You are here:
THE SOURCES, FATE AND HAZARDS OF MUTAGENS IN SURFACE WATERS
Citation:
White, P. THE SOURCES, FATE AND HAZARDS OF MUTAGENS IN SURFACE WATERS. Presented at Europeans Environmental Mutagen Society Conference On Environmental Genotoxicology In The Nordic/baltic Region, Vilnius, Lithuania, Vilnius, Lithuania, June 30-July 3, 1999.
Description:
A variety of industrial, domestic and agricultural wastes are discharged into rivers, lakes, streams, and estuaries. In some instances, these wastes contain substances that are capable I of permanently altering the genetic material of exposed organisms (i.e., they are mutagens). Although the presence of mutagens in aquatic systems has been known for some time, their precise origins, physical-chemical properties, environmental fate, and effects on indigenous biota are poorly understood. Despite the noteworthy potency of mutagens in some industrial wastewaters (e.g., organic chemical production facilities), the greatest potential hazard is posed by facilities having high volumetric discharge rates (e.g., metal foundries, pulp & paper mills, domestic waste treatment plants). A regional analysis of sources in the St. Lawrence River at Montreal (Canada) showed most (~85%) of the surface water mutagenicity is actually non-industrial in origin. More recent analyses conducted in the Providence River system (Rhode Island, USA) confirmed the genotoxic hazards of municipal wastewaters and indicated that the putative mutagens are aromatic amines. Investigations of post-emission behaviour in the St. Lawrence system indicated that direct acting mutagens are rapidly degraded, while promutagenic substances persist in sedimented particulate matter. Investigations of indigenous biota indicated that aquatic organisms can accumulate genotoxic substances, and achieve tissue concentrations 100 to 1000 times higher than water concentrations. Although several organisms were found to accumulate genotoxic substances (e.g., fish, mollusks, crustaceans), tissue concentrations diminished with increasing trophic level. Although effects in St. Lawrence biota were not directly investigated, the Comet assay is currently being employed to examine genotoxic effects in the Providence River system.