Bacteriological analysis of household water from hand-dug wells in the Cuvelai-Etosha basin of Namibia

Abstract

Communities in Oshikoto, Omusati, Ohangwena and Oshana regions of Namibia widely utilize the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin by constructing hand-dug wells to provide water to sustain agriculture and households. Since these regions lack a developed water pipeline system and deeper ground water maybe saline in large parts of the Basin, people rely on domestic water supply from private hand-dug wells which are near their houses for convenience and preference. However, the microbial water quality and safety of hand-dug wells being utilized for household consumption in the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin is unknown and this is undesirable since water is a habitat for some pathogenic microorganisms there by posing a health risk. Thus, a bacteriological water quality study that focuses on the identification of microbial contaminants was conducted on 25 wells in the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin of Northern Namibia during two sampling campaigns. Molecular methods indicated the presence of Bacillus aerophilus, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus aquimaris, Bacillus aryabhattai, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus safensis, Bacillus samanii, Bacillussp.M37,Bacillussp. M26, Bacillus stratophericus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas mendocina, Staphylococcus haemolyticus and Streptomyces celuloflavus.