Abstract
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 458-459 |
Number of pages | 2 |
Journal | Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 25 Apr 2017 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - May 2017 |
Fingerprint
Cite this
Harmonization of Water and Sediment Quality Guideline Derivation. / Batley, Graeme; Warne, Michael.
In: Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Vol. 13, No. 3, 05.2017, p. 458-459.Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Harmonization of Water and Sediment Quality Guideline Derivation
AU - Batley, Graeme
AU - Warne, Michael
PY - 2017/5
Y1 - 2017/5
N2 - With increasing numbers of new chemicals reaching the marketplace, there is an ongoing need for defensible estimates of the concentrations of chemicals that should provide an acceptable level of protection to aquatic ecosystems, including both the water column and sediments. Depending on the jurisdiction, these “safe” concentrations are called Guidelines or Guideline Values (Australia and New Zealand, and Canada), Water Quality Criteria (USA), or Environmental Quality Standards (EQSs) (European Union). The standards and criteria are typically legal limits whereas the guidelines have no legal status and are used to indicate when concentrations of chemicals may be exerting a non-acceptable impact and further action is required to assess the actual magnitude of the impact. Throughout this article, the term guideline value (GV) is used to describe the various “safe concentrations”. For each chemical, the derivation of water quality GV requires extensive toxicity testing on a large number of species from different taxonomic groups. The considerable costs that this involves, makes it highly desirable that acquiring such data is shared across multiple jurisdictions, such that GVs derived in Canada, for example, are equally applicable to Australia and New Zealand, the United States or the European Union (EU). The development of water quality GVs has largely occurred independently in jurisdictions, although in many instances they are based on common or very similar sets of published ecotoxicity data.
AB - With increasing numbers of new chemicals reaching the marketplace, there is an ongoing need for defensible estimates of the concentrations of chemicals that should provide an acceptable level of protection to aquatic ecosystems, including both the water column and sediments. Depending on the jurisdiction, these “safe” concentrations are called Guidelines or Guideline Values (Australia and New Zealand, and Canada), Water Quality Criteria (USA), or Environmental Quality Standards (EQSs) (European Union). The standards and criteria are typically legal limits whereas the guidelines have no legal status and are used to indicate when concentrations of chemicals may be exerting a non-acceptable impact and further action is required to assess the actual magnitude of the impact. Throughout this article, the term guideline value (GV) is used to describe the various “safe concentrations”. For each chemical, the derivation of water quality GV requires extensive toxicity testing on a large number of species from different taxonomic groups. The considerable costs that this involves, makes it highly desirable that acquiring such data is shared across multiple jurisdictions, such that GVs derived in Canada, for example, are equally applicable to Australia and New Zealand, the United States or the European Union (EU). The development of water quality GVs has largely occurred independently in jurisdictions, although in many instances they are based on common or very similar sets of published ecotoxicity data.
U2 - 10.1002/ieam.1903
DO - 10.1002/ieam.1903
M3 - Editorial
VL - 13
SP - 458
EP - 459
JO - Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management
JF - Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management
SN - 1551-3777
IS - 3
ER -