Bacteria Associated with Domestic Solid Waste Dump in Egbu, Owerri North Local Government Area in Imo State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The prevalence of bacteria in solid waste dump from domestic waste in Owerri was studied. Six samples were collected from Egbu community in Owerri North and examined bacteriologically using Nutrient agar and macconkey agar and were serially diluted, cultured, identified and characterized. Five genera of bacteria were isolated. They were Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella sp, Escherichia coli, lactobacillus sp and Corynebacterium sp and from the findings,Klebsiella exhibited the highest  number of bacterial activity (66.6%) while Corynebacterium and Iactobacillus exhibited the lowest number of bacterial activity (16.67%). Futhermore, location D had the highest total heterotropic bacterial count of 5.75x 10⁸ and the least was location E with 6.25x10⁷. The presence of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Cornebacteria and Klebsiella in the waste dump site is an indication that the contamination is of human and plant orign or their activities.

Keywords: Nutrient agar ,macconkey agar , Staphylococcus aurous, Klebsiellasp, Escherichia coli,  Lactobacillus sp and Corynebacterium sp.