Mixture of Toxic Metals and Volatile Organic Compounds in a River Induces Cytotoxicity

Abstract

Pollution of aquatic ecosystems due to toxic mixtures is a worldwide problem associated with the increase of wastewater discharges that causes problems to human health and biodiversity. This study aims to evaluate the cytotoxic potential of water from the Atoyac River. Meristems of Allium cepa L. were exposed to water samples from the Atoyac River with different concentrations for 120 hours. Pearson correlation was used to investigate the relationship between contaminants and cytotoxicity. The results corroborated the cytotoxic effect of the mixture of agents such as toxic metals and volatile organic compounds found in all river sampling sites. The Allium cepa test showed decreased mitotic alterations in prophase and metaphase indices. There was a strong negative association between the concentration of toxic metals and volatile organic compounds and the cytotoxic effect. The observations of cytotoxic effects show that the contaminant mixture contains aneugenic agents which prevent the synthesis and fixation of fibers of the mitotic spindle to the kinetochore, which prevents the displacement of the chromosomes. This study shows the need to study the effects at the cellular and molecular level in heavily polluted rivers to prevent negative effects on exposed ecosystems and populations.

Puebla City Water Supply from the Perspective of Urban Water Metabolism

“…Rainwater evaporated on the central city surface was estimated at 177.85 Mm 3 /yr, and evaporation in the consumption process was estimated at 24.31 Mm 3 /yr. Water pollution discharged into rivers also volatilizes into the air, forming Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), some of which are potentially carcinogenic and linked to diseases such as leukemia or cancer in children and young people in the metropolitan area [57,125].…”

“…Absences and inconsistencies in the data collected for the UWM model are common in UWM and UM studies [15]. In the case of the City of Puebla, data limitations coincide with water management challenges, for example: the increase in VPA water availability between 2013 and 2016 is incongruent [12,13,91], but is conducive to the concession of larger volumes of water and consequently aggravating the overexploitation of the VPA; the incongruent data related to wastewater treatment is consistent with water pollution [57,64,[123][124][125] and related socio-environmental conflicts [38,39]; the absence of information on the consumption of bottled water and water transported by tanker truck conceals the negative consequences of their consumption for water affordability (and thus to the compliance of HRWS). Other information and data limitations hide water issues, masking potential water mismanagement, including informality and illegality.…”

“…In the case of the city of Puebla, the historical evolution of the appropriation of water and its relationship to power struggles, wars, and socioeconomic transformation were analyzed within the framework of social metabolism [53,54]. Besides water availability and quality studies [55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70], a study evaluating the potential for rainwater harvesting in parking lots, utilizing a system dynamics model, is the most similar quantification exercise, yet it only pays attention to one fraction of urban water flows in the city of Puebla [71].…”