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Water quality is made up of physical, chemical and biological factors which influence the use of water for domestic purposes. Industrial and municipal solid and liquid wastes are being continuously leached into water reservoirs, thereby affecting its potability for domestic use. In this study, the physicochemical, bacteriological and parasitological evaluation of selected well water samples in Awka and its environment were evaluated during wet season. Standard methods for physicochemical, bacteriological and parasitological analyses were employed. Physicochemical analysis was done using standard analytical methods; bacteriological analysis was determined by dilution and membrane filtration techniques. Parasitological analysis was done using the centrifugation method. The result showed that 86.67% of the pH values were acidic,  6.67% of nitrate, 33.33% of phosphate, 20% of cadmium, 73.33% of lead, 26.67% of arsenic, 20% of iron, 100% of bacteria and parasites exceeded the WHO maximum containment level goal for domestic water while other parameters were within WHO standards for domestic water. The most polluted of all the well water samples is Aka well water while the least polluted is Emeka and Aqua well waters. S. typhi had the highest frequency of isolation (25.45%) while Bacillus subtilis had the least (1.56%). Diplostomum parasite had the highest frequency of isolation (42.86%) while Ichthyobodo and Chilodonella had the least (28.57% respectively). Since some of the physicochemical, bacteriological and parasitological parameters had values above World Health Organization admissible limits; governments, health and environmental experts must rectify (through water treatments and better sanitary practices) and enlighten the residents to prevent epidemics.

Aims: To determine multiple degradation and resistance capabilities of marine bacteria isolated from Rivers State, Nigeria on petroleum pollutants and heavy metals. Study Design: Nine treatments and the controls designs were set up in triplicates containing              100 mL of sterile modified mineral basal medium in 250 mL conical flasks supplemented with 50, 100, 200 and 300 ppm of xylene, anthracene and pyrene each; 1 % of other petroleum pollutants and 300 ppm of heavy metals, nine marine hydrocarbon degraders and incubated at 24ºC for 5 - 7 days. The nine treatments and controls set ups designated as ANT1, XYL2, PYR3, ANT4, PYR5, ANT6, XYL7, XYL8, PYR9 and CTRL (Without hydrocarbons) were used to determine the multiple degradability of the marine bacteria.   Place and Duration of Study: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli Nigeria between September, 2014 and March, 2017. Methodology: A laboratory scale study was carried on six composite samples of the sediment and water samples from the three studied areas using enrichment, screening, selection, molecular, growth effect and substrate specificity techniques. Results: The findings revealed that screening and selection for the indigenous bacterial isolates from the three studied areas resulted in the isolation of nine out of forty eight (9/48) of the potent strains representing 18.75 % of the total isolates with significant (P = .05) multiple degradation and resistance potentials but with different efficiencies on xylene, anthracene and pyrene, other petroleum products and heavy metals at 50 – 300 pm and 1 %. All the nine potent strains were fully characterized molecularly and phylogenetically and belong to the genera: Providencia, Alcaligenes, Brevundimonas, Myroides, Serratia, and Bacillus. Conclusion: Thus, these selected potent bacterial strains could significantly contribute in the development of a cost - effective bioremediation process on aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals contaminated environments in Nigeria.

Medicinal plants are used by almost 80% of the world’s population for their basic health care because of their low cost and ease in availability. In the last few decades, many bacteria have continued to show increasing resistance against current antibiotics. Aim: In this study, phytochemical screening and antibacterial effects of conventional antibiotics, garlic and ginger on test isolates from fish pond water samples were evaluated between May-November, 2019. Methods: Standard methods for phytochemical screening and antibacterial analysis were employed. Results: The results showed that amongst the antibiotics used for susceptibility test, Amoxicilin (30 µg) was mostly resisted by all the bacterial isolates except Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Salmonella typhi while erythromycin (10 µg) was unable to inhibit Bacillus subtilis. Ciprofloxacin (10 µg) and pefloxacin (10 µg) inhibited the growth of all the isolates except Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The test isolates showed variable susceptibility to the garlic and ginger extracts (ethanol, methanol and hot water). The extracts inhibited the isolates in descending order; ginger ethanol > ginger methanol > garlic methanol > ginger hot water > garlic ethanol > garlic hot water. Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio cholerae and Staphylococcus aureus showed little resistant to the extracts while these extracts showed better activity on Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis. Synergistic effect of garlic and ginger (500mg/ml) inhibited the growth of all the isolates with ethanol extracts having the highest zone diameter (29 mm) on Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis while hot water extracts had the least zone of inhibition (18 mm) on Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentration for ethanol, methanol and hot water extracts ranged from 31.25mg/ml to 62.5mg/ml and 62.5mg/ml to 125mg/ml respectively. Conclusion: The outcomes of susceptibility experiment depicted that ethanol and methanol extracts of garlic and ginger (each alone and in combination) showed more inhibitory effect than aqueous extracts and also the combination of ethanol, methanol and aqueous extracts resulted in inhibitory effect greater than each of the extracts when used singly. The use of ginger and garlic for control of fish pathogens appears to be justified.

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