Abstract
This study assessed the microbial safety of Lake Nabugabo beaches for recreation. Faecal microbial indicators and physico-chemical characteristics of beach recreational water were determined. Water sampling was done between 10.00 and 11.30 h and 1700 and 18.00 h. Data was analysed using student t-tests, ANOVA and spearman correlation (at 95%). Results were: total coliform (10.5-15.8 CFU/100 ml), faecal coliform (10-12.5 CFU/100 ml), Escherichia coli (0-2.63 CFU/100 ml), faecal streptococci (0-1.5 CFU/100 ml), all significantly different (P 0.05) from the control. Total coliforms and faecal streptococci exhibited significant correlation with TSS (r = 0.9, p = 0.04). Results indicate that Lake Nabugabo water is safe (WHO, US-EPA) for recreation. Key words: Lake Nabugabo, microbial safety assessment, recreation water, water quality.
Highlights
Contamination of water bodies is on the increase and is causing major public health concerns in developing countries where water regulations are lacking
The microbial quality of Lake Nabugabo water is presented in Figure 2 for the two beaches assessed
Total coliform data was a general indication of the microbial contamination of Lake Nabugabo
Summary
Contamination of water bodies is on the increase and is causing major public health concerns in developing countries where water regulations are lacking. Pathogenic microorganisms are introduced into aquatic ecosystems from the catchment via different agents that include humans, animals and effluents. The microbial composition of aquatic ecosystem depend on the type, nature of the aquatic ecosystem, microbial profile of effluents (Jaiani et al, 2013) and the contaminating agents (for example, humans, wild animals).
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