Legislative limits below detection capability¹

Abstract

 A study of contaminant emission data collected for paper and pulp mills in the United Kingdom over a 1-year period is presented. For most sites and analytes, the data could not demonstrate positive compliance with absolute emission limits to water in the 1 g range in large (million tonne) effluent streams, even though some sites were apparently removing contaminants from their water supply. The implications are discussed, with particular reference to the implications of results quoted at 'detection limits' or 'reporting limits'.