Allowable Thermal Pollution Limits: A Physico-Chemical Approach

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Abstract
The occurrence of thermal anomalies in various properties of (aqueous) physico-chemical, biochemical, and biologically interesting systems is discussed. Thermal anomalies are frequently encountered and on this basis, it is proposed that certain temperature ranges (especially 30–33 C and 44–46 C) may exert a profound and sometimes dominating effect on biological activity through changes in the structure of water. The “site” of these structure-sensitive effects in living organisms may be the water associated with various membranes or other interfacial regions, or the water of hydration of different macromolecules (for instance, enzymes). On this basis, general limits on thermal pollution may possibly be derived on a purely physico-chemical basis.

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