1. BLM project in the Nordic countries
“Are the Biotic Ligand Models (BLM) suitable for assessing the ecological risk of metals in Nordic freshwaters?”
Funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers & EU ERDF ( )
Partners
Finnish Environment Institute (lead M. Leppänen)
Stockholm University (ACES)
Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)
Associated partners/modelling support
WCA Environment (UK)
NiPERA, ECI, ILZRO

2. BLM project in the Nordic countries
A problem
Nordic waters typically soft and acidic
→ A challenge for BLM models due to lack of data
→ Uncertainties in the regulatory use of user friendly models
Aims
Produce toxicity data for Ni, Cu & Zn
Establish co-operation with model developers
Concentrate on the validation ranges of the Biomet model
Biomet model as a tool for a regulatory work

3. BLM project in the Nordic countries
Methods
8 water types collected from Nor & Fin
Ca range ≤ 1 – 11 mg/L, pH 4,5 – 7
Local species in chronic tests
Cultured in soft and acidic waters
Daphnia longispina water flea
Lymnaea stagnalis snail
Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata algae
Data for model developers
Range finding tests just started....month or two
Deadline for whole project is