St. Clair River

King L, Sherbin G. 1986. Point sources of toxic organics to the upper St. Clair River. Water Poll Res J Canada 21 433-446. 

Wong and coworkers118 analyzed fish and other environmental samples (clam, macrophytes, sediments and waters) from areas upstream and downstream from alkyllead manufacturing sites beside the St. Lawrence and St. Clair Rivers, Ontario, and found a clear indication of elevated alkyllead levels in samples near the industries. Most species of fish contained alkyllead compounds with tetraethyllead and triethyllead as the predominant forms. Most fish from the contaminated areas contained 70% or more of the total lead as alkyllead. Average alkyllead levels varied from year to year but declined steadily after 1981. For example, the mean value of alkyllead in carp from the St. Lawrence River decreased from 4207 H g kg-1 in 1981 to 2000 H g kg-1 in 1982 and to 49 Xg kg 1 in... 

Burrowing mayfly, Hexagenia sp., adults summer 1987 contaminated sites on Detroit and St. Clair Rivers ... 

The Detroit River drains all of the upper lakes into Lake Erie. Upstream from Detroit, there is a major chemical industry complex on the Canadian side of the St. Clair River, which drains Lake Huron into Lake St. Clair. The Detroit/Windsor urban area and major industrial complexes associated with automobile manufacturing may all be potential PCDD/F sources. 

Fig. 7 Percent homolog composition of tri- to octaCNs in selected biota from the Great Lakes region [32,149,154]. Smallmouth bass, zebra mussels, and benthic algae were collected from the St. Clair River...

Tin concentrations have been reported in sewage sludge from 23 United States cities ranging from 11 to 1,300 mg/kg (Mumma et al. 1984). Organotin concentrations in sediments from the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers ranged from not detected to 0.036 mg/kg (Maguire et al. 1985). 

Maguire RJ, Tkacz RJ, Sartor DL. 1985. Butyltin species and inorganic tin in water and sediment of the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers. J Great Lakes Res 11 320-327. 

Moran, T. and Chiles, C. (1993) Multi-species toxicity assessment of sediments from the St-Clair River using Hyalella azteca, Daphnia magna and Microtox (Photobacterium phosphoreum) as test organisms, Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 1942, 447-456. 

Mudroch A, Hill K. 1989. Distribution of mercury in lake St. Clair and the St. Clair river sediments. Water Pollution Research Journal of Canada 24 1-21. 

Early use of petroleum or mineral oil, as distinct from animal or plant oils, was achieved by direct harvesting of the crude product from surface seeps and springs. For example, tar obtained from the Pitch Lake (La Brea) area, Trinidad, has been used for the caulking of ships since the Middle Ages and is still marketed to the extent of about 142,000 tonnes per year [1], Tar from the Alberta tar sands was used in the 1700s by Cree Indians of the Athabasca river area to seal their canoes, as recorded by Peter Pond. Also a thick bituminous gum was collected from the soil surface near the St. Clair River in Southern Ontario [2], and from Guanoco Lake, Venezuela [3], and these too were marketed for a range of purposes. 

Kaiser LKE, Comba ME. 1986. Tracking river plumes with volatile halocarbon contaminants The St. Clair River-Lake St. Clair example. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 5 965-976. 

Oliver BG, Pugsley CW. (1986). Chlorinated contaminants in St. Clair River sediments. Water Pollution Research Journal of Canada 21 368-379. 

Kaiser KLE, Comba ME. 1986. Volatile halocarbon contaminent survey of the St. Clair River. Water Pollut Res J Can 21 323-331. 

In the St. Clair River Area of Concern, Dow Chemical Canada, Inc. of Sarnia, Ontario has expanded the process water collection system at its EB/Styrene plant to maximize the recovery of organic compounds. The EB/Styrene plant uses ethyl benzene, styrene, benzene, and toluene in the production of more complex organic compounds. During the manufacturing process, these four compounds end up in the wastewater. The wastewater collection system has been expanded recently to recover all process wastewater and divert it to the purification tower where these four contaminants are steam stripped out and then reused as part of the fuel stream to produce steam and electricity (P. Murphy, pers. comm., Dow Chem. Can. Inc., Sarnia, Ontario, 1989). This project was implemented in 1986 at a cost of 270,000. The tower removes approximately 250 kg/d of contaminants (Mackinnon 1989) which are then added to other fuel streams providing a savings in displaced fuel cost of approximately 20,000 per year (P. Murphy, pers. comm., Dow Chem. Can. Inc., Sarnia, Ontario, 1989). 

Partitioning, suspended sediment/water partition coefficient, Kp, organic-carbon corrected partition coefficient, Kq(, octanol/water partition coefficient, chlorinated hydrocarbons, Kq /Kq, correlations, St. Clair River, Detroit River, Niagara River. 

It is interesting that four St. Clair River samples appear to be considerably above the normal range of data scatter while one Niagara River sample appears to be well below the scatter. These results may provide information on the time required to reach chemical equilibrium between the dissolved and particulates fractions. The fou r St. Clair River samples were collected at Port Lambton which is about 35 km and 10 hr travel time for the water below the major chemical sources at Sarnia. Much of the contaminants enter the St. Clair River in the particulate phase ( puddles of waste material have been found in the river. Environment Canada and Cntario Ministry of the Environment 1986) and may not have had sufficient time to reach equilibrium with the dissolved phase by the time the water reaches Port Lambton. Even higher partition coefficients have been observed in samples collected in industrial plumes near... 

Environment Canada and Ontario Ministry of the Environment. 1986. St. Clair River pollution investigation (Sarnia area). 

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