ARCHIVES
VOL. 5, ISSUE 4 (2023)
Assessment of the bacteriological quality of boreholes water in Bwarak, Pankshin and it environs
Authors
Adeniji A, Toscanini M M, Bakrim B A
Abstract
The purpose of this study
is to investigate the bacteriological quality and public health Contamination
of drinking water is an issue of serious environmental and health concern. This
work investigated the bacteriological quality of boreholes drinking water in
Pankshin Local Government Area, Plateau State. The study area comprised four
sampling zones that cut across ten sampling points in dry and wet seasons. Microbiological
analysis of water samples followed standard procedures of cultural
characterization, microscopic observation, total viable bacterial and coliform
counts. Biochemical identification of isolates involved gram staining, oxidase,
citrate, urease, catalase, coagulase and hydrogen sulphide tests. Data analysis
was done on the SPSS software (version 27) using descriptive and inferential
statistics (at 5% level of significance). Seven (7) distinct species of
bacteria were found in all water samples: Salmonella spp, Pseudomonas
aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Enterobacter
spp, Escherichia coli and Proteus mirabilis were identified. In
dry season, three species (K. pneumonia P. aeruginosa and Enterobacter
spp) had the highest percentage occurrence of 20% each followed by Proteus
mirabilis and Staphylococcus aureus (13.3% each) where total viable
bacterial count ranged from 0.5 x102 cfu/ml to 1.8 x104
while coliform count was <50 cfu/ml. Wet season analysis revealed the
presence of K. pneumonia as the most dominant (52.5%) contaminant found
in water samples followed by P. aeruginosa (22.5%) and Salmonella spp
(20%). Total viable count significantly (P<0.05) varied from 3.04±0.68 x 103
cfu/ml to 7.25±0.63 x103 cfu/ml whereas the mean coliform count was
4.39±0.49 x103 cfu/ml with insignificant differences among locations
(P>0.05). Total S. aureus count had the highest overall mean value (1.99±1.05
x103 cfu/ml) while total K. pneumonia count had the lowest
mean value (0.41±0.40 x103 cfu/ml). In conclusion, study revealed
that borehole water of Bwarak, Pankshin and its environs is vulnerable to
bacteriological pollution. Hence, proper bore-hole location and construction,
control of human activities to prevent sewage from entering bore-hole
environment is the keys to the avoiding bacterial contamination of drinking
water.
Download
Pages:20-28
How to cite this article:
Adeniji A, Toscanini M M, Bakrim B A "Assessment of the bacteriological quality of boreholes water in Bwarak, Pankshin and it environs". International Journal of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Vol 5, Issue 4, 2023, Pages 20-28
Download Author Certificate
Please enter the email address corresponding to this article submission to download your certificate.