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Toxicity of Brine Water from Oil Wells
Author(s) -
Clemens Howard P.,
Jones Woodrow H.
Publication year - 1955
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(1954)84[97:tobwfo]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - brine , sodium , killifish , chemistry , chloride , brine shrimp , acute toxicity , tap water , environmental chemistry , toxicity , fishery , biology , environmental science , environmental engineering , fish <actinopterygii> , organic chemistry
Studies of the median toxicity thresholds for 10 species of fish in brine wastes from a single oil well showed a range of the thresholds from 4.3 to 11.2 percent of the original brine by volume. A similar study on 10 kinds of invertebrates revealed a range of thresholds from 1.8 to 8.7 percent. Thresholds were expressed as percentage volume of the original waste since the brine contained large amounts of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium as well as chloride ions. However, computations of hypothetical combinations of chlorides in the brine indicated sodium chloride to be present in such proportions as to be most toxic. Median toxicity thresholds were determined also for six species of fish and five kinds of invertebrates in tap water and sodium chloride. A comparison of these thresholds with those in brine wastes, expressed as p.p.m. hypothetical sodium chloride, revealed that three species of fish (plains killifish, gambusia, and the black bullhead) could withstand more sodium chloride in brine wastes than in a solution of sodium chloride alone, whereas the reverse was true for the other three species (green sunfish, red shiner, and the fathead minnow). The thresholds were similar, however; those of brine fell within the fiducial limits of the thresholds in sodium chloride. Four of five kinds of invertebrates withstood slightly less sodium chloride (hypothetical) in brine than in a solution of sodium chloride alone. A somewhat better agreement between the thresholds in brine and in sodium chloride was obtained if the thresholds were expressed as p.p.m. chloride and p.p.m. sodium ions. In the two solutions, the threshold concentrations were much closer for sodium than for chlorides for the plains killifish, gambusia, and bullheads. For the green sunfish, red shiner, and fathead minnow, however, the threshold values in brine and in sodium chloride were much closer expressed as p.p.m. chloride than as p.p.m. sodium. A comparison of the chloride‐ion tolerance of three species of fish and three kinds of invertebrates in laboratory experiments and from field observations indicated similar tolerance for all forms in the two situations. Preliminary studies on the acclimation of plains killifish to sodium chloride indicated that this species could withstand 8,649 p.p.m. more sodium chloride when it had been living in waters containing 6,329 p.p.m. chloride than when it had been in waters containing less than 100 p.p.m. chloride. Differences of temperatures did not affect the median toxicity threshold appreciably, but the mortality rate increased with the temperature. Future studies on these wastes should include work on the antagonistic effects of calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium in the presence of the chloride ion. The presence of calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium ions in brine wastes in high concentrations along with chloride ions creates important questions.