Beta
384578

Assessment of Water Quality, Bacteria, and Plankton Diversity at Thermal Pollution Sites along the River Nile, Egypt

Article

Last updated: 01 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

The Nile River is exclusively Egypt's freshwater supply and is used to cool steam turbines in power plants, most of which are located along its course. An investigation was conducted to address the water quality in six areas affected by thermal discharge along the Nile and to monitor the potential effects of temperature fluctuations on the biodiversity of bacteria, phytoplankton, and zooplankton communities. Samples were collected from the upstream, downstream, and discharge zones of each power plant. Temperatures increased more at the mixing points than in the upstream and downstream locations, while transparency and dissolved oxygen levels were the lowest at the mixing points. The water quality index for the Nile ranged from 68 (medium) to 93 (excellent), with the lowest values found near the thermal discharge points. Fecal coliform and fecal streptococci counts ranged from 3 to 1100 and 3 to 1200 MPN/100 ml, respectively, with the mixing points showing the lowest levels of pollution-related bacterial markers. Our results indicate that plankton abundance and dominance were influenced by temperature at the mixing points. Seasonal changes in zooplankton composition and density were observed, with rotifers consistently being the dominant group. It is recommended to regularly monitor the condition of the Nile water, especially after the completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the decrease in Egypt's share of the Nile water, as these changes could lead to increased water temperatures near the power plants.

DOI

10.21608/ejabf.2024.384578

Keywords

Nile River, thermal pollution, water quality, Microbiological analysis, Phytoplankton and zooplankton

Authors

First Name

Abdo

Last Name

et al.

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

-

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

28

Article Issue

5

Related Issue

50139

Issue Date

2024-09-01

Receive Date

2024-10-07

Publish Date

2024-09-01

Page Start

1,513

Page End

1,553

Print ISSN

1110-6131

Online ISSN

2536-9814

Link

https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/article_384578.html

Detail API

https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=384578

Order

90

Type

Original Article

Type Code

103

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries

Publication Link

https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Assessment of Water Quality, Bacteria, and Plankton Diversity at Thermal Pollution Sites along the River Nile, Egypt

Details

Type

Article

Created At

23 Dec 2024