Knowledge of the natural state of Switzerland’s aquifers is an essential condition for their exploitation as the most important source of drinking water in the country. In addition to the hydrogeological and chemical parameters, this knowledge necessarily also involves the communities of living species (the biocenosis), and especially the microbial communities. According to the Ordinance on water protection (OEaux) of 28.10.1998, biocenoses present in groundwater must be “naturally related and adapted to the environment”, as well as “be typical of water with little or no pollution”.
In this context, we conducted already various analysis of groundwater samples from very different sources and origins. Using statistical tools developed in the field of numerical ecology, we combined bacterial community structures with metadata sets. The first results to date shows a clear distinction between the microbial communities inhabiting the different water resources under investigations, between water catchments and springs. In both cases, a specific set of environmental parameters was typically and significantly correlated with the observed microbial structures.
At this stage, our study provides a detailed overview of the state of the bacterial communities within Swiss aquifers, but it is still too early to determine whether these communities are representative of the natural and balanced state of the system.
Research Partner :
Michael Sinreich : Federal Office for the Environment, Bern, Switzerland