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Use of outdoor artificial streams to determine threshold toxicity concentrations for a petrochemical effluent
Author(s) -
Crossland N.O.,
Mitchell G.C.,
Dorn P.B.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.5620110106
Subject(s) - effluent , streams , daphnia magna , riffle , toxicity , gammarus pulex , environmental chemistry , population , chemistry , gammarus , daphnia pulex , ecotoxicology , cladocera , amphipoda , zoology , biology , ecology , environmental engineering , environmental science , crustacean , demography , organic chemistry , sociology , computer science , computer network
A system of six partly flow‐through, partly recirculating, streams was constructed outdoors from stainless steel and divided into pool and riffle sections to closely simulate a natural stream environment. The organic fraction extracted from the effluent of a petrochemical manufacturing plant was identified as a mixture of chlorinated ethers. The effluent extract was applied to three of the streams to maintain nominal concentrations of chlorinated ethers of 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0 mg/L for a period of 28 d. A fourth stream was treated with 0.25 mg/L for 21 d; this was then increased to 4.0 mg/L for a further 7 d. Two streams were untreated and served as controls. There were no detectable effects of the treatments on macroinvertebrate population densities. There was a marked effect on the drift of macroinvertebrates at a concentration of 2.0 mg/L, but there was no effect at lower concentrations. There was an effect on the feeding rates of Gammarus pulex at concentrations of 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 mg/L, but there were no effects at concentrations of 0.25 and 0.5 mg/L. The results of this experiment were compared with those obtained in 7‐d, single‐species toxicity tests. On the basis of the toxicity tests, the no‐observed‐effect concentration (NOEC) for the most sensitive biological response—growth of Daphnia magna — was 1.0 mg/L. On the basis of the field test, the NOEC for the most sensitive biological response — feeding rate of G. pulex — was 0.5 mg/L.