The Use of a Brine Shrimp (Artemia salina) Bioassay to Assess the Water Quality in Hangzhou Section of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal

As physical and chemical tests alone are not sufficient enough for the assessment of potential effects on aquatic organisms, bioassays are required for the integrated evaluation of water pollution. In this study, invertebrate crustacean Artemia salina (brine shrimp) was applied as an indicator to assess the water quality of Hangzhou Section of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The percentage mortality of brine shrimp was recorded after 24-h exposure to the Canal water. The water samples were collected from five typical sites during October 2008 and April 2009. It exhibited 11% ± 8.3%, 26.7% ± 17%, 31.7% ± 8.5%, 28.0% ± 11.7%, and 4% ± 4.3% percentage mortality for the sample from Tangxi Bridge, Yi Bridge, Gongchen Bridge, Maiyu Bridge, and Gujia Bridge in 2008, respectively. And it exhibited 5.7% ± 4.2%, 10.3% ± 8.2%, 24.3% ± 12.3%, 16.0% ± 12.3%, and 0%, percentage mortality in 2009, respectively. According to the results, a relative improvement in water quality was observed, although the results were not significantly different at the p < 0.05 level. It suggested that 24-h A. salina exposure trials represent an acceptable bioassay for water toxicity when alternative bioassays were unavailable.