Well water quality in rural Nicaragua using a low-cost bacterial test and microbial source tracking Patricia Weiss, Tiong Gim Aw, Gerald R. Urquhart, Miguel Ruiz Galeano and Joan B. Rose ABSTRACT Water-related diseases, particularly diarrhea, are major contributors to morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Monitoring water quality on a global scale is crucial to making progress in terms of population health. Traditional analytical methods are difficult to use in many regions of the world in low-resource settings that face severe water quality issues due to the inaccessibility of laboratories. This study aimed to evaluate a new low-cost method (the compartment bag test (CBT)) in rural Nicaragua. The CBT was used to quantify the presence of Escherichia coli in drinking water wells and aimed to determine the source(s) of any microbial contamination. Results indicate that the CBT is a viable method for use in remote rural regions. The overall quality of well water in Pueblo Nuevo, Nicaragua was deemed unsafe, and results led to the conclusion that animal fecal wastes may be one of the leading causes of well contamination. Elevation and depth of wells were not found to impact overall water quality. However rope-pump wells had a 64.1% reduction in contamination when compared with simple wells. Patricia Weiss School of Public Health, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA Tiong Gim Aw (corresponding author) Gerald R. Urquhart Joan B. Rose Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, 3 Natural Resources, Michigan State University, 303 Manly Miles, 1405 South Harrison Road, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA E-mail: tgaw@msu.edu Gerald R. Urquhart Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, 919 E. Shaw Lane, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA Miguel Ruiz Galeano Foundation for the Development of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (FADCANIC), Pueblo Nuevo, South Caribbean Autonomous Region, Nicaragua Key words | developing countries, E. coli, low-cost bacterial test, public health, well water quality INTRODUCTION Access to safe drinking water is critical in reducing the inci- dence of waterborne diseases. In total, 783 million people still lack access to improved drinking water sources. About 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation and some 1.1 billion people practise open defecation (UNICEF & World Health Organization ). The majority of these people live in rural areas of developing countries. Even with improved access, which is often wells, water quality testing is not routinely performed. Thus, the water safety of these rural water supplies remains questionable (UNICEF & World Health Organization ). Nicaragua is one of many countries in Central America that face issues of water shortages and water-related dis- eases. In the late 1990s there was an upsurge of cases of cholera seen in Latin America, impacting Nicaragua the most. Cases increased from 17,760 to 57,106 due to wide- spread fecal pollution of drinking water sources (WHO ). In rural areas in Nicaragua, only 37% of people have improved sanitation, and only 68% of people have access to safe drinking water (Water for People n.d.). Cases of morbidity and mortality in Pueblo Nuevo, Nicaragua during 2012 were documented, reviewed and compiled by Dr Alejandro Picado, who is the community physician at the free health clinic funded by Nicaragua’s Ministry of Health (MINSA) serving the Pueblo Nuevo com- munity and surrounding area. Dr Picado reported 18,061 total cases of illness, of which 5,675 individuals had water- related diarrhea, and 2,850 individuals were infected with parasites (Dr A. Picado, personal communication, 3 March 2013). 199 © IWA Publishing 2016 Journal of Water and Health | 14.2 | 2016 doi: 10.2166/wh.2015.075 Downloaded from http://iwaponline.com/jwh/article-pdf/14/2/199/394773/jwh0140199.pdf by guest on 13 October 2021