Examination of additives used to augment “challenge water” used in verification testing of ballast water management systems: mass yields and biological impacts

Rigorous evaluation of ballast water management systems (BMWSs) at land-based test facilities requires that water used in testing meets minimum concentrations of dissolved and particulate material, for example, using the criteria in the U.S Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program’s protocol for testing of BWMSs. Here, uptake water (“challenge water”) can be augmented with compounds to meet these benchmarks. In this study, we evaluated materials used to supplement dissolved organic matter (DOM), particulate organic matter (POM), and mineral matter (MM) used to achieve challenge water criteria. To determine the additives’ contributions to DOM and POM pools, the mass yields of Camellia sinesis (decaffeinated iced tea) extract and humic matter were calculated at different temperature and salinities. Additionally, the response of ambient organisms to these additives was measured in mesocosm experiments, in which changes in organism concentrations were measured after a 5-d holding time. Living organisms were grouped into three size classes: ≥50 µm (nominally zooplankton), ≥10 to