ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Evaluating Nahoon Beach and Canal Waters
in Eastern Cape, South Africa:
A Public Health Concern
| 1 | SAMRC Microbial Water Quality Monitoring Centre, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa |
| 2 | Department of Environmental Science, UNISA Florida Campus, Roodepoort, South Africa |
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Kingsley Ebomah
University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Fort Hare, 5700 Alice, South Africa
University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Fort Hare, 5700 Alice, South Africa
Submission date: 2017-11-14
Final revision date: 2018-02-06
Acceptance date: 2018-02-12
Online publication date: 2018-10-31
Publication date: 2019-01-28
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(3):1115–1125
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Contamination of water resources by pathogens due to ever increasing anthropogenic activities
and the related disease burden remains a major concern of water quality globally. This study evaluated
the physicochemical and microbiological quality indices of Nahoon Beach and its canal waters in South
Africa over a period of 12 months (September 2014 to August 2015). Water samples were collected
bi-weekly from 6 sampling points (3 on the beach and 3 on the canal) and analyzed using standard
methods. The physicochemical qualities of the beach and canal waters ranged as follows: turbidity
3.3-99.9 NTU, temperature 15-25ºC, pH 7-10, electrical conductivity 30.0–741.7 μS/cm, and total
dissolved solids 19-546 mg/l. As for microbial counts of the water samples, Escherichia coli
counts ranged in the order of 101-103 CFU/100 ml while Enterococcus counts varied in the order of
101-102 CFU/100 ml. This study underscores the need for the protection of recreational water resources
to safeguard public health.
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