M. Tech. / Background: Groundwater is essential for many human activities, especially as a source of drinking water. Contaminated groundwater threatens many valuable water resources which may have adverse human health consequences. Groundwater contamination often goes unnoticed as it occurs underground and it is often impossible to, and often very expensive to rehabilitate. Groundwater pollution originating from industrial sites is a general problem in many industrialized countries, but also in developing countries such as South Africa. Among the various types of groundwater contamination, DNAPL (Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids) contamination is a common one. A generic test for determining DNAPL contamination in water and their adverse effects on human health that consume this water does not exist. This study was aimed, by using two known immunoassays, to asses the toxicity and DNA damaging potential, using known techniques, of two index DNAPL and untested groundwater from newly drilled boreholes in areas suspected of DNAPL contamination. Objectives: To compile a DNAPL guideline based the use of index chemicals (Tricloroethylene [TCE] and Aroclor® 1254 [ARO]) to determine the high-end values and a series of reference (non-contaminated ground, and other treated waters) samples used to determine low-end values. PBMC were exposed to these samples and the test reactions for cytotoxicity and DNA damage measured. The methodology was then applied to groundwaters taken from an industrial site. This was to establish the health effects of these waters as well as determining whether they had DNAPL contamination.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:6717 |
| Date | 31 March 2010 |
| Creators | Robertson, Natasha |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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