Impact of wastewater on fish health: a case study at the Neckar River (Southern Germany) using biomarkers in caged brown trout as assessment tools.

The present work describes a field survey aiming at assessing the impact of a sewage treatment plant (STP) effluent on fish health by means of biomarkers. Indigenous fish were absent downstream of the STP. To elucidate the reason behind this, brown trout (Salmo trutta f. fario) were exposed in floating steel cages up- and downstream of a STP located at the Neckar River near Tübingen (Southern Germany), for 10 and 30 days. A combination of biomarker methods (histopathological investigations, analysis of the stress protein Hsp70, micronucleus test, B-esterase assays) offered the possibility to investigate endocrine, geno-, proteo- and neurotoxic effects in fish organs. Biological results were complemented with chemical analyses on 20 accumulative substances in fish tissue. Even after short-term exposure, biomarkers revealed clear evidence of water contamination at both Neckar River sites; however, physiological responses of caged brown trout were more severe downstream of the STP. According to this, similar bioaccumulation levels (low μg/kg range) of DDE and 12 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were detected at both sampling sites, while up to fourfold higher concentrations of four PAHs, methyl-triclosan and two synthetic musks occurred in the tissues of downstream-exposed fish. The results obtained in this study suggest a constitutive background pollution at both sites investigated at the Neckar River and provided evidence for the additional negative impact of the STP Tübingen on water quality and the health condition of fish.