Microbial Water Quality: An Assessment from Delta State University Campuses, Abraka

Abstract

This study was aimed at assessing the microbiological quality of water collected from water storage tanks present in campus I and campus II of Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria. Ten (10) water samples were collected in triplicates from both campuses and assessed for the bacterial, fungal and coliform counts. There was significant bacterial growth of the water samples. The mean heterotrophic counts of the water samples ranged from 0.9x103 to 3.5x105 CFU/ml in campus I while the mean heterotrophic counts in campus II ranged from 0.3x103 to 2.7x105. The mean coliform counts ranged from 8.5-64.66 CFU/ml and 29.07-270.67 CFU/ml for campus 1 campus II respectively. Eleven (11) bacterial isolates were obtained which include: Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cerus, Salmonella typhi, Vibrio cholerae, Micrococcus luteus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Proteus mirabilis and Shigella dysenteriae. The results showed that Escherichia coli in Campus 1(15.09%) and Campus 2 (21.54%) had the highest percentage of occurrence from the thirty samples assessed for bacteriological contamination in both campuses, while Vibrio cholerae (1.89%) and Proteus mirabilis (1.54%) had the least occurrences in campus I and II respectively. Percentage of occurrence of fungal isolates shows that Fusarium subglutinans (32.26%) and Rhizopus microsporus (64.29%) had the highest occurrences in campus I and II respectively while Rhizopus microsporus (6.45%) and Aspergillus fumigatus (4.76%) had the least occurrence for both campuses respectively. Therefore, the high microbial loads observed in the study could be as a result of inadequate hygienic or sanitary practices of the storage tanks within the university community. Hence, proper hygiene and sanitary practices is required to reduce contamination and the likelihood of water borne disease outbreak.