Abstract
Water is an excellent source of essential nutrients which plays a significant role not only in the digestion and absorption of food but also in the elimination of waste products through urine. Most of the aquatic systems are inhabited by fungi and bacteria as their natural environments. A wide variety of bacterial species maintains, develops and exchanges genetic elements that represent a risk to human and ecological health. The presence of different types of bacteria in drinking water indicates contamination and associated health risk. Herein, a total of 11 water samples were collected in the sterile containers from different drinking stations of an educational institution of Mullana; followed by physicochemical and bacteriological analyses using standard methods. Water samples were cultured on selective agar media. Serial dilutions were performed and CFUs were calculated by the spread plate count method. Molecular identification and characterization of the bacterial isolates was performed using MALDI-TOF MS while the antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed for all the positive cultures using Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion assay and VITEK system. The results showed that Acinetobacter junii and Enterobacter cloacae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa were most prevalently detected pathogenic bacteria in the drinking water samples with high CFU ml(-1) counts. The primary purpose of this study was to make people aware about the existence of bacterial load in drinking water. The present investigation indicates the dominance of Acinetobacter species in the samples of drinking water examined under the conditions employed.