ABSTRACT
The microbiological
assessment of Ivo river for drinking purposes was investigated and bacterial
isolates were implicated which include the following – Micrococcus spp, Bacillus spp, Staphylococcus spp, Proteus
spp, Pseudomonos spp, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus spp and Sallmonella
spp. The various bacterial isolates belonged to heterotrophics, viable
coliform and faecal coilform bacteria. The range of heterotrophic bacteria
was 46 x 10 – 55 x 10cfu/mi while the means
was 50 x 10 cfu/ml. Also heterotrophic bacterial count for 100ml give a range
of 15 x 102 – 26 x 102cfu/100ml with mean value of 21 x
102cfu/100ml while the mean value was 3.8MPN/100ml. Since the number
of faecal coliform counts was higher than that approved by WHO and USEPA which
approved zero MPN/100ml, water is not safe for drinking purposes. Also, the
result showed that, the Ivo River has high level of variance from the WHO
recommended standard for drinking water and as such it is unhealthy for drinking
purpose.