Water toxicity assessment service 

This service is offered for effluents as part of the Water Framework Directive, in compliance with the decrees of 21 December 2007 and 20 March 2015. 

Ecotoxicology is the study of the effects of toxic pollutants (e.g. pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls/PCB), on ecosystems. 

Using Daphnia can rapidly provide information on all water pollutants with sufficient toxicity to inhibit the development and/or activity of aquatic organisms. 

This test reveals acute toxicity, i.e. short-term toxicity. 

These results help to calculate the concentration expressed in equitox/m3. 

This measurement corresponds to the amount of toxicity which, in 1 m³ of water, will immobilise 50% of the Daphnia after 24 hours. This value is used to establish how the water pollution charge will be calculated. 

 

Using Daphnia to assess water toxicity 

The Daphnia toxicity test requires us to maintain our own culture of Daphnia magna. 

Only individual Daphnia that are less than 24 hours old are authorised for the test and over 100 Daphnia may be used per test. 

 

The result obtained is expressed using the term CE50-24H.

This corresponds to the concentration of samples that immobilises half of the Daphnia used in the test after 24 hours. 

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