Development of Ecological Toxicity and Biomagnification Data for Explosives Contaminants in Soil
Abstract
Soil contamination was identified at more than 21,000 sites among Department of Defense (DoD) installations (Bridges and Whaley, 1997). By 2001, the number of known waste sites on current and former DoD installations in the United States exceeded 28,000. Many of these sites are associated with military operations that involve munition manufacturing, disposal, testing, and training contain elevated levels of explosives and related materials in soil. Concentrations of explosives in soil have been reported to exceed 87,000 mg kg-1 for TNT and 3,000 mg kg-1 for RDX or HMX (Simini et al., 1995). Although the energetic materials (EM) RDX and HMX are persistent and highly mobile in the environment, their effects on soil biota have not been sufficiently investigated. This presented a challenge for site managers who have to distinguish those sites that pose significant environmental risks from those that do not, prioritize contaminated sites by the level of risk posed, quantify the risks at each site, and develop appropriate remedial actions and cleanup goals. Recognizing a need for quantifying ecotoxicological benchmarks that can be used for development of scientifically based Ecological Soil Screening Levels (Eco-SSLs), the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) has supported this research to extend the knowledge of the toxicity of explosives-related soil contaminants to ecological receptors, and to assess the potential for EM bioaccumulation in soil organisms that may affect higher level receptors through trophic chain transfer. Eco-SSL concentrations can be used in a Screening Level Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) to identify those contaminants in soil that warrant additional evaluation in a Baseline ERA, and to eliminate those that do not. Eco-SSLs are derived using published data generated from laboratory toxicity tests with different test species relevant to soil ecosystems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA604120
Entities
People
- Roman G Kuperman
Organizations
- Edgewood Chemical Biological Center