Coupling River Concentration Simulations with a Toxicokinetic Model Effectively Predicts the Internal Concentrations of Wastewater-Derived Micropollutants in Field Gammarids

Although the exposure assessment of wastewater-derived micropollutants via chemical, bioanalytical, and modeling methods in environmental compartments is becoming more frequent, the whole-body burden (i.e., internal concentrations) in nontarget organisms is rarely assessed. An understanding of the internal concentration fluctuation is especially important when exploring the mechanistic linkage between exposure and effects. In this study, we coupled a simple river model with a first-order toxicokinetic (TK) model to predict the concentrations of wastewater-derived micropollutants in freshwater invertebrates (Gammarus spp.). We applied Monte Carlo simulations and conducted laboratory experiments to account for the uncertain input data and the lack of uptake/depuration rate constants required for the TK model. The internal concentrations in field gammarids were predicted well, and the estimates varied only by a factor of 0.1-1.9. Fast equilibrium may also be assumed such that bioconcentration factors (BCFs) are used together with the daily river dilution patterns to predict internal concentrations. While this assumption is suitable for compounds observed in our experiment to reach the steady state within 48 h in gammarids, the model overpredicted the concentrations of substances that reach this condition after longer periods. Nevertheless, this approach provides conservative estimates and simplifies the coupling of models as BCFs are slightly more accessible than the rate constants. However, if one is interested in a more detailed exposure information (e.g., peak concentration and the whole-body burden recovery after a spill), then the nonsteady-state formulation should be employed.