@inproceedings{01H3VNFFZZMPEWHSD09PE1TXPQ,
  abstract     = {{Public wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents are a major source of organic micropollutants (OMPs) released into surface water. This could pose an impact on the aquatic ecosystem. Screening-level environmental risk assessment is a tool to identify problematic compounds and hot spots of contamination. However, the drawback could arise from the need for measured effect data and analytical detection methods for these chemical cocktails and transformation products. To minimize these issues, the effect-based method is a holistic approach that captures the toxicity of the whole chemical mixture. In Flanders, Belgium, more than 30 public WWTP effluents are at risk according to the calculated sum of PNEC-based risk quotients and toxic units of three biological quality elements (sumRQ-PNEC, and sumTUs of algae, crustacean, and fish >1) based on 5-year OMPs monitoring data by Flemish Environment Agency. In this study, we selected eighteen high-predicted environmental risks to conduct effect-based monitoring using cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa to validate ERA. The effluents were concentrated using OASIS HLB cartridges, and their toxicity was assessed based on OECD201. The growth inhibition of cyanobacteria was pre-screened at a relative enrichment factor (REF) of 10. All WWTP extracts inhibited the cyanobacteria growth of more than 10%, and four had more than 50% growth inhibition at a REF=10. The results of the pre-screening test showed a moderate to high correlation with the sum of RQ-PNEC and TU algae (Pearson’s r of 0.59 and 0.74, respectively). The results support the usefulness of ERA in identifying the problematic sites posing environmental risks. For future work, we plan to identify the main contributors to the toxicity of cyanobacteria using effect-directed analysis (EDA). The EDA approach will utilize the fractionation process and toxicity testing in complement with chemical analysis to narrow down the complex chemical mixtures.}},
  articleno    = {{P-Th310}},
  author       = {{Leekitratanapisan, Warich and De Schamphelaere, Karel}},
  booktitle    = {{SETAC Europe, 33rd Annual Meeting, Abstracts}},
  issn         = {{2309-8031}},
  keywords     = {{Environmental risk assessment,Organic micropollutants,WWTP effluents,Effect-based monitoring}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Dublin, Ireland & online}},
  pages        = {{P-Th310:637--P-Th310:638}},
  title        = {{Effect based monitoring of the effluent of a public wastewater treatment using cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}