Abstract

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Borehole water supplies within residential settings in southern Nigeria are a major source of drinking water for low- and middle-class families. This study was designed to assess the water quality, phenotypic characterization and antibiogram profiling of bacteria isolated from some borehole water supplies within residential environments in Elele, Rivers State, Nigeria, that low and some middle-class families rely on as their source of drinking water. A total of 30 borehole water samples were collected at various geo-referenced points and subjected to physicochemical analysis and bacteriological before antibiotic susceptibility tests using standard methods. Results of the physicochemical analysis revealed that most water quality parameters fell within the safe limits of the World Health Organization (WHO) except for chromium (2∙0mg/L) and fluoride (25-100mg/L) which were above their permissible limits of 0∙05 and 1∙5 mg/L respectively. Predominant pathogenic bacteria; Escherichia coli (7, 50∙0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae ssp pneumoniae (2, 14∙3 %), and Enterobacter spp (5, 35∙7 %) experimentally annotated and confirmed by the VITEK® 2 Compact system, were all multidrug-resistant, MDR (100 %), phenotypes. However, this study unveiled the high rate of sensitivity (100%) for Klebsiella pneumoniae ssp pneumoniae and Enterobacter spp to ofloxacin, streptomycin and gentamycin 100 % resistance to meropenem and chloramphenicol. E. coli showed varying sensitivity and resistance levels to the test antibiotics. This study therefore, offers insight to the diversity of the predominant MDR bacterial phenotypes in borehole water within the study area and the use of ofloxacin, streptomycin and gentamycin in the treatment of waterborne infections caused by MDR Klebsiella pneumoniae ssp pneumoniae and Enterobacter spp within the study area. Also, regular evaluation of chromium and fluorine levels in these water supplies is needed to encourage the early development of an intervention strategy once detected above the WHO permissible limit.

Keywords: Borehole water, WHONET software, multidrug-resistant bacteria