Abstract
AbstractThough oxygen demands are critical measurements for waste water treatment plant operation and water quality management, they are of little relevance to assess or rank the environmental quality of detergents. It is argued that: (1) No accurate measurements of the oxygen demand of bleach detergents can be made, because these products release oxygen during the measurement. (2) When waste water is adequately treated, under normal operating conditions the oxygen demand (organic loading) of the raw sewage has no influence on river quality. (3) Oxygen demand values are narrowly focused on environmental exposure, while they do not take into account the potential for ecotoxicological effects. (4) Short-term biological oxygen demand measurements are useful for the monitoring of ‘average sewage', but they are unreliable to assess the biodegradability of more specific substances or products. Instead of oxygen demands, more holistic evaluations based on risk assessment or on life cycle analysis are scientifically preferred.
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