Physico-chemical and microbiological profile of bacterial and fungal isolates of Ikpoba River in Benin City: Public health implications

This study examined the physico-chemical and microbiological profile of bacterial and fungal isolates of Ikpoba River between February 2013 and March 2013. The mean bacterial count for upstream water sample obtained in February was 2 × 10 2 ±1 cfu/ml while 1.09 × 10 4 ±3.6 was the count for treated industrial effluent sample collected in March. The mean fungal counts for the downstream water sample in February was 2 ×10 2 ±1 cfu/ml while the count collected at the point of discharge of effluent into the river in March was 2.0 ×10 3 ±7 cfu/ml. There was a significant statistical difference observed in the mean bacterial and fungal counts (P<0.05). The total coliform counts recorded for samples obtained from downstream was 2 MPN/105 ml while 20 MP/ 105 ml was for sample collected at the point of effluent discharge respectively. Several bacterial and fungal genera were isolated from the River water samples. Water samples collected upstream and downstream points on the river were colorless while samples collected at the point of effluent discharge were light brown in color. The mean pH, turbidity and conductivity of the respective samples ranged from 5.63±0.05 to 6.78±0.05, 4.1±0.21 to 6.81±0.55 NTU and 3.3±0.25 to 73.3±6.56 μs/cm. The biological oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen (DO) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) varied from 2.6±0.5 to 305.19±43.2 mg/l, 5.5±0.3 to 6.1±0.6 mg/l and 15.8±0.6 to 883.8±28.5 mg/l respectively. The quality of Ikpoba River is being negatively impacted by the disposal of effluent as well as human activities around the area rendering the water unsafe for consumption. Keywords: Physico-chemical, microbiological profile, bacterial, fungal isolates