Abstract
Bacteriological analysis of a Recreational Park Pond in Port Harcourt was investigated to evaluate the water quality of the pond for recreational purposes. Samples collected from the pond were evaluated for physiochemical and bacteriological study. pH showed a slight alkaline range of 6.66 − 6.94 in sample A and D with a temperature range of 28.6 − 29oC. Samples evaluated for turbidity and salinity showed values of 0.309 − 0.784 NTU and 0.10ppt to 0.32ppt respectively. Similar bacteriological load ranging from 6.9 × 105cfu/ml − 2.1 × 106cfu/ml was observed, with coliform counts ranging from 3.4 × 105 − 1.3×106cfu/ml. Thirteen different bacterial genera were identified in total (Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Proteus spp., Citrobacter spp., Klebsiella spp, Bacillus spp., Serratia spp., Pseudomonas spp., Vibrio spp., Enterobacter spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp., and Staphylococcus spp). Escherichia coli was the most commonly occurring group (14.7%) and Staphylococcus sp the least occurring (2.9%). Varying levels of resistance was noted against the 14 antibiotics tested, with the highest resistance noted against pefloxacin (55.9%) while the lowest resistance was against erythromycin (2.9%). Majority of isolates (67.7%) however had MAR index values less than 0.21, indicative of a source related to low antibiotic use. Despite the association of potentially pathogenic bacteria with this water body, the low level of drug resistance associated with these organisms as well as the MAR index values, could point at these being environmental rather than human strains. Further molecular studies would be advised to confirm this.Keywords: Bacteriological analysis, recreational water, antibiotic resistance, pefloxacin
Highlights
A pond is referred to as a landlocked small mass of freshwater formed naturally or artificially and can be used for various purposes (Douglas and Isor, 2015)
Bacteriological monitoring of ponds is based on natural knowledge of the sanitary condition of the water supply, which is based on the detection of coliform bacteria and the specific indicator of human faecal contamination (Idakwo and Abu, 2004)
Enumeration and Isolation of Potential Bacterial Pathogens: Enumeration of total aerobic heterotrophic bacterial (THB) population was done following a tenfold serial dilution of the pond water using physiological saline up to 10-5 by plating out 0.1ml aliquot of each dilution onto duplicate set of nutrient agar using the spread plate method
Summary
A pond is referred to as a landlocked small mass of freshwater formed naturally or artificially and can be used for various purposes (Douglas and Isor, 2015). Bacteriological monitoring of ponds is based on natural knowledge of the sanitary condition of the water supply, which is based on the detection of coliform bacteria and the specific indicator of human faecal contamination (Idakwo and Abu, 2004). The use of intestinal organisms as indicators of faecal contamination is a universally acceptable process for monitoring and assessing the microbiological safety of water supply before distribution.
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