Water Quality and Pollution Status of Lararpur Reservoir with Special Reference to Bacterial Contamination

Laharpur dam was constructed in the southwest of Bhopal city, M.P., India with an objective to store water for irrigational purpose. At the time of planning and construction of the reservoir it was in the outskirts of township but now, with the expansion of the city the reservoir has come well within the settlement. The developmental activities and occupancy in the area is exerting pressure on the water body. Surface water in urban water bodies almost always contains some degree of contamination. This is due to exposure to animals, humans, aquatic life, etc. In addition to this, variety of other human activities resulted in increasing the bacterial concentration of reservoir. Many of these bacteria are pathogenic and spread diseases like typhoid, paratyphoid, gastroenteritis etc. Inflow of sewage in the surface water may play an important role in the transmission of pathogenic agents discharged through feces. Some pathogenic bacteria like Actinomyces sp., Aerobacter aerogenes, A. cloacae, Micrococcus sp., Salmonella sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillussp, and Shigella species indicate the higher level of fecal contamination of water. This untreated water poses a serious threat to the health of consumers and therefore, calls for urgent intervention by government.
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