Wastewater Characterization of Fish Processing Plant Effluents

Oil and grease samples are typically collected as grab due to concern over losses of grease on
sampling equipment during collection. However, the decision was made to subsample the composite
sample using a glass bottle for the following reasons:
1. Concern over whether a single grab sample would be representative of overall oil and
grease concentrations during an 8 to 24 hour production period.
2. Insufficient budget and manpower availability to collect multiple grab sample to
assess variations in oil and grease over a production period.
3. The large 70 L composite sample volume was expected to minimize the effect of any
losses on equipment which may occur.
All sampling equipment was cleaned as outlined in "Recommended Guidelines For Wastewater
Characterization in the Fraser River Basin" (Norecol Environmental Consultants Ltd. and Zenon
Environmental Laboratories, June 1993, volume II) with the exception of an acetone rinse, which
was not carried out as no organochlorines were analyzed.
5.2.2 Sampling Locations
The individual sampling locations coincided with the locations used for permit sampling and
included process effluent only. At BC Packers, screened effluent from one of the three screens
was collected to avoid sampling effluent which had been mixed with cooling water from the
reduction plant.
At Lions' Gate access to the screened effluent was gained through a vertical tee in the outfall
pipe. The permit sampling points at Bella Coola and Ocean were taps in the discharge pipe. At both
of these sites effluent from the taps discharged into a plastic sample bottle which contained the
inlet hose of the automatic sampler. The sample bottle had a hole in the bottom to allow the
effluent to drain from the bottle, thus preventing an accumulation of solids. However, the hole
was small enough to force the bottle to overflow during times the outfall pipes carried effluent
FREMP 03/21/1994
Fish Processing Plant Effluent 61