Escherichia coli contamination of the river Thames in different seasons and weather conditions
Article
Amirat, L., Wildeboer, D., Abuknesha, R. and Price, R. 2012. Escherichia coli contamination of the river Thames in different seasons and weather conditions. Water and Environment Journal. 26 (4), pp. 482-489. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-6593.2012.00308.x
Type | Article |
---|---|
Title | Escherichia coli contamination of the river Thames in different seasons and weather conditions |
Authors | Amirat, L., Wildeboer, D., Abuknesha, R. and Price, R. |
Abstract | Contamination of public water ways with sewage represents a serious environmental and health risk. We monitored pollution of the river Thames by enumerating the indicator organism Escherichia coli. Samples were taken from a site in central London near Waterloo Bridge 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 European Union (EU) legislation for bathing water. This study demonstrated that frequent sewage pollution of the Thames results in high numbers of E. coli and incidents of detectable levels of pathogenic bacteria demonstrating the need for regular monitoring of bacterial pollution. |
Keywords | β-D-glucuronidase; Escherichia coli; faecal pollution; microbial water testing |
Research Group | Biophysics and Bioengineering group |
Publisher | WileyBlackwell |
Journal | Water and Environment Journal |
ISSN | 1747-6585 |
Publication dates | |
Dec 2012 | |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 01 Mar 2012 |
Output status | Published |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-6593.2012.00308.x |
Language | English |
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/83893
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