Bacteriological Analysis of Soil from Dumpsites

Open dumpsites are those where solid waste is deposited without planning and consideration forenvironental and health standard and are illegal.Dumpsites have the potentialto contaminateboth underground and surface water sources through seepage and leaching.Indiscriminate wastedischarge and improper management of waste disposal facilities remains Nigeria's biggestenvironmental concerms as it poses substantial risk to both public health and ecosystem. Thefindings from this study revealed a disparity in theheterotrophic bacterial plate counts for the sixdifferent dumpsites within Osun metropolis,where dumpsite soils from Ada produced thehighest mean plate count of 30 x 10' cfu/mlL while dumpsite sampled in Igaa established thelowest count of 7.0 x10 cfu/ml.In this study,the profile of bacterial community isolated andidentified from the six waste dumpsites ineludes Stapylococcus aureus,Nitrosospira species,Aerococcus species, Streptococcus species and Micrococcus nirosus. Additionally,the age ofthe dumpsites could most likely contribute to the population of microbial communities as studieshave revealed that microbial degradation and decomposition is more pronounced in agedpolluted soils due to the long-term deposition of organic nutrients. It should be emphasized thatthis study is of environmental,health and safety relevance as it unravelled the bacterialcommunity proliferatingin the dumpsites thus prospecting microbial hazards looming in thecommunity and predicting health and safety implications.