Microbial contamination of hand-dug wells in a sub-urban area of Ondo State Nigeria

Water is highly essential for the proper functioning of life, necessitating the Sustainable Development Goals (sixth goal) which is aimed at achieving clean water and sanitation. Unfortunately, most sub-urban areas of developing nations lack access to potable water. This study aimed at determining the physico-chemical characteristics of water from hand-dug wells; isolating; identifying and determining the antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial isolates obtained from water samples from hand-dug wells used by dwellers in a sub-urban area of Ondo State, Nigeria. Using a cross-sectional study design, water samples were collected from fifty hand-dug wells selected based on accessibility and conveyed aseptically using ice packs to the laboratory where physicochemical and microbiological analyses were conducted using appropriate techniques. The bacterial isolates obtained were identified and subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility test using disc diffusion technique. Physico-chemical analyses revealed that most of the samples were turbid, though conductivity and total dissolved solids were within World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limits, however pH and calcium was not within World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limits. A total of sixty-four bacteria isolates were obtained from the samples. Some of the genera identified included Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp. etc. The antimicrobial susceptibility test revealed that most of the bacterial isolates were resistant to the conventional antibiotics used. The presence of enteric organisms in these samples is an indication of faecal pollution which is a health concern, more worrisome is the resistance of these organisms to conventional antibiotics necessitating the need for provision of clean clear and potable water especially in these areas.