Aislamiento y caracterización de coliformes injuriados provenientes de la red de distribución de agua de bebida de La Plata, Argentina / Isolation and characterization of injured coliforms from the drinking water distribution network of La Plata, Argentina

We screened the La Plata drinking water distribution network for fecal and total coliform bacterial indicator by purification procedures, cultivating 66 membrane-filtered samples from the two networks on m-T7 agar. Subterranean and river-derived water yielded 13 and 18 confirmed gram-negative bacillus isolates, with 54 and 72 representing total coliforms, respectively. Those from the former source were Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter agglomerans, and Enterobacter aerogenes and from the latter Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter agglomerans, and Enterobacter cloacae, genomic group 3. Since 58 of the samples were positive using m-T7 medium it is suggested that the inclusion in standard quality control protocols should be implemented.