A Survey of Physicochemical andBacteriological Quality of Pipe-Borne Water Used for Drinking in Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Pipe borne water samples used for drinking in Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo were analysed bacteriologically and physicochemically using standard methods. Four water samples were subjected to physicochemical analyses like PH, temperature, color, turbidity total hardness, dissolve solids, salinity, conductivity total solid, nitrate, sulphate, calcium, and sodium. These properties of the water samples were within the WHO/FAO standard for water except dissolve solids, nitrate chloride and conductivity. The bacteriological analysis was carried out to detect the total mesophillic, coliform count and subsequently, organisms present in the water samples. The total mesophillic count ranged between 2.6x104 to 3.3x104cfu/ml while the total coliform count ranged between 1.1x103 to 1.6x103cfu/ml. Both values were higher than the month standard limit for drinking water. The identified organisms include;Staphylococcus aureus, Citrobacter, sp, Proteus sp, E.coli, Bacillus sp, Pseudomonas sp, Enterobacter sp, klebsiella sp, Acinetobacter sp, Streptococcus sp and Serratia sp. 70% of the isolates were gram negative and most belonged to the family Enterobacteriacea. The data suggests the need for treatment of the water samples by the school authority and by simple boiling by the consumers.