Sustainable sediment management?

✍ Scribed by Sabine E Apitz

• Publisher: Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 275 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1551-3777
• DOI: 10.1002/ieam.264

✦ Synopsis

means, according to the resolution, the maximum value of a contaminant a water body can receive without compromising its use and water quality, according to previous classifications. This means ecosystems that were classified as low quality may always receive more effluents than clean rivers, or that river restoration by reducing the source of contamination is unrealistic. It is stated that the effluent cannot cause toxic effects (though such are not specifically defined) to aquatic ecosystems, and that those effects must be based on results of ecotoxicological tests (no further instruction is provided related to the use of endemic organisms, for instance), accepted by the state environmental office, performed with aquatic organisms from at least 2 trophic levels. There is no mention of use of local organisms, and there is no explanation how the results of ecotoxicological tests with different trophic levels should be interpreted.

These 3 regulations represent only timid initiatives into using (eco)toxicological tests typically to determine acute toxicity, with no recommendation of species choice, or any ecological relevant criteria for the tests. More attention is given to the accreditation of the laboratories than to the objectives of the tests themselves. Brazilian regulatory authorities and scientists can and should do better.