8273

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8273
• Author: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• Title: Guidelines for Interpretation of the Biological Effects of Selected Constituents in Biota, Water, and Sediment.
• USFW Year: 1998.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

National Irrigation Water Quality Program Guidelines

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biomonitors for arsenic in the environment.
Sharma and Shupe (1977), for instance,
observed no relationship between arsenic
concentrations in soil and vegetation and
those in the liver of ground squirrels.

Bioaccumulation

Waterborne arsenic is known to accumulate
to high concentrations in some species
(table 2). The accumulated arsenic concen-
trations in stoneflies, snails, and Daphnia
were as much as 131, 99, and 219 times,
respectively, the water concentration
according to a study by Spehar et al. (1980),
whereas rainbow trout and amphipods
showed no sign of bioaccumulation. Though
the bioaccumulation of arsenic from the water
has been well documented, there is no
evidence of magnification along the aquatic
food chain (Eisler 1988).

Arsenic has been found to accumulate in the
lipid fractions of marine plants, invertebrates,
and higher organisms (Eisler 1994). Marine
biota, in particular, contain unusually high
levels of arsenic in their lipids because of their
ability to accumulate the element from both
seawater and food sources. For mallards,
Stanley et al. (1994) found that arsenic
accumulated in both adult and duckling livers
and in whole eggs (table 4). Pendleton et al.
(1995) found that arsenic (as sodium arsenate)
accumulated in all tissues but was also rapidly
eliminated when birds were switched to an
uncontaminated diet.

In order to evaluate the cumulative toxicity of
arsenic and various metals (Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb)
along the food chain, Yannai et al. (1979)
raised a large quantity of algae (Micractinium
and Chiarella) on metal-rich waste water, fed

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the algae to chickens and carp, and then fed
the meat of these chickens and carp to rats.
They found that bioaccumulation did not
increase the levels of any of these metals in
chickens or carp except for chickens' livers
(which contained higher arsenic than the
livers of control chickens), and they observed
no change in the general appearance,
behavior, and survival of the rats that ate the
chicken and carp meat. They concluded that
such meat would pose no hazard to
consumers.

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Interactions

An antagonistic interaction between arsenic
and selenium is found in several animal
species, induding rats, dogs, swine, cattle, and
poultry, and it is best documented for non-
domestic birds in a study done by Stanley
et al. (1994). According to the study, "As
reduced Se accumulation in liver and egg, and
alleviated the effects of Se on hatching success
and embryo deformities" in mallards. How-
ever, exposure to As and Se at contaminated
sites may not be in the chemical forms
administered in that study, and exposure
levels, especially for As, may be lower than
those administered. Thus, the interactions
observed may not occur under natural
conditions and, therefore, may not be an
important consideration in the management
of contaminated sites.

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Regulatory Standards

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Standards and criteria established by the
U.S. Environmental Protection agency are
listed in table 5. For standards and criteria set
by State agencies, contact those agencies
directly. See Appendix I for a listing of water
quality officials in the 17 Western States.

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