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FECAL COLIFORM
Our next test we performed was determining the amount of fecal coliform bacteria present in the water. Fecal coliform bacteria, also known as e coli, is a pathogen that is present in feces and surprisingly, the human intestine. Fecal coliform bacteria is not harmful or pathogenic in small colonies. They are able to aid the digestion process of food. However, they are a danger when present in large amounts. Higher amounts, such as colonies greater than 200 in 1 mL of water, are dangerous for swimmers in the water because they pose a larger risk at swallowing disease causing organisms and other pathogens entering the body. Many extreme diseases, such as typhoid fever, hepatitis, and ear infections, can be contracted in water with high amounts of e coli present. As a result, monitoring the amount of e coli present in water is very important for protecting humans and also other organisms that could be endangered from the pathogen.
E coli occurs naturally in small amounts in the majority of living animals and humans. They are present in the intestine in safe amounts and are also located in water naturally. They are found in feces of humans and warm-blooded animals. Therefore, they have a large presence in the world.
Humans are able to impact the amount of fecal coliform bacteria present in a body of water in a variety of ways. Since feces is a big source of e coli, whenever humans to not properly dispose of waste causes the amount of e coli in water to increase. Waste can enter the water through runoff of animal waste from agricultural lands or from being dumped by humans who do not know where else to dispose of it. This leads to a huge increase in the amount of e coli in the body of water which creates a dangerous habitat and water from animals or humans near it. An increase in the amount of e coli causes a greater chance for disease. As a result, humans are somewhat impacting and putting themselves at danger when they decided to wrongly dispose of waste.
We got extremely high amounts of e coli present in our water probably because animal waste entered the river and added to the amount of e coli already present. Since there is no large source of human waste or humans dumping waste nearby the area we tested due to the fact that it is in a savannah, it is most likely that animal waste got into the river by accident. This could come from animals in the savannah or from local dogs that are present with their owners on the trails near the river.
In our area of the Chicago River, we acquired the results of 145 cfu/mL of e coli present in the water. Cfu is the measure of viable bacteria present in viable cells. This result gave us a Q value of 8. This is a very dangerous value. This Q value means that our water quality is extremely poor. There is a threatening high amount of e coli strains present in the water that pose a threat to many animals and organisms nearby. This is not a viable source of water for humans to use.
To test the amount of e coli present in the water, we used a bacteria testing kit. We obtained a small sample of the water and put it in a dish. We added a certain solution given to us, mixed it together, and then waited. We counted the amount of colonies present and used that for our amount of fecal coliform bacteria present.
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