STUDIES ON THE BACTERIAL CONTAMINATION OF SANGANUR CANAL FROM NANJUNDAPURAM ORIGIN TO NOYYAL END POINT, COIMBATORE DISTRICT, TAMILNADU, INDIA

The water quality with particular reference to bacterial analysis was carried out in the river Sanganur canal from Nanjundapuram origin to Noyyal end point, Coimbatore District from January 2014 to June 2014. The obtained results showed that running contamination of streams from agricultural areas was not extremely high, but it showed marked seasonal fluctuations. The bacterial parameters analyzed reveal that the canal is highly polluted with faecal material.


INTRODUCTION
Water is a resource that has many uses, including recreation, transportation, and hydroelectric power, domestic, industrial, and commercial uses. Water also supports all forms of life and affects our health, lifestyle and economic well being. Although more than three quarters of the earth's surface is made up of water, only 2.8 percent of the Earth's water is available for human consumption (Iskandar, 2010). The most commonly used indicators for bacteriological contamination are the coliforms: total and fecal coliforms and fecal streptococci. E. coli is a subgroup of fecal coliform group, and its presence indicates the fecal pollution of groundwater (Viessman and Hammer, 2005). Oinam Jayalakshmi devi and Belagali (2005) conducted water quality assessment from different districts of southern Karnataka. The results of the study showed that a few samples have objectionable bacterial coliforms.

Sanganur canal
The present attempt was made to analyze the water quality status of Sanganur canal. It's a natural water body from Kurudi malai hills (Nanjundapuram origin) to Noyal river situated at a distance of just 45 km from the Coimbatore city.

Sample collection
For the present study, the samples were collected water Sanganur canal at below mentioned three stations. Surface water samples were collected between 11.30 am and 12.30 pm for a period of 6 months from January 2014 to June 2014 every fortnight. Samples were collected in a 300ml Borosil bottles with ample air space were transported in an ice basket and all analysis were carried out within 2hr of collection. All procedures were according to methods outlined and following the guideline of

Standard plate counts
The analysis of the samples for standard plate count during the study period. The populations of bacterial colonies were gradually increased during the study period at all stations. The maximum of 3.5 x 10 3 / ml was recorded during the first fortnight collection of June 2014 in station III and minimum of 0.8 x 10 3 / ml during the first fortnight collection of June 2014 in Station I. The counts of bacterial population increased with the onset of rains and can be attributed to subsoil movement of water carrying  Table 2. Coliform bacterial population in the surface water at different stations 750/100 ml) of the river water observed in the counts for station III was higher (750/100ml) than Counts of Escherichia coli varied widely from 30/100 ml to 36/100ml at Station I, 26/100 ml to 30/100 ml at Station II, 37/100 ml to 48/100 ml at Station III. E.coli can be used as bio-indicators of aquatic ecosystem dynamics and determination of their occurrence may help to assess the water quality. those of the other two. The coliform bacterial counts in the residential areas were relatively very high, indicating that their occurrence for the most part was influenced by the residential activities. The minimum coliform bacterial counts were observed during January 2014. This reduction may be due to dilution and death of coliform due to their retention in the river (Holden 1970;Johari et al 1999). Table 3. Escherichia coli population in the surface water at different stations

Fig. 3. Escherichia coli population in the surface water at different stations
In the present study, it has been found that the Sanganur canal waters were polluted by human and animal wastes. Therefore conservation of this canal are important to protect them from further contamination and for the human needs. This is historic earth water source for Coimbatore city. This is our duty of every individual of Coimbatore for the preservation of the canal. SAMPLE I  33  32  35  36  31  30   SAMPLE II  26  29  30  28  27  25   SAMPLE III  37  40  41  42  45  48