Fate, bioaccumulation and toxic effects of triclosan on a freshwater community – A mesocosm study

Abstract

The antibacterial agent triclosan (TCS) is added to many daily-used consumer products and can therefore reach the aquatic environment via treated wastewater and potentially harm aquatic ecosystems. A 120 days pond mesocosm study was conducted in order to investigate the fate of TCS in water and sediment, its bioaccumulative potential in different biota as well as the effects of TCS and its main transformation product methyl-triclosan (M-TCS) on plankton, periphyton, macrophytes, and benthos communities. TCS was dosed once each in six pond mesocosms (nominal concentrations: 0.12, 0.6, 3.5, 21, 130 and 778 µg/L TCS, respectively) while two ponds served as controls. A concentration-dependent increase in the DT50 values from 5.0 to 15.0 and 7.5 to 16.3 days was observed for TCS in water and the whole pond system (water, sediment, biota), respectively. Consequently, the substance should be categorized as non-persistent. For TCS, the bioaccumulation factors (non steady-state conditions, BAFnssc) in Lymnaea stagnalis, Myriophyllum spicatum and periphyton were below the critical limit of 2000, above which a substance is classified as bioaccumulative. In contrast, a BAFnssc value of >10,000 was found for M-TCS in L. stagnalis, denoting that M-TCS definitely falls under this classification. Although strong effects on freshwater communities could only be observed in the highest TCS treatments, some periphyton species, such as Oedogonium spp., reacted very sensitive to TCS with an EC50 (time weighted average, 28 d) of 0.3 µg/L TCS. Considering the high bioaccumulative potential of M-TCS in combination with the observed effects of TCS at low doses suggests that the use of TCS, and therefore its release into the environment, should cease.

Keywords

• Triclosan
• Mesocosm
• Periphyton
• Snails
• Macrophytes
• Toxicity