Survival of Some Pathogenic and Facultative Pathogenic Bacteria in Groundwater

Abstract

In model experiments carried out in the laboratory the survival of bacteria in groundwater kept at 10±l °C was tested. Only two of the tested bacteria species did not survive longer than 10 - 30 days. Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other pathogenic or facultative pathogenic bacteria survived up to 100 days or even more in ground-water with or without the addition of sand from an aquifer. These results can be of importance for determining groundwater protection zones.