E. Coli What's in your water?
Have you ever wondered what is in your water?
Is Spring or Stream Water more Contaminated
with E. Coli?
Research• According to the USDA and the EPA,
agricultural run-off can greatly contaminate water sources• E. coli from animal dung
Springs vs. Streams• Springs are underground streams.• Springs are naturally filtered.• Streams are shallow rivers.• Streams are exposed to contaminants
Hypothesis
Stream water will have the higher E. coli levels than spring water.
Experimental Procedure- prepare the sample
1. Collect water samples in sterilized 25 mL glass jars2. Add 5 mL of sampled water to bottle of nutrients and shake for 5 seconds
Materials
For this experiment you would need.• Incubator• Petri dishes and corresponding supplies• Eye droppers• Water samples• Rubber gloves• Counting
Experimental Procedure- growing the bacteria
3. Place the sample in a Petri dish after 3 minutes the solution gels. Invert dishes5. The Petri dishes were incubated for 3 days at 23-26 C4. Colonies are counted and results are graphed 5 Repeat steps 2 through 4 for all samples
Incubation• Samples are incubated• Maintain a constant temperature of
twenty-three(23) to twenty-six(26) degrees Celsius
• All samples were isolates to a sterile surface to control cross contamination
Experimental Procedure Counting• Count E.coli in each Petri dish
-use a grid over the Petri dish and count the colonies
- to ensure accurate data repeat counts
Control Group
• Distilled water- most impurities removed
–Zero E. Coli should be present
CONTROLColiform Growth Count per 5mL sample.
Distilled Water 1 0Distilled Water 2 0Distilled Water 3 0Distilled Water 4 0Distilled Water 5 0
STREAMSColiform Growth Count per 5mL sample.
North Side Stream 55 53
Little Juniata 18 18
Sugar Run 85 84
Riggles Gap Run 42 43
Piney Creek (stream) 48 50
SPRINGSColiform Growth Count per 5mL sample.
Roaring Spring 0 0Piney Creek Spring 10 13Sparkling Spring 44 43Woodland Spring 11 10Locke Mt. Spring 13 12
Distille
d 1
Distille
d 2
Distille
d 3
Distille
d 4
Distille
d 5
Northsid
e Stre
am
Little
Juniata
Suga
r Run
Riggles
Gap Run
Piney Cree
k
Roaring S
pring
Piney Cree
k Sprin
g
Spark
ling S
pring
Woodlan
d Sprin
g
Locke
Mt. S
pring
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0 0 0 0 0
55
18
85
42
48
0
10
44
1113
Average Coliform Growth Count per 5mL sample
Sample Source
Colo
ny C
ount
Roaring Spring Piney Creek Spring Sparkling Spring Woodland Spring Locke Mt. Spring0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
10
44
1113
Average Coliform Growth Count per 5mL sample of Spring Water
Sample Source
Colo
ny C
ount
Northside Stream Little Juniata Sugar Run Riggles Gap Run Piney Creek0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
55
18
85
42
48
Average Coliform Growth Count per 5mL Sample of Stream Water
Sample Source
Colo
ny C
ount
Average Coliform Count in 5mL sample
Distilled 0
Stream 49.6
Spring 15.6
ConclusionThe data does not support my hypothesis that stream water has more E. coli than spring water. Due to the individuality of streams and springs.
Further Improvements
to test streams and their corresponding feeder springs to determine the contamination levels from the source and down-stream. the source of the contamination along the waterway.
Abstract
• Is Spring or Stream Water more Contaminatedwith E. Coli?
• Stream water will have the higher E. coli levels than spring water.
• The data supports my hypothesis that stream water has more E. coli than spring water.