PhD Candidate, Alyssa Grube, and professors Dr. Jill Stewart and Dr. Valeria Ochoa-Herrera (USFQ) published an article in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health this week. Their results show that the municipal water treatment plants on San Cristóbal Island generally produce high quality drinking water. However, the detection of Escherichia coli in 2–30% of post-treatment distribution samples suggests that water may become contaminated during water distribution and storage.
These results will help public health officials better understand how to intervene to ensure clean drinking water on the Galapagos, constituting an important step for the UN Sustainable Development Goals.