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Bank filtration offers a cost effective and low maintenance technique for the removal of cyanobacterial hepatotoxins from drinking water. For bank filtration to be effective, the toxins must be degraded. The broad aim of this research was to determine whether the hepatotoxins, nodularin and microcystin-LR, could be completely removed from the soil/water matrix of three soils by microbial degradation. The results indicated that complete toxin removal was possible within 10-16 d in 2/3 soils that were incubated in the dark at 20 degrees C. The soils with the highest organic carbon content (2.9%) and the highest clay content (16.1%) were the most effective at removing the toxins in batch experiments. However, the sandy soil (98.5% sand) was incapable of degrading either toxin. The half-lives of toxin losses due to adsorption, desorption and degradation were calculated and for all soils. The degradation process had the highest half-life for both toxins. This suggested that degradation was likely to be the rate-limiting step of complete toxin removal. It was concluded that when a bank filtration site was being chosen, the degradation potential and the textural properties of the riverbank soil would be important when considering complete removal of cyanobacterial hepatotoxins.

Cyanobacterial hepatotoxins present a risk to public health when present in drinking water supplies. Existing removal strategies, although efficient, are not economically viable or practical for remote Australian communities and developing nations. Bank filtration is a natural process and a potential low cost, toxin removal strategy. Batch studies were conducted in 12 texturally diverse soils to examine the soil properties influencing the adsorption of the cyanobacterial hepatotoxins, microcystin-LR and nodularin. Sorption isotherms were measured. Freundlich and linear isotherms were observed for both toxins with adsorption coefficients not exceeding 2.75 l kg 21 for nodularin and 3.8 l kg 21 for microcystin. Significant positive correlations were identified between hepatotoxin sorption and clay and silt contents of the soils. Desorption of toxins was also measured in three different soils. Pure nodularin and microcystin-LR readily desorbed from all soils.