Water Quality Index and Microbial Assessment of Lake Qarun, El-Batts and El-Wadi Drains, Fayoum Province, Egypt

Abstract

This study was carried out on Lake Qarun and 2 drains (El-Batts and El-Wadi) that discharging wastewater into it, at Fayoum Province, Egypt, to assess the Water Quality Index (WQI) and miicrobial loadof their waters. This investigation was conducted during the period from autumn 2017 to summer 2018. The general annual averages of WQI values of Lake Water were poor for irrigation (69.61) and very poor for aquatic life (78.53). El-Batts and El-Wadi Drains were poor both for irrigation (55.45) and for aquatic life (54.45). Moreover, total viable bacteria count (TVBC) at 22°C ranged between 3 ×103 CFU/ml and 450 × 103 CFU/ml, and the TVBC at 37°C varied from 0.4 ×103 CFU/ml to 330 ×103 CFU/ml . Total coliform (TC) in the range of 0.3 ×103 - 46 × 103 MPN /100ml water , Fecal coliform (FC) in the range of 3×102- 460× 102 MPN /100ml water . Fecal streptococci (FS) in the range of 3 × 102 - 1100 × 102 MPN/ 100ml water and the numbers of E.coli fluctuated between 0.1×102 and 60 × 102 CFU /100ml water. The obtained values of physical, chemical and microbial parameters of Lake and drains water were compared with the standard values set by FAO (1994)for irrigationand CCME (2007) for aquatic life. It was found that the values of tested parameters were higher than the recommended standards and this affects the biota in the studied area and is expected to cause healthy problems.