Current Research Journal of Biological Sciences 2(6): 361-364, 2010
ISSN: 2041-0778
© M axwell Scientific Organization, 2010
Submitted date: May 26, 2010
Accepted date: June 23, 2010
Published date: November 25, 2010
Bacteriological Quality of Borehole Water Used by Students’ of University for
Development Studies, Navrongo Campus in Upper-East Region of Ghana
L.A. Adetunde and R.L.K. Glover
Department of Applied Biology, Faculty of Applied Sciences,
University for Development Studies, Navrongo Campus, Navrongo, Ghana
Abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the bacteriological quality of borehole water used by the
students’ of University for Develop men t Studies, Navrongo C amp us, U pper East R egion of Ghana. Bo rehole
water samples from different locations within the University for Development Studies, Navrongo campus of
Upper East Region of Ghan a were collected for four consecutive weeks for bacteriological analysis to assess
the wholesomeness. Pour plate method and multiple tube fermentation methods were used to determine
hetero trophic bacterial viable counts and coliform bacterial counts respectively. For total viable bacterial counts
of the samples the range of the mean was from 1.50x104 to 5.90x104 cfu/mL, 0 to 17 MPN/100 mL for total
coliform bacteria and 0 to 4.07 MPN/100 mL. The highest counts were consistently found in the sample BW
whe re the borehole was located in an unsanitary environment near septic tank. The findings show that the water
samples except those from SSN IT hall did not meet the W HO for drinking and domestic water and should be
treated or boiled and filtered be fore drin king.
Key words: Borehole water, faecal coliforms, Ghana, Kassena-Nankana D istrict, Navrongo, total coliforms,
upper east region
INTRODUCTION
W ater is indispensably an d intricately con nected to
life without which there is no life. This is the reason for
which water must be given the necessa ry attention at all
times. Good drinking water is not a luxury; it is one of the
most essential amenities of life itself. The supply of safe
drinking water to all has therefore engaged the attention
of many individual, groups, governmental organisation
and private. Safe drinking water is the priority of all
people.
Micro-organisms play a ma jor role in water quality
and the micro-orga nisms that con cern w ith water borne
diseases are Salm onella sp., Shige lla sp., Escherichia co li
and Vibrio cholera (Birmingham et al., 1997 ). All these
cause typhoid fever, diarrhoea, dysentery, gastroenteritis,
cholera. Other agents of w ater borne disea ses are
protozoan of diarrhoea- Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia
lamblia, Balantidium coli (Jawetz et al., 1991) and
Cryptococcus pervum (Kelly et al., 1997) Enteroviruses
of various clinical ailment- Polivirus, Rotavirus, Hepatitis
A virus (Hejkal et al., 1982) and Hepatitis E virus
(Benjelloun et al., 1997). The most dangerous form of
water pollution occurs when faeces enter the water
supply. Ma ny disease s are perpetuated by the faecal-oral
route of transmission in which the pathogens are shed
only in human faeces (Tortora et al., 1998). Presence of
faecal coliforms of E. coli is used as an indicator for the
presence of any of these water borne pathogens
Chukwural, 2001; Okpokwasili and Akujobi, 1996;
Oka for,
1985 ).
To
m aintain
good
health
(Cheesbrough, 2000) stated that water sho uld be of good
quality and quantity meeting local and WHO
recommended standards of taste, odour and appearance.
The people of the Upper-East Region of Ghana
depend on the groundw ater through boreh ole and handdung wells or processed w ater from Ghana W ater
Company Limited. The people o f Kassena-Nankana
District is no exception because 70.8% of them depend on
ground water. The students of University for Development
Studies located in the Navrongo of the District also
depend on groundwater through borehole and treated
water from Ghana Water Company Limited. Th e bore hole
water is the m ainly used by the students. Although a
student of this university ha ve accesse d the borehole
water quality and tap w ater som e years ago and it w as
proven that borehole water had a high coliform loads with
a statistical proven that about 39% of the students w ere
affected with water related diseases precisely typhoid
fever within the month of October 2005. This implies that
the Institution’s borehole is contaminated with high level
of bacteria for a co uple o f years now . This
com prehensively boils dow n to say that the water sources
on the university campus may be potables, it may not
Corresponding Author: L.A. Adetunde, Department of Applied Biology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University for
Development Studies, Navrongo Campus, Navrongo, Ghana
361
Curr. Res. J. Biol. Sci., 2(6): 361-364, 2010
yield the expected health benefit but causes the unive rsity
authorities to continue wasting resources in the treatment
of water related diseases, which is easily preventable. The
study is to review the bacteriological quality of
institutions’ borehole water in order to see whether there
is chan ge in coliform level after some years. To also
predict the hygienic status of the institution bo rehole
water by comparing the data with W HO standard an d to
prone into what actually caused the high level of coliform
in the institutions’ borehole w ater and to recommend
solution to mitigate such situation in the un iversity
campus.
collected using washed and sterilized plastic containers
after pumping water sample to waste for 4 to 5 min.
Duplicate samples were taken from each sampling point
aseptically into plastic container and kept in an ice chest
and transported immediately to the laboratory for analysis.
The samples w ere collected at weekly interval for 4 weeks
within the campus.
Sampling code:
BM = Bore hole mechanized
HW = Bore hole manual
RT = UDS Reservoir Borehole Staff area
SM = Savana main stand pipe
SA = Savana Annex stand pipe
EL = Ecowas Left stand pipe
ER = Ecowas Right stand pipe
SB = SS NIT Borehole
SL = SSNIT Left stand pipe
SR = SSNIT Right stand pipe
NH = Navron hall stand pipe
CB = Chem istry/Biology Depatments
SB = Spanish Block
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study area: The study took place at the Navrongo
campus of the University for Development Studies
(UDS). The University campus is located 3 km off the
central business district of Navrongo, the district capital
of Kassena-Nankana District Assembly of the Upper East
Region of Ghana. The study took place aroun d April to
May, 2009 at Danida laboratory of Microbiology
Departm ent, University for Development Studies.
Navrongo. Upper East Region, Ghana.
Laboratory analysis:
M edia used: Media for both the multiple tube
fermentation and p late counts w ere prepa red according to
the manufacturer’s instructions. Th e media used w ere
MacC onkey broths, Brilliant Green Lactose Bile (BGLB)
broth, Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) agar and Plate Count
Aga r (PCA ).
Studen t’s population: The University campus had a total
student population of abo ut 288 0 during the time this
study was carried out.
There three major sources of water made availab le to
the students. The se are hand dug w ell water, Ghana W ater
Company Limited through stand pipe (distribution
system) and borehole w ater channelled into re servo ir
tanks.
Enum eration of total heterotrophic bacteria or total
viable count: Total heterotrophic bacteria in the water
samples were obtained using the pour plate method.
Dilutions of 10G 1 to 10G 6 of the samples were prepared in
0.1% buffered peptone water (oxoid) and duplicate 1ml
aliquots of each dilution was inoculated into 10ml each of
molten Plate Count Agar (PCA) in universal bottles.
These were then thorou ghly m ixed p oured into sterile
Petri-dishes and incubated at 37ºC for 24 h enumerated.
Petri-dishes from dilutions containing between 30 and 300
discrete colonies were counted and the result expressed as
the num bers of bacteria per millilitre. Anonymous (1994)
and A PHA (2005).
Sam ple collection: Water samples were collected from
Borehole water sou rce (both mechanize d and m anual),
UDS reservoirs and distribution po ints into various hall
s u c h a s S a v a n a , E c ow a s , S S N I T , N a v r o n,
chemistry/biology Department and Spanish block used as
source of domestic water by studen ts and other m embe rs
of the N avrongo campus o f University for Development
Studies. The samples were collected at weekly interval for
four w eeks from the student’s halls.
A total of 26 water samples were collected. Two
borehole water samples from source, one sample from
UDS reservoir and one sample from bore hole manual
were collected within the campus. Other samp les were
collected at various halls within the campus. Samples
were collected between the hours of 9am and 10am when
the
sampling
points
were freed of students.
Sampling protocols desc ribed by C laaasen (19 82).
Barcelona et al. (1985) and APHA (2005) were strictly
adhered to during sample collection. The nozzles of the
boreholes were swabbed with cotton wool soaked in 70%
(v/v) ethanol and flamed for 2 to 3 min. Sam ples were
Enumeration of total and feacal coliform:
Presumptive test: Total coliform and faecal coliform
were enum erated by m ultiple tub e fermentation tests as
described by APHA (2005) Coliform count was obtained
using the three tube assay of the M ost Pro bable Number
(MPN) technique. Presumptive coliform test was carried
out using MacConkey broth (oxoid). The first set of the
five tubes had sterile 10ml double strength broth and the
second and third sets had 1 0ml single strength b roth. A ll
the tubes contained Durham tube before sterilization. The
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Curr. Res. J. Biol. Sci., 2(6): 361-364, 2010
Tab le 1: Th e rang e and mea n valu es of b acteriolo gical qu ality of w ater sam ples us ed by the stud ents
Water sources
Total bacteria counts (cfu/ml)X10 4
T o tal co lif o rm c o n ts ( M PN /mL )
------------------------------------------------------------------------------Range
Means
Range
Mean
4
4
B o re h ol e m e ch a ni ze d - B M
1.2-2.2x10
1.65x10
4-6
5
4
4
B o re ho le m an u al - H W
3.4-7.8x10
5.90x10
14-20
17
4
4
U D S R e se rv o ir B or eh o le S ta ff ar ea - R T
30.-7.0x10
5.0x10
6
6
4
4
S avana main stand pipe- SM
3.6-5.8x10
4.76x10
11-13
12
4
4
S avana A nnex stand pipe- SA
2.2-4.7x10
3.05x10
8.2-10
8.65
4
E cow as L eft stand pipe- EL
3.6-5.4x10
4.48x104
9.2
9.2
4
4
E cow as R ight stand pipe - ER
3.4-5.8x10
4.49x10
11
11
4
4
S S N IT - B orehole- SB
1.0-2.2x10
1.50x10
1.8- 3.6
02
4
4
S S N IT L eft stand pipe -SL
1.4-3.2x10
1.95x10
2-6
04
4
4
S S N IT R ight stand pipe –SR
1.4-2.6x10
1.80x10
1.8- 3.6
02
N a vr on h al l s ta nd p ip e- N H
3.0-5.4 x10 4
4.22x10 4
7.8-11
8.6
C h e m is tr y/ B io lo g y D e p at m en ts - C B
3.2-5.8x10 4
4.65x10 4
11-13
12
S panish B lock- S B
3.2-5.8x10 4
4.60x10 4
10
10
three sets of the tubes received 10, 1 and 0.1 mL of water
samples using sterile pipettes. The tubes were incubated
at 37ºC for 24-48 h for estimation of total coliforms and
at 44.5ºC for faecal coliforms for 24-48 h and examined
for acid and gas production. Acid production was
determined by colour change of the broth from reddish
purple to yellow and gas production was checked for by
entrapment of gas in the Durham tube. The MPN was then
determined from the MPN table for the three set of tube.
Fa e ca l c o lifo r m co u n ts ( M P N /m L)
--------------------------------------------Range
Mean
0
0
10-14
12
4
4
3.6- 5.5
4
1.8- 3.6
2.25
1.8- 3.6
2.25
3.6- 5.5
4.07
0
0
0
0
0
0
1.8- 3.6
2
2-6
4
2-6
4
SB with a mean value of 2MPN /100 mL. Fa ecal coliform
counts was highest for sample HW with a mean value of
12 MPN /100 mL while sample BM , SB, SL and SR had
mea n valu es of 0MPN /100 m L.
DISCUSSION
Mo st of the sa mples we re con taminated w ith both
non-faecal and faecal coliform bacteria. The samples w ith
low bacterial counts an d total coliform coun ts could be
considered to be of better quality for domestic use than
the ones with the hig hest co unts of both b acterial counts
and total coliform co unts. W ater samples from SSNIT
HALL and from the BM source are fit for drinking and
dom estic purposes because they had faeca l coliform
counts of zeroMPN/100 mL which is conformed to the set
standard of W HO (1993) which says no water sam ple
shou ld contain faecal coliform in any 100 mL of water
sample, while other samples analysed were not fit for
consumption without processing. Th erefore these samples
shou ld be boiled and filtered for clarity before drinking.
The level of contamination of so me o f the sam ples w ith
higher number of total viable bacterial counts may be due
to the location of the bolehole and environmental factors
whereby some dom estic animals visit the site to drinking
water. When drinking, they lick the mouth of the borehole
taps and defecate around the borehole. These activities
could enhance bacterial spore to contaminate the water
through the opening side of the borehole. The high
contamination in the UD S reservoir co uld be attributed to
the lack of routine measure of UDS personnel. The small
increase in the means values of the water samples at
various halls and blocks may be due to the contamination
level from the UD S reservoir as well as the old pipelines
that channel the water to the halls and departments. Also
unhygienic hand ling nature of the taps b y som e students
may contribute to the con tamination level of the water
Confirmed test: Confirme d test was carried out by
transferring a loopful of culture from a positive tube from
presumptive test into a tube of Brilliant Green Lactose
Bile (BGLB) broth (oxoid) with Durham tubes. The tubes
were incubated at 37ºC for 24-48 h for total coliform and
44.5ºC for faecal coliforms and observed for gas
production.
Com pleted test: Completed test was carried out by
streaking a loopful of bro th from a positive tube onto
Eosine Methylene Blue (EMB ) agar plate for pure
colonies. The plates were incubated at 37ºC for 24-48 h.
Colonies developing on EMB agar were further identified
as faecal coliforms (Escherich ia coli). C olonies with
green metallic sheen w ere confirmed to be faecal coliform
bacteria with rods shape.
RESULTS
Table 1 showed the range and mean values of total
bacterial counts, total coliform and faecal coliform coun ts
of water sam ples co llected a t weekly interval over a
period of four weeks. Total viable bacterial counts of the
samples were relatively low except for sample HW, the
Hand dug well. The low est counts of total bacterial were
recorded in sample SB, SSNIT borehole which ranged
from 1.0-2.2x104 cfu/mL with mean value of 1.50x104
while the highest counts of total bacterial were recorded
in sample HW, Hand dug well which ranged from 3.47.8x104 cfu/mL with a mean value of 5.90x10 4.
Total coliform counts for the sam ples were highe st in
sample HW with a mean valu e of 17 MPN /100 m L w hile
the lowest total coliform coun ts was recorded in sam ple
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
There was a significant difference in the level of
contamination betw een the main source and the point of
use. The factors that predispose the w ater sou rce to
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Curr. Res. J. Biol. Sci., 2(6): 361-364, 2010
contamination in the case of the UDS reservoir was the
non existence of routine measure of the treatment as well
as disinfection of the water in the reservoir. In the case of
the manual bore hole one of the hall septic tan k is directly
located on the water table. Unhygienic handling of water
by the students and the old nature of the distribution
netwo rk of the pipelines to the students’ hall may
contribute to level of the contamination. Continuous
consumption of this water by students could lead to an
increase risk level of out break of water borne diseases on
the university campus. The University autho rities should
map out more refined pu blic health measure to mitigate or
minimize the occurrence of major water borne disease
outbreak o n the camp us.
Co lla b o ratio n o f
A p p lied Bio logy
a nd
Chemistry/Biochemistry Departm ent of the University
could help to establish a clear framework for the
maintenance of the quality of water used by the students
through regular water quality testing. Furthermore routine
measu re to disinfect the water storage reservoir supplying
the campus should be implemented. The septic tank found
directly located on the water table should be relocated and
the tap nozzles of all the borehole should be covered
when not in use to prevent contamination from the
dom estic animals if the school authorities could not get
rid of domestic animals within the campus.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are thankful to Prof. Adetunde, I.A Dean
of Faculty of Engineering, University o f M ines and
Technology, Tarkwa, Ghana for his advice, valuable
comme nts and suggestions.
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