%0 Journal Article %T Assesment of the water quality and prevalence of water borne diseases in Amassoma, Niger Delta, Nigeria %A LL Nwidu %A B Oveh %A T Okoriye %A NA Vaikosen %J African Journal of Biotechnology %D 2008 %I Academic Journals %X The chemical and microbiological properties were investigated at the bank and midstream of the Ammassoma River used for domestic water consumption. Also, retrospective study was conducted at Amassoma General Hospital to ascertain the extent of water borne diseases by studying the case notes of 100 subjects from 2005 - 2007. The carbon-oxygen demand (COD) and biological-oxygen demand (BOD)5 at the bank and midstream of the river are 3.664 ¡À 0.289 (mean ¡À SEM) and 2.112 ¡À 0.864 mg/L (p< 0.0634), 2.236 ¡À 0.161 and 1.83 ¡À 0.792 mg/L (p < 0.328), respectively. The number of faecal coliform detected in the river, at the bank and midstream are 581.5 ¡À 225.57; 1100 ¡À 306.19 and 63.0 ¡À 28.362 (p <0.0163) respectively. The number of patients with reported complaints and diagnosed with water related diseases are 13 (14.61%), 31 (34.83%) and 45 (50.56%) for the periods 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively. The water related diseases that were consistently reported and diagnosed for the period are cholera (3.37%), diarrhea (44.94%), dysentery (16.85%), and typhoid fever (34.83%). The quality of the water and the prevalence of water related diseases in the hospitals were casually related to the contamination of the river in the community. %U http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajb/article/view/59213