Environmental Business Review: Specials Magazine

The Clean Water Act of 1972 established a set of objectives related to the protection of America’s water resources by limiting the scope and/or volume of chemicals discharged to its surface waters. The initial focus of determining the environmental acceptability of wastewaters was limited to analytical measurements of the concentrations of individual chemicals in complex waste streams. This approach was ultimately determined to be insufficient due to the recognition that organisms respond to the concentration of bioavailable contaminants and not necessarily the total concentration as measured in most analytical procedures. And given the lack of analytical procedures for the tens of thousands of registered chemicals, the objectives of the legislation were simply not feasible. Organisms will also respond to the totality of contaminants present and those contaminants in combination may create either synergistic or antagonistic effects that could under- or overestimate toxic effects. This evolution in understanding and enlightenment led to the development of Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) testing methods in the mid 1980s prompting the “birth” of the biomonitoring industry. AquaTox Research, Inc. (ARI) was founded as a spin-off from a Syracuse, NY based organization in 1992 by Dr. Frank Doherty, a lab manager with that organization since 1987. The scope of aquatic toxicity testing and consulting services offered since the Corporation’s inception has shifted over time to align with the data demands of the local regulatory community. This field would not exist without the regulatorily driven testing requirements from state and federal agencies to comply with environmental legislation. Dr. Doherty and ARI have witnessed and participated in its evolution since its first days 33 years earlier. Most recently, since 2022, NYS has required its aquatic toxicity testing contractors to be accredited by the NYS Department of Health through the Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (ELAP), creating requirements for technical competence alongside independently audited quality assurance.” “The singular goal of the Corporation is to help companies not pollute,” says Dr. Francis Doherty, lab director. This mission is carried out through two primary functions. The first function is to conduct routine acute and chronic toxicity tests with the fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas, and the aquatic invertebrate cladoceran, Ceriodaphnia dubia. New York State regulators typically require quarterly toxicity tests with both species for one year out of a 5-year permit cycle. If during that process test results exceed the limits published in a facility’s discharge permit, there is a testing requirement referred to as a Toxicity Identification/Reduction Evaluation (TI/RE). The second function of ARI is to assist permittees either locate the source and/or identity of the toxic materials and suggest approaches for remediation within a TI/RE program. ARI utilizes a non-traditional approach to the application of TI/RE programs relying on the expertise and knowledge of plant operators in conjunction with targeted toxicity testing activities to achieve compliance. The NYS DEC also routinely requires permittees to perform compliance testing when Water Treatment Chemicals (WTC) are put into service. ARI provides compliance testing either through toxicity tests of the WTCs themselves or routine WET testing to demonstrate environmental acceptability of the treated wastewater. Outlining the toxicity profile of WTCs to the standard test organisms is required to ensure an adequate safety factor between toxicity test limits and proposed dosage rates in contrast to the issuance of conditional approval for the use of the WTCs contingent upon demonstrating environmental acceptability in a series of routine effluent toxicity tests.