Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ) ISSN 2201-2796 BIOLOGICAL WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF WATER BEING SUPPLIED TO MALE HOSTELS AT OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY, ILE IFE Njoku, Rapheal Chukwunonso Publication Partner: SCIRJ Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ) ISSN 2201-2796 BIOLOGICAL WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF WATER BEING SUPPLIED TO MALE HOSTELS AT OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY, ILE IFE Authored by: Njoku, Rapheal Chukwunonso Department of Zoology Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria. Publishing Partner: Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ) Website: http://www.scirj.org/ ISSN: 2201-2796 Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ) ISSN 2201-2796 Preface Biological water quality assessment of water being supplied to Male hostels at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife was done by collecting samples from flowing tap and storage tanks in each hostel over a period of six weeks. The tap and storage water supplied to the male hostels was found to consist of a total of 46 genera of plankton of which 15 were zooplankton and 31 were phytoplankton. The genera belong to 7 phytoplankton phyla (Bacillarophyta, Chlorophyta,Euglenophyta, Ochrophyta,Dinoflagellata, Cyanobacteria and Charophyta)and 5 zooplankton phyla (Cercozoa, Rotifera, Amoebozoa, Arthropoda and Ciliophora).Class Zynematophyceae (Division Charophyta)was the most abundant phytoplankton, represented by six species (Closterium ehrenbergii, Strogonium, Genicularia, Zygnemopsis, Docidium and Zygnema). Of these species, Genicularia was the most abundant. Amongst the Zooplankton,Mononogonta was the most abundant as represented by nine species namely Argonotholca foliacea, Trichocerca bicristata, Trichocerca chatonni, Trichocerca elongata, Trichocerca porcellus, Trichocerca similis, Brachionus calyciflorus, Brachionus falcatus and Hexarthra mira. The most abundant zooplankton species was Cyclops bicuspidatus of the class Maxillopoda. The highest total abundance was recorded at the sixth week of sampling. It was also observed that the number of organisms recorded from the tap water (43245 Org/L) were Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ) ISSN 2201-2796 more abundant compared those from the storage tanks (30735 Org/L), however in terms of diversity more species were recorded from the storage tank. Some organic pollution indicator species (Phacus pleuronectes and Nitzschia) were also recorded. Hence, further work should be done on the biological assessment of water being supplied to the hostels to advice on more efficient and effective treatment system which should be implored to purify and avert further pollution of the water. Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ) ISSN 2201-2796 Copyright and Trademarks All the mentioned authors are the owner of this Monograph and own all copyrights of the Work. Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ: http://www.scirj.org/) acts as publishing partner and authors will remain owner of the content. Copyright©2021, All Rights Reserved No part of this Monograph may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as described below, without the permission in writing of the Authors & publisher. Copying of content is not permitted except for personal and internal use, to the extent permitted by national copyright law, or under the terms of a license issued by the national Reproduction Rights Organization. Trademarks used in this monograph are the property of respective owner and either Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ: http://www.scirj.org/) or authors do not endorse any of the trademarks used. Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ) ISSN 2201-2796 Authors Njoku, Rapheal Chukwunonso Department of Zoology Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria. Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ) ISSN 2201-2796 Table of Content TITLE PAGE CHAPTER ONE 8 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER TWO 11 LITERATURE REVIEW CHAPTER THREE 16 MATERIALS AND METHOD CHAPTER FOUR 18 RESULTS CHAPTER FIVE 52 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION REFERENCES 56 APPENDIX 66 Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ) ISSN 2201-2796 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0: What is Biological Assessment? Majority of people see the aquatic habitat as the most effective place to dump waste, in some cultures particularly the West African regions of the world, with an idea that water is seen as a body that purifies all (Badejo et al, 1996). This ideology has led to the degradation and immense pollution of our waters. To this effect, measures have been put in place to bring to close restoration and remediation of the waters surrounding us (Brebbia, 2012; Novotny, 2013). The word “biological” can be used to describe anything pertaining to life and living processes, while “Assessment” on the other hand is a form of appraisal or evaluation. Therefore, biological assessment otherwise termed bio-assessment refers to the “process of evaluating the biological condition of a water body using biological surveys (bio-surveys) and other direct measurements of the resident biota, including fish, insects, algae, plants and others” (USEPA, 2016). Biological assessment of water works with the principle of the presence, condition and numbers of types of insects, fishes, algae, plants and other organisms which help to provide information about the state of the aquatic ecosystems. Thus, biological can be defined as the study of these factors as a way of evaluating the health of a body of water (USEPA, 2016). Furthermore, biological assessment can be defined as the evaluation of quality, fitness and biodiversity of the aquatic ecosystem using the metabolic activity, abundance, mortality and other correlated factor of the living organisms in the aquatic systems as indicators (Maznah et al, 2002; Sawyer et al, 2004; Riley, 2008; Maznah, 2010). The criteria and various methods involved in biological assessment according to Karr and Chu (1999) and Kovacs (1992) include: Abundance/ population of fauna Examination of the metabolic activity of the organisms (stressed). Fecundity/ mortality ratio (the productivity of the aquatic ecosystem) 8 | P a g e Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ) ISSN 2201-2796 Physiological and anatomical examination of organisms. 1.1: Importance of Biological Assessment Biological assessment is very germane in our world today as it has been incorporated in Health Acts for many nations, even in non-governmental agencies like W.H.O. The relevance of bio- assessment is thus highlighted: Defines purity state of water: it gives us information on the level of purity or pollution an aquatic system has attained. Identifies pollutant: biological assessment helps in a way to locate the source of pollution in the water body, through its various physiological processes. Gives information on biodiversity of aquatic system: during biological assessment, the biodiversity of an aquatic ecosystem is noted and new species could be identified. Gives information on disease outbreak: when there is bio-assessment of water, it involves the physiological and anatomical examination of aquatic indicators, cause of epidemic outbreaks can be resolved and checked. In 1912, the pollution of the Jinzu River by Cadmium poison from the Toyama Prefecture Japan, gave a blow in the world as it gave rise to the notorious itai-itai disease (Yoshida, 1999). No one unraveled the cause of this disease until a biological assessment was carried out on the fish species (i.e. fishes were assayed) from the Jinzu River. Creates awareness to the public on water pollution: due to the biological assessment of several scientists and researchers, countries have been able to make Laws and Acts to control the level of pollution that comes from industrial discharge into lakes, rivers and streams. Biological assessment has also helped the government agencies of so many nations to alert people on the adverse effect of water pollution and aquatic habitat degradation (Mensah 2011). 9 | P a g e Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ) ISSN 2201-2796 Leads to remediation of aquatic ecosystem before complete deterioration: pollution of water determined or discovered on time through bio-assessment can easily be treated and would require lesser resource to remediate the aquatic ecosystem. When pollutants have accumulated over a long period of time, it becomes difficult to treat and the biota of the ecosystem would be at risk (Aparecida, 2008; Adams and Greeley, 2000; Wang et al, 2003). Gives species population: statistical biological assessment helps the research agencies to keep data on species abundance in an aquatic system. Recent biological assessment or bio- monitoring research has shown the diversity and abundance of some organisms (most macro invertebrates) in Maine’s freshwater, USA (Bernatchez and Wilson 1998; Bank et al, 2005). Useful as indicator of Imbalance in aquatic community: The knowledge of the relationships between the primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, predators and even the bacteria and algae community has shown how balance in the ecosystem is maintained. A breach in the population of any of these groups would cause an imbalance. Therefore, to successfully manage ecosystems, a basic understanding of the system’s biological component is mandatory. When humans adversely affect aquatic systems, the biological population will change leading to an imbalanced community. For example, population sensitive taxa will disappear, taxa richness and diversity usually declines, food webs are disturbed and undesirable species dominate. Biological assessment indicates