Assessment of microbiological and physico-chemical characterıstics of water samples in households of Bangalore city, Karnataka, India

Access to safe drinking water is one of the basic human rights and is essential to human health. The present study investigated the concentration of pathogenic microbial flora and health risk in drinking water samples in households of Bangalore city, Karnataka, India. The samples were analysed for microbiological and physico-chemical parameters. In this study, most probable number and heterotrophic plate count were used to assess the microbial load. The results of the study show that most of the household water samples were contaminated with the presence of coliform bacteria. The dominant bacterial species are Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Klebsiella and Enterobacter. The bacteria belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae showed maximum occurrence in water samples. The overall results of the study showed that the consumption of such contaminated drinking water at the end-user point may cause potential health hazards to the inhabitants.