US EPA

Bioassessment techniques are useful tools that can be used to evaluate the toxicity of site-specific complex mixtures using resident or laboratory-raised organisms. Although regulations based on bioassessment have been implemented under the NPDES program, the use of these techniques at hazardous waste sites is at a relatively early stage of development. Most commonly, bioassessment techniques have been used to identify contaminated areas at sites, and also to measure adverse effects that have occurred at the site. In order for bioassessment to be more extensively used, however, advances are needed in two general areas. First, we need to provide firmer links between endpoints that can be measured via bioassays (e.g., death of a caged organism) to endpoints that are used in decision-making (e. g., decline of a natural population). Second, bioassessment results need to be more directly applicable to the design of treatment technologies. In this way, bioassessments can be used not only to document adverse effects, but also to provide input into the decisions regarding what should be remediated, and how much remediation should occur.

Norton, S., J. Benforado, C. Zamuda, A. Mittleman, I. Diwan, AND R. Fulton. BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT: NEW TOOLS FOR CLEAN-UP DECISIONS AT HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/D-89/192 (NTIS PB90130691), 1989.

Presented at 1st Symposium on In Situ Evaluation of Biological Hazards of Environmental Pollutants, December 5-7, Omni Europa Hotel, Chapel Hill, NC