Understanding the Microbiological Quality of Drinking Water at the Point of Consumption with Citizen Science

Microbiologicalquality monitoring at the point of consumptionby consumers can improve the understanding of the health risk of drinkingwater. Water quality monitoring at the pointof consumptionby consumerscan improve the understanding of the microbial risk of drinking water.In this study, drinking water samples were collected by citizen scienceparticipants according to their normal drinking sources and behaviors.Among six different sample types, tap water received the most attentionper sampling frequency (39%) and weighted importance score, followedby drinking fountain (38%) and personal container (21%). Enumerationof Escherichia coli and the total coliformas indicator organisms showed consistent and good quality in watersamples from tap water and drinking fountains but significantly higherdetection frequencies (90 and 90%, respectively) and median concentrations(14 and 252 CFU/100 mL, respectively) in water samples from personalcontainers. Microbial community analysis based on 16S rRNA gene ampliconsequencing showed that the microbial communities in water samplesfrom personal containers were less diverse than microbial communitiesin the other water types, the latter of which showed high similarityin the microbial composition and & alpha; and & beta; diversity. Severalgenera that include species of opportunistic pathogens were detectedacross samples from drinking water sources, while higher total relativeabundances of these genera were detected in water samples from personalcontainers than others.