Bacterial hazards in urban stream irrigation in peri-urban interface of Nairobi-Machakos counties, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Bacterial contamination in fruits and vegetables cultivated in urban and peri-urban areas constitutes a serious public health risk. This paper investigates bacterial contamination in irrigation water of the Nairobi-Machakos counties interface, Kenya. Sixty-six irrigation water samples were tested for total coliforms, Escherichia coli, Shigella spp. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis, Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella typhi, BOD, COD, and pH. Results show a high load of bacterial pathogens in all samples except for Salmonella typhi, which tested negative. Based on Kenya's standards and WHO guidelines, the irrigation water samples are unfit for fruit and vegetable irrigation. Urgent and effective measures are required, including regular monitoring, sensitisation, and enforcement of phytosanitary and regulatory measures.

KEYWORDS:

• Peri-urban agriculture
• health risk
• food safety

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the paper/supplementary material. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00207233.2023.2216605.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was partially funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the “In Country In Region PhD scholarship” at Kenyatta University in Kenya, Reference Number [91744410].