Microbial Quantitative Risk Assessment in Springs as Community Drinking Water Sources in the Banggai Islands Karst Area, Central Sulawesi

Abstract

The Banggai Karst Area of the Islands of Central Sulawesi Province is dominated by the appearance of the Karst Ecosystem, which covers 97% of the total area, so it is very vulnerable to pathogenic bacterial contamination. This type of research is an observational study with a Cross-Sectional design with an Environmental Health Risk Assessment (EHRA) approach method to assess or forecast the amount of human health risk caused by exposure to environmental hazards. Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) determines or predicts the human health risk caused by exposure to environmental hazards from pathogenic bacterial contamination. In this study, we collected 230 human samples and four samples of springs as a source of community drinking water, namely Paisu Lalomo Spring in South Buko District, Paisu Taabak in Liang District, Paisu Olulan in North Bulagi District and Paisu Sinangkal North Tinangkung District. The examination results on four springs as a source of community drinking water contained one sample with the highest probability of infection (Pinf) of 3.92 x10-4, namely Coliform bacteria in Paisu Lalomo springs. Furthermore, the annual chance of infection (Pinf / year), the highest pathogenic bacteria, was also found in Paisu Lalomo spring samples, namely in coliform bacteria with the same value (Pinf / year) = 1.32×10-1. However, examination of other bacteria also showed that all positive springs contained coliform bacteria and Enterococcus exceeding the specified limit (1x10-4). Risk management is needed to control risk factors that can cause health problems due to consuming and utilizing springs as a source of drinking water.