University of Tehran Iranian Journal of Veterinary Medicine 2251-8894 14 3 2020 08 01 A Survey on Drinking Water Contamination to Indicator Bacteria in Dairy Farms of Mashhad Suburb بررسی آلودگی آب شرب گاوداری‎های حومه مشهد به باکتری‎های شاخص 251 259 78512 10.22059/ijvm.2020.292106.1005041 EN Aileen Niroumand DVM Graduate, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran Seyed Alireza Taghavi Razavizadeh Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran. Abdollah Jamshidi Department of food hygiene and Aquaculture, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran Jafar Attarbashi Moghadam Khorasan-Razavi Province. Iranian Veterinary Organization, Mashhad, Iran Journal Article 2019 12 20 BACKGROUND: Microbial quality of drinking water is very important in animal health. OBJECTIVES: The present survey was conducted to evaluate the microbial quality of cows' drinking water in dairy farms in Mashhad suburb, Iran, to find out defects in this field. METHODS: Water samples were taken from 30 farms and 4 sites including: Water tanks, inlet and outlet of bovine drinking troughs and calves’ water buckets in fall, 2018. The samples were put in sterile falcons, with keeping of the cold chain and immediately sent to the microbiological laboratory. Counting of fecal Streptococcus and Coliform in the specimens were performed by using pour plate and most probable number (MPN) methods, respectively.The contamination frequency of the samples to fecal Coliform and Escherichia coli were determined by using specific biochemical tests. The positive specimens in terms of E. coli were also detected for the presence of serotype O157: H7 by using PCR technique. RESULTS: According to the sampling sites, the contamination frequency with fecal Coliform and Strepto- coccus were recorded 30-100% and 20- 96.67%, respectively. The most frequency of contamination were observed in outlet of bovine drinking troughs. In 3.33% of samples, serotype O157 : H7 and in 6.67% of samples, undefined H7 serotype were diagnosed. There was no statistical significant difference in the level of bacterial contamination of drinking water due to the geographical location of farms (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:It was concluded that except for a limited number of farms, water tanks are relatively safe, while it is necessary to pay particular attention to the high contamination of outlet of bovine drinking troughs and water buckets of calves.

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