Abstract
Bacteriological analyses were carried out on Ananthanar channel water of Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu, India. The Ananthanar channel was selected in this study because this channel runs about nearly 28 km and supplies water for many villages for drinking and bathing purposes. Fecal and total coliform counts were performed using the standard membrane filtration technique and multiple tube technique. The results obtained were compared with reports of All India Institute of Medical Sciences Standards for Drinking and Recreational Water. Faecal coliform counts varied from 12 to 180 MPN/100 ml while Escherichia coli counts ranged from 6 to 161 MPN/100 ml for all the sampled sites. Among the total coliform Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shewanella putrefaciens, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Citrobacter freundii and Proteus mirabilis are reported. The Faecal coliform and the E. coli counts exceeding acceptable limits are indicative of pollution from domestic wastes from several informal settlements located along the riverbank. Water uses in the area were determined and were found to be mainly domestic and recreational. The gross pollution of the river exposes the local people who depend on it for their primary water source to serious health risk.
Highlights
India is rich in water resources, being endowed with a network of rivers and blessed with snow cover in the Himalayan range that can meet a variety of water requirements of the country (Bhardwaj, 2005)
The importance of sustained hydrological studies on Indian waters is recognized in water resource management due to exploitation of fresh water resources
The objective of this work is to evaluate the general bacteriological parameters of the Ananthanar channel of Kanyakumari District, source of water used for drinking and bathing purposes
Summary
India is rich in water resources, being endowed with a network of rivers and blessed with snow cover in the Himalayan range that can meet a variety of water requirements of the country (Bhardwaj, 2005). The rivers of India play an important role in the lives of the Indian people. Water resources are great significance for various activities such as drinking, irrigation, aquaculture and power generation. The importance of sustained hydrological studies on Indian waters is recognized in water resource management due to exploitation of fresh water resources. Report of the scientists at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, finds an alarming prevalence of various diseases causing microbes in drinking water and recreational water. The use of this water may lead to several life threatening diseases. Significance of water as a potent ecological factor can be appreciated only by studying its physico-chemical and microbial characteristics
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