Microbial Quality of Swimming Water in Caspian Sea Coasts in Golestan Province

Swimming is often recommended because of its potentially beneficial effects on the joints and on people’s general sense of Well-being. Swimming is a great way to relax and beat the summer heat. The dumping of urban and industrial waste waters into the sea, with their high level of pathogens and other polluting agents, raises concern about its consequences for both swimmers’ health and ecology. The objective of the present study was to investigate the microbial quality of Caspian Sea beaches in Golestan province and compare it to the Ministry of Health’s standards. In order to evaluate the microbial quality of the Caspian Sea Swimming beaches in Golestan province, 120 water samples were taken from the coastal towns of Turkmen, Bandar Gaz and Nokandeh from April to August 2009. The mean number of total Coliforms, fecal Coliforms, fecal streptococci and Pseudomonas were determined by standard method. The mean number of total Coliforms, fecal Coliforms, fecal streptococci and Pseudomonas in Golestan province beaches were respectively 366, 249, 73, 93 and 7 per 100 ml of each sample. Also the mean number of total Coliforms, fecal Coliforms, fecal streptococci and Pseudomonas in Turkmen coast were respectively 505, 374, 110, 9 and 369, 233, 28 & 7 in BandarGaz coast and 224, 174, 57 & 6 in Nokandeh coast. This study indicated that the amount of contamination based on microorganisms’ index in the whole province beaches was at its highest level in August and the lowest in May. The total coliform and fecal streptococci was higher than the Ministry of Health’s standard only in Turkmen beaches, but fecal coliform and pseudomonas were higher than the Ministry of Health’s standard in all Caspian Sea beaches in Golestan province. Therefore Golestan province’s beaches are contaminated by index microbes that can be dangerous for swimmers health.