Effluent samples for a treated textile waste water and treated
domestic sewage waste water and water and sediment samples for an 8.2
km region of Ash Camp Creek near Keysville, Virginia, were collected in
June, 1977. Effluent and stream water samples were analyzed for various
water quality parameters and for suspended, dissolved, and total zinc.
Sediment samples were analyzed for zinc and percent loss on ignition.
The treated textile waste water was the major source of zinc to the
stream. The effluent and stream water samples exhibited a marked
partitioning of zinc among the dissolved and suspended fractions of
the water column. The ratios of mean dissolved to mean suspended
zinc ranged from about 0.76 to about 1.40. The ratios of mean dissolved
to total zinc and mean suspended to total zinc ranged from about 0.42
to 0.62 and from about 0.38 to 0.57, respectively. Anomalously high
zinc concentrations were found in the sediments 0.80 m downstream from
the point of discharge of the treated textile wastewater and appeared
to be caused by sedimentation of suspended zinc induced by a reduction
in stream velocity. The domestic discharge together with flow from a
small unnamed tributary had a moderating effect on the water quality
of the stream functioning to dilute stream pollutant load. Sulfide
precipitation appeared to be an important mechanism by which zinc was
concentrated in the sediments 40 m below the domestic sewage discharge.
Zinc concentrations declined further downstream likely as a result
of such factors as dilution, sedimentation, and sorption by inorganic
sediment particles.
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