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Assessment of the ecotoxicological risk of combined sewer overflows for an aquatic system using a coupled “substance and bioassay” approach

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Abstract

Very few tools are available for assessing the impact of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) on receiving aquatic environments. The main goal of the study was to assess the ecotoxicological risk of CSOs for a surface aquatic ecosystem using a coupled “substance and bioassay” approach. Wastewater samples from the city of Longueuil, Canada CSO were collected for various rainfall events during one summer season and analyzed for a large panel of substances (n = 116). Four bioassays were also conducted on representative organisms of surface aquatic systems (Pimephales promelas, Ceriodaphnia dubia, Daphnia magna, and Oncorhynchus mykiss). The analytical data did not reveal any ecotoxicological risk for St. Lawrence River organisms, mainly due to strong effluent dilution. However, the substance approach showed that, because of their contribution to the ecotoxicological hazard posed by the effluent, total phosphorus (Ptot), aluminum (Al), total residual chlorine, chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), pyrene, ammonia (N–NH4 +), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) require more targeted monitoring. While chronic ecotoxicity tests revealed a potential impact of CSO discharges on P. promelas and C. dubia, acute toxicity tests did not show any effect on D. magna or O. mykiss, thus underscoring the importance of chronic toxicity tests as part of efforts aimed at characterizing effluent toxicity. Ultimately, the study leads to the conclusion that the coupled “substance and bioassay” approach is a reliable and robust method for assessing the ecotoxicological risk associated with complex discharges such as CSOs.

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Acknowledgment

The authors wish to thank The Longueuil (Quebec, Canada) agglomeration for financial support for the sampling program and for allowing publication of the results for research purposes.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Construction Engineering, École de technologie supérieure—Université du Quebec, 1100 Notre-Dame Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3C 1K3

    Eustache Gooré Bi & Frederic Monette

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, City of Longueuil, 4250, chemin de la Savane, Longueuil, Quebec, Canada, J3Y 9G4

    Eustache Gooré Bi

  3. Université Paris-Est, LEESU, UMR MA 102—AgroParisTech, 61 avenue du Général de Gaulle, 94010, Créteil Cedex, France

    Johnny Gasperi

  4. Université de Lyon, ENTPE, Laboratoire LEHNA UMR CNRS 5023, Rue Maurice Audin, Vaulx-en-Velin Cedex, France

    Yves Perrodin

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  1. Eustache Gooré Bi
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Correspondence to Eustache Gooré Bi.

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Gooré Bi, E., Monette, F., Gasperi, J. et al. Assessment of the ecotoxicological risk of combined sewer overflows for an aquatic system using a coupled “substance and bioassay” approach. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 4460–4474 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3650-9

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