Assessment of Physicochemical and Microbiological Quality of Table Water Sold in School Campuses of the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Water is the elixir of life which is essential for proper metabolic processes to take place. The quest for cheap and readily available source of potable water has led to the emergence of sachet and bottle water which the sale and consumption continue to grow astronomically and rapidly in most countries of the world. This study was aimed at assessing the microbial and physicochemical water quality of table water sold on School campuses. Standard microbiological procedures were used to isolate and identify various microbial genera associated with the water samples using morphological, microscopic and biochemical characterization method. The bacterial genera identified were Escherichia sp., Streptococcus sp., Micrococcus sp., Vibrio cholera., Staphylococcus sp. and Bacillus sp. with Choba campus having the highest microbial contamination of packaged water. However, the results of the physicochemical properties from this study were all below the WHO recommended limits. The temperature and pH ranged between 26-27°C and 6.98-7.08, respectively. The values of the electrical conductivity ranged from 0.080 to 0.150 µs/cm; turbidity ranged between 0.40-1.40 NTU; chloride ranged between 1.187-2.103 mg/l, nitrate was within the range of 0.01 to 0.14 mg/l; BOD ranged from 0.02-0.04 mg/l, COD was between 0.00-0.08 mg/l and the total soluble solids were between the ranges of 0.04-0.10 mg/l. Therefore, this study suggests the improvement of water-borne disease preventive and control measures, and monitoring of water quality by the regulatory agencies to ensure good manufacturing practices by the water bottling companies which will result in reduction of health hazards associated with water borne diseases.