Evaluation of Drinking Water Reverse Osmosis in the City of Al-Nasiriyah Using Bioassay

The quality of drinking water is a priority in most countries. Drinking water is crucial for food production and must be free from harmful substances, while also having a composition that is beneficial to health (Cybulski et al., 2021). The research problem is represented by the low quality of drinking water in Reverse Osmosis (RO) drinking water filtration stations, represented by its physical and chemical characteristics in the city of  Al-Nasiriyah and its impact on the general health of the city’s residents.  Given the importance of RO drinking water used within a wide segment, the current study aims to evaluate the toxicity of water with chemical pollutants and its suitability for drinking for residents of the city of  Al-Nasiriyah using the bioassay method.
     To obtain toxicological results for this water in the current study in the city of Nasiriyah and at the various water filtration stations, samples were taken from water distributors in six different areas in the city of Al-Nasiriyah in 2024, which are Al-Shuhada, Al-Shumukh, Industrial Housing, Al-Salihiyah, Al-Rafidain, and Al-Mutnazah ) which are brought from stations.   Toxicity, both acute and cumulative, was recorded in almost all samples, but the highest was at station 4 (Al-Abada station) in the Salhiya area, where the percentage of coefficient deviation from the growth rate was (88.23%) after 24 hours and (88.33%) after 96 hours, with a stimulating effect.  This may be due to the presence of high concentrations of nutrients such as phosphates and nitrates in the aforementioned station, or as a result of water pollution during its distribution.  While toxicity was recorded with an inhibitory effect in samples (1,2,3), but with a percentage of deviation coefficient lower than what was recorded in station (4), while station (6,5) was the least toxic station.  The current results indicate the need to pay attention to stations for filtering and treating drinking water because they do not conform to the standard specifications for drinking water due to the dependence of a large number of the population on them.