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(T/EH008) Daphnia magna reproduction test for evaluating drinking water quality. Croce, Valeria1, Galassi, Silvana2,3, 1 2 3 ABSTRACT- Tap water derived both from surface and ground waters might contain micropollutants of concern for human health. Chemical analysis to reveal a number of very diluted compounds is very expensive and time consuming and therefore inadequate for screening purposes. Water quality control can be better achieved by biomonitoring.Daphnia magna test is a very sensitive method to evaluate the occurrence of toxicants in a water medium and we decided to adopt this assay to survey both municipal tap waters of the town of Milan and commercial mineral waters.Only hardness and oxygen content were adjusted to perform the test, the former by salt addition or dilution with very soft natural water and the second by aeration to reach saturation conditions.Long term mortality was observed for the well supplying with drinking water the University of Milano - Bicocca, located in an area where industrial activities were present in the past. Commercial mineral waters were all suitable for Daphnia reproduction. Significant differences in the reproductive capacity were observed among spring waters of different origin.Since drinking water of the town of Milan is routinely monitored for the classes of chemicals considered by the European legislation, toxicity revealed by the Daphnia test should be due to other classes of pollutants whose actual risk for human health can be evaluated only after analytical determinations. Key words: Daphnia magna, drinking water, reproduction test |
