Ecotoxicity of raw and treated effluents generated by a veterinary medicine industry

Effluents from veterinary pharmaceutical industries that formulate medicines are mainly generated during the washing of equipment. The aim of this work was to evaluate the acute toxicity to Daphnia similis and chronic toxicity to Ceriodaphnia dubia of raw and treated effluents generated by a veterinary pharmaceutical industry. The industrial effluent treatment system comprises a step of chemical treatment (coagulation-sedimentation forced) followed by aerobic biological treatment (activated sludge process). Five samplings campaigns were performed from October 2011 to July 2012. The raw effluent samples showed high acute and chronic toxicity (acute: fourth sampling with EC sub(50) - 48-h of