Cytotoxicity of water supply in a Palestinian refugee camp and a Syrian informal tented settlement in Lebanon

• Published in: PloS one 2024-01, Vol.19 (1), p.e0294679-e0294679
• Main Authors: El Kawak, Michelle, Al Hassanieh, Jana, Berjawi, Marwa, Jurdi, Mey, Abiad, Mohamad G, Yassin, Nasser, Dhaini, Hassan R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ames test; Androgens; Arabs; Coliforms; Contamination; Cytotoxicity; Displaced persons; Dissolved solids; Drinking water; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Economic crisis; Engineering and Technology; Estrogen; Estrogens; Fecal coliforms; Health aspects; Health risk assessment; Health risks; High density polyethylenes; Human settlements; Humans; Hygiene; Lebanon; Management; Microorganisms; Mutagenicity; Palestinian Territories; Pandemics; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Physicochemical properties; Population studies; Public health; Quality standards; Refugee Camps; Refugees; Safety and security measures; Sanitation; Solid phases; Supply chains; Syria; Total dissolved solids; Toxicity testing; Tropical diseases; Water analysis; Water pollution; Water quality; Water sampling; Water Supply; Water treatment; Xenoestrogens; Yeasts
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294679

Deficient water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) significantly account for a high burden of disease across the globe. Lebanon, an Eastern Mediterranean lower-middle-income country with a polluted environment, a fragmented healthcare system, and an ongoing severe economic crisis, faces serious challenges in sustaining safe water supplies, especially in vulnerable communities, while also hosting the world highest refugee population per capita. This study aimed to examine the mutagenicity, and the estrogenic and androgenic activities of water supplies, across both a Palestinian refugee camp and a Syrian informal settlement. Water samples were collected from two targeted camps in Dbayeh and Choueifat, North and South of the Capital City Beirut, respectively, between the months of September and October 2022. Microbial and physicochemical properties of samples were determined, including fecal contamination, total dissolved solids, and various minerals and salts. Organic pollutants were extracted using pre-packed solid phase extraction (SPE) columns, and then mutagenicity of extracts was examined using the Ames test in two Salmonella typhi bacterial strains. The estrogenic and androgenic activities of extracts were assessed using the yeast estrogen and androgen screen tests assays (YES/YAS). Results show excessive levels of total coliforms and total dissolved solids (TDS) in samples from both sites. In addition, the water supply from the Dbayeh Palestinian refugee camp is mutagenic, while the water supply from the Choueifat Syrian informal settlement shows anti-androgen activity. Our findings provide valuable WASH baseline data in two major vulnerable communities in Lebanon, and highlight the importance of a water toxicity testing approach concomitant with a water safety plan, based on a holistic strategy that covers all stages of the water supply chain.