Toxicity, biodegradability, and accumulation of a number of Cl/N-containing compounds for classification and establishing water quality criteria

Abstract

The evaluation of the ecotoxicity of chemical compounds is often hampered by the scarcity of the literature data on toxicity, biodegradability, and accumulation. In this study additional data on 16 Cl/N-containing organic compounds were gathered by laboratory experiments. For assignment to so-called gray or black lists, two different classification schemes were used. According to both schemes 3-nitrotoluene, 1,2- and 1,3-dichlorobenzene, the 1-chloro-nitrobenzenes, 2,3-dichloronitrobenzene, 2-chloroaniline, and 2-chloro-4-nitroaniline were marked as black list substances, primarily based on poor biodegradability; 2- and 4-nitrotoluene, nitrobenzene, and 2-methoxyaniline were classified as gray list substances. For 3- and 4-methoxyaniline and 1,4-dichlorobenzene no agreement in classification was obtained. Additionally, water quality criteria are proposed for 2-, 3-, and 4-nitrotoluene and nitrobenzene, based on long-term toxicity data: respectively 0.3, 0.2, 0.4, and 1.0 mg/liter.