Assessment of the physicochemical and microbiological qualities of swimming pools in selected hotels in Osogbo Metropolis, southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Water is used for various human activities such as drinking, bathing, washing and recreation. The physicochemical as well as microbiological qualities of water samples collected over a period of ten months from five swimming pools in five randomly-selected hotels in Osogbo metropolis, Southwestern Nigeria were  assessed. The collection of the fifty water samples spanned the dry and rainy seasons and they were analysed for temperature, pH, turbidity, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Residual Chlorine (RC), using standard procedure. The microbiological parameters studied were: Total Heterotrophic Bacteria Count (THBC), Total Coliform Bacteria Count (TCBC) and Total Heterotrophic Fungal Count (THF). The data showed variation in terms of swimming pools and seasons as follows: pH 4.48-7.70; temperature 23.3-28.8 °C; turbidity 0.22-12.61 NTU; conductivity 166.6-898.2 μS cm^-1; BOD 1.44-5.40 mg L^-1 ; DO 1.54-8.98 mg L^-1 ; COD 0.18-8.92 mg L^-1 and RC 10.2-28.8 mg L^-1 . THBC ranged between 23-520 CFU mL^-1 , TCBC 2.0-110 100mL^-1 and TFC 30-390 SFU mL^-1 . The bacterial species isolated from the swimming pool samples included Pseudomonas sp., Klebsiella sp., Shigella sp. and Staphylococcus aureus while fungal species isolated were Cephalosporium sp., Fusarium sp., Penicillium sp. and Trichophyton sp. The concentrations of some of the physico-chemical parameters but all the microbial parameters exceeded recommended permissible limits of the World Health Organization for recreational water quality. The swimming pools therefore pose hazards to the health of swimmers without adequate treatment. The high microbial counts as well as presence of potentially-pathogenic microbes pose hazards of waterborne diseases hazards to swimmers, especially the immune-compromised individuals. There is therefore the need for improved management strategies of these water pools for compliance with standard safety regulations.

Keywords: Swimming Pools, Microbiological, Physico-chemical Quality, Waterborne diseases