Nautilus Environmental services

AquaTox offers comprehensive and integrative ecotoxicity testing and consulting services to a variety of industrial sectors, including pulp and paper, metal mining, petrochemical, municipal sewage treatment plants, aggregate, and manufacturing. Our laboratory, which has been providing testing services to industry and government since 1970, is one of the largest and most respected toxicity testing laboratories in Canada. Our approximately 10,000 square foot facility is located near Toronto, and is responsible for more then 5,000 tests per year.

AquaTox uses the Toxicity Reduction Evaluation (TRE) process to assist industrial and municipal dischargers in resolving toxicity issues and increasing the likelihood of achieving and maintaining consistently non-toxic effluents.

AquaTox is committed to providing our clients with high quality GLP ecotoxicity testing services founded on the principles of product quality, timeliness, and responsiveness to client needs. Our GLP facility provides comprehensive testing services in support of international product registration for regulatory programs including the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in the US; New Substances Notification (NSN) and Pest Control Products Act (PCPA) in Canada. We also conduct studies in support of High Production Volume (HPV) programs in the US and EU.

AquaTox provides biodegradabilty and ecotoxicity testing in support of applications for EcoLogo and Green Seal certification. Canada’s Environmental Choice and the U.S.Green Seal Programs, are ecolabelling programs that help promote manufacturers and suppliers who sell environmentally preferable products and services. These programs benefit consumers seeking to purchase these more progressive products. In support of an application for EcoLogo and Green Seal certification, biodegradability, and ecotoxicity testing are required. Biodegradation Testing — Determination of ready or inherent biodegradation potential is required for the environmental fate component of a submission.

Tests conducted using Microbes from an activated sludge system provide important indications of whether chemicals will likely be degraded in a biological treatment system and/or whether they will impair the resident microbial population.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published a draft update of the Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Copper (68 Fed. Reg. 75552, December 31, 2003). This document, which is available at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/criteria/copper, contains updated freshwater and saltwater aquatic life criteria for copper. In addition to incorporating new toxicity data, the US EPA has adopted the Biotic Ligand Model (BLM; as developed by HydroQual Inc.) in the criteria derivation procedure. The revised criteria are more scientifically defensible as they account for site-specific bioavailability of metals compared to the previous freshwater criteria, which were based on empirical relationships of toxicity to water hardness alone.

Metal speciation has recently come to the forefront in assessing metal toxicity, because not all metal species are bioavailable to aquatic organisms. It is generally accepted that the free metal ion is considered the most toxic metal species. Chemical equilibrium modelling, (e.g., MINEQL+) has become a powerful tool used to predict free metal ion concentrations under site-specific conditions, such as in an effluent or a receiving water. The degree of influence, of site water quality parameters on metal speciation, can also be determined (i.e., dissolved organic carbon, hardness, alkalinity, and pH).

Nautilus has an extensive resume of successful long-term whole effluent monitoring programs for numerous permitted clients, many of whom have worked with our group (as Nautilus and predecessor companies) for more than a decade. Our focus on staff retention, QA and method improvements, and cost management lends itself to positive, long-term client relationships, a clear understanding of the needs and expectations of each permittee, and data submittals that withstand regulatory scrutiny.

Nautilus has extensive experience developing and conducting assessments of freshwater, estuarine, and marine sediments and dredged materials. Testing has been performed in support of a diverse array of projects across the United States, Canada, and throughout the Pacific Rim, ranging in scope from small-scale local assessments to an intensive evaluation in Hawaii with 219 sample locations.

Contaminated soils have come under increased focus for regulators; soils contain a record of the environmental history of an area and can pose a primary environmental risk. Soil toxicity tests are used to provide an accurate and reliable evaluation of the combined toxicity of chemical substances that are bioavailable in the soil. Our toxicology staff is familiar with USEPA and WDOE protocols required for soil testing. Acute toxicity is evaluated through short-term survival assays, while chronic effects are monitored through long-term survival, reproduction, or seed germination assays.