By Sherry F. Pruitt

Dr. Jerry Farris, professor of environmental biology, directs Arkansas State University students in their research at the campus Ecotoxicology Research Facility.

The ecotox facility, an environmental testing lab, offers an unusual opportunity because "ASU students work in a real-world situation," he said.

It's uncommon for campus research to be involved with actual products supported by private industry, government agencies and consulting companies.

The ecotox facility is a self-supporting enterprise that performs contract testing to determine the toxicity of wastewater being discharged into freshwater lakes or streams.

Student research examines the fate and the effects of both water and sediment, Farris said.

"The Clean Water Act ensures the maintenance of biological integrity in all of its waters," Farris said. "That federal law places responsibility on states to ensure that their management accounts for designated uses of the state's water, and those designated uses place constraints upon the amount of measured contaminants found in waters and their effects on aquatic organisms living there."

Biological integrity means aquatic organisms can survive, reproduce and grow even with measured contaminants in the water, he said.

The frequency of testing and the water quality standards which must be met are decided by the state Department of Pollution Control and Ecology.

ASU's lab can be used for three primary purposes.

It can be used to validate appropriate and scientifically defensible standards, to recover systems damaged in the past and to designate management options to ensure biological integrity, said Farris, who teaches environmental toxicology and aquatic ecotoxicology courses.

The state requires that labs follow a certification process to ensure the quality of techniques used and the personnel involved.

Wastewater is tested for dissolved oxygen, ammonia and chlorinated compounds. Six standard test organisms, including fathead minnows, water fleas and freshwater mussels, also are used to test toxicity of the wastewater to living things.

All of the test organisms used by students are bred at the lab. Waterwaste is judged to be safe if the growth of fathead minnows and the growth and survival of water fleas in the wastewater is no different from their growth and survival in control water.

Freshwater mussels also are used in water quality testing because they continually filter water and are sensitive to sediment and toxic chemicals.

"At this lab, they study the amount of contamination that those aquatic systems can simulate and still provide integrity," Farris said.

Student researchers study from each of six ecological regions, including the Delta Ecological Region in which the ASU campus is located.

Because municipalities and industries have discharge waters, they call on the Ecotox Facility for testing to determine whether contaminants cause significant problems, he said.

More than 60 private companies and government entities have used the services.

In addition, the ecotox facility is one of only a handful of environmental testing labs certified by the state as producing data acceptable in court proceedings.

Some local companies for which the facility performs testing, include City Water and Light, City Light and Water in Paragould, the City of Corning and Fritt Metal Plating Co. in Walnut Ridge.

In Arkansas, one of the biggest challenges is establishing a state standard for nutrients, Farris said, citing a border war over phosphorous standards between Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Students furnish research for the evaluation of non-point runoff from pollution assessments associated with agriculture and aquaculture production in the Mid-South, a super fund cleanup project to ensure recovery for the Great Lakes system and damage assessments following a coal mine spill in Kentucky and West Virginia.

Not only do the students travel to research field sites, but also they travel to present their research nationally.

Six students will present research papers Nov. 9 at the annual meeting of the North American Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry in Austin, Texas.

Also at the meeting, Farris, who also is Judd Hill chairman of environmental biology, will be recognized with the Eugene Kenaga Membership Award.

(Doctoral graduate student Joy B. Trauth contributed to this article.)