Bacteriological characterization of drinking water sources in villages of West Kordofan, Sudan

Abstract

Monitoring of the quality of water and applying corrective measures to polluted water before drinking are some of the very important aspects in controlling and managing the water quality. The microbiological quality of drinking water may deteriorate during transportation in mains and in distribution network. The deterioration may be due either to regrowth of bacteria in the water supply systems or during storage in reservoirs, where water is often handled hygienically. To examine the sanitary indicator bacteria for the different sitesof water sources and water storage reservoirs, forty eight water samples were collected from different sources (dug wells, cement reservoirs, surface water and household containers) during the period April to September 2009 in a sequence of two samples per month for each source. Samples were delivered to the microbiology laboratory within a maximum of six hours of their collection. Membrane filtration technique was used for counting total coliform, faecal coliform and faecal streptococci. The results showed that extremely high levels of total coliform were detected at each sample location compared to other faecal pollution indicators and total bacterial counts for all samples showed positive results in the four examined sources, concerning the seasonality high counts were observed in April, May and June except for household containers, which registered low count for the six months of examinations. These results suggest faecal pollution of the water sources, and imply that these water sources pose a serious health risk to consumers