Prospects of toxicity-directed wastewater analysis

The current status of toxicity-directed wastewater analysis comprising extraction, fractionation, toxicity testing, identification and confirmation is reviewed and evaluated. Some recent developments are outlined, such as the use of sequential solidphase extraction, fractionation by thin-layer chromatography with on-plate toxicity detection and identification by liquid chromatography¯mass spectrometry. These modifications allow the inclusion of polar wastewater constituents and speed up the sample processing. Nevertheless, the process of toxicity-directed wastewater analysis is still judged too laborious to be widely applicable. Future method development may, thus, be directed towards automated extraction and fractionation procedures and miniaturized toxicity detection systems. The inclusion of biological test systems at the cellular or suborganismal level and directed to sub-lethal effects appears promising.