Wayne Green

Publication Date

5-1984

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Larry P. Elliott, David Dunn, John T. Riley, Nicholas C. Crawford

Comments

Program was originally called Health & Safety.

Degree Program

Department of Public Health

Degree Type

Master of Science

Abstract

Monthly water samples collected from four sites in the Lost River Groundwater Basin, a shallow karst aquifer in the Bowling Green-Warren County area of Kentucky, represented samples from sites receiving conduit and diffuse flow. All sites were severely contaminated with bacteria, and on some occasions the surface water criteria for some heavy metals were exceeded.

Of the total 334 bacterial colonies identified 92.1% were verified as Escherichia coli by the API20E system. Acinetobacter calcoaceticus var. anitratum accounted for 2.10% of colonies; Citrobacter freundii for 0.30% Klebsiella pneumoniae for 0.90%; Klebsiella oxytoca, 0.90%; Citrobacter amalonaticus 0.30%; Enterobacter cloacae, 1.20%; Enterobacter sakazakii 0.60% and unidentifiable isolates 1.2%. A calcoaceticus var. anitratum had morphologically distinct tiny blue colonies on Levine Eosin Methylene Blue agar (LEMB).

Fecal coliform (FC) and fecal streptococcus (FS) densities were variable and FC densities exceeded surface water criteria (SWC) on numerous occasions. Geometric means for FC colonies also exceeded SWC. The FC/FS ratios indicated both farmland and human pollution. The most frequently identified E. coli had an API profile No. 5144572 and the second most frequent had an API profile No. 5044552. The most frequently (76.92%) identified streptococcal species was Streptococcus durans. The S. durans that was most frequent (33.85%) of the Streptococcal isolates identified had an API profile No. of 5200441. All C. perfringens isolated gave a positive Reverse Camp Test. The bacterial densities at all sites followed the pattern of the respective hydrographs.

The analysis of heavy metals indicated that varying concentrations of different metals were present at the sites studied. The metal found in the highest concentration at all four sites was iron. The concentrations of iron found were virtually always (>94% of the time) in violation of surface water criteria (SWC). Copper and zinc concentration were always less than that specified by SWC while silver, cadmium and chromium had concentrations which exceeded SWC on occasions.

Disciplines

Bacteriology | Biology | Earth Sciences | Environmental Health and Protection | Environmental Sciences | Geochemistry | Geology | Hydrology | Life Sciences | Microbiology | Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Water Resource Management

Download

Share

COinS