Abstract
This study was aimed at assessing the bacteriological and physio-chemical qualities of the ground well water which is the only available drinking water to residents of Ofougbene community of Burutu Local Government Area, in order to check it's fitness for drinking and evaluate the awareness of the people about dangers of drinking untreated water. Seven water samples coded Station1-Station 7 were obtained from seven different ground wells in the study area. Bacteriological assessment was done by Most Probable Number (MPN) technique while physical, chemical and organic analyses of the water samples were carried out by known standard methods. Bacterial organisms isolated were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter aerogenes and Staphylococcus epidermidis. All ground water samples contained total aerobic bacterial load ranging from 1.8 x 103 to 7.0 x 103 CFU/ml. The mean ± standard deviation values of pH, electrical conductivity, color, turbidity, Total Dissolved Solids, Suspended Solids, alkalinity, chloride, hardness, phosphates, nitrates, sulphates, calcium, magnesium, Dissolved Oxygen and Biological Oxygen Demand were: 5.8±16.43, 51.4±27.0uS/cm, 22.4±12.32mg/l, 11.8±5.14mg/l, 28.4±15.10mg/l, 3.8±3.80mg/l, 15.4±12.49mg/l, 21.12±0.02mg/l, 53.3±32.72mg/l, 0.20±0.04mg/l, 2.77±0.27mg/l, 9.28±3.60mg/l, 11.9±12.10mg/l, 1.7±0.51mg/l, 5.9±0.58mg/l and 3.04±0.51mg/l respectively for all the water samples assessed. Whereas water quality status for all samples was unsatisfactory, water quality concern was high. Compared to reference values provided by Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and presence of pathogens, we conclude that the ground water used by the people of the community is unfit for human consumption. This is for the immediate attention of the Public Health Authorities of both the LGA concerned and the Delta State Government.
Highlights
Water pollution is one of the most pervasive problems afflicting people throughout the world
Escherichia coli occurred in water samples collected from all the seven sites, followed by Enterobacter aerogenes which occurred in 6 (85.7%) sites, Staphylococcus epidermidis featured in 4 (57.0%) sites while Klebsiella pneumoniae occurred in 3 (42.8%) sites
In the order of level of contamination of ground water sampled from the sites, stations 4, 1, 6, 2, 5, 3 and 7 were so contaminated suggesting that the most and least contaminated drinking water sources in the community under study were groundwater collected from stations 4 and 7 respectively
Summary
Water pollution is one of the most pervasive problems afflicting people throughout the world. Waterborne illnesses and multiple epidemics are connected to the consumption of contaminated or inadequately treated water. Mainly health care centers, hospitals, clinics and laboratories pose higher risk of water contamination since these are more likely to be the sources of viral and bacterial pathogens [6, 7]. Numerous researches have been conducted to address the detection and origin of pathogens in both drinking water and wastewater [8], September et al [9] reported that insufficient studies have been done explicitly about tracing the occurrence of pathogens in water sources near healthcare facilities [10,11]
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