Physiochemical parameters, including TOC, have been identified as key drivers influencing microbial communities in aquatic environments, including abundance of ARGs . This has been theorised because the availability of organic matter, nitrates, ammonia, and phosphates directly influences the bacterial communities. Positive correlations have been observed for a range of ARGs with many physiochemical parameters, including organic matter, oxygen content, and abundance of nitrates and ammonia. . Results have previously shown that statistically significant correlations between the abundance of ARGs and the concentration of TOC and have demonstrated that lower readings of TOC result in a rise to the diversity and relative abundance of ARGs . In this study, few (any?) statistically significant correlations between ARGs and WQIs were noted, again this could potentially be due to population size driving WQI levels (appendix 2).