WET Testing Program: Evaluation of Practices and Implementation

Contains the results of a survey of publicly owned treatment facilities and regulatory agencies that have implemented whole effluent toxicity (WET) testing practices. Using eight criteria based on U.S. EPA guidance documents, this survey evaluates how individual states, U.S. EPA regions, and the Canadian province of Ontario are implementing and managing the WET program. Although routine test methods were found to be technically sound by the researchers, the survey exposes the inconsistencies in implementation of the program and the consequences of those inconsistencies. Incorporating surveys of 63 regulatory agencies and over 1,000 POTW facilities, this final report describes where improvements in the use of the WET program, which has now become an integral component of the NPDES, can be made. Published by WERF. 220 pages. Soft cover.

Originally funded as WERF project 94-HHE-1.