Toxicity tests in wastewater and drinking water treatment processes: A complementary assessment tool to be on your radar

Abstract

Wastewater discharges from cities and industries, especially megacities, and intensive livestock can be considered as main sources of pollution of our rivers and groundwater. Water pollution, therefore, constitutes a major threat to both aquatic ecosystems and human health. Here we address the influence of chemical pollution in waste- and drinking water, their associated potential toxicological effects, as well as, the available technologies for their removal. This opinion paper provides illustrative selected examples covering a broad range for both drinking water and wastewater treatment processes, for which a battery of toxicity tests is applied for their risk assessment. The examples are classified based on five hot topics: (i) Bioassays for toxicity evaluation, (ii) Toxicity of municipal wastewaters, (iii) Toxicity of pharmaceutical residues and hospital wastewaters, (iv) Toxicity of other non-urban effluent examples, and (v) Drinking water treatment processes and toxicity evaluation. 'Chemical analysis combined with batteries of bioassays covering a broad range of endpoints: cytotoxicity, endocrine disruption, genotoxicity, and other types seem to be good way to assess performance/efficiency of the water treatment processes when removing chemical contaminants.. Altogether, while recognizing that water treatment is a cornerstone for water pollution reduction, providing safe water for both human use and its return back to the aquatic environment will be undoubtedly enhanced with the use of ecotoxicity biomonitoring.