A review of off-flavour tainting of drinking water and fish by pulp mill effluents

Countries with major pulp and paper industries have experienced water or fish tainting episodes in the aquatic environment downstream from these discharges. Identification, control or prevention of such industry-specific odour events is not possible without a thorough understanding of the off-flavour compounds involved. A lengthy review of the available technical reports, government documents, books and periodical articles that document the current knowledge about water and fish tainting in the river basins of Northern Alberta has been published by Kenefick and Hrudey. The purpose of this full length review was to identify the incidence of or the potential for off-flavour tainting of fish and water by components discharged into the Peace, Athabasca, and Slave rivers from various sources. There is a relatively weak literature base directly related to taste and odour problems attributable to pulp mills in the Northern Alberta river basins. Consequently, discussions of other pulp mill related incidents of taste and odour problems throughout the world were also reviewed. There is little published information which addresses recent advances in pulping and bleaching technology and their effects on water and fish tainting. This paper provides an abbreviated version of the full review.