Isolation and identification of mycobacteria in treated water from the supply system Araraquara--SP/Isolamento e identificacao de micobacterias em aguas tratadas provenientes do sistema de abastecimento de Araraquara--SP

Water quality is very important for the health and the population welfare, and the public supply system must provide water quality and sufficient quantity for the entire population. Water treatment stations, are the main way to obtain water quality. When this doesn't occur, several problems can affect the population, in this case, using water with poor quality is a constant risk of emergence causing various diseases. The elimination of microorganisms in treated water reduces competition, encouraging the multiplication of chlorine resistant bacteria as Mycobacterium genus frequently isolated from treated and chlorinated water. Considering the lack of indication from examinations of mycobacteria routine laboratory for quality control of drinking water and other human uses, the objective was to verify the presence isolate and identify the environmental mycobacteria in the system water source surface of Araraquara--SP. We analyzed 40 water samples, distributed as follows: ten water gross collected at Station Water Treatment Plant (WTP), harvested after ten filtration; ten collected in the reservoir after chlorination and ten in the network distribution. Were recovered 43 isolates of mycobacteria. All isolates were subjected to PCR-PRA. The mycobacteria were identified as M. lentiflavum, M. parafortuitum, M. genavense, M. gordonae, M. fortuitum, M. confluent, M. duvalii, M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis and M. szulgai. With these results, was concluded that water is an important source of environmental mycobacteria probably related to several human diseases, suggesting the carrying out continuous monitoring of the microorganisms in the system drinking water. KEYWORDS: Water; public supply; environmental mycobacterium. A qualidade da agua e muito importante para a saude e bem-estar do ser humano e o sistema de abastecimento publico deve fornecer agua de qualidade e em quantidade suficiente para toda a populacao. As estacoes de tratamento de agua constituem o principal caminho para obtencao de agua de qualidade. Quando isso nao ocorre varios problemas podem afetar a populacao que passa a consumir agua com qualidade inadequada e com o risco constante de surgimento de varias doencas. A eliminacao de micro-organismos em agua tratada reduz a competicao, favorecendo a multiplicacao de bacterias resistentes ao cloro como as do genero Mycobacterium frequentemente isoladas de aguas tratadas e cloradas. Considerando a nao indicacao da pesquisa de micobacterias nos exa