The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), established in 1972 under the Clean Water Act, is enforced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Any entity holding an NPDES permit is required to monitor chemical and biological water characteristics of their effluent, and there are a range of tests that must be performed to acquire and maintain these permits. One example is Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) testing, which measures the collective toxic effect that all pollutants in wastewater have on aquatic organisms.  

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