ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF COLIFORM BACTERIA FROM DRINKING WATER OF QUETTA BALOCHISTAN

Abstract

Quetta is the capital of Balochistan and has approximately 2.8 million populations. Clean water is a basic need but unfortunately, water is one of the major problems in Quetta. This study was conducted to examine the water quality of target areas. A total of 240 samples were collected randomly from each zone (north, south, east, and west) of Quetta, during the periods of September (2022) to September (2023). Out of the total samples, 68.3% were coliform positive, 31.3% negative. Among coliform positive north zone was 18.3 %, the south zone was 15.8 %, the east zone was 14.12 % and the west zone was 19.96 %, contaminated with coliform bacteria (P= 0.13). Each zone was further divided into parts such as schools, hotels, and homes.  The result revealed that schools, hotels and homes drinking water contains coliform bacteria with different percentages i.e. 17.49 % in schools, 24.16 % in hotels, and 26.65 % in homes. The total positive samples contain E. coli at 29.14%, Klebsiella at 21.21%, Citrobacter at 11.21%, and Enterobacter at 6.61 % in drinking water of Quetta. Isolated genera of coliform bacteria were grown on the selective media and confirmed through different biochemical tests (IMVIC and different sugar fermentation tests). Under the electron microscope, E. coli is 1.61 µm, Klebsiella 12.9 nm, Citrobacter 3.0 µm, and Enterobacter 0.4 µm in size.