Bioassays for the Evaluation of Landfill Leachate Toxicity

This article reviews the application of bioassays for assessing the toxicity hazard posed by landfill leachate discharged to an aquatic environment. Landfill leachate is a complex mixture of chemicals; thus it is difficult to assess the risk posed to aquatic wildlife using standard chemical identifi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part B, Critical reviews Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 83 - 105
Main Authors:	Thomas, David John Lawrence, Tyrrel, Sean Ferguson, Smith, Richard, Farrow, Steve
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England Taylor & Francis Group 01-01-2009 Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:	Algae Animals Biological Assay - methods Ecology Environmental Monitoring - methods Environmental Pollutants - analysis Environmental Pollutants - toxicity Geochemistry Landfill Lemna minor Research methodology Risk Assessment Sensitivity and Specificity Thamnocephalus platyurus Toxicity Vibrio fischeri Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity
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Summary:	This article reviews the application of bioassays for assessing the toxicity hazard posed by landfill leachate discharged to an aquatic environment. Landfill leachate is a complex mixture of chemicals; thus it is difficult to assess the risk posed to aquatic wildlife using standard chemical identification techniques, such as gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). From this review it is clear that toxicity testing, using species that represent the different trophic levels, is a superior way to predict the risk posed by discharge than chemical analysis. Previous studies assessed leachate toxicity using bacteria, algae, plants, invertebrates, fish, and genotoxicity. Studies showed that leachate exhibits a wide range of toxicities to the species tested. Ammonia, alkalinity, heavy metals, and recalcitrant organics were identified to be the cause of adverse responses from the test organisms. Concentrations of these chemicals were found to depend upon the types of waste landfilled. As part of this review, Slooff analysis was applied to published results to calculate the sensitivity of test species. It was concluded that Lemna minor and Thamnocephalus platyurus were the most sensitive tests and, Vibrio fischeri (Microtox) was the least sensitive test available. Little is known about the sensitivity of each species to the different types of waste that might have been landfilled. A battery of tests needed for a more accurate assessment of landfill leachate is proposed. Some of the more common tests have been replaced by more sensitive tests that produce more relevant results for the industry and regulators.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-3
ISSN:	1093-7404 1521-6950
DOI:	10.1080/10937400802545292