Evaluation of Biomonitoring Systems for Assessment of Contaminated Waters and Sediments at U.S. Army Installations.
Abstract
The primary objective of the study was to evaluate the use of several biomonitoring systems for hazard/risk assessment of potentially contaminated waters and sediment-associated contaminants at U.S. Army Installations. An array of toxicity tests structured in a tiered framework, which ranged from a rapid acute test of 5 minutes in duration to a 9-month chronic carcinogencity assays was evaluated. Both aqueous and sediment phase tests were evaluated. The studies were structured, where possible, to provide toxicity system evaluation data as well as data for various Superfund sites at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, Maryland. Most screening-level Superfund ecological risk assessments require the use of ecotoxicity values which provide chronic no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) data for exposures to contaminants. Several of the biomonitoring systems evaluated in the current study provided appropriate NOAEL data. Other assays such as, the Ames mutagenicity assay, frog teratogenesis assay-Xenopus (FETAX); and Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) carcinogenicity assay are not normally structured to provide NOAEL endpoints. The use of the systems, however, as weight-of-evidence for ecological hazard/risk assessment is presented for various Superfund sites. Likewise, the results of the studies used for regulatory and compliance activities by the Army, EPA, and State of Maryland regulators are presented in the report.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA378865
Entities
People
- Dennis T. Burton