Microbiological indicators of contamination of the water sources

Indicadores microbiológicos de contaminación de las fuentes de agua

The growth of the population on aglobal scale has increased the levels of contamination. This contamination is related to the spilt one of waterof waste of domestic and industrial origin to the water bodies. In case of the residues of domestic origin, theload pollutant is represented by high percentages of organic matter and microorganisms of fecal origin. The control of the microbiological quality of the water of consumption and of waste, needs from analysis directedto determining the presence of pathogenic microorganisms, the agents involved in the water transmission arethe bacteria, virus and protozoan, they can cause illnesses at different levels of gravity, from a simple gastroenteritis up to fatal cases of diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis or fever typhoid.

The diagnosis of these microorganisms, it needs specializing laboratories and represents several days of analysis and high costs. Asalternative to these disadvantages, the use of microbial indicators has been proposed that could identify bymeans of the use of simple, rapid and economic methods.The diagnosis and later recovery of the natural sources of water contaminated, it must do also, bearing inmind the implications that in terms of ecological and sanitary the degradation of the resource represents. Inthis sense, the perifitic microalga is constituted as good indicators of the state trophic of the ecosystems andanswers to the disturbances happened modifying his structure as for composition and plenty refers. This workdoes a review of the principal bioindicators of contamination and his meaning in the evaluation of the qualityof the water.

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67. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22490/24629448.338