Monitoring of Microbial Pollution in the Lagos (Coastal) Lagoon, Nigeria

by Elizabeth O. Nwankwu, Nigerian Inst for Oceanography and, Marine Research, Lagos, Nigeria,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Coastlines of Western Africa

Abstract:

Lagos Lagoon, the largest coastal lagoon in West Africa covers an area of about 208 square kilometres. Its only opening to the sea is through the Commodore Channel which serves as the main entrance to Nigeria's largest seaports of Lagos and Tin Can Ports. The lagoon, is used mainly for artisanal fisheries, transportation by local communities and also serves as the ultimate sink for the disposal of untreated sewage and industrial effluents situated around the Lagos metropolis. A short term study was undertaken to determine the occurrence and levels of microbes in the Lagos lagoon. Routine bacteriological studies were made on the levels of Total Coliforms (TC), Faecal Coliforms (FC) and Faecal Streptococci (FS). Results of the study show that TC, FC, and FS count were high in Lagos lagoon water (maximum of 1800 + micro organisms per 100 ml). The concentration of organisms in coastal waters was low (Maximum of 220 micro organisms per 100ml).

Subject Headings: Lagoons | Bacteria | Microbes | Organisms | Sea water | Water pollution | Developing countries | Africa | Nigeria

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