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ABSTRACT
Water is the most important life supporting system, hence it is known as a universal solvent since it dissolves more than 95% components from the environment. We depend on water for irrigation, industry, domestic needs and disposal of waste. It is therefore necessary to evaluate the microbial load and micro flora of water as well as the physicochemical properties hence this study was carried out to access the bacteriological and physicochemical parameters of Ikpoba River water. Samples were collected using a sterile universal container from upstream and downstream of Ikpoba, standard plate count method was carried out to enumerate the bacteria and fungi in the water sample using nutrient agar and potato dextrose agar respectively. Findings in this research showed that the total heterotrophic bacterial count ranged from 3.20±1.1547×102 cfu/ml to 8.30±2.8867×102 cfu/ml in the upstream and downstream of the River. The total fungal count ranged from the least count 3.00±1.1547×102 cfu/ml to 6.3.0±1.1547×102 cfu/ml in up and down stream respectively. Esherichia coli, Salmonella, Klebsiella, Proteus, Shigella, Citrobacter, Enterobacter and Staphylococcus aureus were confirmed by cultural, morphological and biochemical characterization of the isolates. Physicochemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solid, suspended solid, salinity, nitrate, phosphate, sulphate, alkalinity and heavy metals content of the water sample of Ikpoba were analyzed. The result showed the river is contaminated with microorganisms which could be of public health safety.
