Smart Water Research Centre, Griffith University, Southport, 4222 Queensland, Australia.
Water Res. 2012 Nov 15;46(18):6069-83. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2012.08.026. Epub 2012 Aug 28.
The potential ecological impact of disinfection by-products (DBPs) present in chlorinated wastewater effluents is not well understood. In this study, the chlorinated effluent of traditional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and advanced water reclamation plants (AWRPs) supplying highly-treated recycled water were analyzed for nitrosamines and trihalomethanes (THMs), and a battery of bioassays conducted to assess effluent toxicity. An increase in general toxicity from DBPs was revealed for all wastewaters studied using an in vitro bioluminescence assay. Examples of androgenic activity and estrogenic activity arising from DBPs at specific sampling sites were also observed. The in vivo model (Artemia franciscana) was generally not adversely affected by exposure to DBPs from any of the chlorinated wastewaters studied. The observed toxicity could not be related to the concentrations of THMs and nitrosamines present, indicating that DBPs not monitored in this study were responsible for this. This work highlights the complexity of DBPs mixtures formed in chlorinated wastewaters, illustrating that toxicity of wastewater DBPs cannot be predicted by chemical monitoring of THMs and nitrosamines. The results suggest bioassays may be particularly useful monitoring tools in assessing toxicity arising from DBPs of these complex waters. The research concludes that DBPs formed in the chlorinated wastewaters studied can be toxic and may have a deleterious impact on aquatic organisms that are exposed to them, and therefore, that chlorination or chlorination/dechlorination may not be adequate treatment strategies for the protection of receiving waters. Chlorinated wastewater toxicity (from DBPs) is not well-understood in the Australian context, and this study serves to advise regulators on this issue.
消毒副产物（DBPs）存在于氯化废水废水中，其潜在的生态影响尚未得到充分理解。在这项研究中，分析了传统污水处理厂（WWTP）和提供高度处理再生水的先进水回收厂（AWRP）的氯化废水废水中的亚硝胺和三卤甲烷（THMs），并进行了一系列生物测定以评估废水毒性。使用体外生物发光测定法，揭示了所有研究废水的 DBPs 均导致一般毒性增加。还观察到了特定采样点处 DBPs 引起的雄激素和雌激素活性的实例。在体内模型（卤虫）中，通常不会因暴露于任何氯化废水中的 DBPs 而受到不利影响。观察到的毒性不能与存在的 THMs 和亚硝胺浓度相关，这表明该研究中未监测到的 DBPs 是造成这种情况的原因。这项工作强调了氯化废水中形成的 DBPs 混合物的复杂性，表明不能通过对 THMs 和亚硝胺的化学监测来预测废水 DBPs 的毒性。结果表明，生物测定法可能是评估这些复杂水中 DBPs 产生的毒性的特别有用的监测工具。研究结果表明，在所研究的氯化废水中形成的 DBPs 可能具有毒性，并可能对暴露于其中的水生生物产生有害影响，因此，氯化或氯化/脱氯可能不是保护受纳水体的适当处理策略。澳大利亚对氯化废水毒性（来自 DBPs）的了解不足，本研究旨在就此问题为监管机构提供建议。
