Abstract
Coliform pollution for the last three decades in major river systems of the world has resulted in far ranging impacts on water quality. In this context, the present study aimed to assess the levels of indicator bacteria like total Coliform (TC), fecal Coliform (FC) and fecal Streptococcus (FS) in major watersheds of Kashmir valley. Sampling was carried out for a period of 2 years (summer 2017 to spring 2019) along several upstream, midstream and downstream reaches of Jhelum River Basin (JRB), while analysis was carried out by multiple tube fermentation technique involving Most Probable Number (MPN). Major highlights of the results revealed high levels of TC, FC and FS among downstream sites with pronounced seasonal variations between summer and winter. TC was highest at all the reaches and during all the seasons followed by FC and FS. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) revealed more variation in Coliform count among reaches as compared to seasons. Mantle test revealed that environmental factors like observable environmental pressure (OEP) (r: 0.235, p < 0.0001), DO (r: 0.2815, p < 0.0001) and temperature (r: 0.04419, p = 0.0104) had prominent effect on Coliform distribution as compared to geographical factors. The study thus highlights the prevalence of Coliform bacteria along JRB resulting from fecal sources. Due to growing urbanization and lack of adequate sewage treatment facilities, there is an increase in the levels of Coliform bacteria along downstream reaches especially those residing within lower Jhelum and Dara watershed, which could jeopardize water quality and public health.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are highly thankful to the Department of Environmental Science, University of Kashmir for providing the necessary laboratory facilities and financial assistance to carry out this research work. Thanks are also to Dr. Aadil Hamid for statistical analysis of data sets. We are also thankful to two anonymous reviewers for useful comments.
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This research was financially supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), India, under Extra Mural Research (EMR) Funding Scheme (Individual Centric) under Grant No.: EMR/2016/000324. Authors therefore thankfully acknowledge the financial support of SERB-DST.
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This research idea was conceived and designed by SUB, while UQ, STI, IS and SAD have carried out the sampling in the field and conducted analysis and survey related to the work. All the authors equally contributed in editing, reviewing and approved the final manuscript.
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Qayoom, U., Islam, S.T., Sabha, I. et al. Coliform pollution map** in major watersheds along Jhelum River Basin of Kashmir Himalaya. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 7930–7941 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22727-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22727-0