Distribution of fecal coliforms in the Jordan river mouth originating from anthropogenic activities in the watershed

The main inflow to Lake Kinneret is the Jordan River. A spit and a bar characterize the area where it enters the lake. The main processes occurring at the entrance are mixing, sedimentation and dispersion of the sediments. In the present study an interdisciplinary biological, physical and chemical approach was applied in order to follow the distribution of bacteria and river alluvium at the mouth of the river and relate the observed distribution to attenuation in velocity along the jet stream. The results showed that the jet flow rapidly attenuates when the Jordan enters the lake. The strong gradient in salinity indicated rapid mixing near the inflow The distribution of fecal coliforms and fluorescent tracers indicated that the maximal longitudinal gradient was at the bar. Thus, bacteria and fluorescent tracers can be used as indicators of the distribution of particles originating in the Jordan River and entering the lake. Most of the parameters studied were found to vary in accordance with attenuation of the flow Velocity as the jet diverges and disintegrates. Sedimentation dominated from the entrance to the bar and beyond the bar mixing (dilution) processes dominated.