Research on the impact of emerging substances of concern (ESOCs) in the context of biosolids land application is scare and where available, mostly limited to plants. Additionally, many of the existing studies focus on single species bioassays and use external additions of ESOCs (spiking experiments) and/or use biosolids application rates that are not environmentally relevant. This 2013-2015 project evaluated, under controlled laboratory conditions, the possible negative impacts of soil amended with different Canadian municipal biosolids to a suite of terrestrial and aquatic organisms. Additionally, concentrations of a selected group of ESOCs were also chemically analyzed. Thus, the primary objective of the research was to provide results that would assist in answering the critical question: does mere presence of biosolids in the environment equal adverse impact to living biota?

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