The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has updated Appendix B (aquatic species) of the Risk Assessment Manual for Environment and the associated higher tier methodology for assessment of runoff. The documents reflect current practice in assessment of environment at the APVMA and is intended as a guidance document both for the APVMA and for stakeholders.
The document provides examples for the data that is required for environment assessment, the assessment of that data, and provides relevant linkage to the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994 and its regulations. The guidance should be read in conjunction with the data guidelines.
The Risk Assessment Manual has been updated to provide further guidance on when additional aquatic toxicity data are required, as well as incorporating the updated methodology for assessment of runoff risks.
In response to comments received following the 2015 consultation, the higher tier runoff guidance document was updated to include the incorporation of the relationship between the clay content of soil and rainfall runoff in an Australian context, and allows for refinement by the inclusion of data on land slopes, the modelling of water catchments, and the incorporation of differential effects of land use. Methodology producing detailed aquatic exposure assessments at the required spatial and temporal resolution is now possible utilising real-world streamflow, soil composition and rainfall data.