Investigation of the effects of domestic waste on aquatic bacterial distribution in the Meric River (Edirne, Turkey)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of domestic waste on aquatic bacterial distribution in the Meric River located in the city centre of Edirne (Turkey). For this purpose, total mesophilic aerobic bacteria, total coliform, faecal coliform, and Eschericia coli bacteria were examined in the river. Also, some physicochemical features (water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, total hardness, magnesium, calcium, orthophosphate, nitrite nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen) were measured at the same time with bacterial sampling. The Spearman correlation index was used to evaluate the correlation between the bacterial distribution and environmental features. According to the results of the index, it was found that bacterial distribution related with some environmental variables, but overloading of wastewaters from settlements lead to bacterial contamination. Furthermore, bacterial and physicochemical datasets were grouped using some multivariate analysis techniques (cluster analysis, principle components, and correspondence analysis). The results grouped the sampling localities by their bacterial, including physicochemical, features.