Surfactant Levels in the Illinois River
1959-1966
WILLIAM T. SULLIVAN, Chemist
RALPH L. EVANS, Head
Water Quality Section
Illinois State Water Survey
Peoria, Illinois
INTRODUCTION
Some possibly deleterious effects of commonly used surfactant compounds on
receiving waters have caused wide spread concern. The persistence of a certain
percentage of this material led to governmentally imposed minimums for biode-
gradability in some foreign countries. Voluntary limits for minimum biodegrad-
ability were established by a majority of the detergent manufacturers in the
United States, with a time table for conversion.
The Illinois River serves as the major recipient of waste waters from many
communities including the City of Chicago, as well as major industrial complexes. A chemical study of surfactant levels in the Illinois River from 1959 to
1966 at Peoria was undertaken to better elucidate some of the effects of detergent
compounds on water quality in a major river.
Following the change in formulation, surfactant concentration and load,
based upon mean values, were lowered 61 and 42 per cent, respectively. These
reductions occurred coincidentally with a marked increase in the use of synthetic
detergents.
INCREASED DETERGENT CONCENTRATIONS
The problem of elevated surfactant levels in major rivers has become worldwide. The concentration of detergent in the River Seine was reported in 1962 to
be between 1 and 2 mg/l(l). From information published in 1965, the level of
ABS (Alkyl benzene sulfonate) was found to be increasing yearly in the Tama
River on Honshu Island near Tokyo, Japan, causing concern(2). In Germany, the
average detergent level at the outlet of 14 waste processing plants using biological treatment was 5.4 mg/l for 1962-1964 (3).
The Ohio River below Cincinnati in 1965 was found to have concentrations of
ABS between 0.06 and 0.15 mg/l. Most rivers checked prior to 1960 had levels
between 0.01 and 0.02 mg/l ABS. The Illinois River in 1959 had a range of concentrations from 0.5 to 1.3 mg/l (4). In 1964, the Illinois was described as,
"The largest river in the country that currently contains more than 0.5 ppm
ABS... "(5).
CHANGE TO GREATER BIODEGRADABILITY
In the United States conversion from less biodegradable detergents to the more
easily decomposed surfactant compounds occurred voluntarily in 1965 on an industry-wide basis. In Germany, a legally imposed minimum of 80 per cent bio-
degradability reportedly went into effect in 1964 (°). A similar standard was advised for Hungary in the same year   (*).
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