The application of bioassay using Daphnia magna for the evaluation of hospital and pharmaceutical industry wastewater containing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) toxicity

Environmental Engineering Study Program, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung

^* Corresponding author: herto@itb.ac.id

Abstract

Several groups of Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) including Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) can influence ecosystem even at low levels of exposure. The concentration of APIs often belongs to the class of micropollutants, so that toxicity tests should be developed using sensitive test organisms. In this research we developed a potential sensitive Daphnia magna to evaluate the toxicity of APIs-containing wastewater from the total of 7 hospitals and pharmaceutical industries in Greater Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. Physico-chemical parameters that were analyzed including pH, BOD₅, COD, TSS, Total N, and Phenol, according to the Ministry of Environment Regulation No. 5/2014. To determine the LC₅₀ values, the Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) method was applied. The results showed that the maximum concentration of pH, BOD₅, COD, TSS, Total N, and Phenol of the pharmaceutical industries WWTP effluents were 7.9, 293 mgL^-1, 418 mgL^-1, 37 mgL^-1, 10.7 mgL^-1, and 0.188 mgL^-1, respectively. These values have fulfilled the effluent standards. However, based on the acute toxicity testing using WET method, it was found that the minimum LC₅₀ value of those WWTP effluents was 6.51% or equal to the TUa value of 15.35. Based on the TUa toxicity class, this effluent was categorized to be high acute toxic (10 ≤ TUa < 100).