Ecotoxicity tests in the environmental analysis of wastewater treatment plants: Case study in Portugal

Toxicity-based assessment of the treatment performance of wastewater treatment and reclamation processes

“…2b. The DOC decreased from 34.32 to 19.93 mg/L after A 2 O treatment processes, and UV 254 decreased from 15.2 to 7.2 m −1 correspondingly, which is consistent with previous reports (Katsoyiannis and Samara, 2007;Mendonça et al, 2009). However, DOC exhibited no further decrease during subsequent ultrafiltration, ozonation and chlorination processes, and UV 254 showed a similar trend except that a decrease was observed in the chlorination process.…”

Environmental Management of Wastewater Treatment Plants – the Added Value of the Ecotoxicological Approach

“…For a tertiary treated effluent 100% samples are non toxic and for a preliminary treated effluent 75% are toxic. Concerning WWTP systems and considering the relative sensitivity of the organisms used in wastewater testing and the importance to consider effects at different trophic levels, the test battery proposed in a previous work (Mendonça et al, 2009) for characterization of WWTP discharges included tests with a bacterium, an alga and a crustacean to monitor this type of wastewaters. For a screening only one test with the most sensitive species, Microtox, was proposed.…”

“…On the other hand, little is known about the potential interactive effects of organic wastewater contaminants, namely steroids and hormones present in municipal effluents, when in complex mixtures that may occur in the environment and about their effect on human health (Filby et al, 2007). Chronic toxicity test and endocrine disruption assay of WWTP effluent samples indicated that, in a long term, potential population effects could arise in the receiving waters (Mendonça et al, 2009). Kontana et al (2008) in an ecotoxicological assessment of municipal wastewater using several test organisms including Vibrio fischeri and Daphnia magna, observed a decrease of ecotoxicological responses for all bioassays but also the induction of immune response after tertiary treatment, pointing to the need of using sensitive biomarkers if wastewaters are intended for reuse.…”

“…Bioassays are also used for wastewater surveillance and BAT compliance by authorities in Germany (Gartiser et al, 2010a). A global evaluation of wastewaters should include ecotoxicological tests to complement the chemical characterization, with advantages especially in the case of complex wastewaters (Mendonça et al, 2009). This approach has advantages particularly to protect biological treatment plants from toxic influents (Hongxia et al, 2004), to monitor the effectiveness of WWTP (Cēbere et al, 2009;Daniel et al, 2004;Emmanuel et al, 2005;Libralato et al, 2006;Metcalf & Eddy, 2003) and in the impact assessment of complex wastewaters.…”

Gestão ambiental nos terminais de armazenagem de produtos químicos líquidos a granel no Porto de Santos

“…brutos nos sistemas biológicos, permitindo avaliar eventual presença de matéria orgânica recalcitrante e de substâncias com elevada toxicidade, que podem causar efeito inibitório dos microorganismos no processo biológico (Sapia e Morita, 2003). Mendonça et al (2009) …”