Abstract

In order to contribute with date to the Danube River Basin which is a prime European waterway, this analysis was carried out on the one hand to investigate the possibilities of sanitary risks that are incurred by the riverside population as they are engaged in professional recreational activities that impose a direct contact between man and water, that is intensely developed along the aquatic system and on the other hand to indicate a clear cut picture of the final level of coliforms and Escherichia coli that is actually present in the Galati industrial segment of the Danube River. Total coliforms, faecal coliforms and E. coli could attain values reaching 1.5×10³, 9.5×10² and 6.4×10³ CFU/ml, respectively for the aquatic ecosystems analysed. A variation of these parameters with respect to the ecodynamical characteristic of the Danube water quality such as temperature, pH, total dissolved solids, salinity and hydrogen sulphite reveal the preponderant role that abiotic factors play in the dispersion of bio-contaminants in a broad basin ecosystem. While the persistence of E. coli during the sampling period from June to September confirm the fact that there is a continuous faecal pollution of this medium. The high presence of organic pollutants in this medium, combined with the presence of coliforms and E. coli, could be related to an accumulation of waste matter all along the ecosystem, also due to the lack of wastewater treatment plants for domestic and industrial discharges, the high impact of human activities across the international river basin and the difficulties encountered in the natural operational processes of self purification.

Key words: Total coliforms, faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, water quality, Danube River, Galati-Romania.