Demonstrating the Reliability of bio‐met for Determining Compliance with Environmental Quality Standards for Metals in Europe. (10th November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Peters, Adam; Nys, Charlotte; Merrington, Graham; Verdonck, Frederik; Baken, Stijn; Cooper, Christopher A.; Van Assche, Frank; Schlekat, Christian; Garman, Emily
• Is Part Of: Environmental toxicology and chemistry. Volume 39:Number 12(2020)
• Page Start: 2361
• Page End: 2377
• Publication Date: 2020-11-10
• Subjects: Bioavailability -- Metals -- environmental quality standards -- Copper -- Nickel -- Zinc; Pollution -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental chemistry -- Periodicals; 615.902
• DOI: 10.1002/etc.4883
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0730-7268

Abstract

Abstract: The importance of considering the bioavailability of metals in understanding and assessing their toxicity in freshwaters has been recognized for many years. Currently, biotic ligand models (BLMs) are being applied for the derivation and implementation of environmental quality standards (EQS) for metals under the Water Framework Directive in Europe. bio‐met is a simplified tool that was developed for implementing bioavailability‐based EQS for metals in European freshwaters. We demonstrate the reliability of the relationship between the full BLM predictions and the thresholds (hazardous concentration affecting 5% of species [HC5] values) predicted by bio‐met in 3 stages, for the metals copper, nickel, and zinc. First, ecotoxicity data for specific species from laboratory tests in natural waters are compared with predictions by the individual species BLMs included in the full BLMs. Second, the site‐specific HC5 values predicted by bio‐met for the natural waters used for ecotoxicity testing are compared with those provided by the full BLMs. The reliability of both relationships is demonstrated for all 3 metals, with more than 80% of individual species BLM predictions being within a factor of 3 of the experimental results, and 99% of bio‐met local HC5 predictions being within a factor of 2 of the full BLM result. Third, using a larger set of European natural waters in addition demonstrates the reliability of bio‐met over a broad range of water chemistry conditions. bio‐met is therefore an appropriate tool for performing compliance assessments against EQS values in Europe, due to the demonstrated consistency with the toxicity test data. Environ Toxicol Chem 2020;39:2361–2377. © 2020 SETAC Abstract : The reliability of site‐specific hazardous concentration affecting 5% of species (HC5) values provided by bio‐met for compliance assessment against environmental quality standards (EQS) can be demonstrated by comparison with individual species ecotoxicity tests in natural waters through bioavailability normalized site‐specific species sensitivity distributions (SSDs).