Bacterial Examination of Wells of the Maâmora Tablecloth: A community based survey in Kenitra, Morocco

Abstract—Pollution of water resources is a global problem. Unfortunately, groundwater is more sensitive to contamination by industrial waste, agriculture, household waste and wastewater that lead to physicochemical (pesticides, heavy metals, nitrates) and biological (viruses, bacteria, parasites) pollution. Bacterial contaminations of water are responsible for the emergence of many serious epidemic diseases (Cholera, Typhoid, Tuberculosis etc). The purpose of this study is to find out the impact of farms intensification and untreated sewage discharges on the microbiological quality of Maâmora water wells. Initially, bacteriological analysis done to identify not only pathogenic faecal germs but also indicator germs which have the same origin and which indicate that the water has been in contact with feces. In a second step, these identified germs were counted. Germs included in this study were Escherichia coli and Streptococci. Analysis were done about total & faecal coliforms and faecal Streptococci from the raw water of 16 boreholes on the Maamora aquifer, Kenitra. Microbiological analysis of the waters of these studied boreholes were compared with WHO standards of potability i.e. Zero bacteria/100mL for Faecal Coliforms, Total Coliforms and Faecal Streptococci. This study reveal that there was more (33% to 42%) contamination in studied wells with total germs who attained 1 to 13 bacteria/1mL. These results calls for an improvement of the control water quality of the Maâmora and develop vigilance tools for decision-makers to managers.