Geothermal waters exploited in the southeastern region of Hungary are alkali-hydrogen-carbonate type, and beside the high amount of dissolved salt, they contain a variety of aromatic, heteroaromatic, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. The majority of these geothermal waters used for heating are directed into surface waters following a temporary storage in reservoir lakes. The aim of this study was to gain information about the temporal and spatial changes of the water quality as well as the bacterial community composition of an alkaline and saline oxbow lake operated as reservoir of used geothermal water. On the basis of the water physical and chemical measurements as well as the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) patterns of the bacterial communities, temporal changes were more pronounced than spatial differences. During the storage periods, the inflow, reservoir water, and sediment samples were characterized with different bacterial community structures in both studied years. The 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequences of the bacterial strains and molecular clones confirmed the differences among the studied habitats. Thermophilic bacteria were most abundant in the geothermal inflow, whereas the water of the reservoir was dominated by cyanobacteria and various anoxygenic phototrophic prokaryotes. In addition, members of several facultative anaerobic denitrifying, obligate anaerobic sulfate-reducing and syntrophic bacterial species capable of decomposition of different organic compounds including phenols were revealed from the water and sediment of the reservoir. Most of these alkaliphilic and/or halophilic species may participate in the local nitrogen and sulfur cycles and contribute to the bloom of phototrophs manifesting in a characteristic pink-reddish discoloration of the water of the reservoir.
Keywords: Bacterial diversity; Cultivation; DGGE; Geothermal water; Molecular cloning; Reservoir; Water quality.