Assessment of the effects of removal genotoxicity for a waterworks located in the north of China by using SOS/Umu test

Key words: 
• bioassays /
• drinking water /
• genotoxicity /
• SOS/Umu

Abstract: A lot of studies show that there are a great of genotoxic substances in drinking water. Biological toxicity as integrated indicators to reflect toxic substances has important practical significance for most China′s waterworks which are limited in checking water quality. This study use SOS/Umu test to evaluate the drinking water of various processes for a large waterworks located in north China, both in spring and winter. The study shows that （1) genotoxicity effects were significantly increased for surface water both in spring and winter after chlorination, and （2) indirect genotoxicity effect in winter is higher than that in spring, and （3) Activated carbon are effective on removing genotoxicity substances, but late chlorination leads genotoxicity increase and may be the main reason why the outgoing water takes on genotoxicity. （4) There is obvious difference between groundwater and surface water ，and the effluents in winter and in spring also differ greatly. This study shows that SOS / umu test, as an important and useful method for drinking water safety evaluation, can be used for evaluating the removal efficiency of the genotoxicity quickly and accurately.