It is well known that climate change is responsible for melting glaciers. Less known is the fact that its impact goes to the deepest level of the permafrost - permanently frozen soils that we see in the Alps as icy layers of debris. With the melting of these hidden ices, the debris and substances they contain also flow into the springs and streams below, affecting the quantity and quality of their waters. Thus, water contamination is a potential environmental problem: for this reason, it is important to understand what exactly the dissolved permafrost contains, where such substances come from and how they have accumulated over time. Other questions may concern how microbes dissolved in permafrost have adapted over time to these substances, which may also include heavy metals, and if microbes have developed particular resistances that could affect the effectiveness, for example, of antibiotic therapies. The triennial project “ROCK-ME” funded by Euregio will try to answer these questions involving the joint research of three institutions with strong experience in hydrobiological sciences: alongside Edmund Mach Foundation, the University of Bolzano and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.