DEVELOPMENT OF WATER QUALITY CRITERIA FOR AQUATIC LIFE

It is now recognized that water pollution is an important problem, that it becomes more widespread and serious as population and industry expand, and that something must be done if aquatic life resource are to be saved and their productivity maintained. In the past there has been a great deal of uncertainty in approaching this situation and a general lack of understanding of the details and ramification of the overall problem. In the efforts for the abatement of pollution, only a few clearcut objectives have been established. Knowledge is lacking as to what the objectives should be. There is still scant knowledge of the levels of various wastes which can be tolerated by aquatic organisms for short periods and practically no information on concentrations that are safe when such wastes are continually discharged. The reason is that neither the environmental requirements of aquatic organisms nor the concentrations of various materials which can be added to waters without adversely affecting the survival, growth, reproduction, or general well-being of the important members of the aquatic biota have been definitely determined