Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance genes and resistant bacteria could be found in water intended for human consumption (WIHC). In France, although the microbiological quality of WIHC is strictly monitored, antimicrobial resistance is not. The aim of this study is to test the concept of the use of the regulatory surveillance of WIHC to monitor antimicrobial resistance in a French area. Based on 2211 Petri dishes seeded for regulatory enumeration of Escherichia coli, that corresponds to sanitary surveillance of 2 French departments from January to April 2021, we characterized phenotypic and genotypic resistance of isolated E. coli strains. blaTEM, blaSHV, blaCTX-M that are the most frequent beta-lactamases-encoding genes in human infections were also researched on cultivable Gram negative-community.