Sewage fungus

Sewage fungus (also known as undesirable river biofilms, URBs) is a polymicrobial biofilm (a microbial mat) that proliferates in saprobic rivers and has been frequently used as a bioindicator of organic river pollution for the past century. Its presence has been strongly associated with discharges of untreated or inadequately treated sewage, yet its presence extends beyond these areas, with contributors including airport de-ice fluid runoff, papermill effluents, and agricultural runoff.

The name "sewage fungus" is somewhat of a misnomer, as these growths are not primarily fungal in nature. Instead, they are complex polymicrobial mats bound within a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances. The bacterial taxa most frequently associated with this phenomenon include Sphaerotilus natans, Zoogloea spp., Beggiatoa spp., and Rhodoferax spp.

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