Effect of urban wastewater on fish community in the Saghez River, Kurdestan provience

In this research, the effects of urban wastewater on the diversity and distribution of fish in the Saghez River, Kurdistan province, were investigated at four different stations including 1) the station of the Cheragveis dam, 2) the station before the wastewater into the river, 3) the station after the entry of wastewater into the river; and 4) the station before the river to the Kazemi dam during Jully to September of 2017. The Shanon-winer, Margalof and Simpsoon indices were used for calculationg the species diversity and the correlation between physicochemical factors and species diversity and frequency of fish species were analyzed using CCA analysis inCanoco software. The results showed that the species Capoeta gracilis showed the highest aboundance in all 4 stations, but the maximum and minumum number of fish species belonged to stations 4 and 2, respectively. The cyprinidae family with 12 species and subspecies and 96.2% of the total number of fish were observed at all stations. The Nemacheilidae and Sisoridae families with one species had the lowest aboundance. Based on the results of biodiversity indices, the highest Margalf, Shannon-wiener and Simpson index was observed at station 4. However, for the Simpson index, two stations 3 and 4 were similar. In terms of correlation between biodiversity indices and physicochemical factors, there were correlations between Simpson dominance index with nitrate, phosphate, and BOD₅ , Shannon-wiener index with nitrate, phosphate, ammonia and BOD₅. On the other hand, both indices showed a high correlation with the dissolved oxygen. The highest positive correlation was found between the frequency of C. auratus and nitrate, phosphate, ammonium and BOD. In conclusion, effluent of the city Saghez has increased the amount of nitrate and phosphate in the river, which has resulted in the removal of some species and the presence of herbivorous species, thus influencing the population of the Seghez River fish species. Therefore, it is recommended that the effluent of the city Saghez should be treated before entering the river, in order to prevent permanent destruction of natural ecosystems.