Abstract
Five years of monthly data of indicator bacteria from 1998 to 2002 were evaluated to find out the changes in water quality during the rehabilitation of the Golden Horn, an estuary severely polluted from industrial and domestic discharges since the 1950s. Surface fecal coliform was above 10 6 CFU/100 ml at the inner part in 1998. Following the achievement of healthy water circulation and control of most surface discharges, fecal coliform and fecal streptococci counts decreased below 10 3 CFU/100 ml in the summer of 2002. However, the decrease was interrupted by sudden shifts in rainy periods. Runoff, enhanced by domestic inputs during rainfall, has become the main factor influencing water quality in the estuary today. Increasing values of fecal coliform were observed during periods of low salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen and high ortho-phosphate, whilst decreasing values were detected during high salinity, pH and dissolved oxygen and low ortho-phosphate periods. Striking changes were observed within five years, promising that even an anoxic water body can turn into a recreational area with appropriate treatment.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 951-958 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Marine Pollution Bulletin |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue number | 11-12 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2004 |
Funding
The authors would like to thank the Mr. Sezgin Çamurcu for his technical assistance during the research and Mr. Gareth Edwards for correcting the English text during the preparation of the manuscript. This study was conducted as a part of ongoing Water Quality Monitoring Project funded by General Directorate of Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration |
Keywords
- Bacterial indicator
- Estuary
- Fecal coliform
- Fecal streptococci
- Golden horn
- Monitoring
