To assess citizen’s concern of drinking water quality, a group of citizen scientists were recruited to participate in survey on their drinking water quality concerns and collection of drinking water from self-determined sources. Survey from 40 participants indicated that their drinking water sources at work place include fountain water (39%), water bottle refilling stations (30%), water from personal water bottle (17%), and bottled water (14%), while their drinking water sources at home differ significantly, including tap water without filtering (32%), filtered tap water (31%), bottled water (19%) and boiled tap water (19%). The participants were invited to collect drinking water samples from the sources of choice, and the samples were analyzed for microbiological quality based on total coliform and fecal coliform. Most of the drinking water samples collected directly from water taps or fountains contain no fecal coliform or total coliform, while water samples from water cups or personal water bottles showed significantly higher probability of being for fecal coliform and total coliform. Microbial community analyses by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing are being conducted for the water samples to further assess their potential health risk and to identify contamination causes.

Drinking water and citizen science: Between perceived concerns and actual microbiological quality

2019 Fall National Meeting

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