Abstract
Panteka stream is a flowing stream polluted with wastes from the activities of mechanics. Water samples collected at different points of the stream were analysed in order to determine the level of heavy metal contamination and bacteria diversity with the view to elucidating the bioremediating potentials of the bacteria isolates. Four bacteria, tolerant to heavy metals, were isolated from Panteka stream. These were identified by morphological and biochemical techniques as Staphylococcus epidermidis, Serratia marcescens, Proteus mirabilis and Escherichia coli . The 16S rRNA gene sequencing and Basic Local Alignment search tool (BLAST) result confirmed E. coli and Staphylococcus spp. as heavy metal tolerant bacteria. Heavy metal tolerance analysis of the isolates exposed to nickel, zinc, lead, cadmium and iron showed that the isolates had maximum tolerance to the four heavy metal. Studies on bioremediation potential of the isolates to heavy metals in the stream revealed that mixed bacteria culture completely removed lead, nickel, zinc and cadmium. Analysis of pure isolates revealed S. epidermidis to be the most effective in removing lead (100%), nickel (100%), cadmium (90.29%), zinc (84.95%) and iron (54.82%). The results obtained from this study show that all four bacteria species isolated from Panteka stream have potential for bioremediation of heavy metals in contaminated water. Key words : Panteka stream, mechanic workshop, heavy metals, bacteria isolates, bioremediation.
Highlights
The recent expansion of human industrial activity, including mining, smelting, and synthetic compound creation, has led to an exponential increase in the amounts of heavy metals released into the atmosphere, water, and soil (McConnell and Edwards, 2008)
Heavy metal tolerance analysis of the isolates exposed to nickel, zinc, lead, cadmium and iron showed that the isolates had maximum tolerance to the four heavy metal
The results obtained from this study show that all four bacteria species isolated from Panteka stream have potential for bioremediation of heavy metals in contaminated water
Summary
The recent expansion of human industrial activity, including mining, smelting, and synthetic compound creation, has led to an exponential increase in the amounts of heavy metals released into the atmosphere, water, and soil (McConnell and Edwards, 2008). The term toxic heavy metal have particular application to cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb) and arsenic (As), all of which appear in the World Health. Chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), silver (Ag), antimony (Sb) and thallium (Ti). These heavy metals are non-degradable and must be reduced to acceptable limits before discharging into environment to avoid threats to living organisms (Alam et al, 2012)
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