Escherichia coli contamination of groundwater in Metro City, Lampung

Groundwater sources are widely used to supply water for drinking and other domestic purposes in Metro City, Indonesia. The presence of Escherichia coli (E. coli) is an indicator of fecal contamination in the water source. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the level of E. coli contamination in groundwater at Metro City. The analysis was conducted on 253 households in 5 sub-districts using groundwater samples from different types of wells such as boreholes, protected wells, and unprotected wells. The E. coli concentrations were determined using the Colilert-18 method with IDEXX Quanti-Tray 2000 and the results showed the highest levels of contamination were in unprotected wells. E. coli was detected in 71% of water sources with 36% classified as very high risk or above 100 MPN (Most Probable Number)/100ml based on WHO standards. The findings, showed that the protection of water sources has the ability to reduce the risk of contamination.