BACTERIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL EVALUATION OF TWO STREAMS IN IHITE UBOMA, L.G.A, IMO STATE

ABSTRACT

Water is an essential natural resource for sustainability of life on earth. The aim of this study is to evaluate the bacteriological quality and safety of the two major streams in Ihitte Uboma LGA; Nze stream and Agudibia stream. A total of 6 Samples were collected during the sampling period. Point 1 (P1) which was the upstream, point 2 (P2) which was midstream, point 3, (P3) which was the downstream. Samples for bacteriological analysis were collected into sterile clean glass bottles and were labeled before sample collection. Collected samples were transported immediately to the laboratory for bacteriological examinations. The bacteria isolated according to morphological and biochemical characteristics include: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus Proteus sp and Bacillus species. The total viable count of water samples collected from upstream point ranged from 1.2 x104 to 9.0 x 103cfu/ml, Samples collected from Stream 2 ranged from 1.6 x 102 to 2.4 x 103cfu/ml. The incidence occurrence of the isolates revealed that E.coli and Bacillus spp had the highest incidence occurrence while Proteus sp and Staphylococcus aureus had the lowest incidence occurrence. The Most Probable Number of samples, Nze stream (Stream 1) had MPN values (180+) beyond the recommended range. While the MPN of the second stream (Agudibia stream) and control sample was within the acceptable range (3 and 0 respectively). Conclusively, the microbial qualities of the evaluated Nze stream water was averagely poor, and are certainly not fit for human consumption. From the results, Agudibia stream can be used for drinking and other domestic purposes while Nze stream did not meet the criteria. Water from both streams must be processed adequately before usuage.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page                                                                                                                                i

Certification                                                                                                                            ii

Dedication                                                                                                                               iii

Acknowledgements                                                                                                                iv

Table of Contents                                                                                                                   v

Lists of Tables                                                                                                                        vii

Abstract                                                                                                                                   viii

CHAPTER ONE

1.0  Introduction                                                                                                                1

1.1 Aim and Objectives                                                                                                          4

CHAPTER TWO

2.0  Literature Review                                                                                                                   5

2.1 Water                                                                                                                                5

2.2 Water Quality                                                                                                                   8

2.3 Water Quality Changes                                                                                          10

2.4 Water Quality Challenges                                                                            11

2.5 Biological Indicators of Water Quality                                                                    12

2.6 Environmental Significance in Water Quality                                                        12

CHAPTER THREE

3.0  Materials and Methods                                                                                               15

3.1  Study Area And Sampling                                                                                               15

3.2 Collection of Water Samples                                                                                            15

3.3 Media Preparation                                                                                                            15

3.4 Microbiological Methods                                                                                                 16

3.4.1 Most Probable Number (MPN)                                                                                     16

3.4.2 Total Viable Plate Count                                                                                               17

3.5       Identification of Isolates                                                                                              17

3.5.1 Gram Staining                                                                                                                17

3.5.2      Biochemical Tests                                                                                                      18

3.5.2.1 Catalase test                                                                                                                18

3.5.2.2  Coagulase test                                                                                                            18

3.5.2.3  Citrate Test                                                                                                                18

3.5.2.4 Motility, Indole, Urease Test (MIU)                                                                          19

3.5.2.5  Triple Sugar iron test                                                                                                 19

3.5.2.6 Oxidase Test                                                                                                               20

3.6         Determination Of Some Physical Properties                                                    20

3.8       Presentation and Analysts Of Results                                                                        20

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0       Results                                                                                                                        21       

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0       Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendation                                                          29       

5.1       Discussion                                                                                                                   29

5.2       Conclusion                                                                                                                  32

5.3       Recommendation                                                                                                       32

References                                                                                                                  33

LIST OF TABLES

Table                            Title                                                                Page

1         Source, type and coding of samples                                                                       22

2         Gram staining and Morphological Characteristics of the Isolates                                    23

3         Biochemical Identification of Isolates                                                                    24

4         Viable plate count                                                                                                   25

5         Incidence occurrence of isolates                                                                             26

6         Thermotolerant coliform (Eijkman’s test) isolated                                                27

7         Most Probable Number of samples                                                                        28

CHAPTER ONE

1.0  INTRODUCTION

Streams are vital and vulnerable freshwater systems that are critical for the sustenance of all life. However, the declining quality of the water in these systems threatens their sustainability and is therefore a cause for concern. Streams are waterways of strategic importance across the world, providing main water resources for domestic, industrial and agricultural purposes (Farah, 2002). The maintenance of healthy aquatic ecosystem is depended on the physicochemical properties and biological diversity. A regular monitoring of water bodies would not only prevent the outbreak of diseases and occurrence of hazards but would check the water from further deterioration. Bacteriological assessment particularly for coliforms, the indicators of contamination by faecal matters is therefore routinely carried out to ascertain the quality and portability of water to ensure prevention of further dissemination of pathogens (Afiukwa et al., 2010).

 One of the most important factors of water pollution is the microbial contamination especially with pathogenic microorganisms. Enteric pathogens are typically responsible for waterborne sickness (Berry et al., 2006).Contamination of water is a serious environmental problem as it adversely affects the human health and the biodiversity in the aquatic ecosystem. The provision of good quality household drinking water is often regarded as an important means of improving health (Moyo et al.,2004). According to World Health Organisation (WHO,1992), there were estimated four billion cases of diarrhoea and 2.2 million death annually. The consumption of unsafe water has been implicated as one of the major causes of this disease. Most gradual deterioration of water quality is as a result of increase in human population and urbanization (Brenner et al., 2008).

As water pollution gets serious, houses in the urban area started to equip with a treating system. People are concerned with the presence of pollutants such as heavy metals and toxic chemicals in their daily drinking water. The primary objective of drinking water from Streams in microbiology is to prevent waterborne diseases and this can be achieved through proper water treatment, control practices and monitoring of their effectiveness. Ideally, specific detection of the various waterborne pathogens which includes various species of bacteria, viruses and protozoa would be the most direct approach in determining portability but this would be too tedious, time consuming and expensive (Domenech-Sanchez et al., 2008). Potable water should be examined for microbiological and physiochemical quality. WHO (1993) has recommended that increased emphasis be placed on home water treatment. A number of authors have reported a statistically significant deterioration in the microbiological quality of water between the source and point of use in the home. (Edberg et al., 2000). Drinking water from most communities and municipalities is obtained from surface sources such as streams, Streams and lakes. Such natural water sources are likely to be polluted with domestic waste, agricultural waste and industrial waste. The efficiency of current techniques in detecting waterborne pathogens is often very low, primarily due to low levels of these organisms in water. However detection does not always translate into risks as some strains of the same species are more pathogenic than others and current detection methods cannot easily discriminate between pathogenic and non-pathogenic subpopulations. Although culture techniques for isolation is nonselective thus allowing nontarget organisms to proliferate in numbers that over grow the pathogens. Viral pathogens are fastidious in their growth requirements and grow only in special tissue cultures that are expensive and often difficult to maintain (Emejor, 2010). The use of indicator bacteria such as faecal coliforms (FC) and faecal streptococci (FS) for assessment of faecal pollution and possible water quality deterioration in freshwater sources is widely used (APHA, 1995). Currently coliforms and Escherichia coli are of great importance among bacterial indicators used in water quality definition and health risk (Chao et al., 2003).

Water is the most vital element among the natural resources; it is the most indispensable need for existence of all living things. Its decreasing availability in terms of quality and quantity has been a major public health concern in Africa, particularly in Nigeria(WHO, 2004; Daniel et al., 2003).Water fit for consumption is called drinking water or potable water (Egberongbe et al.,2010). According to a recent UNICEF report, about 80 million people in Asia andAfrica are living without access to safe water. Consequently, this has caused many peopleto suffer from various diseases (Ezeugwunne et al., 2009).

 In developing countries such as Nigeria, most of the rural communities lack access to potable water supply and rely mainly on river and stream sources for their household use and other purposes (Garba et al., 2010).Many water sources in developing countries are unhealthy because they contain harmful physical, chemical and biological agents. Unfortunately, many of the available water sources are not potable without some form of treatment which is seldom or not available in most rural settings which expose the rural populace to water borne diseases (Geldrich et al., 1991). The major proportion of all water quality degradation worldwide is due to anthropogenic causes (Ibe and Okplenye, 2005). In some rural areas in Nigeria, domestic wastes, sewage and faeces are being discharged into streams which also serve as their water sources for daily needs. When the load of organic matter or wastes is too heavy, the self-purification power of the stream are unable to remove these materials added and there will be pollution of these water sources which can be dangerous to human and the environment as a whole(Kudryavtseva, 1972). These multiple sources of contamination are compounded by limited environmental awareness in rural areas (Lehloesa and Muyima,2004). The microbiological quality of water is of a great primary importance, and the monitoring of bacterial indicators such as total coliform and thermotolerance coliforms should be given the highest priority. Microbial indicators have been used world wide to indicate if human wastes have contaminated water body. Microbes typically utilized are those that are found in elevated concentrated in human faecal coliform, Escherichia coli and enterococci (Leclerc et al., 2001). An additional indicator, Clostridium perfringes can be used for monitoring stream water quality (Lemo, 2002). The outbreaks of diarrhoea or gastroenteritis in rural communities have all been attributed tothe consumption of water of poor microbial quality (Eckner, 1998). It is therefore not anoption but an imperative to critically monitor the quality of water supply in rural areas in order to further highlight their despicable water supply situation and to provide the impetus for sustainable government intervention(McFeters et al., 1993).

1.1 AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is to evaluate the bacteriological quality and safety of the two major streams in Ihitte Uboma LGA; Nze stream and Agudibia stream.

The objectives are:

1.     To use the most probable number method and determine the presence of coliform organisms in the two streams.

2.     To determine the total viable counts of the two water sources

3.      Also to determine some common physical properties of both streams.

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