Abstract:
Kitui town, a small but fast growing town in arid south-eastern Kenya faces unreliable water supply and
residents are highly dependent on shallow wells as the main source of water for domestic use. A study
was carried out to assess the physical-chemical and bacteriological quality of water from shallow wells
within the town’s main residential areas. 96 water samples were collected from 8 main residential
estates within the town between May and July 2011 and analysed for physical-chemical characteristics
and bacterial quantity and species. Water analysis revealed presence of 9 pathogenic genera including
Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Vibrio, Listeria, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Enterobacter, Klebsiella
and Pseudomonas. Multiple-tube fermentation technique was used to enumerate coliform bacteria in
water. Total aerobic bacterial load ranged from 3.70 x102 to 2.352 x103 CFU/ml. E. Coli was isolated from
Majengo and Mjini estates only and the bacterial load estimated as 1.10 x102 CFU/ml and 0.20 x102
CFU/ml respectively while Salmonella sp. was isolated from water samples from Kunda Kindu, JICA and
Mjini estates. Conductivity and pH levels were above World Health Organization acceptable levels for
drinking water in all samples. All samples tested did not meet the WHO bacteriological standards for
drinking water. The presence of Salmonella, Vibrio, Listeria and E. Coli should particularly raise serious
public health concerns over the quality of the town’s shallow wells water. Intervention measures
including creating awareness and educating residents on shallow well construction, citing and care,
boiling of water and improving sanitation should be urgently instituted. There is also need to construct
sewerage works for the rapidly expanding Kitui town to reduce incidences of contamination from septic
tanks.
