PARENT SESSION

HA8 On-line Water Toxicity Monitoring
A105 & A106
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Thursday

() Behaviroal and physiological responses of Daphnia magna, Chlorella vulgaris, Corbicula fluminea, and Lepomis macrochirus to copper, cyanide, diazinon, and atrazine.

Allen, H.¹, Haught, R.¹, Goodrich, J.¹, Sinha, R.², Macke, D.², Heckman, J.², Lazorchak, J.³, ¹ U.S. EPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, USA² Shaw E&I, Cincinnati, OH, USA³ U.S. EPA National Exposure Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, USA

ABSTRACT- The research presented here was designed to further the science of available and developing continuous, automated water quality monitors and how they may be most effectively deployed in a watershed management plan and/or water quality early warning system (WQEWS). Source waters of the U.S. are vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic factors affecting quality for use as drinking water. Important factors include physical parameters such as increased turbidity, ecological cycles such as algal blooms, and episodic contamination events (both unintentional and intentional). Water quality managers need continuous, time-relevant information regarding the status of water quality in both source waters and distribution systems. Biological systems are necessary for the monitoring of water quality because there is no machine or analytical approach available capable of quantifying toxicity. Only an organism in its own environment can integrate all factors that contribute to stress. A major effort of this research is the development of a sensitivity response matrix for various water quality monitoring systems(WQMS). The goal is to develop a toxicological context for the use of innovative biological techniques for the monitoring of water quality. This research is ongoing at the U.S. EPA EWSL, T&E Facility, Cincinnati, OH. EWSL and the T&E Facility are capable of supporting development, testing, and evaluation of biologically based water quality monitoring systems and physical/chemical sensors. WQMSs currently under study at the EWSL are 1.DaphTox (Macroinvertebrate swimming behavior, BBE) 2.AlgaeTox (Photosynthetic efficiency, BBE) 3.Bivalve Monitor (Bivalve gape behavior, University of North Texas/U.S. EPA), and 4.Real-Time Environmental Protection System (Fish ventilatory behavior, USACEHR/GeoCenters). Results to date demonstrate that these sensors are quite sensitive over relatively short durations. The DaphTox is capable of detecting 62.5 g/L Copper during a 2 hour exposure. The Bivalve Monitor can detect 252g/L Copper and the Fish Ventilatory system can detect 500g/L Copper over similar durations. The systems were also challenged with cyanide resulting in effective concentrations of 100g/L for the Daphtox, and Fish system. Complete results for the four toxicants will be presented.

Key words: automated monitoring, behavioral toxicology, early warning system