Abstract
Padma is one of the largest rivers of Bangladesh, which has huge potential for fishery resources. Microbial pollution status of this riverine ecosystem has not been evaluated yet. Therefore, the present study was conducted to find out the bacterial pollution in sediment of this river. Four distinctive study locations were evaluated for three respective seasons in 2016. Enumeration of total heterotrophic bacteria (THB), total coliform (TC), fecal coliform (FC) and Vibrio cholerae were done by standard plate count technique from surface layer of sediment samples. Results revealed that all the samples were contaminated with THB, TC, FC and Vibrio cholerae with a range of 20.60×106±1.41 cfu/g (Site-2 Padma Garden) to 3.46×106±0.47 cfu/g (Site-4 Talaimari), 140.00×104±22.63 cfu/g (Site-2 Padma Garden) to 2.88×104±0.97 cfu/g (Site-1 T-Dam), 5.98×103±0.36 cfu/g (Site-2 Padma Garden) to 1.04×103±0.08 (Site-4 Talaimari) and 3.85×104±0.26 cfu/g (Site-3 I-Dam) to 0.91×104±0.07 cfu/g (Site-4 Talaimari), respectively. The bacterial density data had seasonality showing very high density during summer and winter seasons and the lowest in monsoon season. During the study period, it was observed that Site-2 (Padma Garden) and Site-3 (I-Dam) was comparatively more polluted with bacteria then other two sites. As per the criteria of sediment quality evaluation, the sediment of Padma River can be categorized as moderate to moderately high polluted with total heterotrophic bacteria, while very little polluted with fecal coliform bacteria. Therefore, the present study suggests a regular monitoring and assessment for reducing the bacterial load into the Padma River ecosystem through appropriate measures.
Highlights
Microbiological contamination of aquatic ecosystem is a major issue worldwide
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the variation of these indicators and pathogenic bacteria (V. cholerae) in the surface sediment of Padma River to investigate the bacterial pollution of this river
Total coliform (TC) count showed peak population during summer season at all the study sites, followed by winter season.The highest total coliform (TC) count was observed during summer at Site-2 (140.00×104 ±22.63 cfu/g) and lowest at Site-1 (2.88×104 ±0.97 cfu/g) during monsoon season (Fig. 3)
Summary
Microbiological contamination of aquatic ecosystem is a major issue worldwide. Human and animal fecal material is generally considered as greater risk to human health, as it is more likely to contain human enteric pathogens.These pathogens may sometimes pose serious health-hazards to the environment and human population through water and sediment[1,2].Padma is one of the largest and important rivers in Bangladesh, which flows adjacent to Rajshah city. The domestic sewage contains fecal materials originated from human and other animals These pollutants reduce the amount of oxygen in the water and adversely affect its biodiversity[3]. The increased agricultural and industrial activates are a threat to the biodiversity of Padma River due to the explosion of population growth. In such situation, evaluation of microbial pollution of this river is an urgent need of the hour. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the variation of these indicators (total heterotrophic, total coliform and fecal coliform) and pathogenic bacteria (V. cholerae) in the surface sediment of Padma River to investigate the bacterial pollution of this river
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