Academic Journal of Science, CD-ROM. ISSN: 2165-6282 :: 07(02):155–164 (2017) STUDIES ON THE MICROBIOLOGY OF MUNICIPAL WASTE SITES IN ABIA STATE Ijeoma Iheukwumere Abia State University, Nigeria Onyemaechi Okezie Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Nigeria This study evaluates the presence of pathogenic bacteria and fungi in two municipal waste dumps sites in Abia State, Nigeria. A total of 20 municipal waste dump site samples from Umuahia and Aba were evaluated for the presence of bacterial and fungal pathogens. Using the pour plate and streaking methods, the pathogens isolated were identified and characterized based on their morphological, physiological and biochemical peculiarities. And they include: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella sp, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus sp, Salmonella sp, Bacillus sp, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium sp, Penicillium sp and Candida sp. The result showed significant difference (P>0.05) in the occurrence of bacteria, and no significant difference in the occurrence of fungal isolates from the different municipal waste sites. The public health and socio economic implication of this study is that municipal waste, if not properly managed and disposed could be potential sources of food borne pathogens for contamination of food, water, and environment. Also, the offensive odour from the dump sites affects the aesthetics of the environment and human populations. Therefore, improvement in sanitary procedures and handling are required in order to have appropriate intervention measures. Keywords: Municipal wastes, Pathogens, Contamination, Environment. Introduction Rapid urbanization in modern societies has led to increased human population and activities in our cities leading to accumulation or the production of very large amounts of solid municipal wastes (WHO, 2000; Ayuba et al., 2012). Solid waste generation deals with the release of solid materials as a result of several activities of which the materials are of no more value to the owner at the time of release. It also involves getting rid of waste materials from primary point of generation to any intermediate or final corner which may inconvenience or create discomfort to the normal or healthy living and affects the ecological balance (Etusim et al., 2013). Municipal solid wastes from various sources such as industrial, domestic and agricultural wastes can be of diverse in nature. The disposal of most wastes is done after proper waste management functions such as recycling, reuse; sources reduction and treatment operation have been completed in developed countries (Ukpong et al., 2015; Chima and Iheukwumere, 2014). However, the above practice is not prevalent in developing countries (Ukpong et al., 2015). This results to 155