Biodegradation and ecotoxicological assessment of pectin production wastewater

The chemical composition of pectin production wastewater and its toxicity during biological treatment were investigated. Samples of wastewater from di erent steps of a pectin production wastewater biological treatment plant were investigated including the influent of the treatment (1), after denitrification tank (2), after anaerobic treatment (3) and final e uent (4). The conventional physicochemical characteristics of samples did not indicate wastewater toxicity. However, toxicity assessments carried out on Vibrio fischeri and Scenedesmus subspicatus indicated low EC50 values. The fractionation of the samples using an XAD resin showed that the toxicity was associated with the organic matter. Wastewater apparent molecular mass distributions were 14.3, 25.0, 24.4 and 29.6 kDa for samples 1–4, respectively. Finally, characteristics of the sample by pyrolisis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-CG-MS) demonstrated its polyphenolic nature and a 23% increase in the levels of such compounds after the first biological treatment step.     

Integration of biological responses from a suite of bioassays for the Venice Lagoon (Italy) through sediment toxicity index - Part A: Development and comparison of two methodological approaches

Marine and coastal quality assessment, based on test batteries involving a wide array of endpoints, organisms and test matrices, needs for setting up toxicity indices that integrate multiple toxicological measures for decision-making processes and that classify the continuous toxicity response into discrete categories according to the European Water Framework Directive.Two toxicity indices were developed for the lagoon environment such as the Venice Lagoon. Stepwise procedure included: the construction of a database that identified test-matrix pairs (indicators); the selection of a minimum number of ecotoxicological indicators, called toxicological core metrics (CMs-tox) on the basis of specific criteria; the development of toxicity scores for each CM-tox; the integration of the CMs-tox into two indices, the Toxicity Effect Index (TEI), based on the transformation of Toxic Unit (TU) data that were integrated as logarithmic sum, and the Weighted Average Toxicity Index (WATI), starting from toxicity classes integrated as weighted mean. Results from the indices are compared; advantages and drawbacks of both approaches are discussed.     

用成组生物效应标记方法定量评价饮用水健康风险

饮用水安全性密切关系着民众的健康,因此相关的水质评价方法也日益受到关注.国家标准中规定的水质分析主要采用化学分析的方法,但该方法不能提供未知污染物的浓度及其所引起的健康影响,而生物效应标记测试则能弥补这一方面的不足.本研究应用一组生物效应标记方法评价自来水水质,包括利用SOS/umu测试评价遗传毒性,利用重组基因酵母测试评价类雌激素效应,利用鼠肝癌细胞(H4IIE)EROD诱导测试评价芳烃(Ah)受体效应或类二噁英物质总体水平,同时对这些生物毒性引起的健康风险进行了定量评价.用上述方法评价了北方某市9个水厂不同季节原水和出水水质.分析结果表明,该市主要自来水厂原水和出水中的直接和间接遗传毒性物质、类雌激素效应物质和芳烃受体效应物质浓度水平总体较低,风险在可接受水平;从处理效率来看,水厂现有工艺对类雌激素物质有很好的去除效果,而对于Ah受体效应类物质由于其总体浓度偏低而去除效果不很明显,少数水厂处理后由于消毒副产物的产生等原因,遗传毒性略有升高.曲此可见,应用生物效应标记方法能够对水厂的水源污染和水厂处理效果做出综合评价,该方法可以作为饮用水安全性评价的重要补充手段.     

Ecotoxicological evaluation of sediments by battery bioassays: application and comparison of two integrated classification systems

There is a recognised need to integrate multiple toxicity data deriving from battery bioassays into an easily understandable and single value, which may facilitate the decision-making process related to the management of contaminated sediments. In this study, two integration results systems were applied and compared: toxicity classification system (TCS) and Toxicity Test Battery integrated Index (TBI). The quality of sediments of the Taranto seas (Mar Grande and Mar Piccolo) was assessed by a battery of five test species representing different trophic levels (Dunaliella tertiolecta, Tigriopus fulvus, Corophium insidiosum, Mytilus galloprovincialis, and Anphibalanus amphitrite) and performed on three exposure phases (elutriate, porewater, and whole sediment). The integration of biological tests results with TBI showed that stations located in Mar Grande and one station in Mar Piccolo were in the high ecotoxicological risk level, according to the results obtained with TCS. The comparison of results deriving from two evaluation systems showed similarity in the ecotoxicological risk level. Only in one case there was a lack of concordance between two indices giving opposite judgments. The present study demonstrates that the use of one of the two indices can be useful to estimate and to rank hazard level for sediments.     

Development of an integrated chemical,biological and ecological approach for impact assessment of Mediterranean offshore gas platforms

The pressure for more energy demand is a strong driver for the construction of offshore oil and gas platforms. This also applies to the Adriatic Sea where, since 1960, several gas fields have been commissioned. The continuous expansion of the gas industry may potentially have detrimental effects on marine communities. This may become particularly clear in such a peculiar semi-enclosed basin as the Adriatic Sea, which contains ecosystems that are subject to intensive anthropic pressures, such as unsustainable fishing and inputs of environmental pollutants. To date, still scant information is available on the environmental effects of gas platforms. Thus, to comply with the national Italian legislation and to support the development of protocols for the monitoring of offshore activities, multidisciplinary studies have been conducted and performed by CNR-ISMAR in cooperation with some private and public research institutes. A multidisciplinary approach based on chemical, biological and ecological investigations was performed to evaluate both the water column and the sediment quality near a gas platform. The overall results indicate moderate effects of platform-related environmental stress.