Assessment of microbiological and physicochemical parameters of ground water: A case study of Gikondo industrial park, Kigali, Rwanda

Abstract

The main objective of our study was to determine the physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of two water samples: river and ground water, in Gikondo industrial park, compared to the tap water. Samples were collected from the main three sources: industrial park effluent water (river water), industrial spring water and tap water. The physicochemical properties were assessed and recorded as pH (6.9-7.75, 6.00-6.20 and 6.01-6.3 for river, spring and tap water respectively), turbidity (42-92.0, 8.9-9.1 and 12.3-14.1 for river, spring and tap water respectively), chloride (Cl-) (7.1-10.5, 9.5-12.5 and 1.8-2.8 for river, spring and tap water respectively), thiocyanide (SCN-) (++++; +++; +), chemical oxygen demand (COD) (5.0-8.9, 7.4-9.6 and 11.5-13.9 for river, spring and tap water respectively), biological oxygen demand (BOD) (0.60-0.75, 1.20-1.67 and 21.24-24.73 for river, spring and tap water respectively) and dissolved oxygen DO(0.90-0.98, 1.9-2.3 and 32-34 for river, spring and tap water respectively). Microbial analysis was conducted based on different indicators such as gas formation by catalase activity, MR/VP test and Indole formation test. In all, the microbial analysis resulted in the presence of Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Staphylococcus and Escherichia coli in the industrial river water (river water), which showed a maximum pollution rate compared to the other two samples. Such results will definitely have a key role to ascertain the impact of the industrial effluent on Gikondo industrial Park area and any potential harmful and hazardous effects on aquatic organisms, humans and plants within that environment.

Key Words: Industrial effluent, Gikondo industrial park, physicochemical properties, microbiologicalanalysis, water analysis.