Influence of breweries effluent discharge on the microbiological and physicochemical quality of Ikpoba River, Nigeria

Abstract

The bacteriological and physicochemical qualities of the Ikpoba River, Benin city was investigated to assessed the extent of pollution of the water due to effluent discharge from the two brewery industries in Benin City. The bacteriological parameters analyzed were total microbial population counts, which had values ranging from 1.0 x 103 to 4.8 x 103 cfu/ml and 1.3 x 107 to 5.7 x 107 cfu/ml for the fungal and bacterial isolates respectively. Total coliform counts ranged from 4.3 x 10 MPN/100 ml to 38.0 x 10 MPN/100 ml. Microorganisms isolated include Sacchromyces cereviceae, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp., Geotrichum sp. Candida sp., Proteus sp. Staphylococcus sp, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus faecalis and Bacillus sp. Physicochemical parameter studies revealed that Ikpoba river though show some parameters whose values are higher than the WHO tolerant levels. Others fall within the WHO acceptable limits. There is, therefore, contamination of the surface water due to the brewery effluent discharged, which could probably be hazardous to human health.