Hospital Wastewater Genotoxicity

Hospitals represent an incontestable release source of many chemicals compounds in their wastewaters, and which may have an impact on the environment and human health. Indeed, some of the substances found in wastewaters are genotoxic and are suspected to be a possible cause of the cancers observed in the last decades. To study the toxicity and the risk associated with these releases biological tests, such as genotoxicity tests, can be used. An evaluation of the genotoxic potential of the wastewaters from a university hospital was performed with the SOS chromotest and the Salmonella fluctuation test. The samples were taken for six 1-week periods between May 2001 and April 2003. Out of a total of 38 samples tested, 31 were positive in at least one assay (82%). Distribution, proportion and intensity of the genotoxic response were different among the six sampling periods. The two genotoxicity tests had different sensitivities. It must be emphasized that whatever the sampling period, Monday samples were always genotoxic in at least one assay. This work shows that this hospital wastewaters samples are very often genotoxic, the response intensity being inflected by rain levels. Efforts must be undertaken by hospitals to integrate the knowledge and the control of their wastewaters in infection and environmental control programs.