Essay On River Pollution

Words: 1230
Pages: 5

Surface waters are always polluted because they are exposed to direct contaminants and therefore do not usually meet required standards. The physico-chemical and microbiological analyses of Ikpoba River, Benin City was investigated to assess the species composition and microbial load and the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the isolated strains. Analysis of the physicochemical parameter shows that all except manganese and iron were within WHO permissible limit. The total microbial population counts ranged from 3.3 x 103 to 6.7 x 103 CFU/ml and 4.75 x 104 to 9.7 x 104 CFU/ml for the fungal and bacterial isolates respectively. Total coliform counts ranged from 434 MPN/100 ml to 819 MPN/100 ml. Microorganisms isolated include Aspergillus flavus, Geotrichum sp, Penicillium sp., Aspergillus niger, Mucor sp., Aspergillus
Potable water is a fundamental human right and if contaminated with opportunistic pathogenic bacteria, may have health implications on consumers (Erah et al., 2002). The impact of river pollution on human health depends mainly on the water uses, as well as the concentration of pathogens in the water (Edema et al., 2001). Most streams in Nigeria are subjected to pollution from contaminated urban run-off water from health care institutions, industrial, agricultural, residential, commercial and recreational areas (Uzoigwe and Agwa, 2012).
The quality of water is identified in terms of its physical, chemical and biological parameters (Okonko et al., 2008; Okpokwasili and Akujobi, 1996). Surface water sources do not always meet required standards and as such have to undergo various treatment processes to improve the quality of the water in a bid to ensure and protect public health (Kumarasamy et al., 2009), Conformation with acceptable standard is of special interest because of the capacity of water to spread diseases within a large population (Edema et al.,