The Effect of an Industrial Spill on the Macrofauna of a South Carolina Stream: Physiological to Community-Level Responses

ABSTRACT

In 1985, a waste retainment pond ruptured at a galvanizing facility and spilled 75,700 liters of HCl and other contaminants into the groundwater above the Upper Enoree River in South Carolina USA. In 1999, we examined the residual effects of this spill by surveying the water chemistry and biota in the main channel of the Upper Enoree River and uncontaminated tributaries. We also transplanted yellowfin shiners (Notropis lutipinnis) to channel and tributary sites and monitoring their survivorship and the histological condition of their gills. The two upstream sites were significantly different in chemical composition from downstream sites and control tributaries. Conductivity and the concentrations of Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Cl⁻, NO_3⁻ , PO_3⁻ , F⁻, Zn²⁺, and Mn²⁺ were highest at the headwater site and declined significantly downstream. The abundance and diversity of salamanders, fish, and macroinvertebrates correlated with these changes in water chemistry. Yellowfin shiners (Notropis lutipinnis) transplanted to the headwater site died within 24 hours, and fish in channel sites had significantly higher mortality than fish transplanted to tributary sites. At the tissue level, the size and density of gill pavement cells were significantly lower in fish transplanted into the two headwater sites closest to the spill compared to other channel and tributary sites. Thus, this spill continues to exert a significant effect on the chemistry and biota of the Upper Enoree River.