An association between Legionella contamination of river water used as tap water sources and outbreaks of
Legionnaires’ disease in the surrounding area has been reported in the United States; however, the status of
Legionella contamination of river water in Japan is unknown. While there is an association between Legionella and
amoebae in bathtub water and cooling tower water, the association is not clear in the river waters. In this study, we
investigated the association between legionellae and amoebae and their habitats in river water used as a tap water
sources. Although Legionella was not detected by the culture method, the qPCR and amoeba co-culture-qPCR
methods revealed that difficult-to-culture Legionella different from L. pneumophila inhabited in the river waters. It
was also suggested that amoebae inhabiting the river waters provide suitable sites for the growth of Legionella and
increase the bacterial number of Legionella .