Four stations were chosen to study the bacterial pollution of the River Nile, Rossetta branch. The results revealed that El- Rahawy drain is one of the main sources of pollution of Rossetta branch. The turbidity of the water and bacterial populations increased afer the discharge point of the drain. The data showed that the transparency of the Nile waters reached its minimal value at about 2 Km beyond the drain(30 cm ). On the other hand, the viable bacterial counts, beyond the discharge point of the drain, reached 250 x 106/ ml and 383 xl 06 /ml for incubation temperatures 22°C and 37°C, respectively. The total and faecal coliform counts reached 350 x104 I 100 ml and 90 x104 /100 ml water, respectively. Faecal streptococci counts reached 450/ lOOml afier the drain's discharge point. Thus, sewage effluents
of El-Rahawy drain should be subjected to intensive treatment before being discharged into the Rossetta branch.