AWWA WQTC58903

The objective of this study was to develop the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique to genotype Escherichia coli. The method gave results in accordance with ribotyping and PFGE for nineteen strains and appeared to be more discriminative than ribotyping and less than PFGE. The Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique was used to genotype Escherichia coli strains isolated after a storm event and to provide information on the origin of the bacterial contamination of the water intake of a water treatment plant which produces drinking water from river water among several waste water outlets located upstream. A total of 650 strains were characterized using the RAPD technique. The E. coli population of the water intake appeared to be very heterogeneous and only one third of this population could be retrieved from the four outlets. The remaining population probably originated from some other effluents or from re-suspension of sediments during rain events. The RAPD typing method applied in this study appeared rapid, robust and sensitive and proved to be well suited for the characterization of large bacterial environmental populations. Includes 28 references, tables, figure.