A STRATEGY FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS (IDA)

A strategy for the assessment of industrial wastewater discharges with regard to the major hazard parameters toxicity, persistence and bioaccumulation is presented. The modular design of the strategy named IDA (Industrial Discharge Assessment) allows us to successively determine the three hazard parameters. The strategy was applied to real wastewater samples to test its applicability. In one of the investigated discharges toxic and persistent but no potentially bioaccumulating substances were found to be present. The strategy IDA is generally applicable and provides reasonable results to allow for a deeper insight into the hazard potential of an effluent.