The Development of a Test for the Potability of Water Treated by a Direct Reuse System.

摘要

The objective of this contract is to develop an assay system to determine the presence of toxic substances in drinking water produced from a direct hospital wastewater reuse system (MUST). A biologically-based test system was chosen because it was potentially a non-specific indicator of the presence of toxins and it is relevant to identification of human health problems. Mammalian cells are cultured in vitro in a growth medium that employs the water under investigation as the solvent. The effect of the drinking water sample on the cell culture is evaluated by comparing cell growth in the test media with growth in a control medium made with distilled water as the solvent. The primary aim of this contract in the second year is validation of the toxicity assay through comparison of the response of the assay system to graduated concentrations of known compounds with animal toxicological responses to the same compounds. Hydroquinone, 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine,and 1,3-dinitrobenzene dose-response data for animals and mammalian cells are presented.