Microbiological and physico-chemical quality of Aba river polluted with effluents from a bottling company

Abstract

The bacteriological and Physico-chemical qualities of Aba River were investigated to assess the extent of pollution of the water due to effluent discharges from a nearby bottling company. Effluent discharge influenced the microbiological and physico-chemical properties of the river. The total microbial population counts ranged from 0.015x10⁵ cfu/ml to 4.7x10⁵ cfu/ml and 0.11x10³ cfu/ml to 4.06x10³ cfu/ml for bacterial and fungal isolates respectively. Micro-organisms isolated included Mucor sp, Rhizopus sp, Penicillium sp, Aspergillus sp, Klebsiella sp, Arthrobacter sp, Micrococcus sp, Staphylococcus sp, Pseudomonas sp, Bacillus sp and Escherichia coli. Further studies revealed that the values of some physico-chemical parameters of the river were higher than the WHO tolerant levels for typical surface water. Others fell within the WHO acceptable limits. Upstream, discharge point and downstream values stood at pH (5.86; 8.69; 5.72); temperature (22.8; 28.8; 24.00C); TDS (2.59; 18.8; 2.10); TSS (1.87; 8.89; 1.34); BOD5 (6.71; 6.79; 6.68) COD (13.70; 716; 15.68); DO (6.71; 6.70: 6.98;) nitrate (0.69; 4.68: 0.73); total alkalinity (11.3; 24:20; 11.64); conductivity (14;8; 31.68; 4.11) and turbidity (9.41; 121; 4.23) respectively. These results show that effluents from the bottling company pollute the Aba River and may limit its uses for specific purposes.

International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences Vol. 2 (4) 2006: pp. 388-391