Water sources as a potential site for zoonose transmission in and around Budongo Central Forest Reserve

Abstract

Water quality analysis in and around conservation areas carried out to analyze its microbial safety is very significant in ensuring the health of humans, wildlife, and the environment as we implement one health approach and move towards achieving agenda 2030 goals number 3 and number 6 which are good health and wellbeing, and clean water and sanitation. Studying the microbial quality of water, especially considering E. coli and total coliform has long been used as water quality indicators. This study looked the microbial pathogen load in the water sources shared by both humans and wildlife and the non-shared, that is those that are either used by wildlife only or humans only in and around Budongo Central Forest Reserve. Fifteen (15) water points were purposively selected and the water samples were collected and analyzed in the laboratory for the count of total coliform and Escherichia coli (E. coli). From the results, an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was carried out. The study found that the microbial pathogen load of the shared and non-shared water sources is significantly different(p=0.00), however, the mean difference showed that water sources used by the wildlife only had the highest microbial pathogen load and the least in shared water sources. Attention was also paid to the load of E. coli and from the results, there was no significant mean difference in the load of E. coli in the shared and non-shared water sources in and around Budongo Central Forest Reserve(p=0.364). the load of E. coli and total coliform were specifically considered because they are important indicators of fecal contamination and are often used to check the bacteriological quality of drinking water. A comparison of these results with the set standards by the WHO and NEMA and UNBS showed that the water sources contain a high load of both E. coli and total coliform beyond the recommended standards. This requires the treatment of the water to be portable. Therefore, from the study results, these water sources are a potential site for disease transmission among people and wildlife living in and around Budongo Central Forest Reserve.