Because of the shortage of drinking water in some parts of Morocco, people are resorting to the consumption of natural waters. In the majority of cases, those waters pose potential health risks, because few studies focus on their quality. In this regard, our study consists to evaluate physicochemical and bacteriological quality of both types of natural waters used for food by people. A well's water in the region of Ain Chgague, and source's water of Sid Bettare, both located near the Fez city. According to standardized norms, we evaluated the physico-chemical and bacteriological quality of those waters. The physico-chemical quality of those waters is studied by measuring temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, ammonium and total phosphorus. As for the bacteriological quality, is evaluated by counting the revivable germs at 37 °C, total coliforms, fecal coliforms, intestinal enterococci, and sulfite-reducing anaerobes. The results obtained show a difference of parameter values analyzed in water to another. For the physicochemical study, all parameters are conforming to standards. While, the majority of bacteriological parameters studied, far exceed the drinking water quality standards. Indicating a microbial pollution, that represents an alarming health risk for consumers of these waters.

A rapid protocol of detection of the bacteria in water directly by PCR has been realized without having resort to the preparation of the total DNA. The results showed that (i) the direct detection of the bacteria by PCR is possible under the condition to concentrate the sample of water by filtration and centrifugation; (ii) the sensitivity of the protocol of detection established is function of the number of bacteria in the sample; (iii) and it increases with the volume filtered of the sample. This protocol of detection by PCR has been used for the study of three different natural waters (source water, well water, river water), for searching the presence of E. coli precisely, and the bacteria in general, using primers amplifying the uidA gene, and those amplifying the 16S rDNA, respectively. The PCR results showed the presence of bacteria in general and E. coli species in river water and well water, while in the source water, no PCR amplification was obtained indicating that this water is E. coli free, or contaminated with a lower concentration than the detection threshold. The three samples will allow characterizing further the degree of contamination of each water. According to this work we proved also that the PT-2/PT-3 primers amplifying a fragment of the uidA gene (?-D-glucuronidase) may be used to reveal the presence of E. coli in general and E. coli O157:H7, according to the annealing temperature of the PCR.