58i^-b 



C. E. Woelke' 



Measurement of Water Quality with the 

 Pacific Oyster Embryo Bioassay 



REFFRICNCE: C. E. Woeike, "Measurement of VValcr Quality with the 

 Pacific Oyster Embryo Bioassay," Waicr Qiuility Criteria, ASTM STF 

 416, Am. Soc. Testing Mats, 1967, p. 112. 



ABSTRACT: Meaningful water quality standards or criteria must be e.x- 

 pressed in terms of consumer needs. If these needs are based on chemical 

 parameters, the criteria or standards should be based on chemical meas- 

 urements. If consumer needs are based on biological factors, standards 

 or criteria should be based on biological measurements. Methods have 

 been developed in which Pacific oyster embryo bioassays measure water 

 quality in terms of response by a type of animal (consumer) found in 

 many of our bays and estuaries. The method has been successfully em- 

 ployed in the laboratory to measure relative toxicity of pulp and paper 

 wastes. Both polluted and unpolluted water from bays and estuaries are 

 routinely bioassayed with oyster einbryos. Based on these bioassays, 

 areas of acceptable and unacceptable water quality have been delineated 

 relative to oysters. It is recommended that this method and similar bioas- 

 say techniques be adopted as part of the measurements employed in de- 

 fining water quality standards and criteria. 



KEY WORDS: water, water pollution, water quality, estuaries, bioassay, 

 oysters, toxicity, molluscs, industrial wastes, pulp mills, paper mills, re- 

 fineries 



The previous papers have indicated some of the complexities in- 

 volved in evaluating water quality in an environment subjected to wide 

 short-term physical and chemical changes. While not specifically spelling 

 it out, they have implied that the plethora of physical and chemical 

 measurements in routine use may still not detect unsatisfactory biological 

 conditions. 



Biological assays are actually the most logical, and frequently the only 

 available, method for defining water quality. Doudoroff et al [/]- de- 

 scribed a standardized bioassay procedure for fish, and Woeike [2] pro- 

 posed the use of bivalve larva for bioassays of waters in which oyster 



' Washington State Department of Fisheries, Olympia, Wash. 

 'The italic numbers in brackets refer to the list of references appended to this 

 paper. 



112 



