International Journal of Aquaculture, 2018, Vol.8, No.4, 23-28
23
Research Report Open Access
Level of Bacterial and Heavy Metals Pollution in Rivers Located in Al-Qurna
City, Basrah, Iraq
Ghazi Malih Al-Malki, Amaal S. Al-Sharaa
,
Khaled Kh. Al-Khafaji
Department of Marine Biology, Marine Science Center, Basrah University, Basrah, Iraq
Corresponding author Email
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2018, Vol.8, No.4 doi
Received: 09 Feb., 2018
Accepted: 05 Mar., 2018
Published: 16 Mar., 2018
Copyright © 2018
Al-Malki et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Al-Malki G.M., Al-Sharaa A.S., and Al-Khafaji K.K., 2018, Level of bacterial and heavy metals pollution in rivers located in Al-Qurna city, Basrah, Iraq,
International Journal of Aquaculture, 8(4): 23-28 (doi
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate bacterial and heavy metals pollution in rivers located near Al-Qurna
city, Basrah, Iraq. The samples collected from November 2016 to February 2017 from three stations. The heavy metals analysis
revealed that the mean concentration of iron, lead and zinc were highest at station 2; 0.35, 0.02 and 1.29 mg/L, respectively. The
highest copper concentration was observed in the water sample from sampling station 3 (0.18 mg/L). In this study, 80 samples were
collected from three different stations in Al-Qurna city. To find out pathogenic bacteria culturing technique was used followed by
staining for identification of bacterial specie. In St. 1 were found 19 samples (23.75%) pathogenic bacteria, 16 samples (20.00%)
from St. 2 and 13 samples (16.25%) from St. 3. Four Different bacterial species were reported (
Escherichia coli
,
Pseudomonas
aeruginosa
,
Enterobacter aerogenes
and
Staphylococcus aureus
).
E. coli
was mostly isolated specie that was identified in 18 samples
(22.50%) followed by
P. aeruginosa
14 samples (17.50%),
S. aureus
12 samples (15.00%) and
E. aerogenes
7 samples (8.75%).
Keywords
Ecological parameters; Tigris River; Euphrates River
Background
The Tigris and Euphrates are the most historically important rivers of Iraq. Both rivers flow through Syria and
Iraq to join one to another in Al-Qurna city to be Shatt al-Arab River, which empties into the Arabian Gulf. Each
of them is a vital resource for communities, agriculture and industry in Turkey, Syria and Iraq (Shamout and Lahn,
2015). Due to human and natural activities, contaminant enters the environment. These pollutants cause serious
problems and risks to the environment and man himself (Hassan et al., 2010; Mohammad et al., 2012;
Shanbehzadeh et al., 2014). Water resources are among the most critical resources and the importance of water
resources, particularly surface water (rivers), in meeting the water need of humans, animals and industries
underscores the need to protect them against contaminations (Shanbehzadeh et al., 2014). As municipal, industrial
and agricultural wastes enter the water, biological and chemical contaminants including heavy metals also enter
water resources.
Heavy metals are serious pollutants because of their toxicity, persistence and non-degradability in the
environment (Olivares et al., 2005; Morin, 2008). The aim of this study is evaluating the chemical and biological
contamination in Rivers near Al-Qurna city from three stations: the first station located in Euphrates River in
Shatt Al-Arab South Al-Qurna city, the 2
nd
and 3
rd
located in Tigris River North Al-Qurna city and Al-Mudaina
city. The concentration of chemical elements in ppm unit detected in the river depend on using atomic absorption,
whereas biological method to evaluate bacterial presence (Total Plate Count), aerobic microbes in addition to
isolation and identification of some bacteria that present in the three different places. The study analyzed bacterial
and heavy metals pollution in Tigris, Euphrates and Shatt Al-Arab Rivers from Al-Qurna city, Basrah, Iraq.
1 Materials and Methods
1.1 Samples collection
80 samples were collected from three stations in rivers of Al-Qurna city (Figure 1) during four months from
November 2016 to February 2017: (20 from each station). 100 mL water sample was collected and transferred it
into disposable sterilized test tubes. After collection of sample, test tubes were tightly closed to avoid any
contamination and protection to make it protected from environmental pathogen contamination.
