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Temporal Variations in Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Characteristics of Mvudi River, South Africa

Surface water has been a source of domestic water due to shortage of potable water in most rural areas. This study was carried out to evaluate the level of contamination of Mvudi River in South Africa by measuring turbidity, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, concentrations of nitrate, fluoride, chlo...

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Autores principales: Edokpayi, Joshua N., Odiyo, John O., Msagati, Titus A.M., Potgieter, Natasha
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4410237/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25874683
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120404128
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author Edokpayi, Joshua N.
Odiyo, John O.
Msagati, Titus A.M.
Potgieter, Natasha
author_facet Edokpayi, Joshua N.
Odiyo, John O.
Msagati, Titus A.M.
Potgieter, Natasha
author_sort Edokpayi, Joshua N.
collection PubMed
description Surface water has been a source of domestic water due to shortage of potable water in most rural areas. This study was carried out to evaluate the level of contamination of Mvudi River in South Africa by measuring turbidity, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, concentrations of nitrate, fluoride, chloride, and sulphate. E. coli and Enterococci were analysed using membrane filtration technique. Average pH, EC and Turbidity values were in the range of 7.2–7.7, 10.5–16.1 mS/m and 1.3–437.5 NTU, respectively. The mean concentrations of fluoride, chloride, nitrate and sulphate for both the wet and the dry seasons were 0.11 mg/L and 0.27 mg/L, 9.35 mg/L and 14.82 mg/L, 3.25 mg/L and 6.87 mg/L, 3.24 mg/L and 0.70 mg/L, respectively. E. coli and Enterococci counts for both the wet and the dry seasons were 4.81 × 10(3) (log = 3.68) and 5.22 × 10(3) (log = 3.72), 3.4 × 10(3) (log = 3.53) and 1.22 × 10(3) (log = 3.09), per 100 mL of water, respectively. The count of E. coli for both seasons did not vary significantly (p > 0.05) but Enterococci count varied significantly (p < 0.001). All the physico-chemical parameters obtained were within the recommended guidelines of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry of South Africa and the World Health Organization for domestic and recreational water use for both seasons except turbidity and nitrates. The microbiological parameters exceeded the established guidelines. Mvudi River is contaminated with faecal organisms and should not be used for domestic purposes without proper treatment so as to mitigate the threat it poses to public health.
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spelling pubmed-44102372015-05-05 Temporal Variations in Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Characteristics of Mvudi River, South Africa Edokpayi, Joshua N. Odiyo, John O. Msagati, Titus A.M. Potgieter, Natasha Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Surface water has been a source of domestic water due to shortage of potable water in most rural areas. This study was carried out to evaluate the level of contamination of Mvudi River in South Africa by measuring turbidity, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, concentrations of nitrate, fluoride, chloride, and sulphate. E. coli and Enterococci were analysed using membrane filtration technique. Average pH, EC and Turbidity values were in the range of 7.2–7.7, 10.5–16.1 mS/m and 1.3–437.5 NTU, respectively. The mean concentrations of fluoride, chloride, nitrate and sulphate for both the wet and the dry seasons were 0.11 mg/L and 0.27 mg/L, 9.35 mg/L and 14.82 mg/L, 3.25 mg/L and 6.87 mg/L, 3.24 mg/L and 0.70 mg/L, respectively. E. coli and Enterococci counts for both the wet and the dry seasons were 4.81 × 10(3) (log = 3.68) and 5.22 × 10(3) (log = 3.72), 3.4 × 10(3) (log = 3.53) and 1.22 × 10(3) (log = 3.09), per 100 mL of water, respectively. The count of E. coli for both seasons did not vary significantly (p > 0.05) but Enterococci count varied significantly (p < 0.001). All the physico-chemical parameters obtained were within the recommended guidelines of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry of South Africa and the World Health Organization for domestic and recreational water use for both seasons except turbidity and nitrates. The microbiological parameters exceeded the established guidelines. Mvudi River is contaminated with faecal organisms and should not be used for domestic purposes without proper treatment so as to mitigate the threat it poses to public health. MDPI 2015-04-14 2015-04 /pmc/articles/PMC4410237/ /pubmed/25874683 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120404128 Text en © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Edokpayi, Joshua N.
Odiyo, John O.
Msagati, Titus A.M.
Potgieter, Natasha
Temporal Variations in Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Characteristics of Mvudi River, South Africa
title Temporal Variations in Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Characteristics of Mvudi River, South Africa
title_full Temporal Variations in Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Characteristics of Mvudi River, South Africa
title_fullStr Temporal Variations in Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Characteristics of Mvudi River, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Temporal Variations in Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Characteristics of Mvudi River, South Africa
title_short Temporal Variations in Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Characteristics of Mvudi River, South Africa
title_sort temporal variations in physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics of mvudi river, south africa
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4410237/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25874683
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120404128
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