Abstract
Using the membrane filtration technique to count total coliform (TC), fecal coliform (FC) and fecal streptococci (FS), the microbiological water quality of the Mfoundi River and four of its representative tributaries at Yaoundé, Cameroon, was assessed for human use and contact. Sampling was conducted so as to examine the potential origin of fecal contamination and how rainfall affects the measured concentrations of indicators organisms. Our results revealed that waters were not safe for human use or primary contact according to the standards for water quality established by the Word Health Organization (WHO). Indeed, these waters exhibited high concentrations of TC (Mean ± SD=5.6 × 108 ± 2.5 × 106 CFU/100 ml), FC (Mean ± SD=6.8 × 105 ± 2.4 × 103 CFU/100 ml) and FS (Mean ± SD=7.3 × 105 ± 2.1 × 103 CFU/100 ml) that varied with the sampling sites and points. FC/FS ratio suggested that this contamination was more from warm-blooded animals than humans and correlation analysis points to the role of rainfall as a contributing factor, which enhanced the bacterial numbers detected. We conclude that there is a great potential risk of infection for users of waters from the Mfoundi River and its tributaries at Yaoundé.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alsulami, A. A. and Yaseen, H. A.: 1991, ‘Bacteriological suitability of water from basra wells for drinking’, Water Sci. Technol. 24, 89–93.
APHA. 1992, Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater American Public Health Association, Washington, D.C.
Barcina, I., Arana, I., Iriberri, J. and Egea, L.: 1986, ‘Factors affecting the survival of E. coli in a river’, Hydrobiology 141, 249–253.
Bonnefont, J. L., Martin, Y. P. and Guiennet, B.: 1990, ‘Etudes expérimentales sur la survie en milieu marin des bactéries fécales des eaux usées urbaines’, Water Res. 24, 267–273.
Brion, G. M. and Lingireddy, S.: 1999, ‘A neural network approach to identifying non-point sources of microbial contamination’, Water. Res. 33, 3099–3106.
Daby, D., Turner, J. and Jago, C.: 2002, ‘Microbial and nutrient pollution of coastal bathing waters in mauritius’, Environ. Int. 27, 555–566.
Donderski, W. and Wilk, I.: 2002, ‘The sanitary state of water in the river vistula between wyszogrod and torun’, Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 11, 509–515.
Edwards, D. R., Coyne, M. S., Vendrell, P. F., Daniel, T. C., Moore, P. A. and Murdoch, J. F.: 1997, ‘Fecal coliform and streptococcus concentrations in runoff from grazed pastures in northwest arkansas’, J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc. 33, 413–422.
Fernandez-Molina, M. C., Alvarez, A. and Espigares, M.: 2004, ‘Presence of hepatitis a virus in water and its relationship with indicators of fecal contamination’, Water Air Soil Poll. 159, 197–208.
Gannon, J. J., Busse, M. K. and Schillinger, J. E.: 1983, ‘Fecal coliform disappearance in a river impoundment’, Water Res. 17, 1595–1601.
Gerba, C. P.: 2000, ‘Indicator microorganisms’, in: R. M. Maier, I. L. Pepper and C. P. Gerba (eds) Environmental microbiology. Academic Press, New York, p 491–503.
Godfree, A. F., Kay, D. and Wyer, M. D.: 1997, ‘Fecal streptococci as indicators of fecal contamination in water’, J. Appl. Microbiol. 83, 110–119.
Goñi-Urriza, M., Capdepuy, M., Raymond, N., Quentin, C. and Caumette, P.: 1999, ‘Impact of an urban effluent on the bacterial community structure in the Arga River (Spain), with special reference to culturable Gram-negative rods’, Can. J. Microbiol. 45, 826–832.
Howell, J. M., Coyne, M. S. and Cornelius, P. L.: 1996, ‘Effect of sediment particle size and temperature on fecal bacteria mortality rates and the fecal coliform/fecal streptococci ratio’, J. Environ. Qual. 25, 1216–1220.
Jugnia, L.-B. and Nsimé-Ngando, T.: 2001, ‘An assessment of the impact of Mingoa stream input to the bacteriological quality of the Municipal Lake of Yaoundé (Cameroon)’, Water Resour. Manag. 15, 203–209.
Mc Cambridge, J. and McMeekin, T.: 1981, ‘Effect of solar radiation and predacious microorganisms on survival of fecal and other bacteria’, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 1083–1087.
McBride, G. B., Salmon, C. E., Bandaranayake, D. R., Turner, S. J., Lewis, G. D. and Till, D. G.: 1998, ‘Health effects of marine bathing in New Zealand’, Int. J. Environ. Heal. Res. 3, 173–189.
Murray, K. S., Fisher, L. E., Therrien, J., George, B. and Gillespie, J.: 2001, ‘Assessment and use of indicator bacteria to determine sources of pollution to an urban river’, J. Great Lakes Res 27, 220–229.
Olivieri, V. P.: 1982, ‘Bacterial Indicators of Pollution’, in: W. O. Pipes (ed) Bacterial indicators of pollution. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, p 21–41.
Pathak, S. P., Bhattacherjee, J. W. and Ray, P. K.: 1993, ‘Seasonal variation in survival and antibiotic resistance among various bacterial populations in a tropical river’, J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol. 39, 47–56.
Pernthaler, J., Glöckner, F.-O., Unterholzner, S., Alfreider, A., Psenner, R. and Amann, R.: 2000, ‘Seasonal community and population dynamics of pelagic bacteria and archaea in a high mountain lake’, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64, 4299–4306.
Prüss, A.: 1998, ‘Review of epidemiological studies on health effects from exposure to recreational water’, Int. J. Epidemiol. 27, 1–9.
Sall, J., Lehman, A. and Creighton, L.: 2001, JMP start statistics A guide to statistics and data analysis using JMP and JMP IN software SAS Institute Inc., Carey, N.C.
Servais, P. and Billen, G.: 1990, ‘Le contrôle de la qualité bactériologique des eaux de baignades’, Tribune de l'eau 543, 23–28.
SigmaPlotβ 7. 2001, Exact Graphs for Exact Science: Users Manual SPSS Science Inc., Chicago.
Solo-Gabriele, H. M., Wolfert, M. A., Desmarais, T. R. and Palmer, C. J.: 2000, ‘Sources of Escherichia coli in a coastal subtropical environment’, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66, 230–237.
Suchel, B.: 1987, ‘Les climats du Cameroun’. Th. Doct. Univ., Bordeaux III, pp 1186.
Troussellier, M., Got, P., Bouvy, M., M'Boup, M., Arfi, R., Lebihan, F., Monfort, P., Corbin, D. and Bernard, C.: 2004, ‘Water quality and health status of the Senegal River estuary’, Mar. Pol. Bull. 48, 852–862.
Van Asperen, I. A., Medema, G. J., Borgdorff, M. W., Sprenger, M. J. W. and Havelaar, A. H.: 1998, ‘Risk of gastroenteritis among triathletes in relation to faecal pollution of fresh waters’, Int. J. Epidemiol. 27, 309–315.
Van der Steen, P., Brenner, A., Shabtal, Y. and Oron, G.: 2000, ‘Improved fecal coliform decay in integrated duckweed and algal ponds’, Wat. Sci. Technol. 42, 363–370.
WHO. 1998, Guidelines for safe recreational-water environments WHO/EOS/98, Geneva.
Zamxaka, M., Pironcheva, G. and Muyima, N.: 2004, ‘Microbiological and physico-chemical assessment of the quality of domestic water sources in selected rural communities of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa’, Water SA 30, 333–340.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Djuikom, E., Njine, T., Nola, M. et al. Microbiological water quality of the Mfoundi River watershed at Yaoundé, Cameroon, as inferred from indicator bacteria of fecal contamination. Environ Monit Assess 122, 171–183 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-005-9172-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-005-9172-7