TITLE: Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Testing from Standards to Enforcement

This course covers technical and policy aspects of implementing the whole effluent toxicity (WET) analyses in wastewater discharge permits. The curriculum incorporates information on WET test requirements from supporting EPA documents, such as the Technical Support Document for Water Quality-based Toxics Control (TSD) and the EPA toxicity test method manuals. Issues covered include an introduction to concepts of implementation, test methods, data evaluation techniques, quality assurance, permit development, compliance, and enforcement. Examples of actual data sets, permit language, and TRE case studies will be presented. Issues discussed by the diverse instructional team should prove beneficial to regulatory and regulated community alike and will offer an insight to both sides of the regulatory process to those unfamiliar with this application of the science.

Day 1

8:30 - 10:00   Introduction and Standards - Debra Denton, USEPA

10:00 - 10:15 Coffee Break

10:15 - 11:00 Freshwater Toxicity Test Methods - Teresa Norberg-King, USEPA 11:00 - 12:00 Marine Toxicity Test Methods - John Hunt,
University of California, Santa Cruz

12:00 - 1:00   Lunch

1:00 - 2:30     Quality Assurance and Quality Control - Jim Pletl, Hampton Roads Sanitation District

2:30 - 2:45 Coffee Break  

2:45 - 4:00     Statistical Procedures and Data Evaluation - Florence Fulk,USEPA

4:00 - 5:00     Open discussion of issues (all instructors)

Day 2

8:00 - 10:15   Permit Development: EPA Perspective - Robyn Stuber, USEPA

10:15 - 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 - 11:15 Permit Development Regulatory Perspective - Larry Ausley, NC
                      Division of Water Quality

11:15 - 12:00 Permit Development Permittee Perspective - Ray Arnold, Exxon
                      Biomedical Science, Inc.

12:00 - 1:00   Lunch

1:00 - 2:00    Compliance and Enforcement - Larry Ausley

2:00 - 2:15    Coffee Break

2:15 - 3:00    Industrial TRE Case Study - Ray Arnold

3:00 - 3:45    Municipal TRE Case Study - Jim Pletl

3:45 - 5:00    Open discussion of issues - all instructors

A balance of instructors has been selected to cover the diverse perspectives and approaches to implementing the WET program.

Contacts for more information:

Larry Ausley (Lead instructor)
Supervisor Aquatic Survey and Toxicology Unit
North Carolina Division of Water Quality
4401 Reedy Creek Road
Raleigh, NC 27607
p (919) 733-2136
f (919) 733-9959
[email protected]

Debra Denton
Environmental Scientist
USEPA Region 9
75 Hawthorne Street (WTR-5)
San Francisco, CA 94105-3901
p(415) 744-1919
f (415) 744-1873
[email protected]