Abstract
Microbial contamination is now more common than chemical contamination in Tibet, and water-borne microbes can cause a number of diseases that threaten public health. Thus, in order to clarify the spatiotemporal distribution of bacteria in small watersheds for which there is no data in Tibet, four sampling points were set up along an upstream-downstream transect of the Xincang River Basin. A total of 239 water samples were collected in 2014 and 2015, and their total constituent numbers of bacteria (TB) and coliforms (TC) were evaluated. The results of this study show that the microbial contamination of the Xincang River Basin is mild-to-moderate in terms of TB and TC contents, and that these concentrations vary significantly in different seasons. The results show that in summer, TB and TC concentrations and microbial contamination are almost at the same level in upstream, midstream, and downstream sections; however, in the other three seasons, microbial contamination in the downstream section is more serious than in the upstream and midstream sections. The data also demonstrates that concentrated precipitation and local contamination sources are important factors underlying increases in TB and TC concentrations during the summer months. The results of this study are likely to reflect the basic characteristics of small watersheds for which there is no data to some extent, and are thus of significant practical importance for protecting their ecological environments and promoting sustainable development.
Highlights
Water is the source of life, the key to production, and the foundation of ecology
The results show that qualified microbiological index rates differ at different sampling points points within the Xincang River Basin; the rate recorded at S2, 23.73%, was the highest, while within the Xincang River Basin; the rate recorded at S2, 23.73%, was the highest, while those those recorded at S1 and S4 were 11.86% and 10.17%, respectively, and that at S3 was the lowest, at recorded at S1 and S4 were 11.86% and 10.17%, respectively, and that at S3 was the lowest, at just 5.08%
The results of this study reveal several basic changes in microbe levels between different seasons and locations in a typical small Tibetan watershed, the Xincang River Basin
Summary
Water is the source of life, the key to production, and the foundation of ecology This natural resource is both irreplaceable and a key resource for economic development, ecological systems, and even national security. Shortages in water resources, as well as pollution, ecological deterioration, flooding, and droughts, all pose serious threats to global economic development, the health of populations, the environment for human inhabitation, and national security. Water polluted by pathogenic microbes can lead to a variety of water-borne infectious diseases, including diarrhea, nausea, gastroenteritis, and typhoid dysentery, all of which are significant threats to human health, especially in children and people with weak immune systems [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. Bacterial pollution can affect the quality of recreational water [5]; microbial contamination has led, for example, to a number of water-borne infectious diseases in the Mekong River [9]
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