Novel metabolomic method to assess the effect-based removal efficiency of advanced wastewater treatment techniques
Jana Späth
A E , Malin Nording A , Richard Lindberg A , Tomas Brodin C D , Stina Jansson A , Jun Yang B , Debin Wan B , Bruce Hammock B and Jerker Fick A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, SE 90187 Umeå, Sweden.
B Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
C Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, SE 90187 Umeå, Sweden.
D Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE 90183 Umeå, Sweden.
E Corresponding author. Email: jana.spath@umu.se
Environmental Chemistry 17(1) 1-5 https://doi.org/10.1071/EN19270
Submitted: 25 September 2019 Accepted: 28 November 2019 Published: 8 January 2020
Journal Compilation © CSIRO 2020 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Environmental context. Advanced wastewater treatment is required to remove pharmaceuticals and many other consumer chemicals from wastewater effluent. There are conflicting findings, however, on the toxicity of treated effluent, and its effect on living organisms is often neglected. We show that the effect-based removal efficiency of wastewater treatment technologies can be assessed by metabolomic methods, and that this approach contributes to a safer and more controlled water quality.
Abstract. There are conflicting findings on the toxicity of effluent from wastewater treatment plants, and only limited possibilities for assessing the effect-based removal efficiency (EBRE) of different treatment techniques. We describe a metabolomics approach to detect perturbations in fatty acid catabolic pathways as a proxy for biological effects. Metabolites in three fatty acid pathways were analysed in a common damselfly larva (Coenagrion hastulatum) by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The larvae were exposed for one week to either conventionally treated effluent (activated sludge treatment), effluent additionally treated with ozone, or effluent additionally treated with biochar filtration, and results were compared with those from tap water control exposure. Five lipoxygenase-derived oxylipins (9,10,13-TriHOME, 9,12,13-TriHOME, 9-HODE, 9-HOTrE, and 13-HOTrE) decreased in response to conventionally treated effluent exposure. By using an additional treatment step, oxylipin levels were restored with exception of 9,10,13-TriHOME (ozonated effluent), and 9-HOTrE and 13-HOTrE (effluent filtered with biochar). Thus, exposure to wastewater effluent affected fatty acid metabolite levels in damselfly larvae, and a subset of the analysed metabolites may serve as indicators for biological effects in biota in response to effluent exposure. To that effect, our findings suggest a new metabolomics protocol for assessing EBRE.
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