Direct Toxicity Assessment (DTA)

Toxicity testing services

Direct Toxicity Assessment (DTA) is a process of measuring the hazard (toxicity) of a complex industrial effluent discharged to controlled waters and using the data in a risk assessment process to predict the risk to the aquatic environment. DTA determines the overall toxic effect of all contaminants in an effluent sample using a suite of standardised aquatic ecotoxicological assays. It can be used as a biological assessment alone or in conjunction with a chemical specific approach and provides a degree of biological relevance to the risk assessment process.

Cefas is an Environment Agency mCERTS (Monitoring Certification Scheme) approved laboratory for DTA testing and as such can demonstrate our ability and competence in performing such tests to the highest standards.

Why use DTA?

• DTA is a mandatory requirement of the EC Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) and is implemented by the Environment Agency (the Regulator) via the Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) (England And Wales) Regulations 2000.
• PPC aims to improve protection of the aquatic environment by measuring, assessing, controlling and reducing the toxicity of industrial discharges through a single permitting process.
• The proactive use of DTA by industries that are currently PPC exempt is also encouraged e.g. toxicological evaluation of new waste process streams or providing supporting evidence in situations where the toxicity of an effluent is suspected to be less than that based upon chemical specific information.