Impact of treated sewage effluent on the bacterial community composition in an intermittent mediterranean stream

Abstract

Water quality monitoring is essential to safeguard human and environmental health. The advent of next-generation sequencing techniques in recent years, which allow a more in-depth study of environmental microbial communities in the environment, could broaden the perspective of water quality monitoring to include impact of faecal pollution bacteria on ecosystem. In this study, 16 S rRNA amplicon sequencing was used to evaluate the impact of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent on autochthonous microbial communities of a temporary Mediterranean stream characterized by high flow seasonality (from 0.02 m(3)/s in winter to 0.006 m(3)/s in summer). Seven sampling campaigns were performed under different temperatures and streamflow conditions (winter and summer). Water samples were collected upstream (Upper) of the WWTP, the secondary effluent (EF) discharge and 75 m (P75) and 1000 m (P1000) downstream of the WWTP. A total of 5,593,724 sequences were obtained, giving rise to 20,650 amplicon sequence variants (ASV), which were further analysed and classified into phylum, class, family and genus. Each sample presented different distribution and abundance of taxa. Although taxon distribution and abundance differed in each sample, the microbial community structure of P75 resembled that of EF samples, and Upper and P1000 samples mostly clustered together. Alpha diversity showed the highest values for Upper and P1000 samples and presented seasonal differences, being higher in winter conditions of high streamflow and low temperature. Our results suggest the microbial ecology re-establishment, since autochthonous bacterial communities were able to recover from the impact of the WWTP effluent in 1 km. Alpha diversity results indicates a possible influence of environmental factors on the bacterial community structure. This study shows the potential of next-generation sequencing techniques as useful tools in water quality monitoring and management within the climate change scenario