Assessment of Water Microbiologic Pollution in Durres＇s Marine Harbour Basin, Albania

The aim of this study is to assess the water microbiologic pollution in Durres＇s Harbour basin and to compare it with European standards. The comparison of heterotrophs and total coliforms level in sampling are the essence of this research. The object of this study is done in four sampling areas of Durres＇s Harbour basin. In order to compare the level of water microbiologic pollution in four areas of Durres＇s Harbour basin, control area is also studied which is a beach area near the Harbour named Apollonia Beach. The sampling areas were： Ferry Terminal （FT）, Fishery Harbor （FH）, East Zone （EZ）, Fuel Quay （FQ） and Apollonia Beach （AB）, respectively. The period of sample-taking was July-October 2008. The strategy used for this purpose consisted in water insemination with coverage method by means of Petri＇s plates according to respective dilutions in culture media Plate Count Agar （PCA） for heterotrophs and MacConkey for total coliforms. The number of colonies that are formed determines the number of cells at the moment of water insemination, the number of heterotrophs in culture media PCA, respectively. The number of pink and red colonies that were formed determines the number of cells at the moment of water insemination, the number of total coliforms in culture media MacConkey, respectively. The measure ofheterotrophic bacteria and total coliforms used is Colony-Forming Units （CFU）/100 mL seawater. （AB） is within European standards. The richest area with heterotrophs is （FH）, which confirms the fact that it is the most polluted microbiologic area in the Harbour basin of Durres. The richest area with total coliforms is （FT）. The poorest area with heterotrophs and total coliforms is （FQ）.

The Microbiologic Water Pollution on Marine Ecosystems Velipoja Beach, Albania

Waters in marine ecosystems are likely contamination. The origin of pollution may be industrial, radioactive, agricultural, urban mikobiologjike etc.. The study was conducted in the waters of the Adriatic sea ecosystem aims to analyze the microbiological contamination areas. These waters are used for holiday purposes by citizens. The samplings of marine water are taken from the stratum water surface about 10 cm, at a distance 10-20 m by sea coast. These samples are examined in laboratory for determination of two micro organisms, indicators excrements pollution Faecal Coliform （FC） （ISO 9803） and FC, probably Streptococcus Faecal （FS） with Filtrate Membrane Method＇s in specific areas （ISO 7899-2）. In area Velipoja, Albania, the microbiologic elaborated analyses have resulted as follows： For FC and Streptococcus Faecal are given the minimal values FC-50, FS-50 and maximal values FC-90, FS-90 per 100 mL. About the evaluation of reaction （pH） is concluded that in Albania the sea waters coastal zones have a lightly alkaline ambient, where pH value is in the range 7.5-8.3, estimated according to recommended standards 6-9. No cases of red-tide algae development have been observed.

Microbiological quality of roof tank water in an urban village in southeastern China

Urban villages are unique residential neighborhoods in urban areas in China. Roof tanks are their main form of water supply, and water quality deterioration might occur in this system because of poor hygienic conditions and maintenance. In this study, water samples were seasonally collected from an urban village to investigate the influence of roof tanks as an additional water storage device on the variation in the microbial community structure and pathogenic gene markers. Water stagnation in the roof tank induced significant decreases in chlorine(p < 0.05), residual chlorine was as low as 0.02 mg/L in spring. Propidium monoazide(PMA)-qPCR revealed a one-magnitude higher level of total viable bacterial concentration in roof tank water samples(2.14 ± 1.81 × 105gene copies/mL) than that in input water samples(3.57 ± 2.90 × 104gene copies/mL, p < 0.05), especially in spring and summer. In addition,pathogenic fungi, Mycobacterium spp., and Legionella spp. were frequently detected in the roof tanks. Terminal users might be exposed to higher microbial risk induced by high abundance of Legionella gene marker. Spearman’s rank correlation and redundancy analysis showed that residual chlorine was the driving force that promoted bacterial colonization and shaped the microbial community. It is worth noted that the sediment in the pipe will be agitated when the water supply is restored after the water outages, which can trigger an increase in turbidity and bacterial biomass. Overall, the findings provide practical suggestions for controlling microbiological health risks in roof tanks in urban villages.

Direct evidence of microbiological water quality changes on bacterial quantity and community caused by plumbing system

Drinking water quality deteriorates from treatment plant to customer taps, especially in the plumbing system. There is no direct evidence about what the differences are contributed by plumbing system. This study compared the water quality in the water main and at customer tap by preparing a sampling tap on the water main. The biomass was quantified by adenosine triphosphate(ATP) and the microbial community was profiled by 454 pyrosequencing.The results showed that in distribution pipes, biofilm contributed >94% of the total biomass,while loose deposits showed little contribution(< 2%) because of the low amount of loose deposits. The distribution of biological stable water had minor effects on the microbiocidal water quality regarding both quantity(ATP 1 ng/L vs. 1.7 ng/L) and community of the bacteria. Whereas the plumbing system has significant contribution to the increase of active biomass(1.7 ng/L vs. 2.9 ng/L) and the changes of bacterial community. The relative abundance of Sphingomonas spp. at tap(22%) was higher than that at water main(2%), while the relative abundance of Pseudomonas spp. in tap water(15%) was lower than that in the water from street water main(29%). Though only one location was prepared and studied, the present study showed that the protocol of making sampling tap on water main offered directly evidences about the impacts of plumbing system on tap water quality, which makes it possible to distinguish and study the processes in distribution system and plumbing system separately.