Assessing surface water quality of the Yangtze Estuary with genotoxicity data

The present study investigated the genotoxicity of the surface water samples from the Yangtze Estuary with the Ames test in three seasons. Several important chemical parameters, such as COD inorganic nitrogen, active phosphate and heavy metals, were also analyzed at the same time. According the results, surface water samples from the south branch and a few of samples at the seaward end of the Yangtze Estuary show positive genotoxicity in some seasons. Chemical analysis revealed that the Yangtze Estuary was seriously polluted by inorganic nitrogen and by active phosphate. However, chemical parameters could not demonstrate the spatial variation of water quality of the estuary, and they could not assess adverse effects of chemicals in mixtures as well. Therefore, it is recommended that genotoxicity data, mutation rate of the Salmonella typhimurium strain TA98 at the dose of 1 l per plate, be taken as a new parameter assessing surface water quality of the Yangtze Estuary. Our studies also suggested that genetic toxicology assays, such as the Ames test, could be applied as a routine measure to monitoring marine environment in China. The paper proposes a development of the National Seawater Quality Standard of China.