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ZSI and IIT-Madras Publish India’s First Metagenomic Profile of Municipal Drinking Water

Researchers propose metagenomic monitoring to bolster water safety under India’s One Health mission.

Overview

  • Peer-reviewed findings in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering profile whole microbial communities present in treated urban tap water.
  • Sequencing revealed diverse bacteria and traces of antibiotic-resistance genes, including adeF and ermR associated with multidrug resistance.
  • The dataset links India’s urban water metagenomes to global AMR surveillance to map resistance pathways before they reach clinical or agricultural settings.
  • The team says metagenomics can identify thousands of species and potential resistance genes in a single run to support early-warning for AMR and water-borne threats.
  • Results indicate temperature and distribution-system conditions shape treated-water microbiomes, and the approach would complement BIS-mandated chemical and culture-based testing.