Selenium Eco Risk Issues

Ed Hanlon U.S. EPA/ORD/OSP Reagan Building Washington DC hanlon.edward@epa.gov

Selenium Aquatic life criteria overview

EPA updated its national aquatic life criteria for selenium in 1987. EPA is currently working to revise national freshwater aquatic life criteria for selenium 1987 criteria can not be conveniently adjusted to account for combined toxicity of different selenium forms or other factors that might affect selenium bioavailability, mostly due to lack of appropriate data. New literature has accumulated on the toxicity of different forms of selenium to aquatic life.
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EPA plans to publish two products from its selenium criteria revision effort
1) Revised freshwater acute and chronic Selenium criterion (i.e., criterion maximum concentration or CMC). will build upon previous work conducted under Great Lakes Water Quality Initiative Guidance (61Federal Register 58444-58449) which addressed the combined toxicity of different selenium forms.

final, peer reviewed acute and chronic criterion is expected to be complete by December 2001

EPA plans to publish two products from its selenium criteria revision effort (contd)
1) Guidelines for making site-specific adjustments to the chronic criterion The guidelines may be developed by reviewing nationally available tissue residue data, factoring in the bioaccumulation rates at the specific site of concern. The guidelines are very important because a single national criterion has been criticized. final, peer reviewed site-specific guidelines is expected to be complete sometime after publication of the acute and chronic criteria.
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Complex selenium biogeochemistry in the aquatic environment greatly complicates the derivation of aquatic life criteria Multiple oxidation states of selenium compounds exist in ambient surface waters (e.g., selenate (Se+6), selenite (Se+4), elemental selenium (Se0) and selenide (Se-2)), with each displaying different toxicological and chemical properties. Selenium can undergo biotransformation between its inorganic and organic forms which can affect its bioavailability and toxicity. Bioaccumulation of selenium in aquatic food webs complicates the derivation of aquatic life criteria because both water and dietary exposures need to be considered
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Report on the peer consultation workshop for Selenium Aquatic Toxicity and Bioaccumulation (EPA-822-R-98-007) released in September 1998 (EPA-822-R-98-007), available at http://www.epa.gov/ost/selenium peer consultation workshop held May 27-28, 1998 in Washington, D.C., involving experts in selenium aquatic toxicology, geochemistry, ecotoxicology, bioaccumulation, and biochemistry. assessed state of the science on several technical issues related to selenium chronic toxicity and bioaccumulation in water, tissue, and sediment. not a consensus building exercise; policy discussions not entertained.
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Generally, but not necessarily universally, accepted themes from peer consultation workshop (doesnt necessarily reflect EPA views or policy)

Water Issues

Most toxicologically important forms of organoselenium dissolved in water are protein or peptide-bound forms; freely dissolved seleno- amino acids were considered less toxicologically important due to their extremely low occurrence in water
Available data too sparse to support quantitative relationships between selenium chronic toxicity and water quality parameters. Extrapolation of acute toxicity/water quality relationships to chronic toxicity is highly uncertain.
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Generally, but not necessarily universally, accepted themes from peer consultation workshop (doesnt necessarily reflect EPA views or policy) (continued)

Tissue Issues
Most toxicologically important forms of organoselenium are protein or peptide-bound forms, although most measurements have been made of total selenium.

Reproductive tissues in fish (ovaries, eggs) are the most reliable tissue for correlating selenium tissue residues to chronic effects, although need additional residue-effects data.
Poor correlation between water concentrations and tissue residues in higher trophic level aquatic organisms, due to many factors including varying patterns of historical loadings and temporal asynchrony between water and tissue concentrations.

Generally, but not necessarily universally, accepted themes from peer consultation workshop (doesnt necessarily reflect EPA views or policy) (continued)

Sediment Issues

Sediments are the dominant sink for selenium in aquatic ecosystems and represent an important link and exposure source to the benthic driven food web. Elemental and organoselenium (in detritus) are dominant selenium forms in aquatic sediments, although most measurements have been made on total selenium. Sediment toxicity data base is very limited and does not support broad-based quantitative relationships between toxicity and sediment quality characteristics
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Generally, but not necessarily universally, accepted themes from peer consultation workshop (doesnt necessarily reflect EPA views or policy) (continued)

Cross Cutting Issues Selenium residues in fish and sediments in freshwater ecosystems respond slowly to changes in selenium concentrations in water (on the order of months or years) while residues in lower trophic level organisms (plankton) respond rapidly (days) Type of water body (lentic vs. lotic) can have a large effect on selenium cycling. However, such water body types can be closely interconnected.

Generally, but not necessarily universally, accepted themes from peer consultation workshop (doesnt necessarily reflect EPA views or policy

Water Issues

Most toxicologically important forms of organoselenium dissolved in water are protein or peptide-bound forms; freely dissolved seleno- amino acids were considered less toxicologically important due to their extremely low occurrence in water
Available data too sparse to support quantitative relationships between selenium chronic toxicity and water quality parameters. Extrapolation of acute toxicity/water quality relationships to chronic toxicity is highly uncertain.
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Recent Selenium References, some generated by EPA

Selenium LC50 Calculations, Robert Pepin 312-886-1505 Selenium Acute Criterion (Aquatic Life) Great Lakes, Keith Sappington 202-260-9898 Selenium Effects in Streams; Study Reports on Selenium Effects in Experimental Streams, Keith Sappington 202-260-9898

National Freshwater Acute Criteria for Selenium, Keith Sappington 202-260-9898

National Freshwater Chronic Aquatic Life for Selenium and Site Specific Criteria Guidelines, Keith Sappington, 202-260-9898 References available to EPA for developing or revising aquatic life criteria for Selenium. http://www.epa.gov/ostwater/standards/criteria/selref.html
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Acute and Chronic Toxicity Workgroup Being Formed

EPA is currently establishing a work group that will be charged initially with revising the acute freshwater criterion and subsequently with revising the freshwater chronic criterion and developing site-specific criteria guidelines. As inputs to this workgroup, EPA has sponsored additional acute toxicity testing, has updated its literature review in 1998, is planning to publish new data on selenium effects in experimental streams, and is critically evaluating the tissue- residue-effects data base for establishing residue-based toxicological benchmarks for selenium.
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Additional Information?
For more information on EPAs revision of selenium aquatic life criteria, consult http://www.epa.gov/ost/selenium contact Keith Sappington via e-mail at: sappington.keith@epa.gov