title: Survey of the mutagenicity of surface water, sediments, and drinking water from the Penobscot Indian Nation.
abstract: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Regional Applied Research Effort (RARE) projects address the effects of environmental pollutants in a particular region on the health of the population in that region. This report is part of a RARE project that addresses this for the Penobscot Indian Nation (PIN), Penobscot Island, Maine, U.S., where the Penobscot River has had fish advisories for many years due to high levels of mercury. We used the Salmonella mutagenicity assay with strains TA100, TA98, YG1041, and YG1042 with and without metabolic activation to assess the mutagenic potencies of organic extracts of the Penobscot River water and sediment, as well as drinking-water samples, all collected by the PIN Department of Natural Resources. The source water for the PIN drinking water is gravel-packed groundwater wells adjacent to the Penobscot River. Most samples of all extracts were either not mutagenic or had low to moderate mutagenic potencies. The average mutagenic potencies (revertants/L-equivalent) were 337 for the drinking-water extracts and 177 for the river-water extracts; the average mutagenic potency for the river-sediment extracts was 244 revertants(g-equivalent)(-1). This part of the RARE project showed that extracts of the Penobscot River water and sediments and Penobscot drinking water have little to no mutagenic activity that might be due to the classes of compounds that the Salmonella mutagenicity assay detects, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nitro-PAHs (nitroarenes), and aromatic amines. This study is the first to examine the mutagenicity of environmental samples from a tribal nation in the U.S.
authors.affiliation: National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.affiliation: National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA.
authors.forename: Larry D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Claxton
authors.affiliation: National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Diliberto
authors.affiliation: National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.affiliation: National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Swank
authors.affiliation: Penobscot Indian Nation, Department of Natural Resources, Indian Island, ME 04468, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Kusnierz
authors.affiliation: Region 1, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA. Electronic address: demarini.david@epa.gov.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: DeMarini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American; D008281:Maine; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests; D009153:Mutagens / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D012475:Salmonella / Q000187:drug effects; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water; D009153:Mutagens; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Drinking water; Mutagenicity; River sediments; River water