Pore Water Collection, Analysis and Evolution: The Need for Standardization.

Investigating the ecological impacts of contaminants released into the environment requires integration of multiple lines of evidence. Collection and analysis of interstitial water is an often-used line of evidence for developing benthic exposure estimates in aquatic ecosystems. It is a well-established principle that chemical and toxicity data on interstitial water samples should represent in-situ conditions; i.

How toxic is coal ash? A laboratory toxicity case study.

Under a consent agreement among the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and proponents both for and against stricter regulation, EPA is to issue a new coal ash disposal rule by the end of 2014. Laboratory toxicity investigations often yield conservative estimates of toxicity because many standard test species are more sensitive than resident species, thus could provide information useful to the rule-making. However, few laboratory studies of coal ash toxicity are available; most studies reported in the literature are based solely on field investigations.

Ecological risk assessment for residual coal fly ash at Watts Bar Reservoir, Tennessee.

The Tennessee Valley Authority conducted a Baseline Ecological Risk Assessment (BERA) for the Kingston Fossil Plant ash release site to evaluate potential effects of residual coal ash on biota in Watts Bar Reservoir, Tennessee. The BERA was in response to a release of 4.1 million m(3) of coal ash on December 22, 2008.

Ecological risk assessment for residual coal fly ash at Watts Bar Reservoir, Tennessee: Site setting and problem formulation.

A baseline ecological risk assessment (BERA) was performed for residual ash in the Watts Bar Reservoir following a release of fly ash from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston Fossil Plant. The site consists of parts of 3 rivers in eastern Tennessee comprising over 32 river kilometers. The purpose of the assessment was to determine if residual ash negatively impacts maintenance and reproduction of balanced communities or populations of potentially exposed ecological receptor groups in these rivers.