Direct toxicity assessment: adaptation and the proactive roles of regulators and operators

Actions by the Environment Agency to advance effluent testing towards more ecological relevance have resulted in the development of innovative standar ds compared to those currently relied upon for environmental protection. Th is study presents the method used to understand company responses for innov ating to meet these new standards (successful treatment process development ) and the scope for the contributions from the regulators. The research use s a case example, the improvement of effluent quality by micronutrient addi tion (MNA), to examine how manufacturers and water treatment companies are able to accommodate new legislation. The implications for the commercial pr ospects of UK manufacturing and wastewater treatment are explored, and disc ussed in the wider context of future legislative compliance. There is a nee d for UK industries to begin to adapt to direct toxicity assessment (DTA) a nd this paper offers a technique for process adaptation and the scope for o perator/legislator collaboration. Emergent key concepts were: (1) legislato rs should assess the scope for adaptation of operators before implementing change, (2) opportunities for change include new restrictions reinforced by evidence of methods for adaptation; i.e. if option spaces are made obvious , regulation is implemented more easily, (3) companies should be alert to t heir vulnerability from processes that are not easily adapted, and (4) both the regulator and the operator have a strategic responsibility to scan for future implementation and directions of legislation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd. All rights reserved.