Environmental impact assessment for aquatic ecosystems of industrial effluents†

Abstract

A system of environmental impact assessment of industrial effluents is presented and discussed. Environmental assessment consists of three phases, hazard assessment, risk determination, and societary evaluation. It is regarded an integrated study of natural sciences, i.e. ecochemicology (chemical fate), ecotoxicology (toxical effects), and ecoepidemiology (biological damages); and social sciences, e.g. geography, sociology, and economy. And the outcome should be the basis of political decision making. Hazard assessment may be divided into a subphase of hazard identification from a base set of scientific information on the industrial effluent, and a second subphase of hazard analysis at a more elevated level of scientific information akin to the procedures suggested elsewhere for single chemicals. Methods of hazard assessment are laboratory experiments, e.g. chemical analysis, degradation and bioaccumulation studies, acute and chronic toxicity assessments, physical modelling, etc. Risk determination may then be conducted by extrapolation of the obtained results from laboratory to field, i.e. by risk estimation to the receiving waters, using methods of hydraulic modelling, biological surveillance, etc. Risk-benefit evaluation is conducted in the society evaluation phase by balancing environmental consequences against the society value of the production. The outcome is determined by the interaction between hazard-makers (industry), risk-takers (administrators), guardians (regulators), and assessors (scientists) in risk management, the crank of environmental assessment.

New Perspectives in Biosensors Technology and Applications

“…Dermatological disorders including discoloration of the skin (Deichmann & Keplinger, 1962;reviewed by Bruce et al, 1987). Different derivatives have different toxicities (with the toxicity being related to acidity and persistence being related to degree of solubility in fats and lipids), with nitrophenol being the most toxic followed by chlorophenols which in turn are more toxic than phenol alone, however, chlorophenols are more difficult to biodegrade, therefore pose more of a problem than phenol in terms of toxicity and persistence (reviewed by Crosby, 1982;Folke, 1985).…”