twenty years, synthetic detergents have replaced 

 a majority of the soap products. Concern about 

 their importance in pollution was heightened by 

 the visible evidence of their foaming in the Na- 

 tion's waterways. Their toxicity to the aquatic 

 fauna has been very extensively studied, but for 

 the most part it is difficult to establish safe criteria 

 because of the varying conditions of the tests. Rela- 

 tively little bioassay work on their effects on marine 

 biota has been published, but it is indicated that, 

 unlike soap, detergents are more toxic in highly 

 saline water than they would be in the fresh water 

 areas of tidal estuaries (Eisler, 1965; Eisler and 

 Derrel, 1966). 



The 96-hour TL^, values of an ABS detergent 

 to five species of marine fish ranged from 7 to 

 22 mg/1 (Eisler, 1965). Marine kelp were more 

 sensitive and photosynthesis was inhibited 50 per- 

 cent after 96-hour exposures to about 1.0 mg/1. 



Pathogenic organisms. — Oysters, clams, and 

 mussels have a demonstrated ability to accumulate 

 microorganisms, including bacteria and viruses, 

 from their aquatic environments and to serve as 

 a vehicle for the transmission of these micro- 

 organisms to their consumers (U.S. DHEW, 1956, 

 1958, 1962, 1965a; Liu, et al., 1967). 



Controls to prevent the transmission of disease 

 through this route have been provided in the 

 United States through the National Shellfish Sani- 

 tation Program (NSSP) administered by the Pub- 

 lic Health Service, Department of Health, Educa- 

 tion, and Welfare on the behalf of the interested 

 State and Federal agencies and the shellfish in- 

 dustry (1965b). This program has established 

 bacteriological quality standards for those waters 

 from which shellfish are to be harvested for direct 

 marketing. These standards, as described in the 

 NSSP Manual of Operation, should be observed 

 for those estuarine areas used for commercial pro- 

 duction of shellfish for direct marketing (U.S. 

 DHEW, 1965). The standards that are applied to 

 shellfish harvesting areas have been revised peri- 

 odically through the mechanism of a shellfish sani- 

 tation workshop held at 2 or 3-year intervals. As 

 these standards are revised so should the water 

 quality criteria be modified. 



Tar, gas, and coke wastes. — The distillation of 

 coal for the production of gas, coke, and tarry ma- 

 terials used in the manufacture of dyes and vari- 

 ous organic chemicals results in a watery waste 

 known as ammoniacal gas liquor, the disposal of 

 which can cause detrimental effects. Ammoniacal 

 gas liquor contains free ammonia, ammonium 

 salts, cyanide, sulfide, thiocyanate, and a variety 

 of aromatic compounds including pyridine, 

 phenols, cresols, xylenols, and aromatic acids. 

 After treatment to remove ammonia, the waste is 



called "spent gas liquor." Phenol or carboxylic 

 acid is the most abundant of its many phenolic 

 substances, probably the most dangerous to fish. 



Phenolic substances are also present in materials 

 used in road surfacing, sheep dips, and many in- 

 dustrial wastes such as those associated with the 

 manufacture of plastics, dyes, and disinfectants. 

 Gas liquor, discharged untreated to a stream, has 

 an extremely high oxygen demand, many times 

 greater than that of sewage. These various groups 

 of organic substances produce a variety of effects 

 on fish varying from intoxication and anaesthesia 

 to paralysis and death. 



Pure compounds representative of these groups 

 found in such coal tar wastes have been shown to 

 be toxic in ranges of 2 to 75 mg/1 for cresols and 

 0.1 to 50 mg/1 for phenols, for fresh water fish 

 and lower aquatic life. 



Petroleum refining and petrochemical wastes. — 

 The volatile components of petroleum consist 

 mainly of aliphatic hydrocarbons. In addition to 

 paraffins and olefins, some petroleums contain 

 relatively high percentages of naphthenes and 

 aromatic hydrocarbons. The less volatile fractions 

 of petroleum are used as fuels, lubricants, and 

 construction materials (asphalt). These substances 

 are somewhat more irritating to the skin and some 

 are carcinogenic, but less so than coal tar products. 



Pulp and paper manufacturing wastes. — ^The 

 types of pulp produced and pulping technology 

 have undergone considerable change in the last 

 20 years and the trend continues. Modem pulp- 

 mills are geared to produce a variety of pulp 

 grades due to the increasing demands for specialty 

 products. The characteristics of the waste waters 

 from these specialty pulp grades can vary con- 

 siderably. An example of this can be seen in the 

 BOD loadings of the following sulfite grade pulps 

 produced in a west coast mill: 



Paper making— 130 lb BOD/ADT (air dry 



ton). 

 Alpha hardwood— 300 Ib/ADT. 

 FAC-SAC— 450 Ib/ADT. 



The major pulping processes include kraft, sul- 

 fite, semichemical, and nonchemical such as 

 groundwood. The kraft process accounts for ap- 

 proximately 75 percent of the total pulp produc- 

 tion in the United States. The number of mills 

 using the sulfite process are declining, some are 

 being converted to the kraft process. 



From the standpoint of water pollution, kraft 

 and sulfite mills are of great signfficance. The prin- 

 cipal problems associated with pulpmill wastes are 

 toxicity, depressed DO's, and slime growths. Clear- 

 cut cases of acute toxicity attributable to pulpmill 

 wastes in modern times seldom exist except when 



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