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In the marine environment, commercial dispersants have been employed as part of the clean-up strategy following major oil spills since the late 1960’s and the Torrey Canyon disaster. However, considerable controversy has surrounded the use of these surfactant (“surface active agent”) formulations under such circumstances. Questions have been raised concerning their efficacy as counter-pollution measures and doubts have been expressed about the desirability of their large scale release into the environment. The innate toxicity of some of the early, hydrocarbon-based formulations and the synergistic effects that they produced with oils (see Blackman et al., 1977, 1978) spawned numerous field and laboratory studies. As a result, new, less toxic concentrated and water-miscible dispersant formulations were produced for marine use and most countries introduced rigorous guidelines to control their application.

This book provides a synthesis of the current understanding of the fate and effects of oil in freshwater. Its objectives are to provide a compilation, summary and critical evaluation of the available scientific literature on the impact of petroleum on freshwater organisms; to review procedures for the cleanup of petroleum from freshwater habits and to examine restoration and recovery rates; to provide background information on the chemistry and fate of petroleum in freshwater; and to identify gaps in the information on the effects of petroleum related contamination on freshwater. The book provides a source of data for the preparation of environmental impact statements predicting the effects of petroleum contaminated freshwater spills, and presents an introduction to methods of cleanup which are currently applied to the accidental release of petroleum.