The Culturable Microbial and Chemical Qualities of Some Waters Used for Drinking and Domestic Purposes in a Typical Rural Setting of Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

The culturable microbial and chemical qualities of some spring, well and sachet waters used for drinking and domestic purposes in a typical rural community in Nigeria were assessed using standard methods. Heterotrophic bacterial count ranged appreciable in the order of 101 to 107 cfu mL-1. Fungal densities were low and ranged between 0 and 18 cfu mL-1, while coliform and Salmonella-Shigella counts varied between 3.8 and 803 cells/100 mL and 1.8 and 20.6 cfu mL-1, respectively. Seventeen bacterial and nine fungal species were isolated from the water samples and all the bacteria isolates showed multiple antibiotic resistance to at least seven of the eight to eleven antibiotics used for specific isolates. The concentrations of elements in the water samples ranged in the following order: Mg (0-14.11 ppm); Mn (0-0.503 ppm); Zn (0-0.377 ppm); Ca (0->10.0 ppm); Cu (0-0.049 ppm); Ni (0-0.6 ppm); As (0-2.2 ppm) and Fe (0-8.7 ppm). The unacceptably high levels of As, Ni and Fe in most of the water samples, as well as the microbiological qualities suggest that the use of such waters for drinking and domestic purposes poses a serious threat to the health of the users and calls for the intervention of the appropriate control agencies.