| Summary: | <p>The North Saskatchewan River is an important natural
resource of the Province of Saskatchewan. Therefore, the
many municipal, industrial, and recreational uses must not
be impaired by any one user to the extent that the water can
no longer satisfy other demands which are made upon it.
The main objective of this thesis is to determine if the
river has been polluted by the Prince Albert Pulp Company
Limited. If this has occurred, it is also necessary to
evaluate the nature and impact of the change.</p>
<p>For the present study, the term pollution is defined
according to the Water Resources Commission Act, 1965, of
the Province of Saskatchewan. "In this act, 'pollution'
means any alteration of the physical, chemical, biological,
or aesthetic properties of any of the waters of Saskatchewan,
and includes any change in the temperature, taste or odour
of the waters, or the addition of any liquid, solid, radioactive,
gaseous or other substance to any of the waters, or
the removal of any such substance from the waters, that will
render or is likely to render the waters harmful to the
public health, safety or welfare or harmful or less useful
for domestic, municipal, industrial, agricultural, recreational
or other lawful uses, or harmful to or less useful for wild
animals or birds or aquatic life." This definition embodies
the generally accepted compromise (Douderoff and Warren 1957)
which allows waste disposal to be a legitimate use of waters as long as this does not adversely affect other demands made
upon the same body of water. Another view was expressed
by Patrick (1953) who stated that "pollution is anything
which brings about a reduction in the diversity of aquatic
life and eventually destroys the balance of life in the
stream".</p>
<p>This study occurred at an ideal time in that the pulp
mill began operating part way through the testing period.
Thus, the natural condition of the river prior to possible
pollution was ascertained, and changes in quality were
easily detected as they occurred. A broad spectrum of
chemical and microbiological tests was planned which
monitored as many aspects of the river as possible. The
greatest emphasis was placed on oxygen determinations since
kraft pulp mills place a high oxygen demand on the receiving
waters (Tomlinson 1954). Macrobenthic organisms were
collected in the late spring before the mill operations
commenced in July and were collected in the same area one
year later.</p>
<p>The toxicity of the effluent to fish was also investigated
using a bioassay.</p>
<p>These chemical, physical, and biological studies provided
a basis for an evaluation of the presence and seriousness
of the pollution.</p>
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