In vitro bioassays to assess drinking water quality

Abstract

In vitro assays indicative of different stages of cellular toxicity pathways have been applied to both source water and drinking water. The majority of studies showed a decrease in receptor-mediated effects after drinking water treatment due to the removal of micropollutants, while reactive toxicity typically increased after chlorination due to the formation of disinfection by-products. Using both chemical analysis and bioanalysis, iceberg modelling can be applied to determine which chemicals are contributing to the observed effect, though one limitation is that typical sample pretreatment for bioanalysis fails to capture volatile chemicals. Bioassays are increasingly sensitive and effects can be detected in clean samples, thus effect-based trigger values can be applied to determine whether an effect in drinking water is acceptable.