Effects of Sublethal Exposure of 'Eisenia Fetida' to Phenanthrene and Development of a Lipid Analysis Technique

Department of Integrative Biolog

EVALUATION OF SEDIMENTS FROM THE ASHLAND HARBOR LAKEFRONT SITE FOR TOXICITY TO HYALELLA AZTECA, PIMEPHALES PROMELAS, CHIRONOMUS DILUTUS, AND LUMBRICULUS VARIEGATUS EXPOSED IN A VARIETY OF BIOASSAYS

The University of Wisconsin-Superior’s Lake Superior Research Institute (LSRI) contracted with URS to evaluate sediments from the Ashland Lakefront site for toxicity toward several species of benthic invertebrates and one species of fish. Sediment samples were collected from a total of six reference stations and eight Site stations. The contaminated sediment from one of the sites was diluted with dilution sediment to obtain a concentration gradient. The following tests were conducted: a 28-day exposure of Hyalella azteca, a 21-day exposure of Hyalella azteca to reference sediment only, a 28- day exposure of Hyalella azteca to new reference sediment and previous non-reference sediment, a ten-day exposure of Hyalella azteca to a sediment dilution series under laboratory and ultraviolet light conditions with some treatments containing detritus, one seven-day solid phase fathead minnow exposure, one seven-day solid phase fathead minnow exposure under ultraviolet light, an early life stage Chironomus dilutus exposure, a Lumbriculus variegatus bioaccumulation study, and finally a sediment polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) equilibrium partitioning study. The endpoints of survival and growth were determined for most studies except for the bioaccumulation study and PAH equilibrium study. Only survival was used as an endpoint for the 21-day exposure of Hyalella azteca to the newly collected reference sediment.UR

Great Lakes Ballast Water R&D Plan, Version 6

Direction is provided within the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act to develop, achieve type approval for, and pilot shipboard or land-based ballast water management systems (BWMS) applicable to commercial vessels operating solely within the Great Lakes. Vessel operational issues associated with BWMS function and impacts of water quality on BWMS function can best be understood while aboard vessels plying the Great Lakes. The changes in version 6 of the Plan reflect those realities and describe a shift from smaller projects to larger scale testing (e.g. land-based and shipboard). Further stakeholders provided valuable comments to version 5 of the Plan. Actual stakeholder comments are provided in Appendix A and where appropriate included in version 6. In addition, this version more clearly aligns with GLRI Action Plan III. The numbering of research areas and associated tasks has been realigned to create a more coherent Plan.Per VIDA, the primary goal of this Research and Development (R&D) Plan is to identify approaches, methods, and best available technologies that can be applied to ballast water discharges that are effective at reducing propagules in Great Lakes ballast water, thereby decreasing the environmental risk associated with the ballast water vector from vessels operating exclusively within the Great Lakes System. Projects outlined in this R&D Plan will also consider the implications of these ballast water management approaches for vessels that operate in the Great Lakes System, but not solely within these waters. For example, a seagoing vessel that may visit the Great Lakes once a year may still be faced with having to treat Great Lakes water using a BWMS that has never been tested in Great Lakes water quality and biological conditions. In addressing these goals, ballast water treatment will be considered in addition to alternative approaches, such as ballast water best management practices. Importantly, the research projects outlined in this plan will provide essential scientific and technical information that will support science-based decisions during the VIDA rulemaking and implementation processes

BENCH-SCALE TESTS OF THE NEWMAN ZONE OS BALLAST WATER DEOXYGENATION TREATMENT

This technical report presents findings from bench-scale tests evaluating the performance of the Newman Zone OS Ballast Water Deoxygenation Treatment, hereafter Newman Zone OS, developed by RNAS Remediation Products of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, USA. Bench-scale evaluation began in November 2022 and ended in December 2022 at the Lake Superior Research Institute (LSRI) of the University of Wisconsin-Superior (UWS) in Superior, Wisconsin, USA. The treatment consisted of Newman Zone OS, a concentrated solution which uses a Vitamin C-based chemistry with added food grade buffers and catalysts, to quickly produce anaerobic water. Following a retention period, the anaerobic water is then rapidly oxygenated through the addition of an oxidizing agent (i.e., hydrogen peroxide), potentially destroying any remaining microorganisms. The technology would treat a ship’s ballast water as it is taken onboard the vessel and reoxygenate the water prior to being discharged to a receiving body of water in a Great Lakes port. Water-only, aquatic degradation experiments were conducted in lab water and amended lab water to assess whether or not organic carbon, suspended solids and UV-transmittance had an effect on the Newman Zone OS treatment. Due to elevated residual concentrations of hydrogen peroxide following reoxygenation of treated water, dose effectiveness and chronic residual toxicity testing were not conducted

RA2 P3 TECHNICAL REPORT

United States Coast Guard and International Maritime Organization rules developed to minimize the spread of aquatic nuisance species (ANS) in the ballast of commercial ships regulate indicator microbes, protists and zooplankton, determining protist survival using staining techniques and zooplankton survival based on organism motility. The density of eggs and resting stages in ballast discharge are not regulated when assessing the effectiveness of ballast water treatment systems although they can be present in meaningful densities, potentially increasing the likelihood of ANS spread. To date, viability of freshwater zooplankton resting stages has been determined by grow out methods which are time consuming and use light, temperature and media regimens that may not be appropriate for all species. Stains have been used to assess viability of freshwater protists in the regulated size class, as well as salt water zooplankton resting stages. This paper examines the effectiveness of two stains, aniline blue and TO-PRO-1 Iodide, at assessing viability of Daphnia magna ephippia and Brachionus calyciflorus cysts

RA2 P4 TECHNICAL REPORT

Understanding the impact of ballast water treatment and neutralization methods on receiving waters is critical to minimizing harmful effects of ballast discharge to the environment, specifically the freshwater of Lake Superior and surrounding Laurentian Great Lakes. While studies have been conducted to evaluate the effect of active substances and disinfection byproducts (DBP) produced by different Ballast Water Management Systems (BWMS) on marine waters, very little has been done to determine what impact these treatment systems could have on a highly utilized Great Lakes port like the Duluth-Superior Harbor, with its seasonally fluctuating organic carbon content and low percent transmittance. Throughout this project, the focus was on a BWMS that utilizes UV radiation combined with filtration as the primary treatment. A series of samples were collected at the Montreal Pier Ballast Treatment System Testing Facility, Superior, WI, during the evaluation of Great Lakes-compatible treatment systems. DBP concentrations and whole effluent toxicity tests were conducted to determine the toxicity of treated discharge water to living aquatic organisms representing three levels of the food web (plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates)

BENCH-SCALE TECHNICAL REPORT

This technical report presents findings from bench-scale tests evaluating the ability of electron beam treatment to kill aquatic algae and zooplankton, specifically examining delayed mortality within 48 hours following treatment. This evaluation was the first attempt to assess the effect of electron beam treatment on hatch rates of Daphnia magna ephippia. Researchers from the Lake Superior Research Institute (LSRI) of the University of Wisconsin-Superior (UWS) in Superior, Wisconsin, USA traveled to the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, hereafter Fermilab, to conduct the bench-scale evaluation in May 2022. The test apparatus is a stationary copper electron beam accelerator that supplies a radiation dose expected to cause mortality in standard test organisms. Testing conducted in this evaluation was developed based on findings from earlier tests at Fermilab that demonstrated electron beam treatment was effective at causing complete mortality in E. coli at the lowest dose employed (1 kGy) and was effective at causing immediate mortality in D. magna and Eucyclops spp. at doses between 5 and 10 kGy (Polkinghorne et al., 2022). S. capricornutum was more resistant to immediate effects of electron beam treatment in initial tests (Polkinghorne et al., 2022). All experimental exposures were conducted at Fermilab. The irradiation process was conducted by Fermilab staff in the Illinois Accelerator Research Center’s (IARC’s) Accelerator Applications Development and Demonstration (A2D2) machine. Doses ranged from 1 to 50 kGy. Dose effectiveness testing was completed in lab water only, based on initial tests demonstrating minimal differences in treatment effect between high and low challenge water (i.e., low vs. high organic carbon content, suspended solids, and UV-transmittance). In samples examined 48 hours post-treatment, S. capricornutum had >99% mortality and Eucyclops spp. had 90% mortality at the 2 kGy dose. D. magna had 100% mortality at the lowest dose. No D. magna emerged from ephippia treated at any dose with the electron beam

Toxicity Evaluation of Sediments from Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior, at Ashland, Wisconsin

The Lake Superior Research Institute (LSRI) contracted with SEH to evaluate the toxicity of sediments collected from several near-shore sites in Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior, at Ashland, Wisconsin. The study area had been sampled previously for chemical analysis of the sediments, and sampling sites had been identified by SEH that would serve either as reference or contaminated sites. LSRI was contracted to perform toxicity tests with three benthic species using solid-phase sediment samples and two planktonic/pelagic species using sediment elutriate samples

TEST EXPLORING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ULTRASONICATOR INVASIVE SPECIES WATER TREATMNET FOR BALLAST WATER MANAGEMNET

This technical report presents findings from bench-scale evaluation of the ultrasonicator invasive species water treatment developed by UPIR LLC to inactivate aquatic organisms. This evaluation was the first attempt to assess this technology as a potential flow through or recirculating ballast water treatment method for use on ships within the Laurentian Great Lakes. The evaluation began in January 2022 and ended in February 2022. All analyses occurred at the Lake Superior Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Superior in Superior, Wisconsin, USA. According to the developer, the UPIR ultrasonicator invasive species water treatment system produces a unique cavitation and agitation environment within the treated water to destroy unwanted organisms. Biological effectiveness testing was completed with the bacteria, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecium, and algae, Selenastrum capricornutum, in dechlorinated laboratory water. The system was found to be ineffective in the treatment of bacteria and algae when the organisms were exposed to a single pass through the system at a flow rate of 6 gpm. However, when exposed to multiple passes through the system, the delayed mortality of bacteria increased, and effectiveness with algae remained low. Water quality parameters were minimally impacted by the ultrasonicator invasive species water treatment

Tests of the LED Light Activated Titanium Dioxide Bench-Scale Ballast Water Treatment Process

This technical report presents findings from bench-scale tests evaluating the performance of the LED Light Activated Titanium Dioxide Technology, hereafter LED TiO2, developed by YJB LED Professional Services of Crosslake, Minnesota, USA. Researchers conducted the bench-scale evaluation beginning in July 2019 and ending in September 2019 at the Lake Superior Research Institute (LSRI) of the University of Wisconsin-Superior (UWS) in Superior, Wisconsin, USA. The LED TiO2 treatment process applies light emitting diodes (LED) to activate a photocatalytic coating that creates a bacteriostatic, fungistatic, and algastatic environment. Biological effectiveness testing was completed with the algae, Selenastrum capricornutum and pathogen indicator organisms, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecium in lab water. The system was found to be effective at treating microbes in highly-transparent/low-suspended solids water, but was less effective at treating algae