title: Evaluation of toxicity, genotoxicity and environmental risk of simulated textile and tannery wastewaters with a battery of biotests.
abstract: Textile and tannery wastewaters are complex mixtures of toxic pollutants and only a battery of ecotoxicity tests can assess their potential environmental impact and the actual effectiveness of alternative treatments. In this work the toxicity of four simulated textile and tannery wastewaters was evaluated by means of a battery of seven bioassays, using organisms that belong to different trophic levels. Moreover, since the outputs of the bioassay battery were quite difficult to compare, a novel synthetic index for environmental risk assessment was applied to the outputs of the test battery. All four simulated wastewaters were very toxic but they showed no mutagenic effect. The alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata was the most sensitive organism. In addition, the use of two mathematical models pointed out the interaction effect between dyes and salts, which resulted in a synergistic effect of wastewater toxicity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of Turin, viale Mattioli 25, 10125 Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tigini
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Giansanti
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mangiavillano
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pannocchia
authors.forename: Giovanna Cristina
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Varese
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000379:methods; D000460:Chlorophyta; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000633:toxicity; D003621:Daphnia / Q000187:drug effects; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000009:adverse effects*; D058086:Microalgae / Q000187:drug effects; D009153:Mutagens / Q000633:toxicity*; D010944:Plants / Q000187:drug effects; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013633:Tanning; D013783:Textile Industry; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000379:methods; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D007220:Industrial Waste; D009153:Mutagens; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical