BACTERIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF GROUND WATER IN CALABAR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREABACTERIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF GROUNDWATER IN CALABAR SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

ABSTRACT The microbial analysis of groundwater from different boreholes in Calabar south area was carried out to ascertain the variation of water quality of these boreholes using standard microbiological techniques with focus specifically on bacteria communities both indigenous (autochthonous) and exogenous (non- indigenous) bacteria. Ten (10) boreholes were randomly sampled, the microbial load for each of the boreholes were counted and recorded for their mean heterotrophic bacteria counts and for isolation and identification of indigenous groundwater bacteria and non-indigenous bacteria which gained entry into groundwater through either ecological factor or anthropogenic activities. The mean heterotrophic bacteria count ranged from 6.0x103 to 9.0x105 CFU/g. The highest heterotrophic count was observed and found to be 9.0x105 while the lowest heterotrophic count was 6.0x103. Bacteria isolated from the samples analyzed are; Aeromonas spp, Micrococcus spp Citrobacter spp, Salmonella spp, Enterobacter spp, Pseudomonas spp, Klebsiella spp Flavobacterium spp and Aquabacterium spp. This study revealed that water samples from groundwater (boreholes) had low concentration of bacterial population even below WHO standard of bacteria count per 100ml of portable water and the bacteria isolated with enteriobacteriacea and this indicates that the water samples are safe for human consumption. The highest prevalence bacteria were Micrococcus spp and Pseudomonas spp with the percentage occurrence of 25% followed by Salmonella spp, Enterobacter spp and Aquabacterium spp with the percentage occurrence of 10% and Aeromonas spp, Citrobacter spp, and Flavobacterium spp had the lowest with the percentage occurrence of 5% respectively.