BIOAVAILABILITY AND TOXICITY OF SILVER TO BENTHIC ORGANISMS IN FRESHWATER SYSTEMS CONTAINING SEDIMENTS OF DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS - PROGRESS REPORT (Quarter III)

Abstract

This progress report covers the period of time between April 1, 1997, and June 30, 1997. Our efforts were focused on obtaining a better understanding of (l) the chemical behavior of silver in our specific test water as related to its passage through semipermeable ,;peeper" membranes, (2) the total binding capacity of our test sediment for silver, (3) the amount of AgN03 that will be required to be spiked into our test sediment to obtain dissolved silver in the pore water, and (4) the toxicity of AgN03 to larvae of Chironomus tentans in water-only toxicity tests. These efforts are in preparation for a toxicity test with AgN03-spiked sediments, using Chironomus tentans as the test species. Methods and results are summarized by task.