Research Product

Under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) issues permits that regulate discharge of effluents into navigable waters. In the second round of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting, USEPA proposed that acute toxicity tests be required on a case-by-case basis as a pollution-control parameter in the development of technology-based or water quality-based effluent limitations (Foster, 1984). This paper reviews a specific application of laboratory toxicity tests in a General Permit issued for the discharge of drilling fluids (muds) in the Gulf of Mexico and recent court rulings concerning the acceptability of the test procedures.