Journal of Environmental Science and Water Resources ISSN 2277 0704 Vol. 2(4), pp. 127 - 132, May 2013 2013 Wudpecker Journals Sources of bacteriological contamination of shallow groundwater and health effects in Ndop plain, Northwest Cameroon Mengnjo Jude Wirmvem 1 *, Wilson Yetoh Fantong 2 , Engome Regina Wotany 3 , Takeshi Ohba 1 , Samuel Ndonwi Ayonghe 3 1 Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tokai University, Hiratsuka, 259-1211, Japan. 2 Institute of Mining and Geological Research, P.O. Box 4110, Yaounde, Cameroon. 3 Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Box 63, Buea, Cameroon. *Corresponding author E-mail: judevom@yahoo.co.uk. Tel: +81-80-4462-1981 Accepted May 02 2013 Shallow groundwater of unknown bacteriological quality is a vital source of drinking-water to about 70 % of ca. 200,000 people in the semi-urban community of the Ndop plain, Northwest Cameroon. Seventeen drinking-water sources were investigated, in March 2010, for bacteriological quality by a multiple tube/MPN technique. Temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and total dissolved solids (TDS) were also determined. The objectives were to determine the potential sources of bacterial contamination, suitability of water for drinking and effects on the population. Microbial analysis indicated high total coliform (TC) counts from 23 to >1,100 MPN/100 ml, with 94 % of the samples being grossly polluted. The major source of microbial contamination was cattle grazing. The groundwater, which was less mineralised (mean TDS of 45 mg/l), had a mean pH (5.89) below the WHO minimum value of 6.5. Based on WHO standards, the water sources were not suitable for human consumption as further established by the high prevalence of water-borne infections from health centre data in the area. The most vulnerable were children below the age of 10, mostly suffering from diarrhoea. Key words: Groundwater, drinking-water, total coliform, diarrhoea, Ndop plain, Cameroon. INTRODUCTION Safe drinking-water has a significant impact in the prevention of water-related diseases in communities (WHO, 2004; 2011). In Africa, at least 320 million people still have no access to safe water supplies, and at least 80 % of these people live in rural areas (Adelana and MacDonald, 2008), where shallow wells, springs and rivers, usually of doubtful quality, are the main sources of drinking-water. The most common and wide spread health risk associated with drinking-water is microbial contamination (WHO, 2011), which is perhaps the crucial issue in the humid tropics in terms of direct effect on human health (Roche, 1993). For example, diarrhoeal disease remains a leading cause of mortality and morbidity of children in Sub-Saharan Africa (Hamer et al., 1998) where more than one child dies every minute from diarrhoea (WHO Regional Office for Africa, 2012). This calls for a need for microbial examination of drinking- water sources in the region. Water related diseases represent about two-thirds of all the diseases in Cameroon and are responsible for approximately 50 % of the cases of death recorded (Katte et al., 2003). Despite this situation, only few recent studies on the microbial quality of drinking-water, restricted to major cities of Douala (Ndjama et al., 2008; Ako et al., 2010), Yaounde (Kuitcha et al., 2010; Ateba et al., 2012) and Dschang (Katte et al., 2003; Temgoua, 2011) have been reported in the literature. These studies demonstrated exceptionally high and unacceptable levels of bacteriological contamination of most drinking-water supply. Most communities lack adequate water sanitation systems (Katte et al., 2003; Kuitcha et al., 2008). Improved drinking-water sanitation in semi-urban and rural communities of the country is only 36 % (WHO/UNICEF, 2012). Therefore, suitability of unimproved drinking-water is a serious concern especially the bacteriological quality in these communities. This is the case in the Ndop plain, where 70 % of the over 200,000 people depend on