School Toilet Water is Cleaner than Fountains

Given that water quality is often a topic discussed on ETS I thought this article was somewhat interesting for those of us that have children in school. Although I suspect that the same could hold true for any public water fountain.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,280474,00.html

I guess the dog was right all along.

Good one!!!

Hmmmm. I wonder what types of bacteria were found in the fountain sample(s).....and whether they contained a minute amount of harmful bacteria or a large amount of harmless bacteria.

....maybe the toilet water didn;t show any bacteria because they had just been cleaned. As the article said, the terlets are cleansed with chemicals.

I'm just thinking here........

Maybe one more sample-set was needed to help validate the comparison. That being a swab or two from the inside of a student volunteer's mouth. (preferrably a student who had not drunk water from either of the other sample sources).

2 images come to mind. One is when you see people drinking from water fountains and they put their mouths right over the spout so that that all the backflow washes right over the spout. And Two is when you see kids put their mouths directly on the water nozzle, and of course, you also have the backflow issue. Probably not a big deal as far as catching anything is concerned but its enough to make me stop using water fountains.

Be interesting to see results of tests of the bottled water. We assume its germ-free because its in a bottle, but with all the food products being recalled, that may not be a safe assumption.

A number of years ago our lab was asked by our Safety Department to check water samples from various water fountains for bacterial contamination and chlorine levels. We found many to be contaminated with a wide variety of bacteria. Upon examining the possible cause for the contamination we noted that water fountains that were not used on a regular basis (at least several times per day) had a significant degree of contamination and those with pre-filters (activated carbon within a fiberglass spun filter) had the highest level of bacterial contamination.

We attributed the findings to two observations:

Water fountains (at least ours) all have reservoir where the cooled water is stored and those water fountains with little use had, over time, become contaminated by backwash and since they were not being flushed regularly by use, the chlorine levels were zero and not being replaced by freshly chlorinated water. By having occupants flush these fountains daily, the bacterial contamination went to zero.

With the water fountains that had pre-filters installed, despite their regular use, the activated charcoal was removing the chlorine and once again, backwash was causing the contamination. The pre-filters were removed and bacterial contamination went to zero.

Pete

Still, though, I'm curious as to the *type* of bacteria the student found. Our hands and mouths are bacteria-ridden, but they're usually bacteria that our bodies deal with daily. I wonder how much and what types of bacteria we'd find if we tested a freshly made sandwhich (whole wheat bread, of course).

As far as bottled water goes, I'd like to see that tested too (again, for bacteria TYPE) and thought of mentioning it the first time around.

Is there not bacteria in our bloodstream? And.......is all bacteria bad for our health? (I really don;t know the answer to these)

From what I can read in the article, it sounds like it's less a "water" issue than a "surface cleanliness" issue. I mean, the same water is coming out of both. To me, the question this little science project addresses is whether the spigot or the toilet bowl rim has more bacteria on their surfaces. I wouldn't be surprised if the actual water shooting out of the water fountain and into their mouths has very few bacteria in it from the spigot.

Stretch raises a good point about what kind of bacteria is involved. We don't know, from the article. Another unkown that I just mentioned is the number of bacteria in the actual water. We're exposed to bugs that can make us sick every day, but usually in such low numbers that our body's natural defenses (like stomach acid) handily keeps most of them at bay.

Pete mentioned some very interesting results, including the results of some interventions. However, the school may not have these electrically powered, cooling water fountains with holding tanks. Maybe they're just the kinds that are hooked directly into the water system. Ahhh, all those fond memories of gulping down a bellyful of water at recess...

Pete

I would suggest analyzing for other stuff in those little-used fountains. Harmful contamination is not restricted to bacteria, it can be anything from heavy (toxic) metals to harmful polymers (depending on the kind of plumbing).

All of the water fountains and faucets in lunch areas (most labs have RO or distilled water)are checked yearly for various non-biological agents such as heavy metals, pesticides, etc. by Safety, who sends out the samples to an independent testing laboratory. In fact, several areas (many of the buildings at Ft. Detrick are from the 30s, 40s and 50s), including ours had water fountains and/or faucets with various agents that exceeded recommended levels for potable water. In those areas, either bottled water or re-piping have been the solution.

As to types of bacteria found, most water testing for bacteria involves two numbers:

Total Colony Counts (TCC), where each colony represents a single bacteria at time point 0, which may include various Gram-positive organisms (like Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Bacillus spp., etc.) and various Gram negative organisms (which includes non-glucose fermenting organisms like Pseudomonas aruginosa and glucose fermenters like E. coli). The TCC is likely what the student performed.

The other testing if for Fecal Coliforms Counts (FCC) (Gram-negative organisms like E. coli) and represent bacteria that may have come from ground water contamination by fecal mater. This number is the more important of the two, as it represents bacteria that may cause serious disease, such as Salmonella spp.. Ideally, all water sample should have a “0” fecal coliform count.

In some cases, such as ours where we test all of the water used in the animal facilities for bacteria, we include all Gram-negative organisms in the second count even though they are not true coliform organisms.

Pete

Pete I have a suggestion

In the morning , run the water for a few minutes before filling your coffee maker. I wont ask you to just waste the water, but to find something to do with it other than drinking it, like watering plants or washing or whatever.

...good advice.