Bacteriological Examination of Drinking Water from Different Sources in Sokoto State Nigeria

A total of 50 water samples comprising; 20 well water, 15 sachet water, 10 borehole water and 5 river water samples, were obtained from Wamakko, Dange-shuni and Wurno local government areas in Sokoto Central, Sokoto West and Sokoto East, Nigeria respectively between March and May 2015. They were analyzed using membrane filtration and pour plate techniques for faecal coliforms count and total coliform count respectively. The total coliform count for all the sources ranged between 0 and 3.28 × 102 with a total mean of 1.11 × 10,2 that of faecal coliform count was found to range between 0 and 92 with a mean total count of 12.58. Among the bacteria isolated and identified, Escherichia coli had the highest total prevalence of 233 (40.31%) and occurring in all the water samples. Klebsiella spp had 99 (17.13%) occurring in all the sources, Salmonella spp 43 (7.44%) occurring in all the sources except for borehole, Pseudomonas species 88 (15.22%) occurring in all the sources, Staphylococcus aureus with 115 (19.90%) occurring in all the sources except for borehole. However, the pHs for all the samples were found to be within the range of 6.51 to 8.0 which are within WHO acceptable range of 6.0 to 8.5. From this study, it is obvious that the water sources from the areas under study are bacteriologically unfit for drinking purposes. These samples with high total coliform count are of concern and calls for urgent and stringent measures aimed at ensuring a safer drinking water for the populace.