Fate of anthropic pollutants to Suquía River basin.

WUNDERLIN D.A.

Sao Carlos

Seminario; Seminario Interno UFSCAR; 2018

UFSCAR

Differentpollutants are released to water bodies, causing different problems withecosystems, food chain and, ultimately, impacting edible aquatic biota with theobvious negative consequences for humans.The SuquíaRiver basin is located in Córdoba (Argentina) and belongs to a closed basin,situated in a semi-arid region, which ends in a saline lake (Mar Chiquita). Theupper part of the basin is in a mountain area, with less anthropic pollution;but, as soon as the tributaries reach the valley they face an importanttouristic activity, releasing mainly sewage effluents, which causeseutrophication of reservoirs situated downstream. Further, Córdoba cityreleases the output of its WWTP, with an important volume in relation to theriver flow, particularly during the dry season.All of thesepollutants inputs have caused both blooms of cyanobacteria in the reservoirlocated in the upper basin, with production of microcystins (MCs), which aretranslated to the aquatic food web, reaching edible fish. Also the high load ofeffluents from WWTP has caused the release of pharmaceuticals to the river,which were translated to native biota, including fish. In spite of these evidences,authorities and people still do not assume the consequences of releasingeffluents with high load of nitrogen and phosphorous, in addition topharmaceuticals and personal care products. Thus, the evaluation of some markerof wastewater pollution that can be translated to edible biota is necessary topoint out a higher risk for human health upon consumption of aquatic productsarising from polluted environments. 15N seems to be a reasonable marker forthat purpose.  Results fromdiverse pollutants associated with human pollution found in the Suquía basinwill be presented and discussed. Recent research on the use of 15N as a markerof anthropic pollution in fish and associated food web will be also presentedand discussed in terms of the health risk for human consumption of fish grew inwater having presence of sewage.