No abstract

A large amount of crude oil is spilled annually into the terrestrial and aquatic environments in Nigeria. This tends to upset the natural equilibrium of the marine environment as a microbial habitat. Thus, there is a need to evaluate the effect of exposure to crude oil on bacterial load and diversity using Iko River and Odoro Ikot pond as the study and pristine sites respectively. The bacterial isolates were molecularly identified using the 16S rRNA sequencing protocol. The total heterotrophic bacterial count (THBC) in the surface water (SW), sub-surface water (SSW) and sediment segments of Iko River ranged from 2.23±0.87 to 9.67 ± 0.43 x 10 6 CFU/ML while the THBC in the SW, SSW and sediment segments of the pristine site (Odoro Ikot pond) ranged from 1.87±0.53 to 4.8± 0.04x10 6 CFU/ML. The sediment had a significantly higher (P<0.05) THBC than the water segments (SW and SSW) in both Iko River and Odoro Ikot pond. The hydrocarbon utilizing bacteria (HUB) count in Odoro Ikot pond ranged from 0.

The risk of microbiological and physicochemical contamination of rainwater especially during collection and storage has long been a persistent challenge. This study was carried out to assess the quality of rainwater used within communities in Calabar. Rainwater samples were aseptically collected from three locations within Calabar; Atimbo, Etta Agbo and Calabar South, the samples were analysed for total heterotrophic bacterial (THB), total fungi (TF), and total coliform (TC). The average total heterotrophic bacterial counts were 1.22x10 6 cfu/ml for samples from Atimbo, 1.01x10 6 cfu/ml in samples from Calabar South and 1.56x10 6 cfu/ml in the samples from Etta Agbo. The total fungal counts produced insignificant results in the three samples analysed. The highest total coliform count was obtained in rainwater harvested from Calabar South (2.05x10 6 cfu/ml), followed by Etta Agbo (1.92x10 6 cfu/ml) while Atimbo had the lowest count of 1.66x10 6 cfu/ml. The physicochemical characteristics of the three samples analysed indicate that the rain water was physically not suitable for drinking and other domestic and industrial use, but chemically fit for adequate utilisation.