Workshop on Partitioning Biological Effects from Multiple Causes of Aquatic Life Impairment

The ability to identify the factor or factors causing aquatic life impairment of water bodies is of use to wastewater and drinking water utilities and industries as they participate in the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and watershed management process triggered by impairment under the Clean Water Act. The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) has been funding research to partition the effects on freshwater aquatic ecosystems and the underlying factors (e.g. habitat alteration, toxic metals, nutrients) causing aquatic life impairment, and ultimately the contribution of point sources to these impairments. 


In September 2005, WERF convened a group of researchers and WERF subscribers to assess the progress made toward developing tools that can be used to determine whether facilities are contributing to aquatic life impairment, identify currently available tools for partitioning effects from multiple factors, and summarize the applicability of these tools.