Assesment of Aquatic Biological Effects At 25 Canadian Pulp and Paper Mills, 1997 Environmental Conference Proceedings

Amendments to the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations of the Canadian Fisheries Act in 1992 included a requirement for Canadian pulp and paper mills to complete an Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) study by 01 April 1996 and to repeat the studies every three years thereafter. BEAK conducted studies at 25 of the 134 mills to which the regulation applies, ranging in location from B.C. to the Maritimes. The studies included sublethal effluent toxicity tests, fish population surveys and benthic invertebrate community assessments. Sublethal effluent toxicity tests proved to be useful in characterizing the degree and variability of effluent toxicity. The tests sometimes underpredicted but never overpredicted effluent effects on receiving environment biota. Benthic invertebrate communities were impacted at most mills relative to reference area communities. The approach stipulated by the regulation for evaluating potential effects of mill effluent on two sentinel fish species produced poorly interpretable data due to limited understanding of the range of natural variability in the parameters measured and of the broader fish communities in effluent-exposed and reference areas. Dioxin levels in fish tissues at mills using chlorine-based bleaching were well below guidelines for human consumption and were a positive reflection of industry efforts to reduce the use of elemental chlorine.

Workshops were held in most regions involving government and industry representatives to discuss key findings from the first cycle of EEM studies and identify areas requiring further

consideration/improvement before Cycle 2. The Ontario workshop resulted in a consensus position on a number of key

areas including that the EEM program should be national in scope with increased flexibility to address site-specific issues; that the benthic invertebrate surveys resulting in scientifically defensible information; and that consideration should be given to delaying the adult fish survey until cycle three to allow for a detailed scientific review of the methodology used and to explore other alternatives. These recommendations were forwarded to the national Environment Canada KPPA EEM Technical Committee and the EEM Expert Working Groups for consideration.