Joy Zitgwai Saidu and Afamefuna Dunkwu-Okafor*

• access_time10 August, 2024

  subjectCategory: Biological Sciences

• Access to clean water and adequate sanitation is crucial for maintaining good health; however, numerous individuals face a lack access to clean water. The study was to investigation the physicochemical, assessment of coliform bacteria, phenotypic virulence characteristics and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the identified organisms from borehole and well water samples. The result obtained showed that pH ranged from 6.06 - 7.59, while temperature (25.3 - 29.4 oC), electrical conductivity (13 – 159 μS/cm), turbidity (0.21 – 1.83 NTU), total suspended solid (0.23 – 0.98 mg/ml), Alkalinity (0.12 – 0.50), Hardness (1.05 – 2.95 mg/ml), Phosphate (0.1 – 1.99 mg/L), Nitrate (0.03 – 1.05 mg/L), and Sulphate (0.12 – 1.0 mg/L) were within acceptable range delineated by World Health Organization for drinking water. The heterotrophic bacterial count range from 138.00±2.83CFU/100ml to 267.50±17.68CFU/100ml, coliform count ranged from 11.00±1.41 CFU/100ml to 147.50±7.78 and the counts were also found to be higher than the values stipulated by World Health Organization guidelines. The bacteria identified were Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marcescens and Enterobacter cloacae. Bacillus (37.50%) and Escherichia (20.83%) were the most frequently occurring bacterial isolates from water samples in the study. The phenotypic virulence properties of the bacterial isolates showed that they had at least one virulence determinants. The antibacterial sensitivity testing revealed that all isolates were susceptible to Ciprofloxacin (5mcg), with a MAR index greater than 0.2 indicating that the isolates were all pathogens of public health importance. This study therefore highlights the need for continuous monitoring and quality assessment of drinking water sources.
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