Past firefighting water additives were found to contain perfluorinated compounds that could persist in the environment resulting in potential adverse effects to biota. Since this revelation, manufacturers have introduced alternative firefighting water additives that are fluorine free, but few studies have investigated the fate and effects in the environment of these new additives. Firefighting water additives could enter aquatic ecosystems through run-off, leaching or direct application. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the potential effect that firefighting water additives could have on aquatic biota. This study investigated the toxicity of six firefighting water additives: Eco-Gel™, Thermo-Gel™, FireAde™, Fire-Brake™, Novacool Foam™, and F-500™ to aquatic biota. The toxicities of firefighting water additives to Lemna minor (duckweed), Daphnia magna (water flea), Hexagenia spp. larvae (mayfly), Lampsilis fasciola (wavy-rayed lampmussel) and Oncorhynchus mykiss (rainbow trout) were investigated through acute and chronic static and semi-static tests to estimate LC50 values for survival and EC50 values for immobility and/or reproduction endpoints. A large variation in toxicities among the firefighting water additives and among the test species was observed. Based on a worst-case exposure scenario of direct application, several firefighting water additives were found to pose a hazard to aquatic organisms. An exposure rate representative of a direct overhead application by a water bomber during a forest fire was used in the hazard assessment. For example, the hazard quotients determined for the D. magna acute toxicity tests ranged from 0.20 for Eco-Gel to 317 for F-500 in the forest pool (15 cm) scenario. This study presents the first deterministic risk assessment of firefighting water additives in aquatic ecosystems.

发现过去的消防用水添加剂含有可能在环境中持续存在的全氟化合物，从而可能对生物群产生不利影响。自从这一发现以来，制造商已经推出了无氟的替代消防用水添加剂，但是很少有研究调查这些新型添加剂在环境中的命运和影响。消防用水添加剂可通过径流，浸出或直接施用进入水生生态系统。因此，有必要研究消防用水添加剂可能对水生生物的潜在影响。这项研究调查了六种消防用水添加剂：Eco-Gel™，Thermo-Gel™，FireAde™，Fire-Brake™，Novacool Foam™和F-500™对水生生物的毒性。消防用水添加剂的毒性小Lemna（浮萍），Daphnia magna（水蚤），Hexagenia spp。幼虫（may蝇），Lampsilis fasciola（波浪形灯贻贝）和Oncorhynchus mykiss通过急性和慢性静态及半静态测试研究了虹鳟（虹鳟），以估计生存的LC50值和固定和/或繁殖终点的EC50值。观察到消防用水添加剂之间和试验物种之间的毒性差异很大。根据直接施用的最坏情况下的暴露情况，发现几种消防用水添加剂会对水生生物造成危害。在危险性评估中使用了代表水轰炸机在森林火灾期间直接架空应用的暴露率。例如，为D. magna确定的危险商急性毒性测试的范围从Eco-Gel的0.20到F-500的317（森林厘米（15厘米））。这项研究提出了对水生生态系统中的消防用水添加剂的首次确定性风险评估。