The Microbiological Quality of Sabil (Free) Drinking Water in Makkah Al-Mukarramah during Ramadan 2007

Eighty six samples of Sabil water were collected during 19-29 of Ramadan 1428A.H. (1-10 October 2007) and examined using standard methods of analyses for drinking water, which include viable counts for total viable bacterial count (TVB), coliform bacteria count and presence of E.coli. In addition, water samples were examined for the presence of potential pathogens, and tested for their resistance to antibiotics by the disc diffusion method. Also, the occurrence of filamentous fungi together with bacteriological parameters was assessed in this study. Sabil water has a high bacterial contamination. Coliforms (39.71%), E. coli (13.24%) and other pathogenic bacteria were widely represented in the investigated Sabil water. In a first step to screen the waters for potentially pathogenic properties, 163 (47.8%) of the isolates showed α- or γ-haemolysis on human blood agar media. Among the haemolytic isolates, 45.1% were resistant to clindamycin and 52.3% to ampicillin. The most commonly isolated genera with these potentially pathogenic features were Bacillus spp., Streptococcus spp. Staphylococcus spp., Corynebacterium spp., E.coli, Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeuginosa, Aeromonas veronii, Acinetobacter spp. and Aeromonas hydrophila. While the most frequently isolated fungal species were Alternaria spp., Aspergillus spp., Cladosporium spp., Epidermophtton spp., Microsporum spp., Penicillium spp. The high bacterial contamination in Sabil water is related to human skin transmission and, probably to misuse of the water, such as using the same cups for drinking to perform the ritual washing, i.e. wodow (ablution).