Microbiological analysis of seawater and sediments in urban shorelines: Occurrence of heavy metals resistance bacteria on Chennai beaches, Bay of Bengal

The present study aims to evaluate the microbial diversity of bacteria, fungi and other pathogenic microorganisms present in seawater and sediments from Chennai shoreline (southeast coast of India). Chennai beaches are heavily polluted with untreated sewage effluents; municipal sewage disposal and recreational activities. Seawater was heavily contaminated with coliforms, Vibrio and Pseudomonas compare to sediment microbial contamination. Isolated bacteria are mostly pathogenic microorganisms including Vibrio, Pseudomonas, Coliforms, Salmonella and Shigella. Another potential environmental threat noticed was heavy metal resistance of these pathogenic strains against 50 mM of Ni, Cr, Cu, Co, Pb and Hg. Statistical analyses revealed that the Chennai coast may cause health risk to the recreational users and fisher folk, ultimately warrants environmental quality management to control microbial contamination (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.