AWWA WQTC69463

Algal toxins were first reported in countries experiencing long durations of daylight during the summer season, favoring cyanobacterial blooms, such as Scandinavia, Australia and South Africa. Since then, the presence of algal toxins seems to have been spreading worldwide, possibly due to global climate change. In particular, at the beginning of the 1990s, severe blooms with health effects on several bathers were reported in the United Kingdom, with important impact in the media. Research in France on this topic started at the end of the 1990s. Then in 2001, the publication of the French decree transposing the European drinking water directive revised in 1998, included the requirement of monitoring for Microcystin LR in case an algal bloom is observed in the drinking water resource. Subsequently, algal blooms were observed throughout France during the 2003 and 2004 seasons, both for bathing waters and drinking water resources. Because cyanobacterial species capable of producing toxins other than microcystins were detected, AFSSA, the French agency in charge of assessing food-related health risks, recommended the identification of sites considered to be at risk and the monitoring of toxins other than Microcystin LR. In its report (AFSSA, 2006), this agency also recommends a maximum value of 0.3µg/L for cylindrospermopsin and 3 µg/L for saxitoxins. The French health authorities furthermore recently decided that the 1µg/L guideline value for Microcystin-LR should now apply to the total microcystin concentration. Due to the large number of toxins identified so far (about 80 microcystins and nodularin variants, 3 anatoxin variants, 25 saxitoxin derivatives, dermatotoxins, and the emerging neurotoxin ß-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA)) and their difficulty of analysis with associated cost, implementing a cost effective but efficient detection/identification scheme, required careful strategy. This paper first describes how relevant toxins were selected for monitoring of French waters. Assessment of available analytical methods and implementation of an appropriate analytical scheme are also discussed. Includes 5 references, tables, figures.