The literature on sulfate toxicity is very wide and lethal doses reported vary a lot. It is hard to determine which one is reliable.
In particular, I have faced few times the situations in which in analyses of the surface water in our Laboratory we have to negatively comment on waters in which sulfate is slightly high (such as 100-200 mg/L). Otherwise, these waters are very clean and pure, almost suitable for drinking without treatment (mostly Bosnian non-polluted mountain rivers and lakes).
The most recent situation is the fish pond which is being build on a very clean mountain river. There is nothing but the pure forest and the air rich in oxygen above the point where the pond is being built. However, sulfates have shown a value of 277 mg/L in the spring period during the snow melting.
Our regulation show that for production of trout, value has to be below 75 mg/L.
What are your experiences, does anybody have the recent literature on this subject?
Hello,
I am adding 4 attachments that might be helpful for your problem.
The keyword "snow melting" might be taken as a hint to look for further potentially toxic trace substances - especially in acidified waters: Al or other metals?
For a PDF of the paper in German on sulfate, you should contact:
Dr. Andreas Kleeberg
Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research
Institute of Landscape Hydrology
Eberswalder Str. 84
D-15374 Müncheberg
Good luck!
Walter Geller
Thanks for those! I had been looking for something similar a few years ago, and all I found was British Columbia's guidelines: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wat/wq/wq_guidelines.html. I ended up using articles that addressed salinity in general (Zalizniak http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:1241/n2006000222.pdf, and artciles by B. Kefford). Anyway, not sure if this is helpful to you, but your question, Suzana, and your resources, Walter, were really helpful to me!
Here are a couple things i did not see mentioned in other responses:
Meays, C. and R. Nordin. 2012. Ambient Water Quality Guidelines For Sulphate - Technical Appendix Update. Draft for review. Prepared by: Meays C and Nordin R, Water Protection & Sustainability Branch, Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Policy Division, BC Ministry of Environment. October 2012.
U.S. EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). 2010. Final Report on Acute and Chronic Toxicity of Nitrate, Nitrite, Boron, Manganese, Fluoride, Chloride and Sulphate to Several Aquatic Animal Species. Region 5, Chicago, IL, USA. EPA 905-R-10-002.
Cant say i've read a lot on this topic but there is some possibility that it may well affect their ability to smell. Obviously this is important from a behavioural perspective since detecting food and predators often relies on olfaction.
Key words for a lit search : sulphate fish anosmia
Dear Suzana. Based on his experience studying karst lakes I can say that the lakes with sulfate content in water 500-800 dm 3 are the most productive. The problem may occur only in the case of hydrogen sulfide zone in the hypolimnion. Therefore, the pond should not be deeper than the depth of the thermocline. Should be a good water exchange.
And these figures standards I would not pay attention to this case. Although there seems to the pollution by atmospheric transport of sulfur
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