Technical Bulletin No. 0905: Bacteriological Assessment of Pulp and Paper Mill Effluents

This document summarizes over 30 years of information accumulated by NCASI relating to the bacterial quality of treated wastewater from pulp and paper industry locations. The chronology of EPA bacterial regulations, new developments in enumeration techniques, and source identification are discussed. The report also provides a summary of bacterial assessments that have been conducted at some pulp and paper facilities and a work product from four microbiological experts asked by NCASI to suggest alternatives to conventional indicator bacterial testing of effluents in situations where indicator bacteria are shown to grow in wastewaters that are free of fecal contamination.