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The Effects of Sewage Pollution on the Fish Population of a Midwestern Stream
Author(s) -
Katz Max,
Gaufin Arden R.
Publication year - 1953
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1952)82[156:teospo]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - effluent , sewage , pollution , environmental science , population , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , fish kill , ecology , biology , geography , environmental engineering , nutrient , demography , sociology , phytoplankton , algal bloom
Collections of fish were made in Lytle Creek, Clinton County, Ohio, to determine the effect of the partially treated domestic sewage of Wilmington, Ohio, on the fish populations of this stream. The farther the collecting localities were downstream from the plant effluent, the greater were the numbers of species and individuals found. In the septic areas, immediately below the effluent, no fish were observed or collected. Two miles below, in the recovery zone, an average of 1.2 species and 2.2 individuals were taken per collection, with 8 different species represented. Three miles below, also in the recovery zone, 12 species were represented in our collections, with a mean of 1.7 species and 10.8 individuals per collection. In the lower portion of the recovery zone, 4.4 miles below the effluent, 32 species were taken, with a mean of 12.7 species and 197 individuals. In the clean‐water zone, 36 species were taken, with a mean of 16.7 species and 294 individuals. No species could be used as indicators of pollution although several were relatively tolerant of unfavorable conditions. The various species of darters and black bass were highly sensitive and their presence was usually indicative of favorable conditions. During the winter when the stream flow was at a maximum and the dissolved oxygen was adequate in all sections of the stream, the fish failed to move into the areas they found intolerable during the summer periods of low flow.