Abstract
We mapped the double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) virus assemblage in groundwater below sub-Saharan urban poor settlements in Arusha (Tanzania), Dodowa (Ghana), and Kampala (Uganda). Our results indicated that ∼80% of dsDNA virus sequences matched the order of Caudovirales, i.e., indigenous bacteriophages; 1.8% of the dsDNA virus sequences matched those of viral pathogens that infect humans and larger animals, which we defined as so-called above-ground hosts. Within this group, the relative abundances of the genera Chordopoxvirinae, Alphaherpesvirinae, and Betairidovirinae were the highest. Culturable Escherichia coli bacteria were found even in deeper wells, indicating that all water was fecally contaminated. The community assemblages sampled in the cities were statistically significantly different from each other. Dissolved ions, population density, and sanitary status had no significant influence, but pH and latitude did. We concluded that the transport of dsDNA virus in groundwater was location specific but was not determined by input concentrations (i.e., related to population density) or related to groundwater chemistry. We hypothesize that other parameters, like the presence of macropores, cause these variations in these shallow, highly populated, heavily polluted terrestrial groundwater systems. Approximately 34% of Africa has similar hydrogeology, so this may affect many urban areas across the continent.
Highlights
In Africa, 43% of the total population, or 547 million people, live in an urban environment, and this percentage is expected to grow to 60% in 2050, resulting in 1.5 billion urban dwellers.[1]
On the basis of a GIS approach, Chavez Garcia Silva et al.[2] estimated that in 2015, ∼35% of the African urban population used groundwater obtained via self-supply, i.e., sourcing their own water supplies from where it can be found beyond the public water supply networks.[2,3]
We observed the systemic presence of viral fecal indicators human adenovirus and rotavirus and bacterial fecal indicator Escherichia coli below Dodowa, a peri-urban settlement near Accra, Ghana.[4]
Summary
In Africa, 43% of the total population, or 547 million people, live in an urban environment, and this percentage is expected to grow to 60% in 2050, resulting in 1.5 billion urban dwellers.[1] Because public utilities cannot cope with high population growth percentages, a large part of the urban population lives in areas that are not serviced. Wastewater is disposed of on site where it ends up in the groundwater. We observed the systemic presence of viral fecal indicators human adenovirus and rotavirus and bacterial fecal indicator Escherichia coli below Dodowa, a peri-urban settlement near Accra, Ghana.[4]
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