Microbiological quality and uses of groundwater in the agricultural farms in the central-south area of Cordoba, Argentina

The productive systems intensification (agricultural or livestock) has caused groundwater shifts mainly due to the introduction of exogenous and contaminating microorganisms. The microbial quality of water must be considered as an essential parameter when defining the suitability of the groundwater for animals or rural human consumption, as well as for cleaning the facilities of the dairy. In this study, the objectives were: (1) to determine the microbiological quality of the groundwater in agricultural or livestock farms and, (2) to establish in the studied area the relationship between the land use and groundwater quality. The microbial analyses were performed using several indicators such as: i) aerobic mesophilic bacteria counts, ii) total and fecal coliforms count, and iii) detection of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in groundwater samples obtained from agricultural farms (EA; n = 28) or livestock/dairy farms (EG; n = 34) located in south-central area of Cordoba province, Argentina. At least one microbial indicator over the acceptable limit for human drink or for cleaning dairy farm facilities was detected in the 58 % of studied samples (n = 62). The 12 % of the EG demonstrated to have deficient water quality for animal consumption. By bivariate statistical analysis, a scarce relationship was observed between land uses and microbiological water quality indicating that bacterial contamination source is unspecific and probably due to intrinsic factors of the area.