Comparative Microbial Analysis of Borehole Water and other Sources of Water in Benin Metropolis, Edo State

The comparative microbial analysis of borehole water and other sources of water in Benin metropolis, Edo state was carried out to ascertain the variation of the water quality of the different sources using standard microbiological techniques. Eight different water sources were used, which include; well waters in Ologbo and Owa, river waters in Ogbekpan and Ikpoba, rainwaters in Uwelu and Isihor, and borehole waters in Uwelu and Isihor, respectively. The mean bacteria counts ranged from 2 × 104 to 32 × 104, where the highest mean bacteria counts were observed at both Ologbo well water and Ikpoba river water. The lowest mean bacteria count was however, observed at Isihor borehole water. Bacteria counts obtained from this study were found to be higher than the accepted limit of WHO standard in all the various water samples considered. The total coliform counts ranged from 6 MPN/ml to 61 MPN/ml where the highest value was recorded in river water at Ogbekpan and lowest at Isihor borehole water. The mean faecal coliform counts were highest at Ogbekpan river water with a value of 24.7 MPN/ml and lowest at Uwelu rain water with a value of 0.3 MPN/ml, respectively). The highest mean value of fungi was obtained from rain water Uwelu with a value of 7.3 × 104 cfu/ml.