Bacteria of public health concern associated with tap water samples in Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Tap water samples from Imo State, Nigeria were tested for bacterial quality, especially those of public health concern. Membrane filter technique was adopted to determine the heterotrophic, coliform and vibrio counts of the samples. Total heterotrophic, coliform and vibrio counts ranged from 51-230, 30–203 and 5-18 cfu/100ml respectively. Identification tests revealed the presence of Escherichia coli, Chromobacterium spp, Bacillus spp,  Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio spp, Micrococcus spp and  Klebsiella spp. The overall percentage occurrence of Bacillus spp, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were in 90.0, 89.7 and 71.0% respectively. Vibrio spp, Klebsiella spp, Micrococcus spp and Vibrio cholera on the other hand occurred in 52.7, 45.0, 51.2 and 37.0% of the tap water samples respectively. Chromobacterium spp had the least percentage occurrence of 35.0%. The study highlighted the need to improve the treatment process of tap water in the state in order to avert public health problems that may emanate from poor quality tap water.

Keywords: Tap water, bacteria, water pollution, waterborne infections, Nigeria