Bioassay whole effluent

WET Whole effluent toxicity. The total toxic effect of an effluent measured directly with a toxicity test or bioassay. 

Associated with this first advantage, toxicity tests are used to measure directly the whole sample toxicity, without identifying and analyzing each pollutant individually. Whole-effluent bioassays are probably more representative of the total toxic effect of the complex effluent mixture. Toxicity tests give an integrated answer of the total effect of diverse toxicants in a given complex effluent. 

Whole-organism bioassays are based on the measurement of the biological response (acute or chronic toxicity) of a test organism to contaminants present in a water sample (e.g., drinking, ground, surface, or wastewater effluent) in a standardized test usually conducted in the laboratory. Several test species covering most of the different trophic levels in freshwater and/or estuarine/marme environments may be employed, the use of multiple test species and trophic levels being usually recommended because each species shows specific sensitivity to different chemicals or classes of compounds. " ... 

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