SEDL / STP / STP657-EB / STP35690S

Introduction to a Discussion of the Use of Aquatic Toxicity Tests for Evaluation of the Effects of Toxic Substances

Brungs, WA
Assistant for water quality criteria, and director, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Water Quality Laboratory, Duluth, Minn.

Mount, DI
Assistant for water quality criteria, and director, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Water Quality Laboratory, Duluth, Minn.

Pages: 12    Published: Jan 1978

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Abstract

A variety of classes of aquatic toxicity tests are presented and discussed in relation to their ability to provide useful estimates of the environmental effects of chemicals or discharges. These classes of tests can be judged and compared numerically by several standards: ability to permit extrapolation to meaningful effect; ease and cost of conducting tests; applicability to response to a wide variety of chemicals; availability of documented detailed procedures; ecological importance and persistence of effect; and scientific and legal defensibility of the procedure. No single class of tests can be expected to be clearly superior to all others, indicating the need for a variety of testing at successive tiers of intensity of study.