Laserfiche WebLink
Mountain Coal Company SeaCrest Number. 399127 <br />INTRODUCTION <br />Biomonitoring provides an effective method for testing the toxicity of effluents from <br />municipal and industrial discharges. Among the advantages of biomonitoring is the ability to test <br />complex effluents containing a broad range of contaminants. The biomonitoring methods <br />generate data that cannot be obtained solely from chemical analyses. At the same time, chemical <br />analyses often go hand in hand with the biomonitoring tests. <br />Biomonitoring tests were conducted for Mountain Coal Company during April, 1999. In <br />accordance with accepted Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and State of Colorado <br />procedures, acute tests were performed using Daphnia magna and the fathead minnow <br />(Pimepha/es promelas). This report details the results of the tests. <br />MATERIALS AND METHODS <br />Sample Collection <br />A sample of the Lone Pine Pipeline (#013) discharge was collected in one-gallon plastic <br />containers at 08:10 on April 1, 1999. The effluent was packed in an ice chest and shipped to the <br />lab the next day. This sample was used, in error, to run a Ceriodaphnia dubia test instead of the <br />Daphnia magna test that should have been performed along with the fathead minnow test. <br />Therefore a second sample was requested to perform the Daphnia magna test that was required. <br />The second sample was collected at 08:40 on April 8, 1999 and shipped to the lab for arrival the <br />next day. The Chain of Custody forms for both samples, showing sample collection and lab <br />arrival times, are included in Appendix 1. In the lab, the samples were refrigerated at 4°C until <br />used. <br />Test Organisms <br />Daphnia magna were chosen as the invertebrate species most able to tolerate the high <br />dissolved solids levels found in Mountain Coal samples. The Daphnia magna used in the test <br />were cultured in the SeaCrest laboratory. The daphnids were less than 24 hours old at the start <br />of the test. Three day old fathead minnows were also used in the test and came from in-house <br />cultures. Adult fathead minnows are held in ten and twenty gallon glass aquaria where they <br />produce eggs that are collected daily and held under aeration until hatching occurs. Larval fish <br />from one to fourteen days old are used in the acute tests. <br />All in-house organisms are tested at least monthly in a reference toxicant test using <br />sodium chloride to confirm their overall health. <br />Test Procedures <br />Upon receipt at the lab, the water samples were analyzed for alkalinity, hardness, <br />conductivity, dissolved oxygen, chlorine, ammonia and pH. Alkalinity and hardness were <br />determined titrimetrically according to methods described in Hach Chemical Co. (1978). <br />Ammonia was measured by an Orion ion specific electrode according to procedures in <br />APHA/AWWANVPCF (1985). <br />The SeaCrest Group 2 <br />