three distinct ways: by adopting regulator-provided or regulator-driven solutions, by adopting an existing improvement framework (i.e. regionalization), or through reinvention to address a new issue or concern. Policy-makers looking to align small communities with appropriate water quality goals may benefit from a consideration of these contextual and cultural differences.


Beverages ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Hua ◽  
Ruipu Mu ◽  
Honglan Shi ◽  
Enos Inniss ◽  
John Yang

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 415-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Benqlilou ◽  
L. Laraki ◽  
A. Outair

Rural areas in Morocco are characterized by specific particulars dispersal, remoteness and importance. Considering this particular context, it is necessary to adjust the analysis and treatment methods, the monitoring and sanitary inspection systems. Within this framework, a new methodology was developed with the purpose of supervising and monitoring drinking water quality in rural areas. This methodology consists basically in applying common norms for rural localities bordering existing adductions, and in the adoption of a simplified approach for non-accessible rural localities supplied by autonomous drinking water systems. The simplified approach relies essentially on sanitary inspection data and on the control of parameters that constitute a sanitary risk in the short term (bacteriological parameters). The control of residual chlorine content is so important, for it ensures a high bacteriological quality of water and can offer the opportunity for a quick reaction of the manager. These two approaches are based mainly on resource protection, water disinfection and population awareness about the good use and preservation of water quality. Indeed, in order to ensure the continuity of rural autonomous drinking water systems in terms of quantity and quality of distributed water, various management models were developed: management by means of water user associations, and by a private operator. For these different modes of management, the methodology to adopt for supervising and monitoring drinking water quality in rural areas together with the attribution of tasks and responsibilities was already established. The right of citizens to sustainable and safe water is a stimulating challenge which requires the collaboration and involvement of all acting agents in the sector.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Emily Hegarty ◽  
Zihan Dai ◽  
Lutgarde Raskin ◽  
Ameet J Pinto ◽  
Krista Wigginton ◽  
...  

Viruses are important drivers of microbial community ecology and evolution, influencing microbial mortality, metabolism, and horizontal gene transfer. However, the effects of viruses remain largely unknown in many environments, including in drinking water systems. Drinking water metagenomic studies have offered a whole community perspective of bacterial impacts on water quality, but have not yet considered the influences of viruses. In this study, we address this gap by mining viral DNA sequences from publicly available drinking water metagenomes from distribution systems in six countries around the world. These datasets provide a snapshot of the taxonomic diversity and metabolic potential of the global drinking water virome, and provide an opportunity to investigate the effects of geography, climate, and drinking water treatment practices on viral diversity. Both environmental conditions and differences in sample processing were found to influence the viral composition. Using free chlorine as the residual disinfectant was associated with clear differences in viral taxonomic diversity and metabolic potential, with significantly fewer viral populations and less even viral community structures than observed in distribution systems without residual disinfectant. Additionally, significantly more viral-encoded genes involved in mitigating oxidative stress were observed in systems that use free chlorine, while significantly more viral genes involved in nitrogen metabolism were observed in systems that do not. Through this study, we have demonstrated that viral communities are diverse across drinking water systems and vary with the use of residual disinfectant. Our findings offer directions for future research to develop a more robust understanding of how virus-bacteria interactions in drinking water distribution systems affect water quality.


1991 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 201-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Kreisel

Water quality can affect human health in various ways: through breeding of vectors, presence of pathogenic protozoa, helminths, bacteria and viruses, or through inorganic and organic chemicals. While traditional concern has been with pathogens and gastro-intestinal diseases, chemical pollutants in drinking-water supplies have in many instances reached proportions which affect human health, especially in cases of chronic exposure. Treatment of drinking-water, often grossly inadequate in developing countries, is the last barrier of health protection, but control at source is more effective for pollution control. Several WHO programmes of the International Drinking-Water Supply and Sanitation Decade have stimulated awareness of the importance of water quality in public water supplies. Three main streams have been followed during the eighties: guidelines for drinking-water quality, guidelines for wastewater reuse and the monitoring of freshwater quality. Following massive investments in the community water supply sector to provide people with adequate quantities of drinking-water, it becomes more and more important to also guarantee minimum quality standards. This has been recognized by many water and health authorities in developing countries and, as a result, WHO cooperates with many of them in establishing water quality laboratories and pollution control programmes.


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