The Neubauer technique was modified to provide a sensitive and economical phytoassay for soils and surface waters obtained from a chemical waste site. Use of individual plastic enclosures allowed safe handling and disposal over the course of the authors experiments. Laboratory tests showed that water from a holding basin was toxic to wheat plants at dilutions of less than 1% and that the authors modified Neubauer technique produced results compatible with both pot culture and the standard Neubauer test. Further testing of several inorganic constituents of the basin water pointed to an organic toxicant, even though the original water contained high levels of sodium, copper and other elements. The results of testing 26 samples from an abandoned waste pond were negative insofar as toxicity to wheat and lettuce seeds, whereas samples from an abandoned ditch allowed the authors to determine areal toxicity as well as toxicity as a function of depth and suggested that more than one species should be tested.