HELP IDENTIFY THE BACTERIA IN MY WATER!

[schmiddy]

Does anyone know how to identify the colonies of bacteria in this picture qualitatively?

 

 

I trapped the bacteria in a milipore filter from my home source of water and incubated them in a TSA plate. I'm trying to find out if it is anything to worry about, since water is only tested for E. coli and nothing else.

[CharonY]

Just by looking at colonies (without use of selective and/or indicator agar) it is generally not possible to reliably identify bacteria. TA is pretty much non-selective (though not super-rich, either).

Random guesses would probably include Pseudomonas and corynebacteria, as you can find them pretty much everywhere.

[iDevonian]

I work as a geologist, so I do not know much about identification of bacteria. However, there are drinking water standards provided by the EPA through state environmental agencies. Within those standards, we often test for fecal coliform within ground water. If you are truly concerned about what you may be drinking, I would contact a local environmental firm and ask them if they could get your water tested at an accredited laboratory. You can test by state wide health standards.