Potential ecotoxic effects probe (PEEP): A novel index to assess and compare the toxic potential of industrial effluents

An index allowing the assessment and comparison of the toxic potential of industrial effluents is described. Integrating the results of practical small-scale screening bioassays (Photobacterium phosphoreum Microtox® test. Selenastrum capricornutum growth inhibition microtest, Ceriodaphnia dubia lethality and reproduction inhibition tests, Escherichia coli genotoxicity SOS Chromotest), this index takes into account persistence of toxicity, (multi) specificity of toxic impact, as well as effluent flow. The resulting Potential Ecotoxic Effects Probe (PEEP) index number is reflected by a log10 value that varies from 0 to infinity but normally will not surpass a value of 10. The structure of the mathematical formula generating PEEP values is simple and “user friendly” in that it can accommodate numbers and types of bioassays to fit particular needs. Thirty-seven effluents from 8 industrial sectors (pulp and paper, petroleum refining, inorganic/organic chemical production, mining, metallurgy, metal plating, textile production) were appraised and compared with the proposed PEEP scale. The pulp and paper sector effluents (n = 15) markedly stood out from the others owing to their greater toxicity and higher discharge volume, with reported PEEP values lying between 4.4 and 7.5. For most of these effluents, toxicity was found to be persistent, multitrophic (i.e., affecting our bacterial, algal, and crustacean bioindicators), and it expressed itself at all levels of assessment (i.e., lethal, acute sublethal, chronic sublethal, and genotoxic levels). The usefulness of the PEEP index in the environmental management of industrial effluent toxicity is discussed herein. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

[1]  H. Bergman,et al.  Environmental hazard assessment of effluents , 1986 .

[2]  T. Källqvist,et al.  Ecotoxicological characterization of industrial wastewater--sulfite pulp mill with bleaching. , 1989, Ecotoxicology and environmental safety.

[3]  Elizabeth Southerland,et al.  Technical Support Document for Water Quality-based Toxics Control , 1991 .

[4]  A. Brouwer,et al.  Biochemical and physiological approaches in ecotoxicology. , 1990 .

[5]  H. Blanck.  Species dependent variation among aquatic organisms in their sensitivity to chemicals , 1984 .

[6]  A. Hanstveit,et al.  The role of mutagenicity testing in the ecotoxicological evaluation of industrial discharges into the aquatic environment. , 1985, Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association.

[7]  P. A. Lewis,et al.  Short-term methods for estimating the chronic toxicity of effluents and receiving water to freshwater organisms. Third edition , 1994 .

[8]  J. Louis,et al.  Mutagenicity Analyses of Industrial Effluents: Results and Considerations for Integration into Water Pollution Control Programs , 1985 .

[9]  C. Hickey,et al.  Microtesting appraisal of ATP and cell recovery toxicity end points after acute exposure of Selenastrum capricornutum to selected chemicals , 1991 .

[10]  Jr. John Cairns,et al.  The Myth of the Most Sensitive SpeciesMultispecies testing can provide valuable evidence for protecting the environment , 1986 .

[11]  D. Couillard.  Évaluation de la pollution et des répercussions des rejets des industries des pâtes et papiers sur la vie aquatique , 1980 .

[12]  J. Baldasano,et al.  Toxicity analysis of leachates from hazardous wastes via microtox and daphnia magna , 1986 .

[13]  W. Slooff,et al.  The Microtox as an alternative assay in the acute toxicity assessment of water pollutants , 1983 .

[14]  L. Claxton,et al.  Screening complex hazardous wastes for mutagenic activity using a modified version of the TLC/Salmonella assay. , 1986, Mutation research.

[15]  C. Blaise,et al.  Integrated ecotoxicological evaluation of effluents from dumpsites , 1989 .

[16]  Algal interactions with the genotoxic activity of selected chemicals and complex liquid samples , 1989 .

[17]  P. Stolpman,et al.  Environmental Protection Agency , 2020, The Grants Register 2022.

[18]  D. Svendsgaard,et al.  U-shaped dose-response curves: their occurrence and implications for risk assessment. , 1990, Journal of toxicology and environmental health.

[19]  D. Schaeffer,et al.  Identification of cocarcinogens and promoters in industrial discharges into and in the Illinois River. , 1980, Journal of toxicology and environmental health.

[20]  T. Kovacs.  Effects of Bleached Kraft Mill Effluent on Freshwater Fish: A Canadian Perspective , 1986 .

[21]  G. Riesenfeld,et al.  The SOS chromotest kit: A rapid method for the detection of genotoxicity , 1987 .

[22]  J R Skalski,et al.  Characterization of chemical waste site contamination and determination of its extent using bioassays. , 1986, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[23]  C. Blaise,et al.  Biological testing—development, application, and trends in canadian environmental protection laboratories , 1988 .

[24]  Davis Jm,et al.  U‐Shaped dose‐response curves: Their occurrence and implications for risk assessment , 1990 .

[25]  Y. Tchan,et al.  A comparison of microbial bioassays for the detection of aquatic toxicants , 1983 .

[26]  J. B. Sprague,et al.  Lethal Levels of Mixed Copper–Zinc Solutions for Juvenile Salmon , 1965 .

[27]  C. Blaise,et al.  Comparative assessment of herbicide phytotoxicity to Selenastrum capricornutum using microplate and flask bioassay procedures , 1992 .

[28]  C. Blaise.  Microbiotests in aquatic ecotoxicology: Characteristics, utility, and prospects , 1991 .

[29]  F. R. Leach,et al.  Use of the microtox® assay system for environmental samples , 1981, Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology.

[30]  A. Bulich,et al.  Reliability of the Bacterial Luminescence Assay for Determination of the Toxicity of Pure Compounds and Complex Effluents , 1981 .

[31]  W. Horning,et al.  Short-term methods for estimating the chronic toxicity of effluents and receiving waters freshwater organisms , 1985 .

[32]  M. Hofnung,et al.  SOS chromotest, a direct assay of induction of an SOS function in Escherichia coli K-12 to measure genotoxicity. , 1982, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[33]  Wun-cheng Wang,et al.  Screening and biomonitoring of industrial effluents using phytotoxicity tests , 1988 .

[34]  J. Cairns,et al.  Aquatic toxicology. Part 2 , 1990 .

[35]  C. Walden.  The toxicity of pulp and paper mill effluents and corresponding measurement procedures , 1976 .

[36]  Teresa J. Norberg-King,et al.  Precision of short-term chronic toxicity tests in the real world , 1991 .

[37]  J. Gaur,et al.  PHYCOLOGY AND HEAVY‐METAL POLLUTION , 1981 .

[38]  Christian Blaise,et al.  A simple microplate algal assay technique for aquatic toxicity assessment , 1986 .

[39]  W. Birge,et al.  A comparative ecological and toxicological investigation of a secondary wastewater treatment plant effluent and its receiving stream , 1989 .

[40]  K. Kaiser,et al.  Effects of selected chemicals to photoluminescent bacteria and their correlations with acute and sublethal effects on other organisms , 1983 .