Water Microbiology

Abstract

Recent research in the area of water microbiological studies is cited in this review of the literature. Research into the use of microbial indicators of pollution included the development of multiple test kits for speciation of many waterborne aerobic and anaerobic organisms, changes in the heterotrophic bacterial density and subgroups as an indicator of qualitative changes in physicochemical characteristics of the Yodo River in Japan, the isolation of Aeromonas hydrophila from frogs and tadpoles, the potential human health hazard from toxigenic bacteria in water, the relationship between isolation of mycobacteria and classical microbiological and chemical indicators of water quality in swimming pools, bacteria in public water supplies, and the health risk of human exposure to wastewater. Microbial ecology of water was investigated in the light of solar radiation and naturally occurring microbial predators as important forces in the natural self-purification of polluted surface waters, short term exposure of E. coli to oligotrophic natural waters, the use of fecal indicators, biocumulation of copper and lead in aquatic life forms, the corrosion potential of four tropical Desulfovibrio desulfuricans isolates, microbial bioconcentration of organic pollutants from aquatic systems, and the microbial degradation of petroleum hydrocarbon. Much research was also conducted on the microbiology of river systems in coastal areas and on the microbiology of natural lakes and impoundments.