Alessandra Honjo Ide,Mauricius Marques dos santos,Fernanda Dittmar Cardoso,Alinne Mizukawa,Karina Scurupa Machado,Júlio César Rodrigues de Azevedo, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, , alessandrahide@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
Microbiological and limnological parameters are commonly used to determine the anthropic influence in aquatic environmental systems. However, studies have shown that caffeine is a more effective marker of human activity , mainly because this compound is found in a variety of foods (chocolate, pastries, and dairy desserts), beverages (coffee, tea and soft drinks) and medicines. The present study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of caffeine by high performance liquid chromatography and to determine some limnological characteristics in samples from two surface water bodies, Pequeno River and Palmital River, located in Upper Iguaçu River Basin. Caffeine was found in concentrations ranging from 0,353 to 20,13 µg.L-1 and the analyses revealed a significant difference between areas not commonly affected by sewage inputs and areas chronically influenced by sewage discharges. Results of this study showed that caffeine can be used as an efficient parameter to predict the presence of domestic waste water in urban superficial waters.
Palavras-chave: Bacia do Alto Iguaçu, cafeína, despejos domésticos