Document of bibliographic reference 354777

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Data and diversity in the development of acute water quality criteria in the United States

Abstract

The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is responsible for the development of water quality criteria, regulatory standards that protect aquatic organisms from harmful chemical exposure. Although these criteria are intended to be broadly protective of aquatic life, the data used to derive criteria do not necessarily reflect the actual diversity of natural communities nor are they available for most chemicals. In addition, although the USEPA's current procedures emphasize using toxicity data with a certain minimum amount of biological diversity, the quantitative impact of such diversity on criteria is unclear. In the present study we assessed the changes to acute toxicity data over time, determined the prevalence of significant taxonomic differences in sensitivity, and investigated the effect of biological diversity on criteria. We found major gaps in existing toxicity data that we hypothesize have contributed to the absence of acute criteria for the majority of chemical pollutants. Taxonomic patterns of sensitivity in these data are abundant, although the resolution of the patterns is relatively poor. In addition, we found that the amount of biological diversity in a toxicity data set and the data set's taxonomic composition does not quantitatively affect criteria in most cases. Because the USEPA has published acute criteria for fewer than 20% of priority pollutants and the persistence of major gaps in toxicity data over the last 37 years, we recommend that the USEPA consider revisions to their water quality criteria guidelines that will expedite the criteria development process and advance the responsible management of pollutants in the aquatic environment.

WebOfScience code

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000761865900001

Bibliographic citation

Coleman, A.L.; Edmands, S. (2022). Data and diversity in the development of acute water quality criteria in the United States. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 41(5): 1333-1343. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/etc.5302

Is peer reviewed

true