| "A number of studies have demonstrated mutagenic activity in drinking water. It has been well known that the mutagenicity of raw river water is quite low compared to that of drinking water, and that most of the mutagens in drinking water are produced by the reaction between chlorine and several precursors in river water during water purification processes. To investigate the level of mutagen precursor contained in river water, the mutagen formation potential (MFP) on chlorination, proposed by Takanashi et al. (2001), can be utilized as a useful index. In this study, we measured the MFP of 21 river water samples throughout Japan using Ames Salmonella mutagenicity assay to investigate the risk level of river waters as a drinking water source." |
