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E scherichia coli contamination of the river T hames in different seasons and weather conditions
Author(s) -
Amirat Linda,
Wildeboer Dirk,
Abuknesha Ramadan A.,
Price Robert G.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.2012.00308.x
Subject(s) - contamination , pollution , sewage , environmental science , water pollution , environmental chemistry , environmental engineering , biology , ecology , chemistry
Contamination of public water ways with sewage represents a serious environmental and health risk. We monitored pollution of the river T hames by enumerating the indicator organism E scherichia coli . Samples were taken from a site in central L ondon near W aterloo B ridge in different seasons. E . coli were quantified using a membrane filtration method, and correlated with the tidal variations of the river and meteorological data on rainfall and temperature. More frequent and severe incidents of pollution occurred in the autumn. Heavy rainfall resulted in sharp peaks of E . coli contamination that implies a potential increase of numbers of pathogenic micro‐organisms. Sixty percent of all samples were found to be in excess of the accepted upper limit of pollution set by E uropean U nion ( EU ) legislation for bathing water. This study demonstrated that frequent sewage pollution of the T hames results in high numbers of E . coli and incidents of detectable levels of pathogenic bacteria demonstrating the need for regular monitoring of bacterial pollution.