This work shows the results of the research of helminthes eggs, Salmonella sp., total coliforms and E. coli in the sewage affluent and effluent and in the soil at the Sewage Treatment Plant in Populina, SP, which treatment method is the overland flow. The results have shown that the system was capable to reduce the number of helminthes eggs in the final effluent and that they are found in a bigger number on the soil surface and in twenty meters from the point of appliance of sewage. It is likely that the humidity has a certain influence on the viability of Ascaris sp. eggs. The system was not efficient on the removal Salmonella sp., total coliform and E. coli. It is worth pointing out that sewage treatment plant is operating over the capacity it was built to operating at, what would justify such results.
Sewage disposal in soil; overland flow; health risks; environmental contamination; pathogens
