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POTENTIAL GENOTOXICITY OF WASTEWATER-CONTAMINATED PORE WATERS WITH COMPARISON TO SEDIMENT TOXICITY AND MACROBENTHIC COMMUNITY COMPOSITION
Citation:
Daniels, C B., M A. Lewis, AND T. Chen. POTENTIAL GENOTOXICITY OF WASTEWATER-CONTAMINATED PORE WATERS WITH COMPARISON TO SEDIMENT TOXICITY AND MACROBENTHIC COMMUNITY COMPOSITION. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY 17:63-73, (2002).
Description:
The objective of this baseline study was to determine and compare sediment quality above and below 10 wastewater outfalls in Gulf of Mexico near-coastal areas using genotoxic assays, whole sediment acute toxicity tests, and benthic community analysis as indicators of effect. The focus of the study was on microbial genotoxicity since its use to determine sediment contamination particularly below wastewater outfalls is not common. Pore waters extracted from the 42 sediment samples were assayed using the MutatoxTM assay, directly and after the addition of rat liver S-9 medium. Promutagens were present in approximately 50% of the pore water samples. Positive responses were observed below 7 of the 10 outfall areas and also in 3 of the 6 control sediments. Mutagenicity increased in some pore waters after the addition of S-9 to the incubation mixture. In most cases, the pore-waters were considerably less mutagenic than model mutagens (phenol and benzo(a)pyrene). Genotoxicity was a more sensitive indicator of effect than whole sediment toxicity to several estuarine and freshwater invertebrates. There was some indication that mutagenic activity paralleled low benthic community diversity. Proposed sediment quality assessment guidelines over-predicted whole sediment toxicity but under-predicted microbial genotoxicity.