Contamination of epileptic biofilms by pharmaceuticals residues in the waterways of the central of the Federal University of Santa Maria

Medium-sized urban agglomerations have experienced huge population growth in recent decades. The absence of a master plan and environmental planning and/or the lack of control of space occupation have been destroying the few green spaces and environmental protection. The chaotic occupation of space, the lack of collection and the treatment of sewage are standards and not exception. In addition, another problem faced in Brazil is the deficiency in the collection and treatment of hospital waste. The constant injection of untreated or partially treated human and industrial waste is compromising the quality of the water from the rivers and reservoirs, including biofilms, a primary source in the aquatic food chain. In this sense, the present project proposes the monitoring of the presence of pharmaceuticals and bacterial diversity in the epilitic biofilms in all the water courses of the Campus os the Federal University of Santa Maria. The university community is made up of approximately 30 thousand people. Add to this, part of the neighborhood called Camobi, whose waste is thrown directly into a stream that passes through the university. The study was conducted at the Federal University of Santa Maria (Coordinates 29 45 S and 53 43 W). The biofilm samples were collected in May 2018 and they were named J1, J2, J3, J4, J5, J6, J7, J8, J9, J10, J11, J12 and J13. Sampling consisted of manual collection and brushing of material adhered to fragments of submerged rocks, with the aids of nylon bristle and 0.5 L of deionized water. The samples were transferred to individual high-density polystyrene flasks to be frozen in deep-freezers at -80 degrees Celsius. Subsequently, the samples were lyophilized. These samples are microbial communities from aquatic environments that were collected to evaluate the contamination of water courses by pharmaceutical compounds and its influence on the microbial community. The sequencing may be available after 2 years (June 2022).