Bacteriological Quality Assessment of Irrigation Water and Irrigated vegetables in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria

Three water sampling points with their corresponding vegetable production sites along the river Ngada, Maiduguri were selected for the study. A control vegetable production site was also selected. Samples were replicated three times at each sampling points to determine the bacteriological quality of irrigation water and irrigated vegetables using standard methods of analysis. The faecal coliform count for the irrigation water ranged between 6.35 × 103 and 92.1 × 103 cfu/100ml and the faecal coliform count of the irrigated vegetables ranged between 0.02 × 102 and 19.05 × 102 cfu/100g. The results demonstrated that the irrigation water and irrigated vegetables were heavily polluted with faecal material which were above the recommended standard values of less than 1000 feacal coliform/100ml and 1000 faecal coliform/100g set by World Health Organization (W.H.O). The results also showed the presence of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus Spp, Shigella Spp, Klebsiella, and Salmonella Spp in the irrigation water and irrigated vegetable samples. All these bacteria are of public health significance and their presence indicate feacal contamination. It is recommended that wastewater from Maiduguri main abattoir be treated before discharging into the receiving river Ngada. It is also recommended that irrigated vegetables are washed thoroughly with brine before consumption. Keywords: Bacteriological, Irrigation, Vegetable, River Ngada, Contamination, water sample and Abattoi