Influence of dilution water on the toxicity of kraft pulp and paper mill effluent, including mechanisms of effect

Ten natural freshwater samples differing widely in pH and other characteristics were collected and examined for their influence as dilution waters on the acute lethality (24-h LC50 values) of a sample of bleached kraft whole mill effluent. When bioassays were conducted at the pH of each dilution water, LC50 values varied by 3.5-fold. These differences were largely accounted for by adjustment of the pH of each test solution to a common value (6.5). The remaining minor differences in LC50 values were attributed to the ionizable inorganic constituents of the dilution waters. A separate study examined the effects of test pH and the involvement of aging of solutions prior to bioassays or of pH overshoots during pH adjustment on the toxicity of a second sample of pulp mill effluent: using a single dilution water. The LC50 values obtained for bioassays conducted at pH 9.5 were significantly higher than those for tests performed at pH 6.5. Neither the adjustment of test solutions to pH 9.5 with immediate readjustment to pH 6.5, nor the prior aging of solutions at pH 9.5 or 6.5 with minimal or no aeration for 6 h, altered the differences due to test pH. The pH-toxicity relationship of the resin acid dehydroabietate and a third sample of bleached kraft whole mill effluent was similar throughout the pH range 5.0–10.5, with test solutions least toxic at pH 9.0–9.5. This pH-toxicity relationship for pulpmill effluents and the influence of dilution water pH on effluent toxicity were attributed mainly to the ionization equilibria of the effluents' resin acid constituents.