Technical Bulletin No. 0094: A Critical Review of the Literature on Slime Infestation

This technical bulletin was first issued in June 1957. At that time infestations of slime-producing microorganisms had been noted on a number of streams, including several receiving discharge from chemical pulp mills. Since in certain instances both commercial and sport fishing activities were claimed to be adversely affected by the presence of slime, a series of studies was organized to determine the influence of mill effluent presence on slime generation. Basic to this program was the conduct of a critical review of the scientific literature dealing with those slime-producing microorganisms whose presence had been reported in slime infested streams. This review was prepared by Miss Marjorie Harrison in the Department of Sanitation of Rutgers University under the direction of Dr. H. Heukelekian. It stressed the morphological, taxonomic and biochemical characteristics of the sphaerotilus and leptomitus organisms, as well as the influence of receiving water temperature and velocity on their appearance in gross quantities.