Ecological and Microbiological Characteristics of the Jhelum River in Kashmir Himalaya

We have assessed the density and diversity of bacterial load of the water body, the Jhelum River from Kashmir Himalaya.Bacteria were isolated and identified and some physical parameters like pH and temperature were measured between June-November 2011, in four sampling sites along the river.The highest bacterial count of was observed at site IV, with a cfu/ml of 2.0 × 103 in the month of July.The lowest viable count was at site III, with a cfu/ml of 0.3 × 103 in the month of November.Among different strains isolated it was found that 73% of strains isolated were Gram negative and about 27% of strains were Gram positive.It was also observed that 5% of strains were Gram positive cocci, 27% strains were Gram negative cocci, 15% were Gram positive Bacilli and 34% were Gram negative Bacilli.It was also found that 32% strains were cocci, 49% Bacilli, 12% strains were Diplococci and 7% strain were Streptococci.Comparative analysis of the different colonies from the four sampling sites indicates that the highest bacterial density was reached in the month of July 2011.