Abstract
This study was carried out to determine the coliform contamination of public boreholes and pipe borne water supplies within Bosso town. Twenty (20) water samples comprising of 10 each of borehole and pipe borne samples were aseptically collected from Bosso Town and analyzed using membrane filtration technique. The results obtained revealed that most (60.0%) of the water samples from the borehole sources except the samples from Rafin-Yashi, Maikunkele, Federal University of Technology (F.U.T) Minna, Tudun Fulani, contained coliform counts within 10cfu/100ml while all (100.0%) of the pipe borne water samples had coliform counts above 10cfu/100ml. The organisms isolated included species of Escherichia, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Shigella, Clostridium, Bacillus, Yersinia and Serratia. E.coli had the highest frequency of occurrence (20%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (11.7%), Salmonella spp (11.7%), Shigella spp (11.7%), Clostridium spp (8.3), Streptococcus faecalis (8.3%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (6.7%), Bacillus subtilis (6.7%), Streptococcus pyrogenes (5%), Klebsiella spp (3.3%), Proteus vulgaris (3.3%), Yersinia spp (1.7%) and Serratia spp (1.7%). This study revealed that pipe borne water and borehole water samples were contaminated in Bosso, with greater contamination observed with pipe borne water. This highlights the need for continuous assessment of the quality of public water supply and intervention measures to prevent outbreak of water-borne diseases in the area.Keywords: Water; Boreholes; Pipe borne; Coliforms; Water-borne disease
Highlights
Water is the most valuable and basic natural resources and all lives, especially humans, depend on 70% water to survive
Result The result obtained showed that faecal coliform count from the boreholes ranged from 0 .0 to 7.0 cfu/100 ml while faecal coliform count from the taps ranged from 8.0 to 100.0 cfu/100 ml.The result showed that total coliform count from the boreholes ranged from 7.0 to 56.0 cfu/100ml while total coliform count from the taps ranged from 70.0 to 228.0 cfu/100 ml (Fig 1).The total coliform counts (TCC) were on the average six times higher than the faecal coliform counts (FCC)
Farming and construction activities lead to leaching around the borehole sites as well as destruction of the pipelines, and this in turn could lead to penetration of various coliforms into these sources of water supply. This result agrees with the findings of Bala (2006),Mashi (2013) who reported that damage on the pipelines in the environment where they are laid give way for contamination of tap water by sewage which seep into the broken pipes, thereby contaminating the water and leading to the cause and spread of waterborne infections, such as typhoid fever, amoebic dysentery, bacillary dysentery, cholera, poliomyelitis and hepatitis as reported by Geldreich (2005), Okoko and Idise (2014)
Summary
Study Areas: The study areas were Bosso Central, Bosso Low-cost, Bosso Estate, Okada Road, Elwaziri, Anguwan Tukura, Tudun Fulani, Rafin Yanshi, Federal University of Technology (FUT) Bosso Campus and Maikunkele all in Bosso Local Government Area of Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. The filter papers for each sample were aseptically transferred onto two Petri dishes containing absorbent pads soaked previously in membrane lauryl sulphate broth using sterile forceps. These steps were repeated for each sample. The resultant pure isolates were subcultured into already prepared slant bottles for the purpose of identification and characterization. This was done using cultural characteristics and appropriate biochemical tests such as Coagulase, Catalase, Urease, Indole, Sugar fermentation, Citrate utilization, Mannitol salt and Starch hydrolysis
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