CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
According to McGhee (1991), a stream is a flow of water, which moves, in a particular direction into a river or drainage. Stream water is formed as a result of rainfall and runoff. It can also be called a small river. For many years, water in streams and other surface waters have been polluted by nature. Steams are turbid because of the silt and clay they transport as part of the earth’s erosion cycle.
Apart from stream water, there are other sources of water supply. They include well water (ground water), rivers, seas, oceans, rainfall, spring and reservoirs. Water generally is composed of different materials such as living organisms, solid organic substances and inorganic substances. But steam water is mainly of faecal materials, contaminated food and living organisms like bacterial organisms which cause diseases such as typhoid, paratyphoid, salmonellas, bacillary dysentery, cholera and Pontiac fever.
Virus organisms cause diseases associated with water and these are hepatitis, poliomyelitis and gastroenteritis attributable to Norwalk viruses and rotaviruses. Protozoans such as giardia and cryptosporiduim can cause gastroenteritis and they are very resistant to disinfectants. Certain fungi, notably schistosomiasis is human pathogens caused by worm, which result to liver fluke. A great majority of microorganisms are found in water most being of health significance. These organisms are transmitted primarily through faeces and urine of infected persons who one-way or the other discharge these organisms into the stream, thereby making it unfit for consumption (mokeinath, et al 1985).
1.1 AIM OF THE STUDY
The aim of the study is to determine the microbiological safety of Ileogu stream at G.R.A Enugu.
1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
i. To isolate bacterial contaminants of Ileogu stream at G.R.A Enugu.
ii. To determine if Ileogu steam is faecally contaminated
iii. To identify the bacterial types.
iv. To determine the microbial load of Ileogu stream.