THE EFFECTS OF POLLUTED WATERS ON FISH LIFE 17 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 22a 



App. No. 2. 



Central Experimental Farm, 



Ottawa, October 30, 1900. 



Report on Waste Water from Pulp Mill : Specific Gravity, 1-00005 at 15°C. 



This water is of a rich yellowish-brown colour, somewh.at turbid and gave a dis- 

 tinctly acid reaction. It possessed a decided but peculiar sweetish smell, as if changes 

 induced by fermentation were going on. As this sample had been collected some weeks 

 before it reached the Farm Laboratories, it is quite possible that this odour would not 

 be perceptible in the freshly obtained waste. 



The total solid matter by estimation was proved to be 1792 "5 parts per million 

 (125-5 grains per gallon.) On ignition, these 'solids' first blacken and char and 

 then give off copious fumes of an acrid, strongly disagreeable character. The residue, 

 which is white, amounted to 300 parts per million (21 grains per gallon."^ The volatile 

 portion consists largely of organic matter, but there is also present a notable quantity 

 of sulphuric acid. The former is, undoubtedly, material from the wood which has been 

 rendered soluble by the treatment it undergoes in the preparation of the pulp. 



Further analytical work furnished the following data : — 



Parts per Million. 



Sulphuric acid (representing sulphur compounds) 341 -94 



Chlorine 1-84 



Lime 4 • 03 



Magnesia 51-87 



Iron and Alumina 2 ' 00 



An effort was made to estimate ammonia and ammonium compounds but without 

 avail, owing to interference by volatile compounds which distilled over during the pro- 

 cess, and which completely masked the reading of the distillates with the Nessler re- 

 agent. 



The only features calling for special comment are : (1) The strong acidity, due 

 largely to the presence of free sulphuric acid, and (2) a considerable amount of soluble 

 organic matter, which, in decomposition, might give rise to compounds of a more or less 

 disagreeable and noxious character. 



FRANK T. SHUTT, 



Chemist, Experimental Farms, 



22a— 2 



