Isolation and Characterization of Bacterial Species from Selected Swimming Pools of Makurdi, Nigeria

Swimming pools are used for recreational activities, rehabilitative treatment or sport. Swimming pool water should meet portable water standards by being transparent, odourless and tasteless and should be devoid of harmful organisms. The study was carried out to determine the bacteria associated with selected swimming pools in Makurdi. A total of 6 water samples were collected from six different swimming pools (both used and unused) in Makurdi metropolis. The swimming pools were City Bay, Reuphina A, Reuphina B, Smile View Hotel, Hallidays and M J Resort. Standard microbiological and biochemical tests were carried out to identify the organisms. A total of 51 isolates were obtained from the 6 water samples and the organisms identified were Bacillus species, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species, Proteus species and Pseudomonas species. The percentage prevalence of bacterial isolates shows that Staphylococcus species and Klebsiella species were the most prevalent (23.53%). Statistically, data analysis using ANOVA shows that there was no significant difference (P>0.05) in the Total Colony Counts of bacteria in the unused swimming pools.  The highest bacterial count among the unused pool was found in Smile View (5.75x10² ± 7.70x10¹ CFU/ml) while the lowest was in Reuphina B (9.50x10¹ ± 9.90 CFU/ml). In the used swimming pools, there was a significant difference (P<0.05) in the bacterial total colony counts. Hallydays swimming pool had the highest total colony count of bacteria (7.00x10³  2.83x10² CFU/ml) while City Bay had the lowest counts (1.38x10³  3.68 x10² CFU/ml).  Majority of the bacterial populations in the swimming pools are contaminations or release from bathers. This implies that the microbial load has a direct proportional relation to the number of users as well as the sanitation condition of users.