Fraser river sediments and waters evaluated by the battery of screening tests technique

The suitability of a variety of microbiological, biochemical and toxicant screening tests to become part of a battery of test procedures to identify degraded or degrading water bodies are evaluated in this report. Data were collected from 40 sampling sites within the Fraser River Basin in British Columbia. These data re-emphasize that individual toxicant, biochemical or microbiological screening tests do not provide a sufficient data base upon which realistic management decisions can be made. This study also confirms that the fecal sterol tests do not seem amenable to a'battery of tests' approach and that the Daphnia magna test continues to be the most sensitive procedure for indicating the presence of contaminants with toxicant activity.