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Toxicity assessment of the water used for human consumption from the Cameron/Tuba City abandoned uranium mining area prior/after the combined electrochemical treatment/advanced oxidation

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Abstract

The purpose of this work was detailed physicochemical, radiological, and toxicological characterization of the composite sample of water intended for human consumption in the Cameron/Tuba City abandoned uranium mining area before and after a combined electrochemical/advanced oxidation treatment. Toxicological characterization was conducted on human lymphocytes using a battery of bioassays. On the bases of the tested parameters, it could be concluded that water used for drinking from the tested water sources must be strictly forbidden for human and/or animal consumption since it is extremely cytogenotoxic, with high oxidative stress potential. A combined electrochemical treatment and posttreatment with ozone and UV light decreased the level of all physicochemical and radiological parameters below the regulated values. Consequently, the purified sample was neither cytotoxic nor genotoxic, indicating that the presented method could be used for the improvement of water quality from the sites highly contaminated with the mixture of heavy metals and radionuclides.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports (grant no. 022-0222148-2125).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there have been no conflicts of interests in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mutagenesis Unit, Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Ksaverska cesta 2, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Goran Gajski, Marko Gerić & Vera Garaj-Vrhovac

  2. Advanced Energy Ltd., Vlade Prekrata 43, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Višnja Oreščanin & Robert Kollar

  3. Laboratory for Radioecology, Division for Marine and Environmental Research, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička cesta 54, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Ivanka Lovrenčić Mikelić

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  1. Goran Gajski
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  2. Višnja Oreščanin
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  3. Marko Gerić
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  4. Robert Kollar
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  5. Ivanka Lovrenčić Mikelić
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  6. Vera Garaj-Vrhovac
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Correspondence to Vera Garaj-Vrhovac.

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Gajski, G., Oreščanin, V., Gerić, M. et al. Toxicity assessment of the water used for human consumption from the Cameron/Tuba City abandoned uranium mining area prior/after the combined electrochemical treatment/advanced oxidation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 516–526 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3376-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3376-8

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