Study of the Microbial Health in and Around the Lower Stretch of Hooghly Estuary

Rahul Bose, Hare Krishna Jana,

Abstract

We investigated microbial load and few common hydrological parameters in the Hooghly Estuarine stretch of the Maritime State of West Bengal (India). The study site is located in the Lower Gangetic Delta and is the western part of the famous mangroves ecosystems of Indian Sundarbans. We observed significant spatial variations of all hydrological parameters (except surface water temperature) which are mainly due to the proximity of the stations to the Bay of Bengal. Significant spatial variations were also observed in the Total Bacterial Count (TBC), Fecal Coliform (FC) count, Total Coliform (TC) count, E. coli count, Streptococcus sp. count, which can be related to the type and magnitude of anthropogenic activities operating in and around the selected stations. A long term monitoring is required to understand the spatio-temporal variations of hydrological parameters and microbial load in the Lower Gangetic Delta as it sustains a unique genetic diversity in the Indian subcontinent