In this study, we determined pH, phosphorus content and the number of P-dis- solving/decomposing bacteria in relation to the depth in the sediment of Guanting reservoir in Beijing. The pH value was slightly increased from 8.0 in the surface to 8.5 in the bottle (69 cm in depth) of sediment. The highest P content, 1269 mg/kg, was detected in the 35 cm layer, followed by the 5 cm (993 mg/kg) and 69 cm (580 mg/kg) layers. The number of inorganic P-dissolving bacteria varied from 6(102 to 8(104 and the organic P-discomposing bacteria were from 1.9(103 to 6.3(104 per gram sediment in different depths, which were counted under 28℃ and 20℃ ( pH7.5 and 8.5. The number of P-dissolving/discomposing bacteria was directly correlated to the P content in each layer of sediments. The analysis of P-dissolving/decomposing ability of bacteria showed that some of these bacteria were also capable of accumulating P intracellularly. The intracellular P-accumulation was more efficient at lower temperature; in contrast, the activity of P-dissolving/decomposing was stronger at higher temperature. So the content of dissolved P in water body, or quality of water, could be affected by the change of temperature via the regulation of bacterial activity. On the basis of 16S rDNA sequencing, the 13 efficient P-dis- solving/decomposing bacteria were identified as Bacillus spp., Bacterium sp., Microbacterium sp., Paenibacillus sp. and Pseudomonas sp.