A priori assessment of ecotoxicological risks linked to building a hospital

Abstract

Hospital wastewaters contain a large number of chemical pollutants such as disinfectants, detergents, and drug residues. A part of these pollutants is not eliminated by traditional urban waste water treatment plants, leading to a major risk for the aquatic ecosystems receiving these effluents. After having formulated a specific methodology in order to assessment ecotoxicological risk for such a situation, we applied it to the project to build a new hospital shared by several towns in the French Alps. This methodology is based on the ecotoxicological characterisation of the hospital wastewater using a battery of three chronic bioassays (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, Heterocypris incongruens and Brachionus calyciflorus) and of genotoxicity tests (Ames fluctuation assay on Salmonella typhimurium, and a Fpg-modified comet assay on the trout liver cell line RTL-W1). The formulated methodology highlights a moderate risk of the hospital wastewater for the organisms of the water column of the river concerned. Nevertheless, this discharge contributes significantly to the global ecotoxicological risk when taking into account all the releases of the watershed into the river. This leads to recommending the implementation of a specific treatment system in the urban WWTP, or upstream to it, in view to protecting the aquatic organisms.

Proposal to optimize ecotoxicological evaluation of wastewater treated by conventional biological and ozonation processes

“…By supposing that a high input of nutriments could mask a residual toxicity of treated effluents, a 100 % EQ organic extract was also tested but resulted in no measurable growth inhibition (Table 1). A similar result was also shown in Perrodin et al (2013) where exposure of P. subcapitata to a hospital effluent biologically treated did not result in any algal growth inhibition. It can be concluded that either these effluents have actually no effect on algal growth and/or that this assay is not well adapted to evaluate the toxicity of a complex mixture of chemicals, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals likely to be found in the WWTP samples.…”

“…Exposure to the treated effluents CAS or CAS+O 3 at both 50 and 95 % had no more effect on ostracode growth (Table 1). Similarly, Perrodin et al (2013) could not show any effects of biologically treated hospital wastewater (50 %) on ostracode growth. Either such treated effluents have no effects on ostracode growth and/or the assay may not be suitable to evaluate the toxicity of wastewater effluents and not sensitive enough to distinguish a difference between the two treatments CAS and CAS+O 3 .…”

What have we learned from worldwide experiences on the management and treatment of hospital effluent? — An overview and a discussion on perspectives

“…Interesting and useful research has been accomplished dealing with hospital effluent toxicity and assessment of the environmental risk posed by pharmaceutical residues in treated hospital effluent (Boillot et al, 2008;Perrodin et al, 2013;Emmanuel et al, 2004). This is quite a complex problem and is beyond the aim of this manuscript, but some lessons learned from published studies are discussed herein to point out concerns that merit further research.…”

Caractérisation de l’écotoxicité des rejets liquides des laboratoires de biologie médicale

“…Par ailleurs, avec des CE50 se situant entre 1 et 10 %, selon l'organisme considéré, ce rejet général du site se situe dans la gamme des valeurs d'écotoxicité observées pour divers effluents hospitaliers dans différentes études récentes (BOILLOT et al, 2008;EMMANUEL, 2004;EMMANUEL et al, 2005;ORIAS et PERRODIN, 2013;PERRODIN et al, 2013;PERRODIN et al, 2016).…”

“…Cette substance est aussi un des composés organochlorés généralement retrouvé dans les effluents hospitaliers (EMMANUEL et al, 2005;ORIAS et al, 2013;PERRODIN et al, 2013;BOILLOT et al, 2008).…”