Description
The objective of this report is to determine whether the ecological effects of treated bleached kraft pulp mill effluent on aquatic invertebrates vary with water temperature. To address this objective, we initially summarized existing studies that evaluated the interactive effects of water temperature on the toxicity of a variety of compounds to aquatic invertebrates. This review indicated that there is a moderately large amount of information indicating that toxic effects of contaminants or other physicochemical stressors can vary with water temperature. These interactive effects between contaminant concentrations and water temperature raise the issue of whether toxic effects of pulp mill effluents that are typically evaluated at 15oC to 20oC, are representative of those at lower temperatures. This is relevant to rivers receiving pulp mill effluent in Alberta, which have lowest dilution capacity in winter, when water temperatures are near 0oC for five months or more. Our review of...