Nigerian Journal of Microbiology, 2009, Vol.

, 23(1);1798-1803

Flood Water: A Veritable Source of Rural water Supply in South Eastern, Nigeria *Orji, M.U. and Anyaegbunam, B.C.
Department of Applied Microbiology and brewing Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.

Abstract Flood water was harvested and treated by passing it through a bed of sand filter activated carbon filter, chlorine chamber, spun polypropylene (Spp) domestic cartridge filters (5 micron 1 micron, 0.45 and 0.2 microns) in descending order. The treated water was analyzed using standard microbiological and physicochemical analytical methods. Odourless, colourless, tasteless and microbiologically safe water was obtained after the treatment. The total coliform, faecal coliform, sulfite reducing Clostridia and enterococci counts were zero after the treatment and Salmonella species were not isolated from the treated flood water. A scanty aerobic heterotrophic, bacterial count (<10cfu/ml) was however isolated and this was thought to be a later contamination of the treated water. The values of the chemical contents of the treated water were within the WHO and NIS standards for drinking water. Key words: Flood, harvesting, treatment , potable water. *Corresponding author: E-mail = mykorji@yahoo.com. Tel:+2348034539692 Introduction The supply of qualitative water in urban and rural communities has continued to be a big problem in many African countries including Nigeria. The Nigerian government with the assistance of World Bank and the European Union is making frantic effort to supply water to rural communities by sinking boreholes but this effort has achieved limited results in solving the perennial water problems in rural communities (Medie, 2005). Rain water harvesting is practiced in Nigeria as in many other African countries as a means of augumenting water availability for domestic chores. Nigeria receives heavy rain fall during the rainy season but less than 1% of the rain fall is harvested and utilized for domestic purposes. The rest of the flood water (about 99%) is lost as flood into the hydrogeological cycle (Okafor 1985; Egboka 1999). The hilly topography of many communities in Anambra State as in many other States of Nigeria encourage large volumes of rain water to gather and flow down the lower gradients as flood with high velocity which results in erosions (Strahler 1971). Erosion problem constitutes the greatest ecological disaster affecting many parts of south eastern Nigeria in general and Anambra State in particular. Several communities in Anambra state have various sites severely affected by erosion. The Nigerian government spends several billions of Naira each year to tackle ecological problems occasioned by flood, but has not included flood water management in the nations water policy. Flood water which has potential in water supply for domestic purposes has not been explored in Nigeria. This work was therefore aimed at harvesting and treating flood water to obtain water that is potentially safe for human consumption. Materials and methods Flood water collection Catchment pits were dug in a residential area and by the road side and flood water was channeled into the pits. The floor and the sides of the pits were cemented to minimize water loss through seepage, and the entrance into the catch pit was screened with wire mesh to impede the entrance of debris and other particulate matter.

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Four plastic water containers (4 litre capacity plastic tanks) were provided and serially connected to each other through plastic pipe fittings in such a way that water introduced into the first tank flows out through the opening at its bottom into the second tank through the opening at its top and water from the second tank flows into the third tank from bottom to top, while water from the third tank flows into the fourth tank from bottom to top across a range of spun polypropylene (spp) FDA grade domestic water filter cartridges with pores sizes, 5 micro, 1 micron, 0.45 and 0.2 micron, connected serially in this descending order. A 0.5HP water pump was installed between second and third tank and this facilitated the flow of water across the cartridge fitters into the fourth tank (treated water tank). Clean white sand of different sizes washed with chlorine water and respectively sacked in white nylon cloth sacks whose mouths were sewed thereafter were laid in the first tank. The second tank was the chemical treatment tank where chlorine (calcium hypochlorite) was introduced. The third tank was laid with activated carbon contained in nylon cloth sacks. The carbon comprised locally sourced charcoal made by burning palm kernel shells and activated carbon bought from the market shelf. The palm kernel carbon was soaked in acetic acid and later dried in the oven at 1600C for 3 hours. Flood water treatment Flood water was abstracted from the catchment pits into the first treatment tank (sand filter) using a 0.5HP water pump (PKM 60 model). The water passed from the first tank into the second tank where 50mg/l of calcium hypochlorite was added and the water held for two hours before it was pumped into the third tank that contained activated carbon filters. From here, the water flowed into the fourth tank (treated water tank) across the spun polypropylene (spp) micro water filter cartridges of different pore sizes (Gold sosafe brand).

Analysis of the treated water Triplicate samples of treated and untreated flood water were collected from the treated water tank and catchment pits respectively in 500ml sterile glass sample bottles with caps and transported to the laboratory for analysis. The membrane filtration (mf) method using M-Endo agar, membrane faecal coliform, (MFC) agar, membrane Clostridia (MC) agar and membrane enterococcus (M-E) agar was used to enumerate total coliform, faecal coliform, sulfite reducing Clostridia and enterococci counts of the treated and untreated flood water samples (Anon, 2000; Orji et al , 2006, Orji et al, 2007), while pour plate method using plate count agar (PCA) (Cheesbrough, 1993) was used to determine the total aerobic heterotrophic bacterial counts. Isolation of Salmonella from the water samples was done by culturing 100ml of the treated water in 300ml of selenite- F broth (Orji et al, 2005). The broth was incubated for 24h at 370C and used to inoculate plates of Salmonella Shigella agar (SSA). The SSA agar plates were incubated for 24h at 370C. The physicochemical properties of the water samples were determined with reference to World Health Organization (WHO, 1999) and Nigeria Industrial Standard (NIS, 2003) standard for drinking water. The pH was determined using a pH meter (model WTW Weiheim 88 68594) while the total hardness was determined by the EDTA titrating procedure. The total dissolved solids (TDS) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) were determined by the filtration and evaporation method (Mamta, 1999). The apparent and true colours of the samples were determined using the pt-co method (Mamta, 1999). The nitrate was determined by the colorimetric diazotization method and the sulphates by the persulfate uv oxidation method (Anon 1997). The chloride content was determined by the Mohrs method (APHA, 1991). Free residual chlorine was determined by the water test tablets comparator method (Anon 1999). The mineral elements were determined using

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Unican Sp 1700 Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. A sensory evaluation of taste and odour of the treated flood water was carried out by six-man volunteer taste panelist. The rating test method was used and scoring was done using a 2-point Hedonic scale (Peryam and Pilgrin 1959) in a well lit room at room temperature (300C). Each panelist was given a glass of the treated flood water at different intervals and asked to comment on the taste and odour of the samples by scoring the sample 2 If it has no taste or odour and 0 if it has taste or odour. Results and discussion The results of the total, aerobic, heterotrophic, bacterial count, the total coliform count, faecal coliform count, enterococci count and sulphite reducing Clostridia counts of the treated flood water, are presented in Table 1. The physicochemical properties of the treated flood water are shown in Table 2. The results showed that the physicochemical and microbiological qualities of the treated flood water are very much within the requirements recommended by NIS, (2003) standard for unpackaged potable water and WHO, (1999) guidelines on drinking water quality. This implies that the treated flood water was safe for human consumption. The results also showed a slight variation in the values and chemical contents of flood water collected from residential compounds and that harvested by the road side catchment pit. The slight

difference may be a consequence of the distance covered by the flood before it was harvested. This may be because the flood water gathered suspended and dissolved materials as it flowed and the longer the distance covered, the more the substances gathered. The slight increase in the value of nitrate in the treated flood water may be a consequence of the oxidation of ammonia to nitrate. The results also showed that clean, colourless, odourless water with high aesthetic values was obtained from the flood water after treatment. This is expected because filtration has for long been employed in municipal water purification (Okafor, 1985; Mendie, 2005). The micro spun polypropylene (Spp) cartridge filters with pore sizes ranging from 5 micron to 0.2 microns are known to be very efficient in water purification (Anon 2005). None isolation of coliform, faecal colform, sulfite reducing Clostridia, Salmonellae and enterococci from the treated water after incubation may be a function of the inclusion of chlorination and micro filteration in the treatment process. The isolation of scanty aerobic heterotrophic bacteria but not coliform or faecal coliform may be as a result of a later contamination of the treated water. The use of hypochlorite and spun polypropylene micro cartridge filters in municipal and residential water treatment have variously been recommended and reported (Atlas 1995; WHO, 1999; Mendie, 2005, Anon, 2005).

Table 1 Total bacterial counts of the treated and untreated flood water F1* F1 F2* F2 NIS Total aerobic hetrotrophic content 102 3 204 2 <100 cfu/100ml Total coliform cfu/100ml 9 0 28 0 Nil Faecal coliform cfu/100ml 7 0 16 0 Nil Sulfite reducing Clostridia cfu/100ml 0 0 0 0 Nil Enterococci Count Cfu/100ml 0 0 2 0 Nil F1* = untreated flood water collected from residential area catchment pit F1 = Treated flood water collected from residential area catchment pit F2 = Treated flood water collected by the road side catchment pit F2* = Untreated flood water collected by the road side catchment pit

WHO <100 Nil Nil Nil Nil

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Table 2: Physicochemical properties of treated and untreated flood water Physicochemical F1* F1 F2* F2 NIS Appearance Muddy Clear Muddy Clear Clear Temperature Ambient Ambient Ambient Ambient Colour TCU ND 4 ND 4 3-15 TCU Taste ND Tasteless ND Tasteless Unobjectionable Odourless Muddy Odourless Unobjectionable Odour Muddy Turbidity NTU ND 2 ND 3 5NTU pH 7.2 7.0 7.2 7.0 6.5-8.5 Total dissolved solid 120 25 133 30 500mg/l mg/L Total suspended 142 20 167 22 solid mg/l Total hardness mg/l ND 15 ND 20 100-150 Magnesium mg/l Chloride mg/l Sulphate mg/l Nitrate mg/l Iron mg/l Copper mg/L Residual chlorine mg/l 34 14 2 Nil Nil ND Nil 20 12 4 Nil Nil 0.2 0.2 64 26 4 0.1 Nil ND 0.2 50 20 7 0.03 Nil 0.2 0.2 100-250 100 10 0.03 1.0 0.1-0.2

WHO Clear 250c 3-25 TCU Tasteless Odourless 5-25 NTU 6.5-8.5 500ppm 75200ppm 30150ppm 100250ppm 100400ppm 5-10 0.1-0.3 0.05-1.5 0.1-0.2

F1* = Untreated flood water collected from residential area catchment pit F2* = untreated flood water collected by the road side catchment pit F1 = Treated flood water collected within residential areas catchment pit F2 = Treated flood water collected by the roadside catchment pit NIS= Nigeria Industrial Standard NIS 306 (2003) ND = not determined value in many of our communities could be The introduction of chlorine and converted to a product that has high activated carbon filter may have been economic value. The use of palm kernel responsible for the odourless property of the shells for the production of activated carbon treated water. Activated carbon filters are has been well documented (Wan-Dand, et known to remove colour, odour, or trench, al 2003 gaseous impurities including chlorine from The cost implication of converting water during water purification operations flood water to potable water safe for human (Mendie, 2005). The carbon is believed to use is within the reach of any average have assisted in bringing down the level of income earner in Nigeria. Many households free/residual chlorine (0.2mg/l) (Table2) in in Anambra State especially in erosion the treated flood water. Activated carbon prone communities have been using filters are commercially available in catchment pits to reduce the amount of Nigerian market (imported) at affordable flood that leaves their compound. If prices but carbon (charcoal) from palm households harvest flood water that flows kernel shells was also used in this study to out of their compound and treat it to get create the awareness that the heaps of potable water, less water will flow into the palm kernel shells that are of nuisance street and the roads as flood and erosion

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problem will be reduced. If government converts the big gully erosion sites to flood water receptacles by building fortress at the tail of the erosion site and do some civil engineering work within the site to minimize seepage and collapse of adjacent References Anon (1997)Hach Dr/890 Colorimeter procedures manual. Hach company Loveland, Colorado, USA. Anon (1999) Palintest tablets chloride/ozone determination manual Palintest Ltd. Plaintest House, England Anon (2000)Water Microbiology laboratory and field procedures. Millipore Corporation Bedford, M.A. Anon (2005)Gold so-safe water technologies Mimeograph So-safe water technologies consumer product division, so-safe product Inc. USA ALPHA (1991) Standard Methods for the Examination of water and th ed. American wastewater 17 Public Health Association, Washington DC Atlast, R.M. (1995) Treatment and safety of water supplies. In Microorganism in our world. Mosby year book Inc., USA pp. 753-758 Cheesbrough, M. (1993). Culturing of Microganisms. In medical Laboratory manual for tropical countries Vol. II. Butterworth Heinemann Ltd, Great Britain. pp. 40-50. Egboka, B.C. (1999). The Hydrogeologic (water) cycle. A sustainable holism of technological cum socio-economic environment. Inaugural lecture at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. Mamta, T. (1999). Quality Assessment of water and wastewater. Lewis Publisher, London. Mendie, U. (2005). Global water crises; Bulk Purified waters; In the theory and practice of clean water production for domestic and industrial use. Lacto-medals publishers Lagos, Nigeria pp. 17-19, 37-58.NIS 306 (2003). Nigeria

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