With improving analytical methods the amount of micropollutants detected in water is increasing. Since wastewater treatment plants are not constructed to remove organic micropollutants from wastewater, they reach surface water with a possible risk to the environment and to human health. Advanced oxidation processes have been proposed as methods to overcome this problem. However, a limitation of these methods is a possible incomplete degradation resulting in a formation of oxidation byproducts which might have a different toxicity. In our project we therefore linked chemical and toxicological analyses to not only identify the original substance and the formed byproducts, but also to determine toxic effects applying test systems to evaluate cyto-, genotoxic, mutagenic and endocrine effects. The results indicate that byproducts are commonly formed after oxidation but with differences in toxicological response. Whereas, there was no toxicity detected for some substances and their degradation products (e.g., metoprolol, sulfamethoxazole) for others the toxicity has been shown to be dependent on the applied treatment method as well as duration. We conclude from our results that ozonation and UV-treatment are useful methods in the removal of micropollutants from water systems.

Chemical and toxicological analyses of micropollutants in wastewater treatment plant effluents before and after oxidative treatment

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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