| Popis: |
The disposal of wastewater is considered to be one of the main public hygiene problems connected with urban centre life and development. The beneficial action of municipal wastewater treatment, however, also results in a concentration of micropollutants which has to be monitored not only chemically, but also for its impact on the receiving water bodies and on human health. The aim of this study was the evaluation of the toxic and genotoxic properties of wastewaters from a municipal treatment plant that serves a large urban centre (Turin) in Northern Italy. The presence of toxic and genotoxic substances during the different treatment phases has been investigated to study qualitative and quantitative differences between the influents and the effluents of the treatment plant. An analogous evaluation has also been carried out on the water body in which the treated effluents are discharged, to study the potential impact on the receiving environment. This investigation was performed using microbiological tests which provide a global response to micropollutants. The acute toxicity of the samples was evaluated with the Microtox® assay, while mutagenic properties were analysed with the Mutatox® test and the Salmone lla/microsom assay. The tests were carried out on both raw and concentrated samples (after liquid/liquid extraction). The biological analyses were accompanied by chemical characterisation of pollutants by GC/MS analysis. |
