Total Coliform and Escherichia coli Positivity in Rural Well Water in Alberta, Canada: Spatiotemporal Analysis and Risk Factor Assessment
Date
2015-07-24
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Abstract
Water quality and waterborne outbreaks are public health issues of concern in Canada and worldwide. In Alberta, Canada, testing of rural drinking water wells is largely voluntary. The purpose of this research was to describe microbial water quality (i.e., Escherichia coli and total coliform contamination) of rural well water spatiotemporally and produce a relative risk map of the province as well as model associations between environmental risk factors and well water E. coli and total coliform contamination. Overall frequency of occurrence of total coliforms and E. coli-positive wells in the study was 14.6 and 1.5%, respectively. A relative risk map of the province identified several areas of higher relative risk in both Northern and Southern Alberta. A number of significant environmental risk factors were associated with increased E. coli and total coliform contamination, including precipitation, sand, density of large animals, and soil hydraulic conductivity.
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Environmental Sciences, Epidemiology, Public Health
Citation
Invik, J. (2015). Total Coliform and Escherichia coli Positivity in Rural Well Water in Alberta, Canada: Spatiotemporal Analysis and Risk Factor Assessment (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28466