Water pollution control is at present one of the major areas of scientific activity. The textile wastewaters are characterized by extreme fluctuations in many parameters such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), pH, colour and salinity. Biotreatment offers a cheaper and environmentally friendlier alternative for colour removal in textile effluents. The ubiquitous nature of bacteria makes them invaluable tools in effluent biotreatment. Potential decolourization and COD removal of the simulated effluent by each isolate were investigated. The gram staining test showed the isolate to be non-motile, gram positive, spore forming, rod-shaped bacteria. Biochemical characterization of the isolate revealed it to be negative for Indole, Methyl Red test. The potential strain was phylogenetically identified as Bacillus. Only effluent-adapted isolates of Bacillus species have relatively high COD removal activities while all the non-adapted isolates have high COD removal capabilities. This study discovered effluent adapted strains of Bacillus with potentials for colour removal and strains of Bacillus with potential use for COD removal. The results suggest that the non-adapted adapted isolates. Reports however indicate that though several microorganisms may seem to have a potential for dye degradation, very few strains can withstand the conditions of dyeing effluents thus the effluent-adapted strains may be better candidates for
potential bioremediative uses.

Keywords: COD, BOD, Bacillus, Methyl red test