Microbiological and Physicochemical Characteristics of Borehole Water and Soil Around Urban Waste-Disposal Sites in Abia State, Nigeria.

Poorly managed urban waste-disposal sites may affect environmental water and soil quality. The objective was to describe the microbiological and chosen physicochemical characteristics of borehole water and soil at six urban locations associated with waste disposal in Abia State, Nigeria. A descriptive environmental study was used to summarise June 2025 laboratory certificates containing 18 coded borehole-water entries from six locations, three reported soil readings per site-depth group (12 groups), and accompanying physicochemical measurements. Site and site-depth means were used for descriptive analysis. The water microbiology certificate reported mean (SD) total heterotrophic bacteria and total coliforms of 95.83 (62.16) and 55.50 (42.59) CFU/100 mL, respectively, across six location means; all 18 entries contained positive faecal-coliform values. Borehole-water pH ranged from 5.77 to 6.40, and mean lead concentrations across locations ranged from 0.049 to 0.223 mg/L. Across 12 soil site-depth groups, the mean reported total heterotrophic bacteria, fungi and total coliforms were 3.33 × 10⁷, 2.07 × 10⁶ and 2.21 × 10⁷ CFU/g, respectively. Mean soil moisture was 7.95%, and site-depth mean total petroleum hydrocarbons ranged from 9.10 to 16.37 mg/kg. The observations identified variations in microbial and chemical characteristics of borehole water and soil that warrant integrated environmental-health surveillance. Quantitative regulatory water-quality classification and attribution to individual dumpsites were outside the scope of this descriptive study.