PARENT SESSION
79 - Validity and Reliability of Ecotoxicity Tests
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM, Wednesday, 15 May 2002
Exhibition Area

(79-11) Validity and reliability of bioassays to assess environmental quality of dredging material in Spanish Ports.

DelValls, Angel^*,1, Buceta, Jose Luis², Casado, Carmen¹, Riba, Inmaculada¹, ¹ Departamento de Química Física. Facultad de Ciencias del Mar y Ambientales. Polígono río San Pedro s/n., Puerto Real. Cádiz, Spain² Centro de Estudios de experimentación de Obras Públicas (CEDEX). Ministerio de Fomento. C/ Antonio López, 81., Madrid, Spain

ABSTRACT- Next January, 2002 will be adoped the new Commission Decision (2000/532/EC) of 3 May 2000 replacing Decision 94/3/EC and establishing a list of wastes pursuant to Article 1(a) of Council Directive 75/442/EEC on waste. In this Decision dredging materials are considered as potential hazardous wastes based on chemical concentrations measured in them. Another way to determine hazardous or non-hazardous wastes of dredging material is by means of sediment toxicity and bioaccumulation tests. To determine the validity and reliability of the use of marine bioassays together with chemical characterization in order to establish the environmental quality of dredging material in Spanish Ports, 15 different sediment bioassays were revised and adapted for Spain. It includes Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) when available from other countries, and specifically the interpretation of the results using organisms living in the Spanish Coasts. Besides, it assesses the use of each bioassay compared among the other. Toxicity tests (13) were revised and catalogued in 3 different categories based on the route of exposure and the level of accuracy to determine the toxicity associated with the material: Screening (Microtox, Rotoxkit), elutriates (copepods, phytoplancton, equinoderm larvae and rotifer populations) and solid phase (amphipod, equinoderms, mysis, polychaeta, clams, and fish -benthic and pelagic-). Bioaccumulation tests (2) were based on the use of clams and polychaetae. Some of tests were identified as useful to determine the environmental quality (toxicity and bioaccumulation) of the dredging material and/or sediments from Spanish Coasts. This characterization will permit to perform a wise technical management of the dredging waters (sea dumping, soft isolation techniques eg. capping or hard isolation techniques). The determination of the adverse effect after the exposure of a battery of organisms to the dredging material (battery of sediment tests) can be used to establish the hazardous or non-hazardous category of a determined dredging waste.

Key words: sediment bioassays, dredging material, Commission Decision 2000/532/EU, hazardous wastes