International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—The objective of this study was to determine the sanitary quality of three freshwater springs by estimating the concentration of total coliform (TC) and faecal coliform (FC) bacteria as pollution indicators. Water samples were collected twice a month during the period August 2008 to January 2009; from springs on the island of Upolu, Samoa. For bacteriological analysis, the membrane filtration method was used for the two groups of bacteria. All samples from the three sites were found contaminated with total coliform and faecal coliform bacteria and the counts were higher than the maximum microbial contaminant level established by World Health Organization (WHO). The results imply that the springs were heavily polluted by bacteria of faecal origin suggesting that, these springs are potential sources of health hazards which is important from a public health perspective.

Index Terms—Total coliform, faecal coliform indicators, Samoa.

F. Latū, P. Amosa, and T. Imo are with the Science Department, National University of Samoa, Samoa (e-mail: f.latu@nus.edu.ws; p.amosa@nus.edu.ws; t.imo@nus.edu.ws).
V. Taufao was with the Mathematics and Statistics Department, National University of Samoa, Samoa (v.taufao@nus.edu.ws).

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Cite: F. Latū, P. Amosa, T. Imo, and V. Taufao, "The Microbiological Survey of Potential Water Borne Pathogens in Fresh Water Springs of the Selected Community Located in the Upolu Island, Samoa," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 89-93, 2012.