Adam Peters is an environmental chemist with over 12 years experience in environmental risk assessment of trace metals and organic compounds; he has also represented the UK at EU technical meetings on environmental risk assessment under the notification of new substances and existing substance regulations.
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OECD workshop on the environmental assessment of metals
I recently contributed to a workshop organised by the OECD which was aimed at raising awareness of the various approaches that have been developed (mostly in Europe and North America) for performing hazard assessments for metals.
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Effects on iron on ecological communities
Mark and I have been working with the Iron industry to try to understand the effects of iron on aquatic ecosystems. We have been analysing extensive field monitoring data on the quality of invertebrate communities in rivers and relating this to the levels of different forms of iron (total, dissolved, or particulate) that are present.
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Biotic Ligand Model for Manganese
Biotic ligand models (BLMs) have become a very valuable aid to assessing the risks posed by metals in the aquatic environment, because they enable us to understand the effect of water quality on metal toxicity. Graham and I, along with Steve Lofts at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, have been working with the Environment Agency and the International Manganese Institute to develop and validate BLMs for manganese
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Silver levels in the aquatic environment
Pete, Graham, and I have been working with the Environment Agency and the European Precious Metals Federation to assess the levels of dissolved silver in the surface waters of England and Wales. The results of this work were used to estimate a “background” concentration of silver in the surface waters of England and Wales, which was calculated to be 6.1 ng l-1.
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Simplifying the implementation of bioavailability-based water quality standards for metals
Graham and I are continuing to work toward the practical implementation of bioavailability based water quality standards for trace metals, in collaboration with European researchers and the European Copper Institute.
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Environmental Quality Standards and Field Evidence
We have recently been using a new approach to derive an Environmental Quality Standard for iron from ecological field evidence. The approach has the potential to align acceptable levels of iron in the environment with established levels of ecological quality under the Water Framework Directive. This has never been possible before, and may allow a much greater degree of integration of chemical and ecological criteria for freshwater in the future.
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Bioavailability based standards for metals are practical and accessible tools for regulators and stakeholders
The Environment Agency recently published a report by Graham, Bruce Brown and me on the use of biotic ligand models to help implement environmental quality standards for copper and zinc under the Water Framework Directive. The Biotic Ligand Model (BLM) is a predictive tool that allows site-specific estimates of aquatic toxicity to be made based on the concentration of metal and the prevailing water chemistry (such as its pH or the concentrations of specific dissolved ions or dissolved organic matter). In essence, it models a metal’s bioavailability.
