Effluent toxicity evaluation of a sewage treatment plant from Santa Barbara D'Oeste city

• Grant number: 18/25145-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): April 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Maria Aparecida Marin Morales
• Grantee: Gabrielly Cristine Martins
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) generate wastes that may have detrimental effect on both the environment and human health. Among the residues produced at STP there are the sewage sludge and wastewater. Although the wastewater goes through several treatments to remove pollutant load, before being thrown in the water bodies, this removal is not complete. Therefore, despite the STP follow the pre-established resolutions for discharging their effluents in the receiving bodies, the criteria of this evaluation only contemplate the physical-chemical and microbiological characteristics of the treated effluents. For a real monitoring of these effluents, there is a need of complementary evaluations, such as those carried out by tests with toxicity bioindicators. The plant species Allium cepa and Lactuca sativa are considered efficient bioindicators for environmental quality assessment, as they provide consistent data on the phytotoxicity, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity of environmental samples. Providing these, this study has as objective monitoring the treated effluent from Toledos 1 STP in the city of Santa Bárbara-SP, as well as the hydric body that receives this effluent, before and after its disposal in the river, by the mitotic index, chromosomal aberrations and micronucleus (MN) tests in A. cepa and germination in L. sativa.