A 4-year study of the diversity and persistence of coliforms and Aeromonas in the water of a Swedish drinking water well.

Coliforms and Aeromonas, isolated over a sampling period of 4 years from a Swedish drinking water well, were analysed for their phenotypical diversity and for their ability to persist in the well water. From each of the 40 water samples collected from the well, 32 bacterial isolates were subjected to typing by the PhenePlate (PhP) biochemical fingerprinting system. Strains able to persist in the well water were further characterized using the API 20E system, gas-liquid chromatographic cellular fatty acid analysis, and the DNA fingerprinting technique AFLP. Using the PhP system, a total of 170 different phenotypes were identified among 1143 studied isolates. Most phenotypes were only represented by a few isolates and (or) were restricted to one or two sampling occasions. However, one particular phenotype (RV-C01), identified as Aeromonas hydrophila using the API 20E system and fatty acid analysis, reoccurred in 28 samples distributed over the whole study period and often dominated the bacterial population in the well water. AFLP analysis revealed that the RV-C01 isolates displayed basically identical fingerprints. Our results thus suggest that a genetically stable Aeromonas clone resided in the well water over the whole 4-year study, whereas other bacterial strains studied were only transient inhabitants of the well.