TITLE:
Assessment of the Microbiological Quality of Drinking Water in Light of Water Quality in the Pelengana Commune of Segou Region
AUTHORS:
Hawa Diakite, Yujuan Gao, Amadou Toure
KEYWORDS:
Water Microbiology, Total Coliform Count, Fecal Coliform Count, Fecal Enterococci Count, Mali
JOURNAL NAME:
Computational Water, Energy, and Environmental Engineering,
Vol.8 No.3,
July
5,
2019
ABSTRACT: This study focused to determine the bacteriological quality of different
commonly used water sources, including boreholes, hand pumps, surface water,
household containers, dug well and cement reservoirs in Pelengana commune, in
Mali with special reference to the internally displaced people camps. Four
hundred and eight water samples were collected from different sites and
sources, from July 2016 to June 2017. Water samples were examined for total
coliform, fecal coliform and fecal enterococci counts using the most probable
number method. Also, samples were investigated for the presence of enteric
bacteria isolated, namely Escherichia
coli, Enterococcus fecalis, Bacillus, Citrobacter and Enterobacter.
Results revealed that the three indicators bacteria (Total Coliform (48.7%),
Fecal Coliform (100%), and Fecal enterococci (37.01%)) were found above
permissible limit for drinking water. The highest number of the indicators
bacteria found was 1800 TC/100ml water. Enteric bacteria isolated were Escherichia coli (25.7%), Enterococcus
fecalis (21.91%), Bacillus (16.72%), Enterobacter (4.56%) and Citrobacter (3.91%). The most
contaminated water source was surface water (15.28%) followed by household
containers (13.65%), boreholes (8.75%), cement reservoirs (7.47%), hand pumps
(5.31%) and dug wells (2.7%). These findings illustrate that contamination
varied with seasons, and the highest level was observed in rainy season
(30.02%) compared to the dry season (23.14%). All sources of water in the study
sites were contaminated. It is suggested that the outright prevention of
surface water consumption should be employed and monitoring of the quality of
water resources is needed.