Today, environmental pollution with chemicals represents one urgent hygienic problem. In the context of intensification and modernization of the road transport complex and industrial production the development of methodology for hygienic rationing based on experimental research is relevant. The conventional use of small rodents (rats, mice) as biological models has a number of ethical, methodological and economic limitations, which necessitates the search for and implementation of alternative biological models in research practice. Our aim was to substantiate a unified methodological approach to establishing quality and safety standards for various types of water, except for technical water, and soil in populated areas using the Danio rerio (Hamilton, 1822) biological model. The reported method integrating existing international and national standards, confirms the possibility of using D. rerio as a valid and highly informative test system in biomedical research. The approach assumes prompt (1−1.5 months), reliable, cost-effective, humane yielding of results, which is necessary for the scientific substantiation of safety criteria and hygienic standards.