Water as excellent natural resource is meant to be of good quality to prevent the outbreak of water-borne diseases. The physical, chemical and biological qualities of water constitute groundwater quality. Water of poor physicochemical quality may have adverse effects on human health and the economy. The physicochemical evaluation of fifteen borehole waters in mile 50 Abakaliki was carried out during the rainy and dry seasons to determine their suitability for drinking using standard analytical methods. During the rainy season, the temperature was 28-30°C; pH, 6.63-8.51; dissolved solids, 1.04-17.01 mg/l; total suspended solids, 0.09-0.98 mg/l; total solids, 1.14-17.99 mg/l; electrical conductivity, 107-328 us/cm; turbidity, 1.27NTU-2.60 NTU total alkalinity, 27.68-82.23 mg/l; total hardness, 70.20-150.84 mg/l; total chloride, 67.30-124.14 mg/l; calcium hardness, 24.50-53.58 mg/l; magnesium hardness, 39.40-97.26 mg/l; sulphate, 30.03-61.88 mg/l; phosphate, 0.25-6.71 mg/l; potassium, 0.00-8.04 mg/l; nitrate, 1.16-8.03 mg/l; iron, 0.00-0.26 mg/l; lead, 0.00-0.05 mg/l; cadmium, 0.00-0.04 mg/l; copper, 0.00-0.23mg/l; chromium, 0.00-0.05 mg/l and zinc, 0.07-2.15 mg/l. During the dry season the temperature was 27-29°C; pH, 6.40-7.75; electrical conductivity, 24-149 us/cm; dissolved solids, 0.10-2.03 mg/l; total suspended solids, 0.02-0.29 mg/l; total solids, 0.13-2.64 mg/l; turbidity, 0.61NTU-1.90 total alkalinity, 19.96-55.97 mg/l; total hardness, 49.61-82.35 mg/l; total chloride, 26.31-80.72 mg/l; calcium hardness, 5.63-29.30 mg/l; magnesium hardness, 30.54-67.30 mg/l; sulphate, 13.88-39.18 mg/l; phosphate, 0.07-3.18 mg/l; potassium, 0.00-4.73 mg/l; nitrate, 0.44-4.95 mg/l; iron, 0.00-0.16 mg/l; lead, 0.00-0.02 mg/l; cadmium, 0.00-0.02 mg/l ; copper, 0.00-0.15 mg/l; chromium, 0.00-0.03 mg/l and zinc, 0.02-0.64 mg/l during the dry season. From the average 7% of cadmium and 33% of lead in the water samples were above the NIS required limits of 0.003 and 0.01mg/l respectively. Generally, the water from the borehole was of poor physicochemical quality and must be treated adequately before being used by humans.

Medicinal plants are used by almost 80% of the world’s population for their basic health care because of their low cost and ease in availability. In the last few decades, many bacteria have continued to show increasing resistance against current antibiotics. Aim: In this study, phytochemical screening and antibacterial effects of conventional antibiotics, garlic and ginger on test isolates from fish pond water samples were evaluated between May-November, 2019. Methods: Standard methods for phytochemical screening and antibacterial analysis were employed. Results: The results showed that amongst the antibiotics used for susceptibility test, Amoxicilin (30 µg) was mostly resisted by all the bacterial isolates except Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Salmonella typhi while erythromycin (10 µg) was unable to inhibit Bacillus subtilis. Ciprofloxacin (10 µg) and pefloxacin (10 µg) inhibited the growth of all the isolates except Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The test isolates showed variable susceptibility to the garlic and ginger extracts (ethanol, methanol and hot water). The extracts inhibited the isolates in descending order; ginger ethanol > ginger methanol > garlic methanol > ginger hot water > garlic ethanol > garlic hot water. Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio cholerae and Staphylococcus aureus showed little resistant to the extracts while these extracts showed better activity on Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis. Synergistic effect of garlic and ginger (500mg/ml) inhibited the growth of all the isolates with ethanol extracts having the highest zone diameter (29 mm) on Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis while hot water extracts had the least zone of inhibition (18 mm) on Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentration for ethanol, methanol and hot water extracts ranged from 31.25mg/ml to 62.5mg/ml and 62.5mg/ml to 125mg/ml respectively. Conclusion: The outcomes of susceptibility experiment depicted that ethanol and methanol extracts of garlic and ginger (each alone and in combination) showed more inhibitory effect than aqueous extracts and also the combination of ethanol, methanol and aqueous extracts resulted in inhibitory effect greater than each of the extracts when used singly. The use of ginger and garlic for control of fish pathogens appears to be justified.

A fish pond with recommended water quality will produce healthy fishes. Fish ponds with poor water quality will cause fish mortality and outbreak of diseases to fish consumers. Physicochemical analysis was done using standard analytical methods, the total bacterial count was determined by dilution and membrane filtration techniques. Parasitological analysis was done using the centrifugation method. A total of fifteen well waters were sampled during wet season. Results showed that the temperature ranged from 27°C to 29°C, pH, 6.21 to 8.15; dissolved oxygen, 4.28 mg/l to 5.78 mg/l, electrical conductivity, 166.36 µs/cm to 394.00 µs/cm; total dissolved solids, 41 mg/l to 121 mg/l; total suspended solids, 1.00 mg/l to 19.40 mg/l; total solids, 42.00 mg/l to 140.4 mg/l; turbidity values, 7.01 NTU to 10.36 NTU; nitrate, 3.10 mg/l to 28.00 mg/l; total alkalinity, 36 mg/l to 91 mg/l; phosphate, 1.26 mg/l to 13.11 mg/l; sulphate, 0.39 mg/l to 4.37 mg/l; total chloride, 7.08 mg/l to 14.19 mg/l; carbonates, 1.33 mg/l to 2.35 mg/l; bicarbonates, 34.59 mg/l to 89.38 mg/l; total hardness, 25.31 mg/l to 53.04 mg/l; calcium hardness, 23.94 mg/l to 51.96 mg/l; magnesium hardness, 1.08 mg/l to 4.20 mg/l; total acidity, 2 mg/l to 22 mg/l; potassium, 0.04 mg/l to 2.23 mg/l; cadmium, 0.00 mg/l to 0.04 mg/l; lead, 0.01 mg/l - 0.16 mg/l; chromium, 0.00 mg/l - 0.03 mg/l; mercury was not detected, copper, 0.00 mg/l - 0.04 mg/l; arsenic, 0.00 mg/l - 0.02 mg/l; zinc, 0.00 mg/l to 0.02 mg/l; iron, 0.01 mg/l - 1.19 mg/l. The total bacterial counts ranged from 3.60-4.12 log cfu/ml; total coliforms, 14-46 cfu/100ml, Vibrio cholerae, 0-11 cfu/100ml; Vibrio parahaemolyticus, 0-15 cfu/100ml; faecal coliform, 1-9 cfu/100 ml; Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, 0-8 cfu/100 ml; Bacillus subtilis, 0-9 cfu/ml; Staphylococcus aureus, 0-5 cfu/ml; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 0-12 cfu/100 ml; Pseudomonas fluorescens, 0-12 cfu/100 ml and Clostridium perfringens were not detected in any of the samples. Twelve bacterial species namely Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Bacillus subtilis, Shigella flexineri and Salmonella typhi were isolated and identified using standard analytical and molecular procedures. Parasites identified were Ichthyobodo species, Diplostomum species, Myxobolus species, Chilodonella species, Bothriocephalus species, Ambiphrya species and Leech species. Salmonella typhi had the highest frequency of isolation (20.63%) while Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Staphylococcus aureus had the lowest frequency of isolation (2.83%). Ichthyobodo species had the highest frequency of isolation (21.43%) while Leech species had the lowest frequency of isolation (5.71%). Some of the physicochemical, bacteriological and parasitological parameters had values above World Health Organization admissible limits and therefore proper sanitary practices and water treatments must be employed to prevent epidemic among fish consumers.

Water as excellent natural resource is meant to be of high quality to reduce the outbreak of water-borne diseases. Bacteriological load of some borehole water samples in Mile 50 Abakaliki were carried out to determine their potability. Fifteen borehole water samples were sampled during rainy and dry season from June to July and November to December 2018 respectively. The total bacterial count was determined by tenfold serial dilution method using peptone water. Eight bacterial species namely Vibrio cholerae, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Shigella flexineri, Proteus vulgaris and Klebsiella  pneumoniaewere isolated using standard analytical procedures. The bacterium that had the highest frequency of occurrence during both rainy and dry season’s was K. pneumoniae with percentage frequency of  21.81% and 20.79%  respectively, and P. vulgaris had the least value of 6.96% during rainy season. E. coli and S. aureus have the least value of 5.94% during dry season. Amoxicillin (30ug) was mostly resisted by the bacterial isolates why being was more susceptible to Ciprofloxacin (10ug) among the antibiotics used for susceptibility test. Two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the level of significance among the bacteriological analyses of both seasons. Therefore, there is need to create awareness about the present situation of the borehole waters and the necessity for further treatment of water by consumers, before it can be used for both drinking and domestic purposes to prevent disease outbreak in the area.