Public perception about drinking jar water and its bacteriological analysis

The consumption of jar water has been increasing consistently in these days. To improve such water quality and supply, information is needed to assess water contamination in a variety of community, including those that rely primarily on unimproved distributed sources of drinking water. This study was done to assess the public perception on drinking jar water and assessment of drinking jar water distributed in Kathmandu Valley which was conducted in the Department of Microbiology, Amrit Science Campus, Thamel, Kathmandu during the period of Aug 2009 to Dec 2009. A total 57 water samples of different drinking jar water having different brand names were proceed using standard protocols and analyzed for the presence of total coliforms and fecal coliforms. All identified fecal coliforms isolates from different water samples were subjected to in-vitro antimicrobial susceptibility test by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. In order to know the perception of people in drinking jar water, semi structured questionnaires were made and purposively selected for the study in 525 populations who were using jar water for drinking purpose. Most population rated their drinking jar water good but found to be highly concerned with the quality. Among total water samples, 91.2% (n=52) were found contaminated with total coliforms and 59.6% were with fecal coliforms. During the study, 117 isolates of enteric bacteria were isolated, of which 33.3% (n=39) were Escherichia coli followed by other gram negative bacteria. Similarly, out of 58 fecal coliforms isolates, 43.1%, 39.6%, 12.2% were E. coli, Klebsiella spp, and Enterobacter aerogens. Of those fecal coliforms, all were sensitive to antibiotic ciprofloxacin and resistant to ampicilin. The finding indicates that jar water is not safe for drinking purpose without treatment.