Exposure to disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in swimming pools has been linked to adverse health effects. Numerous DBPs that occur in swimming pools are genotoxic and carcinogenic. This toxicity is of ...a greater concern in the case of brominated DBPs that have been shown to have substantially greater toxicities than their chlorinated analogs. In chlorinated seawater swimming pools, brominated DBPs are formed due to the high content of bromide. Nevertheless, very little data is reported about DBP occurrence and mutagenicity of water in these pools. In the present study, three seawater and one freshwater swimming pools located in Southeastern France were investigated to determine qualitatively and quantitatively their DBP contents. An evaluation of the genotoxic properties of water samples of the freshwater pool and a seawater pool was conducted through the Salmonella assay (Ames test). The predominant DBPs identified in the freshwater pool were chlorinated species and included trichloroacetic acid, chloral hydrate, dichloroacetonitrile, 1,1,1-trichloropropanone and chloroform. In the seawater pools, brominated DBPs were the predominant species and included dibromoacetic acid, bromoform and dibromoacetonitile. Bromal hydrate levels were also reported. In both types of pools, haloacetic acids were the most prevalent chemical class among the analyzed DBP classes. The distribution of other DBP classes varied depending on the type of pool. As to genotoxicity, the results of Ames test showed higher mutagenicity in the freshwater pool as a consequence of its considerably higher DBP contents in comparison to the tested seawater pool.
•A freshwater and three seawater swimming pools located in France were investigated.•Trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, haloacetonitriles and other DBPs were measured.•Predominance of brominated DBPs in seawater vs. chlorinated ones in freshwater pool•The freshwater pool exhibited more mutagenic potency than the tested seawater pool.•The higher mutagenicity of the freshwater pool is related to its higher DBP content.
Constructed wetlands (CWs) offer an alternative to traditional industrial wastewater treatment systems that has been proved to be efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly. Most of the ...time, CWs are planted with proliferative species such as Phragmites australis or with plants originating from nurseries, both representing a risk for the natural biodiversity conservation of aquatic ecosystems located downstream of the CWs. For the removal of metals and organic pollutant mixtures present in industrial effluents, it is necessary to select tolerant plant species that are able to produce a high aboveground biomass and to develop a healthy belowground system. Wild plant species growing in aquatic bodies at industrial outfalls could constitute suitable tolerant species to use in CWs for industrial effluent treatment. To test this hypothesis, we assessed, under laboratory conditions (using an experimental design), the tolerance to mixtures of metals (Al, As, Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sn, Zn) or/and organic pollutants (THC, PHE, PYR, LAS) of five European sub-cosmopolitan native macrophytes (Alisma lanceolatum, Carex cuprina, Epilobium hirsutum, Iris pseudacorus and Juncus inflexus) that had been collected in a polluted Mediterranean wetland, after a field study (crossing ecological relevés and analyses of contaminant concentrations in water and sediments). Our results demonstrated that research on phytoremediation of industrial effluents should focus much more on the use of native macrophytes growing at short distances from industrial discharges (such as C. cuprina in this study), and that root/shoot ratio, aerial height and proportion of green leaves are good and cost-effective indicators of plant tolerance to metals and organic pollutant mixtures in laboratory studies.
•Five native macrophyte species were selected through a field study.•A microcosm study enabled the assessment of their tolerance to industrial mixtures.•Leaf senescence, aerial elongation and root biomass were good tolerance indicators.•Carex cuprina was the best candidate for metals and organic pollutants treatment.•Our approach may be extended to other native macrophytes from industrial outfalls.
The development of 3D printing in recent years opens up a vast array of possibilities in the field of flow analysis. In the present study, a new 3D-printed flow system has been developed for the ...selective spectrophotometric determination of lead in natural waters. This system was composed of three 3D-printed units (sample treatment, mixing coil and detection) that might have been assembled without any tubing to form a complete flow system. Lead was determined in a two-step procedure. A preconcentration of lead was first carried out on TrisKem Pb Resin located in a 3D-printed column reservoir closed by a tapped screw. This resin showed a high extraction selectivity for lead over many tested potential interfering metals. In a second step, lead was eluted by ammonium oxalate in presence of 4-(2-pyridylazo)-resorcinol (PAR), and spectrophotometrically detected at 520nm. The optimized flow system has exhibited a linear response from 3 to 120µgL−1. Detection limit, coefficient of variation and sampling rate were evaluated at 2.7µgL−1, 5.4% (n=6) and 4 sampleh−1, respectively. This flow system stands out by its fully 3D design, portability and simplicity for low cost analysis of lead in natural waters.
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•A 3D-printed Multi Pumping Flow System is presented.•Selective extraction of lead using Triskem Pb resin enables elimination of interferences.•Pb2+ can be quantified between 3 and 120µgL−1 with a LOD of 2.7µgL−1.•This flow system is a low cost and portable system allowing in-situ measurement.
This paper presents the development and the application of a multisyringe flow injection analysis system for the fluorimetric determination of the major heat-stable known allergen in shrimp, rPen a 1 ...(tropomyosin). This muscle protein, made up of 284 amino acids, is the main allergen in crustaceans and can be hydrolyzed by microwave in hydrochloric acid medium to produce glutamic acid, the major amino acid in the protein. Glutamic acid can then be quantified specifically by thermal conversion into pyroglutamic acid followed by chemical derivatization of the pyroglutamic acid formed by an analytical protocol based on an OPA-NAC reagent. Pyroglutamic acid can thus be quantified between 1 and 100 µM in less than 15 min with a detection limit of 1.3 µM. The method has been validated by measurements on real samples demonstrating that the response increases with the increase in the tropomyosin content or with the increase in the mass of the shrimp sample.
Water and air quality of eight seawater swimming pools using chlorine disinfection was measured during four sampling campaigns, spread on one full-year, and in four thalassotherapy centers located in ...Southeast of France. Concentrations of trihalomethanes(THMs) in air and in water as well as concentrations of parameters, including nonpurgeable organic carbon(NPOC), free residual chlorine(Cl_f), pH, Kjeldhal Nitrogen(KN), salinity,conductivity, bromide ions and, water and air temperature, were measured. Water and air samples were collected in triplicates morning — at the opening of the pools —, noon and night — at the closing of the pools —, in summer and winter. Data analysis was performed by Principal Component Analysis(PCA) and rotated component matrix, from both data quality and other parameters such as TOC, aromaticity(UV_(254)), pH, hygrometry, and free residual chlorine(Cl_f). This statistical analysis demonstrates a high correlation between TOC, Cl_fand UV_(254) and THM levels found in air and water, particularly for the major ones(CHBr_3in water:300.0 μg/L mean, 1029.0 μg/L maximum; CHBr_3 in air: 266.1 μg/m~3 mean,1600.0 μg/m~3 maximum, and CHClBr_2 in water: 18.9 μg/L mean, 81.0 μg/L maximum;CHClBr_2 in air: 13.6 μg/m~3 mean, 150.0 μg/m~3maximum). These high levels of bromoform(CHBr_3) are particularly worrisome in such health institutions, even these levels do not exceed the Permissible Exposure Limit(PEL) of 5 mg/m~3 as an 8 hour time-weighted average currently fixed by various administrations, such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration(OSHA).
Chromatographic development for the determination of pharmaceuticals in environmental water samples is particularly challenging when the analytes have significantly different physico-chemical ...properties (solubility, polarity, pKa) often requiring multiple chromatographic methods for each active component. This paper presents a method for the simultaneous determination of azithromycin, erythromycin (antibiotics), fluoxetine (anti-depressant) and sotalol (b-blocker) in surface waters by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultra-high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry. These pharmaceuticals—presenting a broad spectrum of polarity (0.24 ≤ log Kow ≤ 4.05)—were separated on a C-18 analytical column, after a simple filtration step for freshwater samples or after a liquid–liquid extraction with Methyl-tertio-butyl ether (MTBE) for seawater samples. The optimized separation method (in terms of nature of column and eluent, elution gradient, and of mass spectrometric parameters), enable one to reach limits of detection ranging between 2 and 7 ng L−1 and limits of quantification between 7 and 23 ng L−1 for the four targeted molecules, within a three minute run. This method was validated using samples collected from three different surface waters in Lebanon (freshwater and seawater) and analytical results were compared with those obtained in surface waters sampled in a French river, equivalent in terms of human activities. Using this method, we report the highest concentration of pharmaceuticals found in surface water (up to 377 ng L−1 and 268 ng L−1, respectively, for azithromycin and erythromycin, in the Litani river, Lebanon).
The present paper reports the development and the application of a microplate assay for the fast and individual determination of thiols and sulfides. The method is based on the reaction of ethyl ...propiolate with thiols and sulfides, yielding thioacrylates absorbing in the UV range. Thioacrylate generated by derivation of sulfide with EP presents a bathochromic shift of maximal absorbance wavelength of 16nm compared to thioacrylates formed with thiols. EP concentration, reaction time and derivatization pH were carefully optimized in order to separately quantify thiols and sulfides using a spectral deconvolution procedure in 15min. The detection limits were 0.6 and 2.8μM (63.7 and 92.4μg·L−1) for mercaptopropionic acid (used as reference thiol compound for calibration) and dissolved hydrogen sulfide respectively. Non-thiol sulfur compounds (methionine, sulfates and sulfites) or other nucleophile compound did not display any interference in the determination of MPA or sulfides. Interference from metals was suppressed with application of a reduction step with TCEP and DTPA. Finally, the method has been successfully applied to the analysis of raw and treated wastewater.
•A simple microplate assay based on EP derivatization procedure was developed for the simultaneous determination of thiols and sulfides in wastewater.•The thioacrylate formed with HS− presents a bathochromic shift of 16nm compared to thioacrylate formed with MPA.•Under optimized derivatization conditions, the method has a low LOD with a 2min reaction time.•The method was successfully applied to real wastewater samples.
In this paper, a new spectrofluorimetric method is proposed for the fast, simple, and accurate determination of trace resorcinol in the microplate format (high-throughput screening). The analytical ...method is based on the formation of a coumarin derivative with methyl acetoacetate via a Pechmann condensation reaction. Experimental conditions have been optimized, and excellent analytical performances have been achieved with a limit of detection of 0.46μgL−1, a wide linear range between 1.5 and 1000μgL−1 and a relative standard deviation of 2.01% (n=10).
This method is remarkably specific for resorcinol compared to other phenols and hydroxyphenols and suffers from low interferences from other potential matrix components. The proposed protocol was finally applied and validated on real samples such as wastewater or pharmaceutical/cosmetic samples.
•A new spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of resorcinol is presented.•The method uses coumarin formation with methylacetoacetate.•It is highly selective and specific for resorcinol.•The method was validated on real samples (wastewater, cosmetics)
Disinfection treatments are critical to conserve the microbiological quality of swimming pool water and to prevent water-borne infections. The formation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in swimming ...pools is an undesirable consequence resulting from reactions of disinfectants (e.g. chlorine) with organic and inorganic matter present in pool water, mainly brought by bathers. A considerable body of occurrence studies has identified several classes of DBPs in swimming pools with more than 100 compounds detected, mainly in chlorinated freshwater pools. Trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), haloacetaldehydes (HALs) are among the major DBPs in swimming pools. Other DBPs such as haloacetonitriles (HAN), haloamines, nitrosamines, and halobenzoquinones have also been detected. Researchers have been interested in identifying the precursors responsible for the formation of DBPs. In swimming pools, anthropogenic organic loads brought by swimmers increase the complexity of pool water chemistry. When human inputs (e.g. sweat, urine, hair, skin and personal care products) containing very diverse organic compounds are introduced to pools by swimmers, they react with chlorine resulting in the formation of complex mixtures of DBPs. The overwhelming majority of the total organic halide (TOX) content is still unknown in swimming pools. Exposure of swimmers to DBPs can take place through multiple routes, depending on the chemical properties of each DBP. Toxicological studies have shown that swimming pool water can be mutagenic with different potencies reported in different studies. Many DBPs have been shown to be genotoxic and carcinogenic. DBPs were also shown to induce reproductive and neurotoxic adverse effects in animal studies. Epidemiologic studies in humans have shown that exposure to DBPs increases the risk of respiratory adverse effects and bladder cancer. Association between DBPs and other health effects are still inconclusive. Data gathered in the present review (occurrence, toxicity, and toxicological reference values) could be used in conducting chemical risk assessment studies in swimming pools.