The Bacteriological Assessment of Two Dumpsites in the City of Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VI, Issue IV, April 2019 | ISSN 2321–2705

The Bacteriological Assessment of Two Dumpsites in the City of Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria

A. B. Ogunleye, J. O. Akinneye

Department of Biology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

Abstract:-The air quality near dumping sites is generally very poor and may be harmful to scavengers, waste handlers and to the people living in that vicinity through contact with, and inhalation of bioaerosls released by bacteria during the process of microbial waste decomposition. Hence, the bacteriological assessment of two dumpsites in the City of Akure, Igbatoro and Oke-Aro dumpsites was carried out by exposing the Petri dishes containing Nutrient Agar (NA) and Eosin Methylene Blue Agar (EMB) to the air at variable distances (i.e. 0m which is the dumpsite, 50m, 100m, 150m, 200m, 250m and 300m (which is the nearest residential area) at different time intervals (5mins, 15mins and 25mins) in replicates during the dry and rainy seasons. This assessment was done in order to isolate and identify possible pathogenic bacteria, to determine the effect of time of exposure and distance on the bacterial colony count around the two dumpsites during the dry and rainy seasons, and the effect of seasonal variation on the types and population of bacteria found around the two dumpsites. It was observed that Seven different bacteria genera were isolated, namely Pseudomonas, Serratia, Escherichia, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Klebsiella and Bacillus.Staphylococcus aureus (31.75%) had the highest frequency of occurrence in Igbatoro dumpsite during the dry season, with Serratia sp(3.17%) having the least occurrence. The bacterial colony count showed that the colony count decreased with increasing distance away from the dumpsites with the highest count observed at 25mins. From this study, it is obvious that time and distance influenced the level of exposure to the bacteria found around the dumpsites i.e. the highest number of colonies were recorded at 25 minutes, whereas the lowest colonies were recorded at the longest distance away from the dumpsites. Upon completion of this study, it is therefore recommended that dumpsites should be sited very far away from residential areas.

Keywords- Dumpsites, Akure, Bacteria, Season, Air, Distance, Time.

I. INTRODUCTION

Environmental pollution from uncontrolled solid waste disposal is of major concern and generates chemicals or pollutants that contaminates the soil, groundwater resources, and even the ambient air. The decomposition of waste into constituent chemicals is a common source of local environmental pollution. This problem is especially acute in developing nations with very few existing dumpsites meeting acceptable environmental standards [1].

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