Title: Relationships between water and sediment quality parameters and faecal bacteria content in the Palic-Ludas canal, Serbia

Authors: Željka Rudić; Bojana Vujović; Mile Božić; Tanja Arizanović; Vera Raičević

Addresses: Groundwater Engineering and Land Reclamation Department, Jaroslav Černi Water Institute, Jaroslava Cernog 80, 11226 Belgrade, Serbia ' Department of Ecological Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080 Zemun-Belgrade, Serbia ' Groundwater Engineering and Land Reclamation Department, Jaroslav Černi Water Institute, Jaroslava Cernog 80, 11226 Belgrade, Serbia ' Laboratory 'Jaroslav Cerni', Jaroslav Černi Water Institute, Jaroslava Cernog 80, 11226 Belgrade, Serbia ' Department of Ecological Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080 Zemun-Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract: The objective of this paper was to emphasise how faecal bacteria persist in canal sediment and relate abiotic factors in a peri-urban canal. Mann-Whitney tests confirmed that there is a considerable difference in water quality of upstream and downstream ends of the canal, which supports the claim that water quality is affected by wastewater discharge. Strong positive correlations between enterococci and organic matter, TOC and all nitrogen forms in sediment show that the large amount of organic matter in sediment is linked to high enterococcal counts. High counts of E. coli in sediment, as well as weak correlations between E. coli and sediment quality parameters, together with water quality changes, indicate a 'fresh' pollution of aquatic system. In conclusion, our study suggests that wastewater discharge makes a long-term contribution to the increased content of E. coli and enterococci in the Palic-Ludas canal.

Keywords: Escherichia coli; enterococci; environmental pollution; Mann-Whitney test; Spearman correlation; Serbia; water quality; sediment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2018.099463

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2018 Vol.64 No.4, pp.292 - 309

Accepted: 16 Nov 2018
Published online: 06 May 2019 *

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