Whole-cell bacterial biosensors for rapid and effective monitoring of heavy metals and inorganic pollutants in wastewater
Abstract
The increasing number of potentially harmful pollutants in the wastewater effluent discharge necessitates the need for the development of fast and cost effective analytical techniques for extensive monitoring programmes to assess the effectiveness of the treatment process. This study compared the use of bacterial biosensors to the conventional Daphnia magna assay, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) tests as well as chemical analysis, for monitoring the toxicity of wastewater. The bacterial biosensors constructed in this study, using S. sonnei and E. coli, were found to be sensitive to the toxicity of the wastewater effluents. A linear increase in bioluminescence with increasing concentration of heavy metals and inorganic pollutants in