Robert Blake Larson DEPARTMENT of SOILS, WATER AND
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Attenuation of constituents from paper- pulp mill wastewater ponded on clay soil under natural environmental conditions Item Type Thesis-Reproduction (electronic); text Authors Larson, Robert Blake. Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 23/09/2021 13:29:55 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/191865 ATTENUATION OF CONSTITUENTS FROM PAPER-PULP MILL WASTEWATER PONDED ON CLAY SOIL UNDER NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS By Robert Blake Larson A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF SOILS, WATER AND ENGINEERING In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE WITH A MAJOR IN SOIL AND WATER SCIENCE In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1985 STATEMENT BY THE AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of require- ments for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: x.z.z APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: 7- 30- g 5 W. H. FULLER Date Professor and Biochemist Dept. of Soil and Water Sciences ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author wishes to take this opportunity to give special recognition and extend his personal thanks to Dr. W. H. Fuller, director of the thesis. In this age of "instant" everything, Dr. Fuller has taught me the virtues of persistent and diligent work as the only means for good analyses and results. Also to be recognized are Jency Houser for her constant help in preparation of the manuscript, and my parents Marvin and Phyllis Larson who have always given me an outstanding example to follow. Appreciation is also extended to the faculty and staff members of the Department of Soil and Water Sciences for their contributions and assistance in this study. This research could not have been completed without the help of Southwest Forestries, Inc. who allowed for and helped with all the sampling. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT viii INTRODUCTION 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 6 Kraft Process 6 Geology and Hydrogeology of Mill Area 8 MATERIALS 9 Soils 9 Wastewaters 9 Vegetation 13 METHODS 14 Soil Sampling 14 Plant Sampling 16 Water Sampling 16 Soil Analyses 22 Water Analyses 27 Quality Assurance and Quality Control 27 Statistical Analyses 28 RESULTS 31 Composition of Wastewater 31 Wastewater Effects on Soils 34 Wastewater Effects on Groundwater 48 Wastewater Effects on Vegetation 51 Wastewater Effects on the General Environment 54 DISCUSSION 58 CONCLUSIONS 62 REFERENCES 63 iv LIST OF TABLES Page 1. Location, description, and time of sampling of the soil 10 resources involved in this research. 2. The location, kind of plant, description, and time of 21 sampling of the vegetation having grown in the presence and absence of SWFI paper-pulp wastewaters. 3. Quality assurance & control. E.P.A. analytical monitoring. 29 4. Content of selected metals, organic carbon and salts in 3 SWFI paper-pulp mill wastewater in Dry Lake basin, at disposal site. 5. Some common characteristics of soils from Dry Lake disposal 35 basin as influenced by ponding with paper-pulp mill waste- water for 22 years at Snowflake, AZ. 6. Examples of soil test of significance (LSD 0.05) using 37 SPSS Manova nested design program on Decio computer. 7. Total metal content of control soils profiles not ponded 41 with paper-pulp mill wastewater. 8. Total metal content of soil profiles ponded for 22 years 43 with paper-pulp mill wastewater at Snowflake, AZ. 9. The content of various elements in the lithosphere and 44 in soils. 10. Some 1 N HNO3 - extractable metals of soil profiles 46 pondeTi for 22 years with paper-pulp mill wastewater at Snowflake, AZ. 11. Some 1 N HNO3 - extractable metals of control soil pro- 47 files notponded with paper-pulp mill wastewater. 12. Dehydrogenase activity of microorganisms from soil pro- 49 files in Dry Lake comparing ponded and not ponded soil vi LIST OF TABLES (cont'd) Page 13. Trace and heavy metals and organic carbon constituents 50 in waters from Ranch Well 5, Silver Creek, Little Colorado River, and Phoenix Wash. 14. The metal composition of some plants not irrigated 52 with SWFI paper-pulp mill wastewater but grown in normal soils and irrigated with Silver Creek water. 15. The metal composition of some plants irrigated with or 53 grown in wastewater from the SWFI paper-pulp mill at Snowflake, AZ. 16. A comparison of metal composition of various organic 55 wastes used on agricultural land for crop production and some average soil and plant metal analyses. 17. Heavy-metal concentrations in vegetable crops grown in 57 the field on Sango silt loam (pH 6.4) in Alabama with and without application of sewage sludge (Giordano and Mays, 1976a). LIST OF FIGURES Page 1. Map showing the location of Dry Lake, Twin Lakes, stream, 3 river, monitor well, and town sites surrounding the paper-pulp mill of the Southwest Forest Industries, Inc., Snowflake, AZ. 2. Map showing the soil profile sample locations, in Dry 12 Lake, taken to evaluate attenuation and retention of constituents of paper-pulp mill wastewaters after 22 years of disposal. 3. Illustration of soil profile sampling depths for ponded 15 and non-ponded soil pits, with mean soil texture value for sampled profiles. 4. Location of alfalfa sampled for metal content near Snow- 17 flake and along Silver Creek. 5. Location of salt cedar near Joseph City along the Little 18 Colorado River. 6. Location of irrigated alfalfa grown near Twin Lakes for 19 20 years with SWFI paper-pulp mill wastewater. 7. Location of salt cedar and tooley both growing in waste- 20 water at Dry Lake. 8. Physical characteristics of ponded and non-ponded soils, 38 with mean value charted for each soil profile depth for all soils sampled. 9. Biological and chemical characteristics of ponded and non- 40 ponded soils, with mean value charted for each soil pro- file depth for all soils sampled. vii ABSTRACT The general purpose of this research was to determine the effects of paper-pulp mill wastewater disposal on the quality of the soil, . vegetation, groundwater, and environment in north central Arizona. Analytical laboratory procedures were used to determine the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil, vegetation, and water samples. Analysis of Variance was computed on soil, water, and plant ana- lytical data to determine the significance of; downward distribution of wastewater constituents in clay soils under natural environment and ponded conditions; the heavy metal contents of natural and ponded vegetation in the area; and any changes in the environments surrounding and water sources due to disposals for the past 23 years. There was very slight movement of paper-pulp mill wastewater con- stituents into the clay soil below the disposal basin. Vegetation was not altered by irrigation with SWFI paper-pulp mill wastewater, either with respect to heavy, trace, or common ions or growth responses. viii INTRODUCTION Paper can be considered as any kind of matted or felted sheets of fibers formed on a wire screen from an aqueous suspension. The ancient Egyptians of Alexandria used the pith of the papyrus reed to make a visible sheet, and the word "paper" is derived from the name of the plant. Papyrus sheet used for writing documents date back to 3,600 B.C. Paper as we know it today originated in China about 100 A.D. T'sai Lun is called the father of papermaking. By 1390 a number of paper plants existed in Spain, Italy, France and Germany (U. S. EPA, 1980). As the world's largest producer of forest products, the United States supplied roughly 35 percent of total world pulp, paper and paperboard in 1980. However, the United States is also the largest consumer of these products, at a per capital consumption of 635 pounds per year. Future production and consumption levels are projected by (U. S. EPA, 1980) Data Resources, Inc. (DRI), who expect paper demand to increase in response to quickened economic growth in the 1980's. However, paper markets will not keep pace with general economic growth in the late 1980's due to rising real prices of paper and increased competition from electronics and alternative packaging methods and materials. DRI does not foresee any wood shortage in the U. S. through the 1980's, even with the large increase in pulp demand they are forecasting. The Paper Pulp industry invests 1, 430 million doll- ars a year in pollution control engineering, monitoring, and recycling (U. S. EPA, 1980). Sensitivity over waste disposal is heightened because of the failure of certain present disposal programs adequately to accommodate the burden of larger and larger quantities of wastes created by accelerating populations and expanding industrial production. As new rules and regulations proliferate through legislative action and reg- ulatory agencies, and continue to restrict disposals into air and water sources, the land must accept the increasing burden of waste disposals.