Source-to-Tap Assessment of Microbiological Water Quality in Small Rural Drinking Water Systems in Puerto Rico Six Months After Hurricane Maria.

Maria made a landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017 as a category 4 hurricane, causing severe flooding, widespread electricity outages, damage to infrastructure, and interruptions in water and wastewater treatment. Small rural community water systems face unique challenges in providing drinking water, which intensify after natural disasters. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the functionality of six very small rural public water systems and one large regulated system in Puerto Rico six months after Maria and survey a broad sweep of fecal, zoonotic, and opportunistic pathogens from the source to tap.

Detection of Shiga toxin-encoding genes in small community water supplies.

Shiga toxin (Stx), one of the most potent bacterial toxins known, can cause bloody diarrhea, hemolytic uremic syndrome, kidney failure and death. The aim of this pilot was to investigate the occurrence of Shiga toxin-encoding genes, stx (stx1 and stx2) from total coliform (TC) and E. coli positive samples from small community water systems.

Demonstrating an Integrated Antibiotic Resistance Gene Surveillance Approach in Puerto Rican Watersheds Post-Hurricane Maria.

Comprehensive surveillance approaches are needed to assess sources, clinical relevance, and mobility of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in watersheds. Here, we examined metrics derived from shotgun metagenomic sequencing and relationship to human fecal markers (HFMs; crAssphage, enterococci) and anthropogenic antibiotic resistance markers (AARMs; I1, 1) in three distinct Puerto Rican watersheds as a function of adjacent land use and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) input 6 months after Hurricane Maria, a category V storm. Relative abundance and diversity of total ARGs increased markedly downstream of WWTP inputs, with ARGs unique to WWTP and WWTP-impacted river samples predominantly belonging to the aminoglycoside and β-lactam resistance classes.

Cryptosporidium in small water systems in Puerto Rico: a pilot study.

A pilot study was undertaken to investigate the occurrence of Cryptosporidium in four very small drinking water systems supplying communities in rural Puerto Rico. Water samples (40 L) were collected and oocysts were concentrated by calcium carbonate flocculation, recovered by immunomagnetic separation and detected by immunofluorescence microscopy. Cryptosporidium oocysts were identified in all four systems.

Impact on diarrhoeal illness of a community educational intervention to improve drinking water quality in rural communities in Puerto Rico.

Background: Waterborne disease is a major risk for small water supplies in rural settings. This study was done to assess the impact of an educational intervention designed to improve water quality and estimate the contribution of water to the incidence of diarrhoeal disease in poor rural communities in Puerto Rico a two-part study was undertaken.

Methods: An educational intervention was delivered to communities relying on community water supplies.

Spatial variability associated with shifting land use: water quality and sediment metals in La Parguera, Southwest Puerto Rico.

Development in southwest Puerto Rico, as in many areas of the Caribbean, is outpacing the ability of upland flora, salt flats, and mangroves to capture sediments and intercept and transform nutrients. A comparative study to examine the effects of development on near-shore water quality in La Parguera, Puerto Rico, was initiated in 1998. Total suspended solids were significantly higher in the vicinity of developing areas compared to reference areas.