Carbamazepine (CBZ) is an antiepileptic-psychiatric drug, which is eliminated directly in water effluents by urinary or fecal routes; causing toxicity and mutagenic effects in living beings.

According to the study by Voloshenko, A, et al (2015), in Ecuador carbamazepine is one of the most persistent emerging pollutants, which despite going through conventional wastewater treatments, it cannot be eliminated. Therefore, there is evidence of the need to develop investigations of alternative degradation processes, such as biological treatments that incorporate microorganisms that use the contaminant as a carbon source.

In this work, two sampling points were selected in the Machángara River to isolate microorganisms able to consume carbamazepine as carbon source. These points were selected, due to their greater concentration of emerging pollutants. Water samples were characterized physical - chemical and microbiologically, presenting values ​​outside the maximum permissible limits for fecal and total coliforms, which make this resource not suitable for human consumption. Microorganisms capable of using carbamazepine as a carbon source were Isolated and molecularly identified.

For degradation tests, two bacteria belonging to genus Pseudomonas were selected, one isolated from the water source and an ATCC certified bacterium; observing that the best treatment was with Psedomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027, 2% v / v of inoculum, 30 ° C, with 15 ppm of CBZ for 37 days of treatment.