No viruses were detected in the drinking water wells prior
to chlorination. According to the physicochemical parameters:
pH; temperature; dissolved oxygen concentration;
and conductivity; there were no differences in prevailing
conditions for each sampling station. This demonstrated
that there was no seasonal difference in the conditions
pertaining to these sources of drinking water.
Indicator bacteria were detected in the pre-chlorinated
drinking water samples. Results of TC, FC, and FE presence
(Table 2) show that FE were most frequently isolated
and most abundant, with five positive samples in 2001
and 13 positive samples in 2002. In terms of FE abundance,
deviance analysis showed no significant difference
between years, between seasons or between seasons
within each year. Similarly, no significant relationship
was found between the abundance of FE and any of the
environmental variables (pH, temperature, conductivity
and dissolved oxygen concentration). There were signifi-