ABSTRACT

 Microbial hydrocarbon degradation in the marine environment is mediated by diverse microbial assemblages operating in metabolic networks, in which the product ofone oxidation fuels another. The aim ofthis study was to assess the microbial contamination of oil spilled river. A total of Five (5) water samples were gotten from different rivers in Oyigbo Rivers State and Imo River Abia State and was transported to the laboratory for microbial analysis. After series ofbiochemical and morphological characterization the major bacterial isolates to belong to Bacillus sp., E. coli, Serralia sp, Pseudomonas sp., Proteus sp. respectively. The samples had total aerobic plate count ranged from 3.6 x 105to 8.2 x 105 while total fungal plate count has 2.0 x 105 to 5.0 x 105- The percentage occurrence from this study revealed that E. coli 35% was predominant followed by Bacillus 25%, Serratia sp 20%, Proteus sp 15% while Pseudomonas aeruginosa 5% was least predominant. While the fungal isolates revealed that Aspergillusflavus 46%, was predominant Rhizopus stolonifer 30.8% while Rhodotorula sp 23% was least predominant. The microbial qualities ofthe evaluated waters from oil spilled rivers were averagely poor, and are certainly not fit for human consumption and aquatic lives they are oflow quality threshold. This may be due to direct contamination by high hydrocarbon contamination animal and human excreta. The results indicate that microorganisms can survive harsh environmental pollutant such as oil spillage and can be used as agents of biodegradation in oil spilled rivers.