Estimation of biological hazard of organic xenobiotics
in water supply sources

Summary

Identification of pollutants, estimation of their concentration in water and biological hazard are important practical tasks in the assessment of water quality in the Moscow drinking water sources. In estimating the pollution rate of a water body it is required to draw out a xenobiotics profile, i. e. the complex of bioactive species of all the xenobiotics present in water. Among xenobiotics the compounds of medical origin were defined alongside with compounds with pharmacological activity, however not used in medicine («quasidrugs»). The technique of determining biological activity profile with the help of a special search and design information system has been developed. The first part of the system is based on the Russian and international regulatory documents; lists of especially hazardous substances; guides on separate toxic substances; journals or data bases compiled by international and national organizations. The second part of the system is represented by the technique of prognosticating biological activity on the basis of analyzing its relationships with the chemical structure of a substance. This method has been implemented in PASS software with teaching selection containing the information on more than 250,000 pharmaceuticals and toxicants. Xenobiotic profile can be reflected on ecotoxicological maps. The results of studies give the start to sequential practical actions from compiling a xenobiotic profile of a project to developing efficient water treatment technologies that will provide for reducing the concentration of xenobiotics including ones with pharmacological activity to the maximum permissible level.

Key words

water supply source , organic xenobiotic , biological activity , substance toxicity