Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Treatment of Bonny Pipe Borne Water

Abstract

The research was aimed at evaluating the microbiological, physical and chemical quality of Bonny Pipe borne water. The pipe borne water from Bonny Island in Rivers State was screened to evaluate the effectiveness of its treatment by Bonny water Board Company. The microbiological status of the water was determined by using basic growth media to isolate microorganisms present in the water and identifying the organisms using its morphological characteristics. Antibiotic susceptibility was then carried out to ascertain the resistance and sensitivity of the isolates. Swabs of the water outlet taps were also taken at each point of collection from source to delivery. The results were compared with the microbiological status of Omoku's pipe borne water. Chemical analysis was also carried out on the Bonny pipe borne water to determine the level of chemical contamination. The Bonny pipe borne water complied with the microbiological regulations of WHO as there was no bacterial and fungal growth on any of the media used. However, the total heterotrophic bacteria count of the Omoku's water was 2.10 × 10^2 thus exceeding the limit of 1.0 × 10^1 cfu/ml of water, the MPN count for total coliforms was 5MPN/100ml, there was no Faecal coliform present and isolated organisms were Vibrio sp., Micrococcus sp., Salmonella sp., and Bacillus sp.,. The Physicochemical composition analysis revealed the following result for untreated and treated Bonny pipe borne water samples respectively: pH (7.0 and 7.5), Conductivity (60 mg/L and 268mg/L),Total Dissolved Solids (30mg/L and 34mg/L), total hardness (12.012mg/L and 120.12mg/L), chloride (10mg/L and 12mg/L) and Chlorine (Nil and 7.1mg/L) amongst others. The chlorine level for the treated water was above the regulatory standard of WHO (5mg/L), this resulted in increased hardness, taste and odour of the water, which were also above WHO's regulatory limits. Therefore, the Bonny water is not within the regulatory standard of potable drinking water.