Drinking water producers have a far-reaching responsibility to provide safe, clean and wholesome drinking water, using water resources possibly effected by the thousands of chemicals used in societies’ daily life. This study has monitored chemical hazards in drinking water from source to tap, using effect-based methods. The study was conducted at a Swedish drinking water treatment plant sourcing lake water and aimed to investigate potential seasonal variations in both the raw water and water after different treatment steps. Furthermore, a granular activated carbon (GAC) pilot facility was evaluated. Samples were analyzed for estrogenicity, androgenicity, aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activity, oxidative stress (Nrf2) response and genotoxicity (micronucleus formation). We observed seasonal differences in oxidative stress and genotoxic effects in both raw and drinking water with higher activities during the late fall of each year. The removal efficiency for both oxidative stress and genotoxicity was limited in the full-scale treatment process and occasionally the genotoxicity was also detected in outgoing drinking water from the treatment plant and in samples collected at consumers tap on the distribution network. AhR activity was present in all raw water samples and the removal was limited. Estrogenic activities were observed in most of the raw water samples but in contrast to the other parameters estrogenicity was effectively reduced by the full-scale conventional treatment. The GAC pilot treatment was generally more efficient than the full-scale conventional treatment in removing all observed bioactivities and could be a viable complement to the current treatment to assure drinking water free from genotoxic compounds. Genotoxic activities in drinking water was observed while all currently regulated chemical parameters were fulfilled. This highlights the need for effect-based monitoring in efforts to ensure the chemical safety of drinking water, as target chemical analysis of single compounds will overlook both unknown hazardous compounds as well as potential mixture effects.

Graphical Abstract

中文翻译：

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对饮用水中从水源到自来水的化学危害进行基于效果的监测：两年采样的季节性趋势

饮用水生产商负有深远的责任，利用可能受到社会日常生活中使用的数千种化学品影响的水资源，提供安全、清洁和卫生的饮用水。这项研究使用基于效果的方法监测了饮用水从水源到自来水的化学危害。该研究是在瑞典一家饮用水处理厂进行的，该厂采购湖水，旨在调查原水和不同处理步骤后的水的潜在季节性变化。此外，还评估了颗粒活性炭（GAC）试点设施。分析样品的雌激素性、雄激素性、芳烃受体 (AhR) 活性、氧化应激 (Nrf2) 反应和遗传毒性（微核形成）。我们观察到原水和饮用水中氧化应激和基因毒性效应的季节性差异，每年晚秋期间活性较高。在全面的处理过程中，氧化应激和遗传毒性的去除效率受到限制，有时在处理厂流出的饮用水中以及在分配网络的消费者水龙头收集的样品中也检测到遗传毒性。所有原水样品中均存在 AhR 活性，且去除量有限。在大多数原水样品中观察到雌激素活性，但与其他参数相比，全面常规处理有效降低了雌激素活性。在消除所有观察到的生物活性方面，GAC 中试处理通常比全面的常规处理更有效，并且可以作为当前处理的可行补充，以确保饮用水不含基因毒性化合物。在满足当前规定的所有化学参数的同时，观察到饮用水中的基因毒性活动。这凸显了基于效果的监测的必要性，以确保饮用水的化学安全，因为单一化合物的目标化学分析将忽略未知的危险化合物以及潜在的混合物效应。

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