Use of Field Data to Support European Water Framework Directive Quality Standards for Dissolved Metals

Quality standards (QS) for dissolved metals in freshwaters have been proposed under the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) and are based mainly upon laboratory ecotoxicity data. Uncertainties remain about laboratory-to-field extrapolation to establish QS that are neither over- nor underprotect...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology 2007-07, Vol.41 (14), p.5014-5021
Main Authors: Crane, Mark, Kwok, Kevin W. H, Wells, Claire, Whitehouse, Paul, Lui, Gilbert C. S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis methods
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Applied sciences
Biological and medical sciences
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Exact sciences and technology
Fresh water
Fresh water environment
Freshwater
Freshwater ecology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Invertebrates
Laboratories
Metals
Metals - chemistry
Metals - standards
Natural water pollution
Pollution
Reference Standards
Solubility
Uncertainty
Water Pollutants, Chemical - standards
Water quality
Water treatment and pollution
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Summary:Quality standards (QS) for dissolved metals in freshwaters have been proposed under the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) and are based mainly upon laboratory ecotoxicity data. Uncertainties remain about laboratory-to-field extrapolation to establish QS that are neither over- nor underprotective. Freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates are a group of organisms of known sensitivity to heavy metals. We analyzed a dataset from England and Wales of dissolved metal concentrations (cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, nickel, lead, and zinc) and associated benthic invertebrate community metrics, using piecewise regression, quantile regression, and information on metal concentra tions consistent with good quality status. Analysis of these field data suggests that dissolved metal QS proposed under the WFD are similar to metal concentrations in rivers associated with unimpaired benthic invertebrate as semblages in England and Wales. The only exceptions to this are QS for iron and zinc, where use of relatively large assessment factors leads to standards that are substantially below concentrations associated with impaired invertebrate assemblages in the field.
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/es0629460