Investigation the Effects of Treatment Plants on Heavy Metal Levels and Mutagenicity of Wastewaters

Abstract

Management of wastewater (WW) and protection of the aquatic ecosystem have become a major problem recently. Our objective was to determinate the chemical load and genotoxic potential of WWs before and after advance treatment, and also to foresee whether the pollutants harm the receiving environments where they were discharged. WW samples were collected from influent and effluent of an advanced wastewater treatment plant (AWTP) and discharge of School of Medicine (SoM). Spectrophotometric analyses showed that Pb levels in WWs were found to be over the cut off limit independent from seasonal change. Nitrogen (N) load is detected quite high before the treatment process. According to AMES test, mutagenic effect of AWTP in the absence of liver enzymes were found to be higher in influent (IR: 7.15; TA100) whereas lower in effluent (IR: 4.04; TA100). According to our results, advanced biological treatment might be insufficient in adequate elimination of Pb, N and P. However, further studies are required to validate our results.