Moringa oleifera-treated dry season-turbid Well-water in Enugu Metropolis, Nigeria: A comparative evaluation

Water and sanitation services provide a cost-effective solution for alleviating the impact of water-borne diseases. Polluted water is gateway to infectious pathogens leading to a both acute and chronic-diseases worldwide. With the ultimate objective of contributing to the improvement of the quality control of drinking water, we report here, the main application of Moringa oleifera Lam. seed extract in the treatment of 25 natural underground well-water samples randomly collected from the three most populous cities in Enugu Metropolis, in southeastern Nigeria. The assessed parameters were salinity, pH, conductivity, total dissolved solid (TDS), total solids (TS), total suspended solids (TSS), turbidity and microbial load before and post-treatment with both alum (as a standard agent) and M. oleifera aqueous and ethanolic extracts at equal concentrations of 60mg/L. The result of the finding showed the ability of M. oleifera seed extract to remove organic matter (natural humic substances and micropollutants) thereby avoiding water degradation (mainly bad odours and taste, formation of disinfection by-products such as trihalomethanes) and in addition to having a potent antimicrobial activity which alum naturally lacked. The ethanolic extract of M. oleifera had broader spectrum of antibacterial activity than aqueous extract. The alum-treated water samples showed increased salinity and pH in addition to other by-products. From the foregoing, the use of M. oleifera aqueous and ethanolic seed extracts as alternative biocompatible flocculants in water treatment in Enugu Metropolis could be recommended.

Acknowledgement: This work is a product of research for a Fellowship award of Nigerian Institute of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT).