Table 2.
Studies demonstrating ecotoxicological effects of municipal effluents from the Montreal wastewater treatment plant effluent as revealed by bioanalytic testing conducted from 1995 to 2010
| Measured endpoint(s) | Taxonomic group(s) tested | Effluent(s) investigated | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cytotoxicity (loss of cell viability); mRNA expression of metallothionein (MT) induction; cytochrome P-450 1A1 activity | Fish: rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) primary hepatocytes | Montreal WWTP effluent | Gagné and Blaise (1995) |
| Genotoxicity (DNA damage) | Bacteria: Escherichia coli PQ 37 strain (SOS Chromotest) | Montreal WWTP effluent | White et al. (1996) |
| Acute and chronic toxicity | Algae: Selenastrum capricornutum | Montreal WWTP effluent including a series of representative municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) located in the province of Quebec | Env. Canada (1998) |
| Micro-invertebrates: Daphnia magna and Ceriodaphnia dubia | |||
| Fish: O. mykiss and Pimephales promelas | |||
| Toxic loading as determined by the PEEP effluent scalea; where several (geno)toxicity (acute, chronic) tests were conducted in the process | Bacteria: Photobacterium phosphoreum (now renamed Vibrio fisheri) | Montreal WWTP effluent | Env. Canada (1998) |
| Bacteria: E. coli PQ 37 strain (SOS Chromotest) | |||
| Algae: Selenastrum capricornutum | |||
| Micro-invertebrates: D. magna and C. dubia | |||
| Immunocompetence: assessment of phagocytosis activity of hemocytes by measuring their capacity to internalize fluorescent bacteria | Bivalves: Elliptio complanata | Montreal WWTP effluent | Blaise et al. (2002) |
| Acute and chronic toxicity assessment of pharmaceutical products | Acute/chronic toxicity testing with a suite of small-scale bioassays representing four taxonomic groups: | Montreal WWTP effluent | Blaise et al. (2006) |
| Bacteria (V. fisheri); | |||
| Algae (S. capricornutum); | |||
| Invertebrates (Hydra attenuata); | |||
| Fish (primary hepatocytes of O. mykiss) | |||
| Trophic chain transfer of carbamazepine (CBM) | Algae (primary producer): S. capricornutum; | Montreal WWTP effluent | Vernouillet et al. (2010) |
| Invertebrate (primary consumer): Thamnocephalus platyurus; | |||
| Invertebrate (secondary consumer): H. attenuata) |
aToxic loading is the product of the sum of toxic units (as determined by several bioassays representing three levels of biological organization) generated by an effluent and the effluent flow (measured in m3 h−1). The resulting PEEP index number is the log10 value of an effluent’s toxic loading (i.e., toxic loading = toxic units discharged to a receiving water system per cubic meter per hour). Refer to Costan et al. (1993) for details on the PEEP index