Water Quality Assessment Using Physicochemical and Bacteriological Parameters of Fateh Sagar Lake, Udaipur, India

Abstract

In the present study assessment of physicochemical and bacteriological parameters of Lake Fateh Sagar of Udaipur (Rajasthan), India was done. Water samples were collected during different seasons for analysis of physicochemical parameters such as pH, temperature, total alkalinity, total hardness, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand. In addition, the bacteriological analysis like total bacterial and coliform count was detected. Incidences of Escherichia coli and their antibiotic resistance pattern were analyzed, which is the major microbiological indicator of faecal contamination. The values of some physicochemical and many of the bacteriological parameters were found above the permissible limits for drinking water recommended by World Health Organization. E. coli isolates were identified by morphological, biochemical and molecular characteristics using E. coli specific 16S rRNA gene based primers namely 16E1, 16E2 and 16E3 and universal primers namely 27F and 1492R by PCR. It was found that most of E. coli strains were strongly resistant to kanamycin, ampicillin, cefixime, polymyxin B, penicillin, vancomycin, rifampicin and streptomycin. The study of water quality is of significant value because the drinking water supply of the city is dependent on this lake and present study indicated that the lake water is polluted with reference to these analyzed parameters.