Water scarcity is a growing problem worldwide, and arid and sub-humid regions have greater difficulties in carrying out agricultural and farming practices because of this absence. The use of sewage wastewater is a solution to this problem. However, the inadequate handling of this effluent can negatively affect the soil microbiota, through soil salinity and/or microbial stress. In addition, practices such as the use of cover can minimize part of the negative effect of long-term irrigation. In this sense, the objective of this work is to evaluate the impact of irrigation with reused water from domestic sewage, mulch and consortia on the microbiota of soil cultivated with cactus pear. The experiment was installed at the experimental unit in Parnamirim - PE, located in the central hinterland of Pernambuco. The treatments were a factorial arrangement between two consortiums (Sudanese sorghum – Sorghum sudanense (Piper) Stapf. and buffel grass (Cenchrus siliaris L) and four covers (no cover - SC, natural vegetation - VN, 8 tons of sorghum straw - 8t .ha-1 and 12 tons of sorghum straw – 12t.ha-1) with four replications.Soil samples were taken at 0, 4, 8 and 12 months after the installation of the experiment, at depths 0-10 and 10- 20 cm. Basic chemical, physical and biological analyzes were determined for characterization in the area and over the months of evaluation the total organic carbon (TOC), microbial biomass carbon (CBM), microbial biomass nitrogen (NBM), basal respiration ( RB) and metabolic quotient (qCO2) and microbial quotient (qMIC) were calculated.The data were subjected to analysis of variance at 10% using the mixed model for repeated measurements in time and space, followed by Tukey tests at 10%. Irrigation and mulching promoted an increase in biological activity at 8 and 12 months of evaluation. The positive effect of consortiums was observed through the increase of microbial activity, but it needs more evaluation periods for better conclusions. The qCO2 indicated that the microbial biomass was not efficient in using carbon over time. The qMIC made it clear that the modified environment caused stress to the microbial community.