Quantity, Species, and Origin of Fungi in a Groundwater-Derived Water Source

Abstract

Fungi pollution in water can lead to serious problems, such as turbidity, odor, food pollution, mycotoxin production, and increased opportunistic infections among people with an immune deficiency. Few studies have reported the fungi community composition, quantity of fungi, and origin of fungi in groundwater. To study the change of quantity and community composition of fungi in groundwater at different times of year, this study evaluated the number of fungi and dominant fungi genera in groundwater and the factors affecting fungi quantity. The results showed that 18 genera of fungi were observed in the study area’s groundwater, among which Penicillium (18–27%), Aspergillus (17–26%), Acremonium (12–28%) were the three most dominant. The numbers of dominant fungi genera were as follows: Penicillium (21–62 CFU/100 mL), Aspergillus (18–43 CFU/100 mL), and Acremonium (15–38 CFU/100 mL). The number of fungi in water closely correlates with environmental variables such as pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), turbidity, and total organic carbon (TOC). Various genera of fungi were affected differently by unique environmental variables. The fungi in the water were also affected by components of the external environment, such as rainfall, surface farming, surface water sources, and so on. This study aims to provide meaningful information for understanding fungi pollution in groundwater.