IngentaConnect An Ecological Risk Assessment of Inorganic Chloramines in Surface...

Authors: John P. Pasternak¹; Dwayne R. J. Moore²; R. Scott Teed²

Source: Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, Volume 9, Number 2, March 2003 , pp. 453-482(30)

Abstract:

Inorganic chloramines are formed when chlorine and ammonia are combined in water. These substances are frequently used as a secondary disinfectant for drinking water and are by-products of processes involving the disinfection of wastewaters and the control of biological fouling in cooling water systems. For chloraminate drinking water, the total residual chlorine (TRC) concentration may be almost completely due to monochloramine. Based on 1995 and 1996 survey data, the most significant and prevalent TRC loading to the Canadian environment is from municipal wastewater releases. Drinking water releases are the next most important source of chloramine entry into the Canadian environment, while TRC releases from other sources, such as cooling water, zebra mussel control practices and industrial wastewater, are much less important. A probabilistic water quality model was used to model two wastewater discharges and a cooling water discharge to different freshwater systems. The resulting exposure distributions were then compared with three incipient lethality endpoints, i.e., 50% mortality to the invertebrate Ceriodaphnia dubia and 50% and 20% mortality to juvenile chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). For each discharge scenario studied, there were moderate to high probabilities of significant adverse effects on aquatic life up to 1.9 km from the effluent sources.

Keywords: probabilistic risk assessment; municipal wastewater effluents; ecological risk assessment; inorganic chloramines

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/1080703031877032

Affiliations: 1: Chemicals Evaluation, Environmental Protection, Pacific and Yukon Region, Environment Canada, 224 West Esplanade, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V7M 3H7 2: The Cadmus Group, Inc., 411 Roosevelt Avenue, Suite 204, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2A 3X9

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An Ecological Risk Assessment of Inorganic Chloramines in Surface Water