United States Office of
Environmental Protection Research and Development
Agency Washington DC 20460
February 1, 1983 EPA 600/9-83-002
&EPA Research
Outlook
1983
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RESEARCH
OUTLOOK
1983
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RESEARCH OUTLOOK 1983
Contents:
1 Introduction
Chapter 1: 7 Hazardous Wastes
Chapter 2: 23 Water Quality
Chapter 3: 45 Drinking Water
Chapter 4: 63 Toxic Substances and Pesticides
Chapter 5: 81 Air
Chapter 6: 101 Acidic Deposition
Chapter 7: 115 Energy
Chapter 8: 129 Exploratory Research
Appendix A: 137 Resource Options
Appendix B: 147 Technical Reviewers
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INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION
Research Outlook 1983 is the eighth in this series
of reports to Congress as required by Section 5 of
Public Law 94-475, 90 Stat. 2071. It describes the
major research issues, trends and strategies of EPA's
research program for the next half decade.
The primary purpose of EPA's research effort is
to support environmental program officials and
regulatory decision makers by both responding to their
near-term needs for scientific and technical
information and by anticipating future information
needs and initiating research efforts to satisfy those
needs.
This edition of the Research Outlook continues —
and makes more emphatic — the issue orientation of
EPA's research strategy. As with any long-range
strategy document, this report is presented in broad,
summary terms. The context within which this is done
is a discussion of approximately 60 of the most
important issues being addressed by EPA research.
Such an issue orientation is intended to achieve
two things. First, it overlays a framework within which
the reader can understand the relationships among
EPA's many different regulatory responsibilities and
associated research efforts. Without such a framework,
EPA's 2,000 active research projects would present a
daunting challenge to even the most determined reader.
Second, the issue orientation gives our reviewers a
"handle" by which to grasp and examine our overall
research strategy. The issues we select, along with our
research approach, are clearly presented to stimulate
critical discussion.
The research process, by expanding the horizons
of our knowledge, can raise as many questions as it
answers. The same is true of this report. For example,
have we chosen the correct set of issues to address? Is
our understanding of the status and context of these
issues adequate? Do we correctly identify the crucial
information gaps or bottlenecks to progress? Is our
strategy with regard to providing the scientific
information needed to fill these gaps cost-effective?
Prior to publication, the chapters in this report
were reviewed by more than 100 scientists, research
managers and environmental regulatory officials within
EPA, other federal agencies, academia, private industry
and public interest groups. They asked the above
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questions and more, and their critiques not only
influenced the content of this report but also, in the
long run, the content of EPA's research program itself.
In this sense, the Research Outlook is the first step in
the research planning process. This report provides the
outline. The details are filled in by the annual planning
cycle followed by the detailed description and
implementation of the research projects.
Because of its summary nature, this report may
leave the reader desirous of greater detail or project-
level information. Other research summary documents,
which focus on a shorter time horizon and contain a far
greater level of detail, will soon be made available.
Report Organization
This edition of the Research Outlook is divided
into eight chapters and two appendices. The first
appendix contains three resource scenarios and
associated research activities. The second lists the
technical reviewers who critiqued earlier drafts of this
report.
Each of the eight chapters generally consists of
the following:
Introduction: Defines the area of research
covered in the chapter.
Legislative Mandate: Lists the laws which
mandate EPA involvement in general, and research in
particular, with regard to subject of the chapter.
Background: Gives some history and context for
the overall discussion. Introduces EPA's objectives and
the major areas of focus for the issues that follow.
Major Research Issues: Each chapter contains
discussions of from five to twelve issues. The issues
are selected using one simple criterion — what are the
key scientific and technical information gaps which are
impeding efforts to assure adequate protection of
health and the environment? The issues are the heart
of this report. For each issue the following information
is presented: a description of the issue indicating why
the missing information is necessary; what is known,
and unknown, about the issue; EPA's research role in
the context of other major associated research
programs; EPA's research strategy and specific
research approach; and major anticipated research
products or milestones.
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Cross-cutting Issues
It bears repeating that this is a strategy
document. It is not intended to be, nor would it serve
its purpose if it were, an exhaustive litany of all of
EPA's research projects. There are many areas of
active EPA research which are not discussed in any
depth in this report. They are excluded for one of two
reasons. First, they may contribute exclusively to
issues which are of lesser importance or priority than
the ones selected for this report. An example of one
such issue is EPA's non-ionizing radiation research
effort. Once a significant component of EPA's research
program, studies of non-ionizing radiation conducted
during the past five years have produced a good deal of
useful information. Based upon this situation, EPA's
regulatory office determined that sufficient data
already existed upon which to base its regulatory
decisions. As a result, non-ionizing radiation research
is being de-emphasized within the overall research
program and is not considered to be a major issue
warranting inclusion in Research Outlook 1983.
The other reason that a research area may not
appear in a particular chapter is because it cuts across
several of the chapters. Examples of such cross-cutting
issues are quality assurance, risk assessment methods,
regulatory and technical support, and information
transfer. In some cases, such an issue of consequence
to several chapters is discussed in depth in the chapter
for which it holds the greatest significance. This
allows a more detailed discussion of the cross-cutting
issue, although the discussion is somewhat distorted by
the limits of a particular chapter. In other cases,
aspect's of a cross-cutting issue are discussed in several
chapters.
Research Priorities
It is impossible to predict in detail what
environmental research will be necessary over the next
half decade. The context for this research is much too
dynamic. Legislative mandates may be altered, policies
may shift and public concerns evolve. All these forces
will shape the details of our future research program.
In addition, that program will shape itself as new
research information either highlights the need for
added investigation or resolves the problem being
investigated.
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In a large sense, every one of the issues discussed
in the following document has a very high priority. The
issues are closely intertwined — the products from one
issue providing the substrate for another. Taken
together, the approximately 60 issues discussed in the
following chapters make up one unified research
program. Given this context, there are some major
research needs which can be identified, with some
certainty, as paramount:
Ground-water pollution. To control the pollution
of ground water, it is necessary to be able to monitor
underground pollutant plumes and to predict their
behavior. We are testing equipment and developing
models to do both, and are investigating a number of
techniques to destroy or isolate toxic substances.
Water quality determination. The use ascribed to
a body of water determines the quality at which that
water must be maintained. A water-quality based
regulatory approach requires the development of
accurate, and inexpensive, methods for determining
water quality.
Toxicity measurement for complex mixtures.
Determining the toxicity of a complex mixture of
wastewaters as a whole would be a far less expensive
process than identifying each of the components of the
wastewater and then attempting to determine their
combined effect. We are developing bioassay and other
techniques that should improve our ability to determine
the human health implications of such complex
mixtures.
Toxicity prediction for chemicals. Toxic chemical
testing is an expensive and time-consuming process.
Research is being performed to develop more accurate
and less expensive test methods and to improve existing
screening methods.
Determination of environmental exposure.
In order to more precisely determine the effectiveness
of various air pollution control strategies, we need to
know exactly how much pollution people inhale. We
will be testing personal monitors which measure CO in
order to develop accurate exposure data which can then
be used as a surrogate for determining exposure to
other air pollutants.
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Acidic deposition source-receptor relationship.
We must have better information on the relationships
between the sources of acidic deposition precursors and
their eventual effects on the receptors of that
deposition. This is an issue with enormous resource
implications for the industrial and commercial sectors.
Predictive modeling. In order to provide the
necessary tools to state and local decision makers
responsible for controlling air pollution, we will be
refining air pollution models to better predict the
behavior of air pollutants under certain meteorologic
and topographic conditions.
Biological pesticides. There has been rapid
growth in the development of biological pesticides.
EPA is performing research for use in evaluating the
possible human health and environmental (non-target)
risks of such agents.
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Chapter One
HAZARDOUS WASTES
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HAZARDOUS WASTES
Outline:
Introduction
Legislative Mandate
Background
Major Research Issues:
Issue: What designs make surface impoundments
more secure?
Issue: How can air pollution from volatile
organics be controlled?
Issue: What information is needed to optimize
incineration?
Issue: How can sampling and analysis methods be
improved?
Issue: How can health risks be assessed more
accurately?
Issue: How can non-volatile compounds be
measured?
Issue: How can the quality of sample data be
assured?
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Hazardous Wastes
INTRODUCTION
The safe treatment and disposal of hazardous
wastes is one of America's major public issues.
Hazardous wastes from industrial production have been
common for decades, but only recently has major
legislation focused on the magnitude of the problem and
on research to help find remedies to it. Because today's
waste problems differ from those in the past in terms
of volume, toxicity and resistance to treatment,
remedies will need to exploit new technologies and
procedures.
Hazardous wastes now include many man-made
compounds that do not exist naturally. Some of these
compounds are slow to biodegrade. In 1981, in excess
of 50 million metric tons of hazardous wastes including
organic chemicals, pesticides, acids, caustics,
flammables and explosives were generated in the
United States. The extent of health problems caused by
hazardous wastes is still largely undefined.
Concentrations at which chemical wastes cause adverse
effects, their latent period before manifestation, the
routes of hazardous waste exposures and the chronic
effects of such exposures on people and the
environment are difficult to determine.
Congress has legislated, and EPA has developed, a
hazardous waste program. The major goal of this
program is to reduce risks to public health and the
environment by ensuring sound management of
hazardous wastes.
The EPA research program for hazardous waste in
fiscal year 1983 is allocated $33 million. These
resources are distributed among the research disciplines
as follows: engineering and technology, 55%;
monitoring systems and quality assurance, 22%;
environmental processes and effects, 15%; scientific
assessment, 5%; and health effects, 3%.
LEGISLATIVE MANDATE
EPA's mandate for hazardous waste research
comes from the Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act (RCRA) of 1976, as amended; the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), as amended; and the
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980.
RCRA is the vehicle for defining, at the national level,
the minimal guidelines and requirements necessary to
protect human health and the environment from
hazards posed by the treatment, storage or disposal of
hazardous wastes.
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Hazardous Wastes
RCRA also gives the EPA authority to establish
national standards to ensure proper management,
transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of
hazardous wastes. RCRA requires EPA to develop lists
and criteria for determining what constitutes a
hazardous waste, standards that have to be met by
handlers of hazardous wastes, technical standards for
issuing permits to hazardous waste facilities and
requirements for the authorization of state hazardous
waste programs.
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which
sets federal policy regarding the discharge of oil or
hazardous substances into U.S. navigable waters,
directs EPA to develop, promulgate and revise
regulations pertaining to such discharges. FWPCA
authorizes EPA to initiate civil action for violations
and to undertake actions to mitigate damage to public
health or welfare caused by discharges. Although
regulations implementing FWPCA already exist, they
require periodic updating based on new information and
improvements in control technology.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act provides authority for a
federal response to the release or threatened release of
hazardous substances. CERCLA also includes the Post-
Closure Liability Trust Fund. As a means to achieve its
goals, CERCLA established the Hazardous Substance
Response Trust Fund, also known as Superfund. While a
significant amount of scientific activity is under way
relating to Superfund activities, this activity is of a
technical support nature and therefore is not
appropriate for inclusion in this Research Outlook.
Many of the results from the research described below,
however, will be of use at some point in the Superfund
effort.
BACKGROUND
Hazardous waste problems have certain features
that, taken together, determine the most effective
response. Wastes at industry sources or already in
disposal sites need to be identified, characterized and
classified as to their composition, quantities and
potential health effects. Sites to be used for disposal
and technology to be employed at the sites need to be
evaluated to assure that future discarded wastes are
adequately monitored and controlled. Permits for
operating sites and for disposing of wastes need to
provide permittees with the appropriate requirements
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Hazardous Wastes
to be followed. Instrumentation to monitor sites and to
assure compliance or to detect and measure problems
needs to be effective for various types of wastes.
All of these activities and requirements demand a
solid scientific base of technically sound, field-tested
and proven procedures that supply accurate and timely
information for solving a specific hazardous waste
problem. Moreover, the data, information and decision-
making processes must be of known quality to assure
consistent quality control, since much of the regulatory
authority for dealing with hazardous wastes will be
transferred to state agencies. States will need
monitoring methods for obtaining verifiable data.
Furthermore, revisions of the hazardous waste
regulations will occur periodically and must have a
scientific data base that is technically sound.
A major problem facing EPA is the relatively
recent recognition of the dangers from waste and the
dearth of scientific data on the subject. For example,
scientific analytical methods have been developed for
many volatile and semi-volatile compounds, but less
progress has been made in developing methods for non-
volatile compounds. EPA's research program is
designed to fill major information gaps, both to provide
near-term solutions and to establish a scientific base
for the longer-term.
MA30R RESEARCH ISSUES
The key hazardous waste research issues are:
o What designs will make landfills and surface
impoundments more secure?
o How can air pollution from volatile organics be
controlled?
o What information is needed to optimize the use of
land treatment for hazardous waste disposal?
o What information is needed to optimize the
incineration of hazardous wastes?
o How can the accuracy and reliability of methods
for sampling wastes and waste sites and for biologically
and chemically analyzing the sample data be improved?
o How can the extent of health effects and risks
from hazardous wastes be defined sufficiently to allow
adequate levels of protection to be determined while
avoiding costly over-control? Can rapid and
economical tests be developed which can be accurately
extrapolated to humans?
o How can non-volatile compounds be measured?
o How can EPA assure that the analyses of samples
taken from hazardous wastes yield data of known
quality?
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Hazardous Wastes
Issue: What designs will make landfills and surface
impoundments more secure?
Landfills and surface impoundments have been
used for years as inexpensive means of disposing of
hazardous wastes. The design of many of these sites
followed haphazard, conflicting and sometimes
erroneous information. Some of the problems of today,
particularly ground-water contamination, are testimony
to the inadequacy of the earlier approach. With that
legacy in mind, one of EPA's proposed research
programs is attempting to develop the information to
make landfills and surface impoundments more secure.
The research focus is on the life span and efficacy of
flexible, synthetic membranes and/or impervious soils
used as liners for the hazardous-waste sites.
Flexible membrane liners (FML's) and impervious
soils can be placed on the bottom of a waste site before
the hazardous waste disposal begins; they can also be
used to cap sites once they are filled. The liners, if
installed and maintained correctly, contain wastes and
isolate them from the influx of surface or ground water
that might cause the waste to escape from the site.
When used as a supplement to clay or soil barriers,
FML's can dramatically increase their effectiveness.
The key design criterion for using FML's and impervious
soils is whether they are compatible with the wastes
they are to control: some wastes may pass through
certain materials used in liners, other wastes may
chemically degrade liners. EPA research projects
evaluate the compatibility of synthetic liners and soil
liners with wastes and investigate techniques to
monitor the integrity of liners.
EPA has the leading role in federally sponsored
FML research, although there are a few other
organizations conducting their own programs. A small
program conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers is looking at liner compatibility with military
wastes (e.g., explosives). Private companies are
developing new liners, but their product designs are
hampered by the lack of precise descriptions of the
specific waste mixtures which would require liners.
EPA's research approach is to develop tests to
determine the compatibility of liners with various
classes of organic and inorganic compounds at
concentrations likely to be seen in waste mixtures. The
tests will be for effects on porosity, permeability, and
the response of the liners to chemical and mechanical
stress.
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Hazardous Wastes
A method will be devised to predict likely
leachate compositions based on various concentrations
of waste compounds and chemical reactions among
them. The liners will then be installed in test beds and
evaluated under actual field operating conditions.
Monitoring and measuring equipment will be developed
to determine the durability of the liner and its ability
to contain and control specific waste mixtures. The
output of the research will be a set of recommendations
for using liners at waste sites.
Research regarding surface impoundment liners
will also focus on repairs to leaking liners. New
methods and instrumentation are needed to detect
leaks. The current method is to take periodic samples
from monitoring wells around an impoundment.
Research is focusing on the use of geophysical methods
and sensor technology to monitor the unsaturated soil
zone. This monitoring will detect pollutants from a
leaking liner before they reach the ground water. Once
a leak has been detected, however, methods are needed
to plug it. Techniques will be investigated for bonding
a patch to the leaking liner.
A manual with landfill and surface impoundment
design recommendations will be available in 1983. It
will be updated periodically as more is learned about
waste characteristics and liner compatibility. The
leak-sealing methods will be developed in 198^. In
future years, emphasis will be put on leak detection.
Other means to control the flow of waste-site
leachate will be studied to match the type of control
methods with the nature of the leachate problem and
the characteristics of the waste site. This work is
important because ground water and surface water will
become contaminated as they come into contact with
the leachate plume. This, in turn, can affect drinking
water aquifers and could, depending on the seriousness
of the contamination, lead to the closure of drinking
water sources.
The rate of leachate flow is determined by the
physical and chemical characteristics of the waste and,
to a lesser extent, by the subsurface geology. The key
factor here is the amount of water that percolates
through the waste. This is affected by the amount of
water in the wastes, entering the landfill, or in the
surrounding land. Rain-water inflows to landfills, for
example, can cause leachate flows that might be
avoided if the waste were isolated from the inflow.
The research at EPA is developing control
methods and technology for abating the flow of
leachates as well as methods for collecting and treating
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Hazardous Wastes
leachates prior to their discharge. Such technology
includes bentonite dams, slurry trenches and French
drains. Technical handbooks presenting spill prevention
and treatment/removal techniques will be published in
1984. Biological controls will include the use of the
existing or modified microbes that will decompose
waste to inert or harmless substances. The result of
this research will be a set of alternatives for resolving
problems at waste sites with migrating leachate.
Monitoring techniques for the unsaturated soil zone will
be described for use in determining the likelihood of
future escape of leachate to the ground water. The
results will be available for field use by 1985.
Issue: How can air pollution from volatile organics
be controlled?
Waste materials disposed of in a landfill or
surface impoundment may produce air pollution when
either the materials themselves volatize (evaporate) or
when products of chemical reactions among the
materials evaporate. Such volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) found in the air around landfills and surface
impoundments may produce health and environmental
effects and unpleasant odors.
EPA's research program is developing techniques
for measuring and predicting the amounts and rates of
VOC emissions. One prediction method will be used to
estimate the amounts that will move up through a soil
cover. Research projects will identify the effects of
barometric pressure and waste decomposition on the
movement of volatile substances. Results will be
available in 1984.
Another prediction method will describe the
movement of VOCs laterally through the soil. After
field verification is completed in 1983, the method will
be used to determine effective VOC control
technologies (e.g., vents and barriers) and to decide how
far buildings must be from a site to avoid exposing
people.
The verified prediction and measurement methods
will be used to evaluate the magnitude of the VOC
problem so that site designers and permit reviewers can
compare performance estimates with actual emissions.
This evaluation and comparison will provide the
technical basis for potential regulatory action and for
identifying future research needs.
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Hazardous Wastes
Issue: What information is needed to make optimum use
of land treatment for hazardous waste disposal?
Land treatment of hazardous wastes involves
tilling (incorporating) it into the soil to enable the
natural biological, chemical and physical processes of
the soil to decompose, destroy and detoxify the
hazardous compounds. The major benefits of using this
natural assimilative capacity of soil are two-fold: first,
it can be a very cost-effective approach, and second,
through land treatment such processes as biological
degradation, chemical transformation and simple
immobilization can convert some wastes into innocuous
compounds rather than being stored in a hazardous form
in landfills and surface impoundments.
The concept of land treatment for hazardous
wastes is not new. Petroleum companies have used the
technique for more than 20 years with good success in
treating substances such as tank bottom residues.
EPA's research will build upon the information garnered
from these earlier successes and will extend the land
treatment option for a broader range of hazardous
wastes for which conventional disposal is economically
and environmentally undesirable. Research will focus
on understanding the subsurface physical, chemical and
biological processes that affect the movement and
degradation of wastes.
Land treatment studies begin in the laboratory,
then move to a greenhouse environment and, finally, to
actual test sites if good treatability potential is
indicated. EPA currently has a test area of more than
100 acres which is available for land treatment studies.
Laboratory tests will be made of actual waste mixtures
supplied by cooperating industries. The mixtures will
be characterized to determine the amounts and types of
waste compounds they contain. The land at the test
site will be characterized to determine its physical and
chemical parameters and likely biological responses to
the wastes. The mixture will then be spread on the soil
and tilled.
Measuring and monitoring instruments and sample
taking will reveal the degree of biological activity
taking place. Soil column testing in the laboratory will
determine the migration of pollutants and the loading
rates. Variables will be evaluated to determine the
optimum land treatment process. Such variables
include loading rate of waste initially applied to the
land, different application and incorporation methods,
amount of soil moisture, pH, and soil fertility.
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Hazardous Wastes
To monitor land treatment sites for contaminants,
several statistical detection procedures will be
employed. The monitoring network design will be based
on the statistics of spatially correlated variables. By
using these techniques, a range of correlation
coefficients can be computed to minimize cost and
maximize coverage of the sampling design. Since the
monitoring must be repeated over time, the monitoring
network design will include time-series analysis to
minimize cost while maintaining an acceptable
probability of coverage.
The hypothesis testing of monitoring data will
compute both the type I error (alpha, probability of a
false positive) and type II error (beta, probability of a
false negative). Such procedures will be appropriate for
multiple variate analysis with unequal variances. EPA
will develop guidance on the design of monitoring
networks for use by regional personnel in issuing
permits.
Issue: What information is needed to optimize the
incineration of hazardous wastes?
Incineration is an effective method for destroying
hazardous wastes. Its use in the past was limited by its
relatively high cost when compared to landfill and
surface impoundment alternatives. Now, though, these
alternatives are becoming more expensive and less
available for certain wastes and geographical regions.
Extensive knowledge has been produced under this
program and is being applied under the Superfund
program. Further information may help to optimize
incineration conditions in order to achieve the
maximum destruction of wastes at the lowest cost.
EPA research will develop scientific data for existing
incinerators to describe the best operating conditions
for incinerating certain types of hazardous wastes and
to define air emissions which may result from the
incineration of certain types of hazardous wastes using
various incineration processes.
The program will run test burns in pilot-scale
incinerators as well as in commercial incinerators.
EPA has a Combustion Research Facility in Pine Bluff,
Arkansas, in which to conduct the pilot-scale test
burns. The facility is fully instrumented to allow
determination of the various parameters associated
with incineration in rotary kiln and liquid injection
incinerators.
The research program will first characterize
waste for thermal destructability and then burn these
wastes at the EPA research facility to assess the
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Hazardous Wastes
effectiveness of the incineration process. The
parameters to be evaluated include temperatures in the
incinerator, dwell time of the wastes in the high
temperature zone, the Btu content of the waste, the
oxygen content of the mixture, the optimal air/waste
ratio, waste injection methods, the need for an
afterburner to assure complete destruction and the
types of analysis and sampling techniques needed. One
major concern to be investigated involves the
establishment of thermal destruction conditions that
are necessary to eliminate the formation of additional
toxic substances which may form under current
incinerator conditions. Additionally, air emissions from
the incineration will be characterized to determine if,
and at what concentrations, hazardous compounds or
toxic metals are being emitted.
The information collected from the tests will be
used to allow scale-up to full-sized incinerators. Field
verifications will determine likely operating
efficiencies and optimal methods to be used in actual
hazardous waste control sites. The composition and
quantities of combustion products produced will be
analyzed to ensure that no harmful pollutants are
released to the environment. EPA has established a
permit assistance team to help permit writers to
evaluate permit applications. The results of this
research will help that team to assess the data included
in permit applications and to establish necessary trial
burn parameters and criteria for particular wastes to be
burned in specific types of incinerators.
In addition to the studies of conventional
incineration processes, a research program will
investigate advanced high-temperature industrial
processes. The program will field test full-scale
operating units to evaluate unit performance and to
determine conditions that would limit the processes'
effectiveness.
Issue: How can the accuracy and reliability of methods
for sampling wastes and waste sites and for biologically
and chemically analyzing the sample data be improved?
Some of the current state-of-the-art methods for
analyzing hazardous wastes and waste site samples have
not undergone the rigorous evaluation necessary to
define standard confidence limits for the data they
produce. Such limits, stated as the "plus-or-minus"
confidence limit of each data point, are especially
important when the measured concentration is near the
regulatory decision limit used to determine whether a
waste is hazardous or a site sample indicates a health
or environmental problem.
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Hazardous Wastes
Current programs use analytical methods based on
technology developed for EPA's water monitoring
programs. Confidence limits of these methods can now
be applied to the analysis of aqueous samples.
However, only limited information is available for their
application to hazardous waste samples and samples
from waste sites (e.g., soils, sediments and solids).
Because of this limitation, EPA has placed a high
priority on developing quality assurance information on
various methods. A data base will be developed
consisting of standard reference materials containing
priority pollutants. This will serve as a single,
traceable source of known purity standards for RCRA
monitoring activities.
EPA researchers are also evaluating new
technology and developing improved quality control and
assurance procedures to reduce the cost of analyses
while simultaneously narrowing the confidence limits of
the resulting data. Guidance documents will be
produced that define the confidence limits of the
current methodology and describe improved protocols
and technology. Finally, standardized methods will help
to support specific RCRA regulatory requirements such
as methods for characterizing waste as hazardous due
to toxicity, corrosiveness, ignitability, etc.
One EPA study will improve the current
extraction procedure for the RCRA toxicity
characteristic. The procedure now in use can only be
applied to a small list of toxic materials and does not
yield an extract that is amenable to bioassay. The
improved procedure, based on a flow-through column
of the waste, should yield an extract suitable for
bioassay. The procedure is being evaluated to
determine its reproducibility and how well it reflects
actual waste disposal situations. Results are expected
in 1984. Other research includes developing standard
protocols for other RCRA characteristics such as
ignitability (flash point), corrosiveness and reactivity
due to toxic gas generation. These protocols will
undergo testing to establish their precision and
accuracy during 1984 and 1985.
Another research effort is evaluating the use of
bioassays for determining the toxicity of hazardous
wastes. Standard protocols for the Daphnia Magna and
Ames Test bioassays will undergo single lab and
collaborative testing during 1983. Other bioassays will
be identified and undergo similar protocol development
and evaluation during 1984-1985.
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The evaluation of methods to analyze hazardous
wastes will continue. Collaborative testing of an
analytical protocol for measuring medium
concentrations (from one part per million to 100 parts
per thousand toxics concentration) will be completed in
1983, and evaluation of methods to extract organic and
inorganic samples (soxhlet vs. liquid-liquid extraction
for organics; digestion procedures for inorganics) will
be reported on in 198^. A specific analytical method
for dioxin in hazardous waste is being standardized.
Methods are required that detect dioxin at very low
concentrations (100 parts per trillion) even in the
presence of higher concentrations of other substances.
An initial dioxin protocol will be provided during 1983.
Efforts will then be initiated to provide similar
protocols for dibenzofuran, another highly toxic
compound, by 1985.
Projects to improve the quality of hazardous
waste data and reduce the cost of analysis are under
way. One analysis method, known as pulsed positive ion
negative ion chemical ionization mass spectroscopy, has
the potential for improving the sensitivity of mass
spectroscopic analysis of very toxic materials. The
method is being evaluated and a protocol will be
produced in 1983. Tandem mass spectroscopy for the
quick screening of hazardous wastes will be reported on
in 1984. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is
also being investigated for use in the analysis of high
concentrations of hazardous waste.
Issue: How can the extent of health effects and risks
from hazardous wastes be defined sufficient to allow
adequate levels of protection to be determined while
avoiding costly over-control? Can rapid and economical
tests be developed which can be accurately extrapolated
to humans?
Section 3001 of RCRA requires EPA to
promulgate criteria for identifying the characteristics
of hazardous wastes and to provide a listing of
hazardous wastes. Because of the large number of
wastes to be screened, it may prove useful for the EPA
to develop a battery of rapid, inexpensive bioassay
prescreening tests that prioritize hazards from complex
chemical mixtures by determining which wastes are
most important for toxicological characterization. If
the prescreening shows a waste to be potentially
hazardous, then a second method may be used to
determine affected health endpoints and the
environmental levels of exposure at which effects can
be observed. Results from this second method will be
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Hazardous Wastes
used in the process of analyzing a waste for listing or
delisting as a hazardous waste. Currently existing
methods have not been validated for complex mixtures
and not all endpoints have rapid, inexpensive test
methods to quantify potential effects. Research will be
conducted to develop such methods.
Which testing procedures can be used to estimate
relative degree of hazard is the major issue for
determining health hazards from chemicals. The goal is
to develop a group of tests that will allow estimates of
relative hazard to be made at reasonable costs. EPA's
approach to solving this problem is to validate shorter-
term toxicological testing procedures for ranking
hazards to human health. Currently that ranking is
obtained by more conventional, but more expensive test
procedures.
To predict the ranking of hazards to human
health, it is necessary to identify two different types of
toxicity: responses which result from genotoxic
effects, on the one hand, and toxicity to target organs,
on the other. This research is essential for biological
testing of results obtained in the field to be validated
for human health effects. In some cases substantial
evidence indicates qualitative correlations between
short-term and more conventional testing procedures.
However, use of data from the short-term tests for
quantitative estimates of health risk is not yet
practical. EPA research projects will establish the
cause-and-effect relationship between the short-term
indicator of adverse health effects and overt diseases
and will determine the quantitative relationship
between does-responses, the indicators and the
diseases. The first three years of the research will
emphasize establishing empirical relationships between
indicators and the production of diseases. Key goals of
this work are the determination of which testing
methods are clearly irrelevant to human health effects
and the establishment of cause-and-effect relationships
between indicator and disease for the final validation of
health effects models.
By 1985, research will complete an evaluation of
an inexpensive, qualitative prescreening protocol
integrating existing methods for predicting biological
activity (chronic toxicity, mutagenicity, neurotoxicity,
etc.) The report will assess the efficiency of the
protocol for application to RCRA materials such as
complex mixtures of raw wastes and leachates. The
protocol is being developed to provide the data to
support setting of first-level priorities using an
integrated battery of tests. Also by 1985, initial field
testing will be completed for an integrated protocol of
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Hazardous Wastes
a second-level, confirmatory battery of existing tests.
The protocol will quantify levels of dose-response using
a single set of test animals for the specific toxic
hazards of carcinogenicity, mutagenicity system
toxicity, neurobehavior and teratogenicity. When
proven, this protocol, by quantifying risks, could be
used as a basis for determining if a waste is hazardous.
Issue: How can non-volatile compounds be measured?
Current EPA monitoring methods are, to a large
degree, applicable only to the volatile and semi-volatile
compounds that can easily be analyzed by gas
chromatography and GC/MS. Many potentially toxic
compounds (e.g., larger molecular weight compounds)
are not easily analyzed by the current protocols. While
monitoring methods exist for some of the less volatile
compounds — for example, liquid chromatography can
be used for some pesticides — current routine
monitoring procedures cannot adequately analyze
intractable compounds (those not easily removed from
water or similar matrices) or non-volatile compounds.
This is significant because there is a considerable
proportion of non-volatiles in samples from some
hazardous waste sites. EPA research will attempt to
identify or develop analytical methods to measure these
of compounds.
Two methods being studied are high pressure
liquid chromatography and triple stage quadrapole mass
spectroscopy. The mass spectroscopy method will be
initially evaluated in 1983 for its application to non-
volatile toxic chemicals. Pending the success of that
evaluation, the method will be fully developed in 1985.
Issue: How can EPA assure that the analysis of samples
taken from hazardous wastes yield data of known
quality?
Analyses of hazardous wastes are being conducted
under the auspices of EPA throughout the United
States. Rigorously defined analytical protocols are
required to assure that the laboratories conducting the
analyses collect accurate, quality-assured data.
Quality assurance is needed to:
o develop/evaluate analytical standards for
instrument calibration,
o develop/evaluate reference solutions for
evaluations of laboratory performance,
o develop/evaluate reference materials (soils,
sludges, etc.) of known composition for intercomparison
studies,
o validate sampling, analytical and biological
methods, and
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Hazardous Wastes
• determine equivalency of new sampling,
analytical and biological methods.
EPA has developed and is applying analytical
protocols that support both RCRA and CERCLA
monitoring responsibilities. Quality assurance is a key
part of this work. EPA will also maintain a repository
of calibration standards through 1985. This repository
will support RCRA requirements, as will reference
materials and solutions developed by EPA to evaluate
laboratory performance and to ensure comparability of
analytical data. On-site evaluation of RCRA
laboratories and additional support will also be
performed by EPA.
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Chapter Two
WATER QUALITY
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WATER QUALITY
Outline:
Introduction
Legislative Mandate
Background
Major Research Issues:
Issue: What are appropriate methods for
determining attainable uses for a water body?
Issue: How should laboratory-derived water
quality criteria be modified to apply to site-
specific conditions?
Issue: How can wasteload allocation techniques
be used to translate applicable water quality
standards into allowable pollution discharge
loads?
Issue: What is the best way to assess the impacts
of the ocean disposal of wastes?
Issue: What are the dynamics and biological
availability of pollutants in sediments?
Issue: What analytical test procedures and quality
control methods are necessary for accurate
measurement of habitat? What monitoring is
needed to quantify water pollutants?
Issue: What are the key technical and scientific
factors that limit the effective treatment and use
of sludges from municipal and industrial
wastewater treatment?
Issue: Are occurrences of infectious diseases
increased by certain wastewater treatment or
sludge disposal practices?
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Water Quality
INTRODUCTION
EPA's water quality research program includes
both an emphasis on a field-oriented water-quality
based approach to pollution control, and consideration
of the chemical and biological impacts of the ocean
disposal of wastes. The research will include studies of
ecological effects, process and systems engineering,
health effects and monitoring methodologies.
With the nearing completion of effluent guidelines
and the application of technology-based controls, EPA
will now give more emphasis to the implementation of a
water-quality based approach. States will focus on
those water bodies for which pollution abatement and
control decisions are most needed to prevent or reverse
the impairment of a designated use.
The water-quality based approach to water
pollution control matches control requirements to site-
specific uses. Each use of a body of water (e.g.,
recreation, fishing) calls for a minimum water quality.
Once the use of a stream segment or water body is
defined, various alternatives to achieve or maintain the
water quality appropriate to the designated use can be
evaluated, and cost-effective controls can be selected.
This process involves consideration of existing water
problems, of community goals for the use of water
resources, and of costs and benefits of various control
strategies.
Although significant progress has been made in
developing water-quality based controls, additional
technical information is needed to facilitate pollution
control decisions. The technical information must
provide decision makers with a basis for the selection
of water pollution controls. Standardized analytical
and monitoring methods are needed for the assessment
of local water quality through bioassay and biological
survey, as well as for compliance with water quality
standards and discharge limits specified in permits.
Although water pollution control programs will
increasingly emphasize the water-quality based
approach, the technology-based approach that has been
applied over the past decade will be continued. The
Agency's construction grant program will continue to be
a major part of the Agency's water pollution control
efforts.
Over the last year, substantial progress has been
made on promulgation of final, technology-based
standards, based on the best available technology. EPA
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Water Quality
has completed most of the technical and economic
studies needed to support the promulgation of Agency
effluent guideline regulations for major industries. For
those pollution sources not subject to effluent
guidelines, permitting agencies will issue individual best
professional judgment permits for pollution discharges.
The second major water quality research issue is
ocean disposal of waste. As a result of the decision in
City of New York v. EPA, 543 F. Supp. 1084 (S.D.N.Y.,
1981), EPA is proposing revisions to existing ocean
dumping regulations. Under these revisions, EPA will
consider and balance all the relevant statutory factors
of Section 102(a) of the Marine Protection, Research
and Sanctuaries Act in making permit decisions. This
approach requires careful assessment of the role of the
oceans and coastal waters in the assimilation of
municipal and industrial waste and dredged materials.
It also requires the ability to predict the impacts of
ocean disposal, to evaluate alternative disposal options,
to select appropriate disposal sites for specific wastes,
and to detect disposal-related problems.
The ocean disposal research program will provide
the information necessary to support scientifically
defensible decisions with regard to ocean disposal waste
management. EPA, in conjunction with other federal
agencies, will also seek to establish uniform criteria
and methods for determining unreasonable degradation
or irreparable harm to the disposal sites. Ocean
disposal issues are expected to be a major EPA concern
over the next five years.
The water quality research program for fiscal
year 1983 is allocated a total of $30.6 million. This
total is divided among three subgroups: water quality
research, $14.6 million; municipal wastewater research,
$11.1 million; and industrial wastewater research, $4.9
million. The total resources for the water quality
program are distributed among the major research
areas as follows: engineering and technology, 34%;
environmental processes and effects, 26%; monitoring
systems and quality assurance, 18%; health effects,
12%; Great Lakes research, 8%; and scientific
assessment, 2%.
LEGISLATIVE MANDATE
The Clean Water Act and the Marine Protection,
Research and Sanctuaries Act both address protection
of the nation's water quality. The objective of the
Clean Water Act is to restore and maintain the
chemical, physical and biological integrity of U.S.
waters. The objective of the Marine Protection,
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Water Quality
Research and Sanctuaries Act is to regulate the types
and amounts of materials which, if dumped or
discharged into ocean waters, could adversely affect
human health, welfare, amenities and the marine
environment, ecological systems and economic
potential. The latter act requires compliance with the
London Dumping Convention, to which the United
States is a contracting party.
BACKGROUND
Although much progress has been made in
establishing a scientifically sound data base for making
water quality management decisions, major information
needs remain. EPA research will focus on the following
problem areas. First, it is possible that the national
water quality criteria are inappropriate for certain
water bodies, thereby imposing unnecessary control
costs. Imprecise linkages between in-stream criteria
and water uses may make it difficult to define the
benefits of achieving the criteria for particular water
bodies.
Second, there is a need to give greater
consideration to sediment impacts. Current water
quality criteria address effects in the water column,
yet many toxic pollutants and nutrients end up in
sediments. It is difficult to assess with confidence the
importance of sediment contamination, or to relate
pollutant levels in sediments to effluent discharges.
Third, reliable and low-cost methods of
identifying certain chemical pollutants are being
developed.
Fourth, more information is needed on chemical
class interactions with the nutrients and pollutants
ingested by aquatic life forms. Availability of this type
of information would greatly improve the states' ability
to understand the biological health of their waters.
Fifth, more research is needed on fundamental
control processes in order to make more accurate
assessments of costs and benefits. In addition,
information is needed on the performance, costs and
water quality impacts of innovative and alternative
(I/A) technologies (constructed under the I/A provisions
of the Clean Water Act) and of advanced treatment
technologies.
Sixth, the quantities of sludge and septage from
treating wastewater are large. More information is
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Water Quality
needed regarding beneficial uses of these materials as a
disposal option. Municipalities and industry need
accurate information about the process engineering of a
broad range of sludge treatment and disposal options.
Seventh, there are insufficient data to fully
evaluate the occurrence of infectious and chemically
induced diseases which may result from current and
anticipated wastewater-sludge treatment and disposal
practices. Additional information is necessary to
assure that treatment processes preclude human health
hazards.
Eight, developing site-specific water quality
criteria using the chemical-by-chemical approach can
be costly. There is a need for new toxicologic testing
methods, applied directly to effluents and receiving
streams, which can predict chemically induced toxic
effects in humans and aquatic organisms. There is also
a need to develop new protocols for developing site-
specific criteria which are less resource intensive.
MAJOR RESEARCH ISSUES
EPA's research programs will provide scientific
products which address the concerns raised above and
assist the states in the implementation of the water-
quality based approach. The major issues being
addressed by EPA research are:
o What are appropriate methods for determining
attainable uses for a water body?
o How should laboratory-derived water quality
criteria be modified to apply to site-specific
conditions?
o How can wasteload allocation techniques be used
to translate applicable water quality standards into
allowable pollution discharge loads?
o What is the best way to assess the impacts of the
ocean disposal of wastes?
o What are the dynamics and biological availability
of pollutants in sediments?
o What analytical test procedures and quality
control methods are necessary for accurate
measurement of habitat? What monitoring is needed to
quantify water pollutants?
o What are the key technical and scientific factors
that limit the effective treatment and use of sludges
from wastewater treatment?
o Are occurrences of infectious diseases increased
by certain wastewater treatment or sludge disposal
practices?
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Water Quality
Issue: What are appropriate methods for determining
attainable use for a water body?
The water-quality based approach focuses on
protecting water uses. EPA has proposed that states
may employ a "use-attainability analysis" to help
determine realistic water use goals for specific water
bodies. To do so, the existing system is assessed to
determine the overall health of the aquatic
environment, the maximum biological potential is
assessed, and the physical habitat features necessary to
achieve desired uses are determined. Following the
development of these data, costs and benefits are
compared and a decision is made with regard to the
proper control levels needed to attain a specified use.
There is currently considerable information that
could be used to assess the health of aquatic
environments, but there is no systematic method for
integrating it into a comprehensive, useful and accurate
statement of the condition of a water body. EPA will
continue to assess and improve existing methods, and
will combine the most suitable physical, chemical and
biological measures into an overall assessment protocol.
In coordination with the states, EPA will develop
protocols to aid in field assessments of specific sites.
These protocols will be flexible, and will be arranged in
such a way that state and local officials can compare
the benefits of different levels of pollution control.
Part of the use-attainability analysis is a
determination of the biological condition of a body of
water. To conduct such analyses, states need better
assessment procedures. EPA is evaluating current bio-
monitoring methodology, and is designing new methods.
The factors to be considered in detecmining the
biological condition of an aquatic system are water
quality, physical habitat, hydrology and biological
interactions. EPA will develop a method to combine
data from these categories into a description of the
condition of the aquatic system, extent and probable
causes of degradation, potential for recovery and
possible corrective measures. For example, one project
is examining the use of fish community analyses as a
substitute for a complete biotic analysis. The goal of
this research is to produce a set of guidelines for use in
assessing the overall conditions of an aquatic
ecosystem. The guidelines will be produced by 1984.
They will be reviewed, evaluated and field tested so
that, by 1986, a valid set of guidelines should be
available.
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Water Quality
To predict the levels of use that could be attained
in a body of water — the second step of the use
attainability analysis ,— requires research to detail
overall water-body conditions. At some point a water
body approaches its maximum biological potential and
cannot realistically be improved further. The problem
facing the states will be how to determine the
biological potential of specific water bodies when only
limited analytical techniques and resources are
available. EPA's research program will develop
methods to describe the potential of aquatic
ecosystems and will demonstrate the methods on
waterways in various regions of the country.
The traditional approach to determining biological
potential has been upstream-downstream studies.
These studies are costly because each stream must be
studied twice. They are also imprecise because it is
uncommon to find a clean upstream site sufficiently
similar to the downstream area. Better methods are
needed.
Current research is aimed at estimating biological
potential by correlating regional patterns of land use,
geology, soil types, potential natural vegetation,
climate and topography with physical, chemical and
biological characteristics of streams. Several projects
are under way. In Ohio, 100 field sites will be used to
determine whether regional patterns correlate with
stream characteristics and aquatic community traits.
In Oregon, biological information is being combined
with fish collection records and historical surveys as a
way to estimate system potential. In Montana, fish
data bases will be correlated with regional terrestrial
characteristics. Results from these studies will include
maps that show "attainability regions" for the studied
states and an indication of whether computerized fish
data may suffice for future use attainability analyses.
This effort will be completed in 1985. If biological and
chemical correlations are encouraging, future work will
extend the methods to other regions.
The third part of the use attainability analysis is
to determine the physical habitat features needed for a
desired use. One possible approach is to correlate
specific levels of use with specific environmental
requirements for those uses. EPA research will develop
site-specific methods to determine water quality
criteria, and the means to relate these criteria to uses.
Physical habitat guidance will be developed for other
environmental characteristics such as hydrology and
physical habitat features (e.g., benthic substrate,
sediment quality, riparian characteristics, channel
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Water Quality
morphology and in-stream cover). This information can
be used to help decide whether it is more cost-effective
to attain a use by improving the water quality or by
changing the physical habitat conditions.
EPA's research program will identify and quantify
the physical habitat conditions required for attaining
selected beneficial uses for water bodies. Initial effort
will focus on factors that are needed for maintaining a
healthy biological community rather than on improving
fishing or the assimilative capacity of the water body.
Data for the research will be collected from other
federal agencies and states. If the data are found to be
inadequate, a research program will be designed to
obtain the data necessary. One approach being
considered is a computerized data base of organisms
and their environmental requirements. The data base
would be structured so that either the expected species
at a site or the required environmental conditions for
specific species could be determined.
Planned research results include:
• Identification and recommendation of
biomonitoring methods applicable to use attainability
analysis, 1984.
• Evaluation of methods for using fish community
measures as a surrogate for more intensive surveys of
the entire ecosystem, 1985.
• Development of procedures for determining
biological potential of stream ecosystems based on
ongoing studies. (Oregon, 1984; Ohio, 1985).
• Definition of selected physical habitat criteria for
stream ecosystems, 1986.
• Development of an aquatic organism toxicity data
base and protocol for developing site-specific criteria
for biotic communities which are habitat limited, 1984.
Issue: How should laboratory-derived water quality
criteria be modified to apply to site-specific
conditions?
As EPA and the states emphasize a water-quality
approach to pollution control, water quality goals will
be defined for water bodies by designating the use to be
made of the water and by setting the criteria necessary
to protect the use. These criteria are numerical or
narrative descriptions of the concentration of
pollutants which cannot be exceeded if the uses of the
water body are to be met.
In many cases, states adopt national water quality
criteria developed by EPA laboratories for achieving
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Water Quality
general levels of quality. However, because these
criteria are laboratory-derived, are meant to apply
nationwide, and are used to protect all types of aquatic
systems, they cannot take into account site-specific
factors. The national criteria may be under- or over-
protective at a specific site for three reasons: first,
species at a site may be more or less sensitive than
those used to derive the laboratory-based criteria;
second, the physical and chemical characteristics of the
water at a site can alter the biological availability and
toxicity of polluting substances; and third, aquatic
organisms can adapt to pollutant levels via a variety of
physiological processes. EPA's research program is
developing the information needed to describe the
modifications necessary to make the national criteria
more site-specific.
The problem regarding species sensitivity
differences arises because the national criteria are
based on the responses of trout, salmon, and penaeid
shrimp to pollutant loadings. These organisms have
been shown to be especially sensitive to some materials
and, therefore, their responses may not be the proper
basis for establishing water quality standards at a site
populated with differing species. The species
sensitivity differences will be resolved by developing a
data base that describes aquatic organisms' acute and
chronic responses to different levels of toxic
compounds. The data base will help states or permit
writers relate species to acceptable pollutant loads for
maintaining water uses. Species data also can be used
to develop criteria for water bodies in which habitat
conditions limit biological diversity. Existing data will
be used to identify species/compound combinations that
need further testing before they can be put into the
data base. Early indications are that site-specific
criteria which consider species sensitivity may change
existing criteria at some sites by as much as two to
three orders of magnitude. Results of the research will
be available in 1984.
The second problem with the national criteria —
that physical or chemical characteristics of water
systems alter toxic effects — has been demonstrated in
a number of cases. For example, hardness, pH,
suspended solids and salinity are known to influence the
concentrations and bio-availability, and thus the
toxicity, of some heavy metals, ammonia and other
chemicals. Research into the effects of water's
chemical and physical properties on toxicants will be
conducted with chemical models. One model will
develop empirical relationships between a compound's
toxicity and the major water variables.
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Water Quality
A third problem is the fact that aquatic organisms
can adapt to pollutant levels via a variety of
physiological processes. Research has shown that
aquatic organisms produce detoxifying substances when
under stress. These substances act as a sink, binding
contaminants that, if unchecked, could result in
mortality. It is important that this adaptive process be
fully understood and properly accounted for and
measured in environmental assessments, especially
those pertaining to use attainability, standard setting
and wasteload allocations.
Planned research results include:
• Feasibility report on using chemical speciation
models to derive site-specific criteria, 1983.
• Report on feasibility of using organism
toxification-detoxification concepts for the
development of site-specific criteria, 1984.
• Field validation of protocols for derivation of
site-specific water quality criteria, 1984.
• Development of protocols for modifying national
water quality criteria for marine waters, 1984.
Issue: How can wasteload allocation techniques be used
to translate applicable water quality standards into
allowable pollution discharge loads?
For a pollution discharge permit to be issued,
Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) must be
developed to determine what pollutant levels will
support the designated uses. A wasteload allocation
(WLA) procedure then allocates the allowable pollution
load among dischargers. The WLA process, which
considers both point- and non-point sources of pollution,
must ensure that adequate margins of safety are
incorporated into the control methods. At present, the
WLA process generally works by applying the results of
mathematical models to allocating wasteloads.
A series of WLA models is being developed and
evaluated. They will range in complexity and scale of
application from simple, steady-state, basin-scale
screening models to dynamic models that predict
transport and fate, as well as environmental exposure,
for both conventional pollutants and potentially toxic
chemicals. Many models are available for WLA
analyses but most have not been field-validated.
Model users need information on the precision,
reliability and applicability of each technique, in order
to match appropriate models to site-specific problems.
They also need descriptions of the key chemical,
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Water Quality
physical and biological variables that influence the
pollutants; characterizations of the ecosystem at risk
and the wastes to be discharged to it; and a better
understanding of the relationship between specific
discharge limit parameters and actual impacts on site-
specific water uses. In addition, each model will
require a clearly written users' guide to facilitate
effective use by the states.
EPA's research program will focus in the short
term (one to two years) on: manual and data-base
generation, development of WLA technical guidance,
expanded user assistance through the Center for Water
Quality Modeling, improvement in organic pollutant
transformation and transport kinetics (particularly bio-
oxidation and benthic sedirnent-water column
interactions) the linkages to effects measures/models
for factoring in risk, and testing of these models in
mesocosms and field situations to assess utility and
reliability. For the intermediate term (two to three
years), the program will focus on metals process
research and use of geochemical models for WLA, and
on improved ability to handle nutrients and carbon
(conventional pollutants). The need for a longer term
(four or more years) effort is being evaluated. Such a
program would be designed to produce more meaningful
WLA techniques for different metal species, to
assemble the appropriate technology to assess benefits
and costs of WLA strategies in complex, multiple
discharge situations, and to relate complex effluent
parameters to impacts on water uses.
In addition, EPA research will develop and test
biomonitoring and bioassay field techniques for WLA
screening, ecosystem response characterization, and
bioaccumulation and persistence evaluation of
chemicals. Similarly, research will continue to develop
and test the sensitivity, cost effectiveness and utility
of chemical measurement techniques to characterize
wasteloads and receiving waters for WLA purposes.
Results will include upgraded and evaluated models and
supporting analytical techniques to predict
concentrations of toxic organics, metals and
conventional pollutants (e.g., oxygen-demanding
substances, nutrients) likely to occur in waters
subjected to different total maximum daily loads and
candidate wasteload allocations. Furthermore,
techniques will be developed to link these
concentrations with probable impacts and, therefore, to
various "use designations."
Planned research results relating to wasteload
allocation include:
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Water Quality
• Development and compilation of environmental
process rate coefficients and related data bases for
application in wasteload allocation, 1984.
• Development and field testing of a generic
toxicity protocol for toxicity wasteload allocation,
based on effluent bioassays, 1985.
• Production of a set of models that address toxic
organics, metals and other pollutants to determine total
maximum daily loads and wasteload allocations ranging
from current steady-state model to model(s)
facilitating time variant exposure and loading
variability, 1983-1986.
Issue: What is the best way to assess the impacts of the
ocean disposal of wastes?
The disposal of wastes into oceans, estuaries and
coastal waters is either severely restricted or tightly
regulated. Future public policy may result in decisions
which will be based on predictions about the ecological
consequences of proposed ocean outfalls and ocean
dumpings. EPA has embarked upon a research program
to better predict the hazards of disposal of wastes at
ocean sites. The Agency will conduct this research in
coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
USGS, NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Ocean outfall research focuses on the relationship
between effluent characteristics and the quality of
receiving waters. Major areas of investigation include
models to describe ecosystem assimilative capacity,
interactions between contaminants in waste mixtures,
field validation of effluent toxicity tests, and the
effectiveness of different effluent treatment processes
in reducing environmental impacts.
Models of assimilative capacity can reveal factors
which can limit degradation and irreparable harm to an
ecosystem. One existing model predicts the changes in
number of species, biomass and abundance of benthic
invertebrates along different pollution gradients. The
model is based on the concept that benthic succession is
a function of the organic enrichment of sediment. It
can be used to predict environmental changes at such
sites as sewage outfalls and pulp mill waste discharge
pipes. There is another available model which uses an
index to quantify the benthic succession changes.
EPA's research will extend existing models or develop
new ones to determine the impact of waste materials
on fish and other marine life. Researchers will also
seek to discriminate among the effects of different
materials in discharges, including organic and chemical
contaminants and nutrients.
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Water Quality
Interactions between waste substances will be the
subject of similar research. Such interactions may
determine the gross toxicity of the discharges.
Researchers will identify the contaminants with
interactions that pose the greatest ecological threat.
The results of these studies are expected to indicate
treatment options that will be most effective in the
control of toxic waste disposal impacts.
Field validations of the effects of ocean waste
discharges have rarely been attempted in the past. One
validation method involves the application of bioassays
to sediment samples collected at increasing distances
from an outfall pipe. The bioassay results can be
compared to the structure of the benthic community.
Research will be continued to verify effluent toxicity
estimates with field studies.
The effectiveness of different effluent treatment
processes will be investigated as well. Sewage
treatment to modify the levels and forms of nutrients,
BOD, pH, suspended solids, priority pollutants, and
coliform content has seldom been evaluated in relation
to the impact of the treatment process on the marine
environment. Studies will determine the toxicological
properties of municipal wastes that have received a
variety of primary, secondary and non-conventional
wastewater treatment. Toxicity to benthic organisms
will be determined by adding particulates from the
different treatment processes to unpolluted reference
sediments. To determine toxicity to the pelagic biota,
effluents at environmentally relevant concentrations
will be added to ecosystem simulators.
Ocean dumping research will develop and verify
procedures to better assess impacts associated with
disposal of municipal sewage sludge, dredged material
and certain industrial wastes in the ocean. Research
will focus on dumpsite characterization, waste
characterization, exposure and effects assessments to
determine the likelihood of hazard, and dumpsite
monitoring.
Dumpsite characterization research will describe
the physical, chemical and biological features of a site
to the degree necessary for input into models that may
predict the transport of wastes and the subsequent
exposure of marine life.
Waste characterization studies will investigate
categories of waste eligible for possible ocean disposal.
The hazard potential of each type of waste varies
according to dispersion characteristics, chemical and
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Water Quality
toxic properties, persistence and the presence of
residue-forming contaminants.
The exposure assessment research will develop
models that accurately replicate ocean disposal
conditions. EPA will develop a hierarchy of models
organized by temporal and spatial resolutions required
for disposal decisions, and by needed type of
information (e.g., water, sediment or biota).
To assess the effects of ocean disposal, short-
term screening methods and long-term predictive
methods will be developed. Verification of the
biological results is expected to be the most complex
part of this research, and will therefore receive the
most attention.
Procedures to monitor dumpsites for long-term
effects will be developed to aid in determining whether
a dumpsite location should be discontinued or the
dumping of certain wastes should be limited.
Monitoring data will also be used to verify the
predictions resulting from hazard assessment protocols.
Planned research products include:
• Methods Manual for conducting sediment toxicity
surveys near ocean outfalls, 1983.
• Reports on persistence and fate of pollutants in
marine food webs, 1985, and report on discharge
conditions at ocean outfalls necessary to protect
marine ecosystems, 1986.
• Hazard assessment protocols to permit a better
evaluation of the impacts of ocean dumping, 1986.
• Procedures to monitor dumpsites for chronic long-
term effects, 1985, and
• Dumpsite selection protocols to identify
appropriate dumpsites for a selected waste to minimize
the impact of ocean dumping, 1986.
Issue: What are the dynamics and biological availability
of pollutants in sediments?
Sediments are the ultimate sink for most
pollutants in marine, estuarine and lake ecosystems.
Consequently, pollution concentrations in sediments are
generally many times greater than those in the water
column. For most pollutants, the amount found in
sediment contaminants represents a sizable portion of
the total pollutant load. For hydrophobic compounds,
sediments contain the majority of the load. Thus, to
understand fully the fate and effects of toxic
compounds in aquatic ecosystems, comprehensive data
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Water Quality
are needed about the dynamics and bio-availability
pollutants in the sediment reservoir.
The emphasis of current EPA research is on
sediments of oceans and estuaries. The research will
seek to: develop models of the transport and fate of
pollutants, determine the bioavailability of sediment-
associated pollutants to benthic organisms, determine
the availability of sediment-associated pollutants to
pelagic organisms, and measure rates and factors
regulating pollutant degradation.
Research on the physical transport and fate of
particles will be used to validate predictions of area-
wide impacts of dredge spoil disposal and sewage
discharges. Research will also improve the
understanding of the effects of variable current speeds,
vertical density profiles, settlement rates and physical-
chemical interactions. Based on results of sensitivity
analyses, it should be possible to provide more effective
monitoring to determine impacts. Laboratory
experiments will identify the factors controlling
particle aggregation and disaggregation and their
influence on settlement rates. Other experiments will
assess the impact of filter-feeders on the settlement of
various types of particulates.
As the aqueous-to-solid phase partitioning is a
function of the type of particle (e.g., clays, humics,
etc.), it is necessary to determine the frequency
distribution of particle types in natural waters and to
determine the sorption isotherms for the dominant
particle types. Combining laboratory and field data
with suitable sediment transport models will generate
predictions of the distribution of nearly all pollutants.
The research to determine the factors regulating
bioavailability of sediment-associated contaminants to
benthic organisms is being approached in two ways.
First, through the continued development and testing of
selective extraction techniques. And, second, through
the determination of equilibrium sorption isotherms for
the various geochemical phases of sediments (e.g.,
clays, humics, bacteria, etc.) and for the bioavailability
of the contaminants associated with each phase. With
this information, it should be possible to predict in the
laboratory the bioavailability to ecosystems of
contaminant-spiked sediments and, eventually, of
natural sediments of known phase composition.
Perhaps the dominant research question to be
answered concerning the sediment reservoir is whether
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Water Quality
the contaminants, such as metals and non-volatile
organics, are "trapped" or whether they re-enter the
pelagic food webs, potentially leading to human
consumption. One possible transfer mechanism to
pelagic food webs is the direct or indirect consumption
of contaminated benthos by fishes. Studies of the
importance of trophic transfer have generated
conflicting results; in some cases ingestion of
contaminated prey is the dominant uptake route,
whereas in other studies trophic transfer makes a
trivial contribution to bioaccumulation.
A promising research approach to the study of
trophic transfer to fish is to relate the uptake of
pollutants from food and water to the bioenergetic
requirements of the fish. The advantage of developing
and verifying this model is that it may be used with
adsorption data to predict the importance of different
uptake routes for different species and contaminants.
The utility and critical assumptions of this model will
be tested on a variety of benthic species and fishes in
the laboratory. Field verification will compare
predicted versus actual body burdens at several trophic
levels by using several of the pollutant tracers.
Other tests of the bioaccumulation model will
look at reciprocal transfers of benthic organisms from
clean and contaminated sites to predict uptake and
depuration rates. The mussel Mytilus sp. will be used
as the test filter-feeder.
Finally, studies will be undertaken to determine
the importance of degradation, resuspension and
sediment-water fluxes in controlling the distribution of
contaminants. The effects of biological activity on
these pollutant fluxes and, conversely, the effects of
pollution on the rate of biological activity need to be
studied. These studies will be done with controlled
experiments in microcosms and flumes as well as in the
field. Results will be useful as input parameters to the
fate and bioaccumulation models and as a guide to the
management of contaminated sediment.
The same questions about sediment contaminant
effects in marine water also apply to freshwater
environments. Many toxic materials are bound to
suspended solids and eventually concentrate in the
sediments of lakes and streams. EPA scientists seek to
determine whether these sediment contaminants
adversely affect aquatic ecosystems or whether the
sediments become a long-term repository for toxic
substances.
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Water Quality
Research on the biological effects of freshwater
sediment contaminants is needed to determine whether
acute or chronic toxicity is caused by toxic material
associated with sediment, to determine whether the
sediments are a source of contaminants for
bioaccumulation to levels of concern for human
consumption, and to develop laboratory methods for
assessing or predicting effects of sediment
contaminants. Current EPA research addresses two of
these areas. The role of sediment contaminants in
acute toxicity is being examined through a combination
of field and laboratory studies, and methods are being
developed to assess the acute effects of sediment
contaminants.
Planned research results include:
o Determination of the biological effects of
contaminated sediments at field sites and an
assessment of the need for sediment criteria, 1983.
o Improved process descriptions for mass transfer
and biokinetics of toxic chemicals between the bottom
sediments and water column in aquatic systems, 1985.
Issue: What analytical test procedures and quality
control methods are necessary for accurate measurement
of habitat? What monitoring is needed to quantify water
pollutants?
Habitat is a dynamic, site-specific combination of
physical, chemical and biological components. The
design of a site-specific management program for a
particular water use will depend on a determination of
the state of these components and the means to
monitor their interactions. In the absence of a means
to monitor water body dynamics and interactions in the
water and sediment, it is difficult to adequately define
the integrity of a waterway.
One of the key monitoring problems is the need to
identify waterborne organic compounds and classes of
compounds. At present, the ability to identify and
quantify concentrations of organic compounds is
limited, and monitoring methods with quality assurance
support are even more limited. Subcellular biochemical
mechanisms offer a potential monitoring tool that can
explain the interactions of mixtures of pollutants at
particular sites. These biological mechanisms may also
become screens for measuring attainment or
maintenance of a particular use by a water body. One
such mechanism is toxicity — a bioassay which has been
standardized to a degree. Other bioassay procedures
need to be standardized so that comparable data can be
gathered among site-specific investigations.
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Water Quality
EPA will provide standardized analytical
monitoring methods as well as quality assurance for the
adequate performance of biological, chemical, physical
assays and the monitoring of ambient water quality.
EPA's efforts include cooperative activities with the
American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) and the
U.S. Bureau of Standards. The research should include
the use of subcellular biochemical systems, more
sensitive chemical analysis, and the development of
protocols for site-specific assays of habitat.
Monitoring of the organic and inorganic pollutants
at a water site is limited because at present only about
250 chemical and physical parameters have been
identified for monitoring under the technology-based
regulation of wastewater discharges. Thousands of
compounds, most of which have not been identified,
have been detected by gas chromatographic and mass-
spectrometer (GC-MS) analytical techniques. These
compounds represent only about one-half of all the
organic compounds present in tested waters, as
estimated from measures of total organic carbon. Less
is known about the nature of the other half of the
organic compounds loading wastewaters and receiving
waters. Efforts are needed to improve our knowledge
of the interactions of these organic compounds with
inorganic chemical moieties, especially within the
context of the wasteload allocation and criteria
modification processes.
EPA will develop analytical methods and quality
assurance for the measurement of the chemical
pollutants and environmental adducts of those
pollutants. Included in the research will be the organic
and inorganic materials which have been detected in
discharges but which are not presently monitored.
Planned monitoring results include:
• Monitoring methods for measuring priority
pollutants in sludges, 1984.
• Risk assessment methodology for assessing multi-
media risk for a variety of disposal options, 1984-1985.
• Combination of industrial survey and field
monitoring of effluents to characterize variability in
ten major industrial discharges, in order to develop
relationships between effluents and water use impacts,
1985.
• Chemical methods to measure toxic forms of
metals, 1985.
• Design, based on existing data and hydrological
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Water Quality
science, of sampling protocols that provide for better
characterization of chemical water quality given
variation in natural flow and effluent variability, 1986.
• Laboratory test methods and data interpretation
methodology to permit estimate of risk to the
biological organism from intermittent, fluctuating
exposure, 1986.
• Reliable, inexpensive methods for analyzing toxic
pollutants, 1986.
Issue: What are the key technical and scientific factors
that limit the effective treatment and use of sludges
from wastewater treatment?
The costs for sludge treatment and disposal
represent a major portion of the overall cost of
wastewater treatment. Moreover, the potential for
environmental impacts from the disposal of sludge is
significant. Consequently, research is needed to define
optimal sludge use or disposal options.
The methods to assess sludge disposal options will
be refined, with research developing both methods to
determine ecosystem resiliency or stresses resulting
from disposal of sludges and methods to predict the
human health effects from sludge exposures. The latter
could include bioassays or other toxicity tests for both
health and ecosystems. Other research is needed to
develop ways to mitigate risks through sludge
treatment or disposal. Such research will include
analysis of the cost vs. performance of engineering
designs for various treatment and disposal,options.
Other sludge-related research is need to provide
an improved understanding of the sources of heavy
metals, toxic organic compounds and other
objectionable constituents in municipal wastewaters, to
develop epidemiological data on the use of processes to
inactivate organisms and viruses in sludges, and to
improve risk assessment methods for decisions on
alternative means of sludge management.
In developing needed fundamental data about new
processes for improved sludge stabilization, reduction,
energy recovery and use the research program will
assess integrated disposal options. The major planned
products of this research include:
• Design guidelines on sludge treatment
technologies, with cost and performance data, that
focus on innovative anaerobic sludge digestion
processes, energy recovery, pathogen reduction, and
more efficient thermal conversion processes, 1986.
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Water Quality
• Feasibility report on the use of genetically
engineered methagenic bacteria for improving the
reliability and increasing the rate of anaerobic
digestion, 1985.
Issue: Are occurrences of infectious diseases increased
by certain sludge disposal practices?
The land application of sludge will be studied to
determine the effects of this disposal option on the
incidence of human infectious disease. EPA is
encouraged by the potential of this disposal method
because it recycles nutrients, conditions the soils, and
may help to limit waterway contamination. Health
studies will determine whether land disposal can
proceed without increasing health risks.
Epidemiological studies have been initiated to
evaluate health hazards. Results from these studies
will provide data that can be used to determine the
effect of various pretreatments and application
techniques upon disease occurrence.
Studies on the survival and transport of pathogens
will be continued. Virulent enteric viruses that occur in
domestic wastes have considerable environmental
survival potential. These viruses can be transferred
directly to people or transported from waste-amended
soils to surface or ground waters used for recreation or
drinking water. Roundworms (Ascaris) have also been
identified as a pathogen of concern in sludge because
the ova stage of this parasite is believed to be
extremely resistant to environmental degradation.
However, definitive data on its survival is lacking.
Carefully controlled field studies are continuing
to define the survival and transport limits of the
disease-causing organisms. These field data, coupled
with epidemiological data on exposed populations, will
provide assistance in making sound judgments on the
limits of recycling of domestic wastes.
Major planned products of this research include:
• Water quality health criteria for fresh water in
recreational use, 1983.
• Bioassay testing methods to assess the
effectiveness of alternative wastewater control
technologies, 1985.
• An assessment of EPA's epidemiological data,
1986.
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Chapter Three
DRINKING WATER
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Drinking Water
DRINKING WATER
Outline:
Introduction
Background
Legislative Mandate
Major Research Issues
Issue: What data and methods are necessary to
improve the extrapolation of toxicological data on
potential carcinogens in drinking water?
Issue: Do organic by-products from chlorination
pose health risks? What methods can control
these by-products? Are alternative disinfectants
safer?
Issue: What water treatment technologies are
applicable to small communities?
Issue: What new methods are needed to analyze
organic contaminants?
Issue: How should quality assurance requirements
be incorporated into the compliance program?
Issue: Are geophysical monitoring techniques
applicable to drinking water problems?
Issue: Does subsurface biotransformation of
pollutants help to protect underground sources of
drinking water?
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Drinking Water
INTRODUCTION
State and local governments have the main
responsibility for drinking water quality. A growing
population is increasing demands on the water supply
while, at the same time, chemical contamination of
water sources appears to be increasing. Water
management decisions are becoming both more
complicated and more difficult.
State governments need help in addressing major
problems related to drinking water quality. In a list of
state/EPA agreements, support for drinking water
responsibilities emerged as the major EPA research
function requested by state governments. State
government decision makers are especially concerned
about revisions of the National Interim Primary
Drinking Water Regulations (NIPDWR) due in 1984-
1985, when new regulations for a variety of synthetic
and volatile organic chemicals will also be considered.
Additional scientific data are also needed as input
into new regulations. For example, disinfectants and
disinfectant by-products, as well as safe alternative
disinfectants, must be evaluated.
BACKGROUND
The primary goal of this EPA research program is
to develop the scientific and technical data needed to
assure safe public drinking water systems. Much of the
drinking water research program is designed to provide
information to state and local water authorities and to
develop the information needed for changes to drinking
water regulations. The three major components of the
program are: research to support implementation of the
EPA drinking water regulatory program, protection of
ground-water resources, and development of the
scientific basis for state implementation and
compliance programs.
In health research, the primary purpose is the
development of information on the toxicology and
human health risks associated with substances
commonly found in drinking water. Other major
aspects of the health research program are the
development of chemical analytical methods for
determining the identity and concentration of
contaminants, and the assessment of technologies for
controlling such substances.
The drinking water research program for fiscal
year 1983 is allocated $23.3 million. These resources
are distributed among the research disciplines as
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Drinking Water
follows: health effects, 39%; engineering and
technology, 32%; environmental processes and effects,
20%; monitoring systems and quality assurance, 8%; and
scientific assessment, 1%.
LEGISLATIVE MANDATE
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), P.L. 93-
523, as amended, requires EPA to establish drinking
water regulations to protect human health and welfare.
The NIPDWR regulations fulfill that requirement by
specifying maximum chemical and biological
contaminant levels (MCL) allowable in drinking water.
Another EPA drinking water role, described in a
memorandum of understanding with the Food and Drug
Administration, defines EPA's responsibilities with
respect to drinking water additives.
The Safe Drinking Water Act also grants EPA the
responsibility and authority to conduct drinking water
research. Section [Ift2 of the SDWA specifically
authorizes EPA to engage in research concerning: the
occurrence and health effects of chemical and
biological contaminants in drinking water, the
analytical procedures for monitoring contaminants, the
applicability of treatment technologies, the protection
of underground drinking water sources and the
exploration of scientific questions for emerging
problems.
MAJOR RESEARCH ISSUES
As EPA satisfies the specific requirements of the
SDWA and implements safe drinking water programs,
the drinking water research and development program
becomes focused on specific programmatic
considerations, monitoring, and new problems that
become apparent. This orientation of the program
produces data about: low-cost, innovative technologies
to supply drinking water; control of toxic organic and
inorganic chemicals; the methods to detect, measure
and monitor precise contaminant concentrations in
water; techniques to describe toxicity of contaminants;
and specific information about organic contaminants,
disinfection by-products, additives, corrosion problems
and compliance problems. The research will also
expand our fundamental knowledge of basic
environmental processes and drinking water health
impacts.
The major drinking water research issues in this
Research Outlook reflect both this problem-solving
orientation and the need for monitoring data to support
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Drinking Water
proposed NIPDWR changes. The issues addressed in this
chapter are:
o What data and methods are necessary to improve
the extrapolation of toxicological data on potential
carcinogens in drinking water?
o Do organic by-products from chlorination
disinfectants pose health risks? What methods can
control these by-products? Are alternative
disinfectants safer?
o What water treatment technologies are applicable
to small communities?
o What new methods are needed to analyze organic
contaminants?
o How should quality assurance requirements be
incorporated into the compliance program?
o Are geophysical monitoring techniques applicable
to drinking water problems?
o Does subsurface biotransformation of pollutants
help to protect underground sources of drinking water?
Issue: What data and methods are necessary to improve
the extrapolation of toxicological data on potential
carcinogens in drinking water?
The issue stated above is generic in that it applies
to all activities involving assessing the carcinogenicity
of chemicals in the environment. At the same time, it
specifically applies to drinking water because a number
of chemicals identified as common contaminants of
drinking water have been shown to be carcinogenic in
some animals.
Many efforts to quantify the health risks of these
chemicals have been based on the "no threshold"
assumption that very low doses of the chemicals can
alter genetic material and have a carcinogenic effect.
Nevertheless, if a chemical produces cancer without
direct interaction with the genetic material, that is,
through a non-genotoxic mechanism, there would be
some question as to whether this no-threshold
assumption is appropriate. EPA is currently evaluating
both of the possible mechanisms — genotoxic and non-
genotoxic — which may produce cancer, in order to
develop appropriate extrapolation models for the
chemicals found in drinking water. The key research
question is, what experimental data are necessary to
differentiate between chemicals which may act as
tumor initiators (which are usually genotoxic
carcinogens) and tumor promoters (non-genotoxic
carcinogens)?
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Drinking Water
EPA shares interest and information in this
research issue with other federal regulatory agencies —
primarily the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
FDA has a substantial research program involving oral
exposures. OSHA's interest is primarily in the
inhalation route. Other federal research agencies are
studying the mechanisms of chemical carcinogenesis
but the objectives of the various basic research
programs generally do not emphasize the critical
problem of risk assessment, which is of major concern
to EPA and the other regulatory agencies.
The work that EPA will carry out has two
objectives: to establish the criteria for determining
whether a chemical is acting by a tumor-initiating
versus a tumor-promoting mechanism in a particular
target organ, and to establish which chemicals shown to
be carcinogenic and of frequent occurrence in drinking
water should be treated as tumor promoters for
purposes of quantitatively estimating their risk.
EPA has helped to develop an initiation/promotion
assay model in the rat liver and is extending the work
to mice. Use of these animal models plus the
application of biochemical methods to assess
interactions of chemicals with DNA will help to
improve evaluations of the relationship between a
chemical's genotoxic activity and its ability to produce
cancer, and will enable researchers to develop measures
of tumor-promoting activity. Chemicals known to
promote or initiate tumors will be used to validate the
ability of different parameters to differentiate
accurately between genotoxic and non-genotoxic
carcinogens. The results of this research will help to
determine the most appropriate model for different
chemicals in risk assessments and, further, will improve
our understanding of, the implications of extrapolating
from high to low dose.
This research approach may be useful because,
with the rat and mouse models, cell changes occur at
frequencies much higher than do tumors. This means
that EPA could develop interspecies extrapolation
models for both cancer-producing mechanisms using
relatively small experimental groups at a considerable
savings compared to conventional lifetime experiments.
Currently, the major scientific information gaps
are the lack of adequate criteria to identify clearly
chemicals that act through tumor-promoting
mechanisms, the lack of information concerning tumor-
promoting activity of chemicals identified as common
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Drinking Water
contaminants of drinking water, and the lack of an
adequate methodology to assess the health risk from
exposure to these chemicals.
EPA's research in 1983 and 1984 will further
refine the models based on the findings of the liver
tumor studies in rats and mice. In 1984 and 1985,
experimental data will be developed to classify liver
carcinogens in drinking water that are likely to cause
health effects. By 4985, EPA research will produce a
theoretical basis for differentiating between a non-
threshold and a threshold mechanism of tumor
induction. A model will be developed to estimate
health risk from the threshold mechanism. Research in
1985 and beyond will validate extrapolation models used
to arrive at acceptable levels of chemicals in drinking
water. This work will focus on development of systems
to validate interspecies extrapolation through the use
of primary in vitro cultures of human tissues as well as
appropriate animal tissues.
Issue: Do organic by-products from chlorination pose
health risks? What methods can control these by-
products? Are alternative disinfectants safer?
It is known that drinking water disinfectants react
with the organic material in source waters to produce a
variety of by-products. The formation of
trihalomethanes in drinking water is a well documented
example of such a reaction. Chlorinated water has
been found to possess mutagenic activity measurable in
the Ames Salmonella assay. It is also known that a
great many other products of chlorination besides the
trihalomethanes have the ability to alter genetic
structure. EPA research has made major contributions
in this area.
The fact that some chemical compounds,
suspected to be carcinogenic, are formed during
chlorination of drinking water creates a dilemma. It is
important to limit human contact with cancer-causing
agents but it is also essential to use water treatment
techniques which keep waterborne infections at their
current low levels. However, there is still no indication
that any alternative treatment to chlorination is
significantly safer. The relative hazards associated
with the use of each of the disinfectants and their by-
products have yet to be determined. To build the data
base needed to arrive at the safest possible means of
disinfection, researchers will have to consider the
toxicity of the disinfectants and their by-products, the
efficacy of each disinfectant in preventing transmission
of waterborne infectious disease, and the best methods
to control contamination.
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Drinking Water
EPA research has identified the extent of the
trihalomethane contamination problem and, in concert
with universities and water utilities, has also
determined the effectiveness of various methods to
control trihalomethanes in water. The approach to
controlling trihalomethanes (THMs) is four pronged:
removal of these compounds by treatment, removal of
their precursors by treatment, reduction of their
subsequent formation by use oi alternate disinfectants,
and changing the point at which disinfectants are
applied. The emphasis of this approach is on the
prevention of trihalomethane formation. Utilities are
continuing to study the techniques most appropriate to
control trihalomethanes, which are now regulated.
There is still, however, a lack of clear understanding
about the fundamental nature and extent of the
chemical reactions that cause the problem in the first
place and about the health effects and risks that come
from the by-products.
Chlorination of drinking water produces
mutagenic activity in test systems. Yet the
trihalomethanes and other specifically identified by-
products of chlorination account for less than 2% of
mutagenic activity of the chlorinated products and by-
products of chlorination. Some compounds have been
confirmed as carcinogenic. For example,
haloacetonitriles identified as by-products of
chlorination have had their carcinogenic activity
confirmed in mouse skin initiation/promotion studies.
Alternative disinfectants to chlorine are also
reactive chemicals and give rise to as yet unidentified
by-products that also possess mutagenic activity. Their
supposed carcinogenic activity remains to be
confirmed. Consequently, no firm conclusion can be
drawn as to which disinfectant method is safest. To
support a choice among the alternatives, data are being
developed to establish: the relative hazards associated
with the use of each of the disinfectants and their by-
products the efficacy of each disinfectant for
controlling waterborne infectious agents and whether
any single one is effective against all biological forms.
By 1985, for example, information will be
available on disinfection practices. EPA investigators
have been evaluating these processes in laboratory and
field tests. Other research will characterize and
improve treatment technologies including disinfection,
microbe filtration, ion exchange, aeration, adsorption,
and/or reverse osmosis for the control of organic,
inorganic and radionuclide chemicals, chlorinated
organics and/or particulates. Pilot programs are used
to assess cost effectiveness and feasibility.
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Drinking Water
EPA research is attempting to identify the
specific characteristics, extent and health significance
of reaction by-products. Laboratory work will define
the extent and character of reactions with aquatic
humic materials and the nature of organic halogen and
oxidation by-products that are formed. The physical
and chemical factors that influence the reaction also
will be identified as the first step toward the
development of control strategies which may be
warranted by health effects data.
Laboratory work to characterize the compounds is
now under way. Preliminary treatment data focusing
on the amount of organic halogen produced is being
collected from bench and pilot studies. Treatment
method effectiveness data will be developed later.
Should the health effects research indicate a health
problem, evaluations will be made at full-scale
treatment plants.
Research on health effects will be conducted in
parallel with the research to characterize the
compounds. EPA has already undertaken the primary
role to determine overall health hazards from the use
of each alternative disinfectant. A companion research
effort is being conducted by the National Toxicology
Program to test several individual disinfectants and by-
products in lifetime carcinogenesis bioassays. Related
health research includes: the demonstration of similar
biological effects in samples concentrated from
drinking water, the analytical demonstration of
parallels between products formed under model
conditions and those formed in actual situations, the
assessment of hazards of major individual compounds
and of the toxicity of the disinfectants themselves
(including the in vivo formation of toxic products).
Evaluations of the toxicity of disinfectants will
use established techniques in target organ toxicology
(including reproductive studies), carcinogenesis and
mutagenesis testing. Although preliminary clinical
trials have been conducted with these agents in normal
human volunteers, the toxicological properties of the
disinfectants indicate a need to conduct studies on
sensitive human populations, e.g., individuals with
compromised thyroid function, before the disinfectants
are actually used to treat drinking water.
By-products will be evaluated using a modified
tier approach. Screening methods will determine
whether significant biological activity results from
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Drinking Water
treating model substrates or actual water samples with
alternate disinfectants. These short-term assays will
allow fractionation and individual identification of the
toxicologically important by-products. The fractions
found to be toxic will be tested further to provide data
to assess actual risks.
The major products found to have biological
activity will be subjected to comprehensive study of
their carcinogenic, mutagenic and other toxicological
properties. In fact, by 1986 it is expected that the
research will have demonstrated extensive qualitative
and quantitative applications of bioassay results to
estimate human health risk. This methodology will
serve as the basis of judging hazards posed by complex
mixtures of chemicals as well as by individual
compounds.
By 1985, studies will be made of the toxicological
properties of the disinfectants and their by-products
with natural background organic matter present in
source waters. By 1986, additional studies will assess
the effects of the disinfectants in the susceptible
human volunteers. Also in 1986, studies will evaluate
whether the characteristics of the source water must
also be considered when choosing a disinfectant for use.
Methods being examined include procedures for
quantification of viruses and parasites or improved
indicator systems.
Issue: What water treatment technologies are applicable
to small communities?
Many small communities in America have a
difficult time in meeting the drinking water quality-
levels set forth in the National Interim Primary
Drinking Water Regulations (NIPDWR). In a recent
survey, the U.S. Government Accounting Office found
that 146,000 violations of the NIPDWR for community
water supplies had been reported. From the small
communities' point of view, the main problems with
complying with NIPDWR are the high cost of producing
the small volumes of drinking water used by the
community and the difficulty in hiring and retaining
trained operators for water treatment plants.
EPA's drinking water research program will take a
strong role in evaluating cost-effective central
treatment technologies. Emphasis of the research will
be on evaluating new technology for the ten regulated
inorganic contaminants three radionuclides the
regulated pesticides (endrin, lindane, methoxychlor,
toxaphene, 2,4-D and 2,4,5-TP silvex), and
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trihalomethanes. This research will also evaluate
industry solutions to non-central, or point-of-use
treatment for the home as an alternative to central
treatment to remove some inorganic as well as organic
contaminants. The purpose of this research is to test
the effectiveness of treatment methods and to
encourage the use of the best of them. Additional
consideration will be given to treatment methods that
will result in drinking water to meet different quality
requirements. EPA's research will also help to evaluate
new and improved technologies for removing
unregulated inorganics, organics, microorganisms and
particulates.
Research is continuing to evaluate the cost and
engineering feasibility of specific treatment techniques
to remove or control problem inorganic contaminants
(such as arsenic, radium and uranium), organic
contaminants (including pesticides and chlorinated
organic solvents), trihalomethanes, microorganisms and
particles. Several evaluations are at pilot or full scale.
Bench-scale studies are being done to define variables
that govern the effectiveness and efficiency of
treatment processes prior to large-scale evaluations.
Reports of these findings will be released beginning in
1984 and continuing into 1987.
Issue: What new methods are needed to analyze organic
contaminants?
The trihalomethanes, chlorinated pesticides and
herbicides regulated by the NIPDWR can be detected,
measured and analyzed in drinking water using state-of-
the-art -analytical methods. Additionally, analytical
methods have been developed for the 14 volatile
organic chemicals (VOCs) proposed for regulation with
maximum contaminant levels for drinking water.
Methods have not been developed, however, for many
non-volatile compounds such as pentachlorophenol,
dinitrophenol, atrazine, simazine, picloram and
phthalates which are sometimes found in drinking
water.
Analytical methods are not currently available for
all of the compounds that might cause problems, but
the monitoring research will identify the analytical
deficiencies. Research planned over the next few years
will investigate analytical methods applicable to a large
number of chemicals, including intractable and highly
refractory compounds. Analytical methods use
advanced technology to detect drinking water
contaminants. High-resolution (capillary column) gas
chromatography, high-performance (microcolumn)
liquid chromatography and gas chromatography/mass
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Drinking Water
spectrometry methods are becoming more widely
available. New means to apply these analytical
methods are being developed as well. For example, a
technique which measures total organic halogen is a
reasonable, less expensive and more rapid method for
analyzing halogenated VOCs. Similarly, in the effort to
detect the l5 VOCs proposed for regulation, new
analytical methods have been developed for
halogenated solvents and non-halogenated aromatic
volatile purgeable compounds, which are indicators of
industrial contamination.
Two significant approaches are: adsorption of
organics into solid sorbents and subsequent thermal
desorption directly into a gas chromatograph or a
chromatograph/mass spectrometer, and an extended
purge-and-trap system which, as an advanced version of
closed-loop stripping, may apply to a wide range of
volatile chemicals. Methods will also continue to be
developed which use surrogate parameters as indicators
of chemicals that are difficult and expensive to detect.
Some of the chemicals requiring possible
analytical methods may be identified from other EPA
research. For example, risk assessment studies may
identify chemicals that pose a health risk and water
technology studies may reveal various hazardous or
toxic chemicals being discharged to wastewaters or
drinking water sources. The application of advanced
control technologies may also call into question the
applicability of the current means to preserve samples
because of possible chemical reactions among the
organic contaminants in the samples during storage.
The output of the drinking water analytical methods
research program is mostly near term to meet
impending deadlines of the NIPDWR review.
Issue: How should quality assurance requirements be
incorporated into the compliance program?
Semi-annual performance evaluations of
laboratories, on-site visits by testing teams and
distribution of updated procedure manuals constitute
EPA's efforts to assure the quality of data used in
drinking water research. In a related program, EPA
approves alternative test procedures for national use.
Samples for quality control checks and for
performance evaluations to certify laboratories, as
required by the Safe Drinking Water Act, are currently
available for all of the regulated drinking water
contaminants. The EPA drinking water research
program produces the samples, documents the
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concentration levels, establishes sample shelf lives, and
distributes them to laboratories that are to be
evaluated for performance or are to undergo a
certification check. EPA is also responsible for
conducting and verifying those evaluations and checks.
To stay current, the research program needs to
increase the number of laboratories certified to do
quality analyses, particularly private organizations that
may have to replace EPA's efforts. The research
program also needs to increase the number and types of
test parameters used in performance evaluations and to
update the procedural manuals for field sampling,
microbiological analysis and evaluation ol' chemical and
radiochemical certification.
The quality assurance work is expected to
continue for several years. Performance evaluation
studies and the distribution of quality control samples
will occur each year, as will the development of
expanded quality control sample series and reference
standards for newly regulated contaminants.
Microbiological manuals will be updated in 198^ and
1987.
Plans in the next few years call for EPA to
modify and amend the NIPDWR by issuing Maximum
Contaminant Levels (MCL) for radionuclides in drinking
water. The radionuclides of current concern are
radium-228, radon-222 and uranium. Thorium, which is
four times more abundant than uranium, should also be
studied to determine possible health effects from
exposure through drinking water. Other studies need to
develop monitoring methods that do not rely solely on
gross alpha particle activity in order to monitor water
supplies for radium-228, which is a beta emitter. EPA's
drinking water research program will develop
monitoring methods and evaluate alternative test
procedures or methods to determine their precision,
accuracy and validity.
The research approach is first to evaluate
radionuclide monitoring methods with a single operator
and then to validate the methods with multi-laboratory
collaborative testing. EPA's researchers will also
produce performance evaluation (PE) samples, which
are used to assist in laboratory evaluation and
laboratory certification. Continual training of
laboratory technicians and analysts will help assure
future data quality.
Over the next five years, emphasis will be on
increasing the sensitivity, precision, accuracy and
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rapidity of the laboratory methods. Research efforts
will also attempt to make the methods simpler and less
expensive.
Issue: Are geophysical monitoring techniques applicable
to drinking water problems?
One of the major potential threats to drinking
water quality is the contamination of ground water.
Such contamination can come from waste injection
wells. It was estimated in 1979 that about 500,000
municipal, industrial, commercial, agricultural, and
domestic wells injected fluids into the ground and that
at least 5,000 new injection wells were being
constructed each year.
Ground-water contamination can also come from
abandoned, poorly constructed or poorly maintained
hazardous waste disposal sites. Wastes from disposal
sites can leach down into the soils, migrate into the
ground water and contaminate water being withdrawn
as drinking water.
Monitoring techniques to satisfy legislative
requirements and to gain more knowledge about the
subsurface environment in general are not sufficiently
precise. For example, current monitoring methods
cannot track fluid movements from existing injection
wells to verify the safety of nearby ground water. To
rectify this and other ground-water problems, EPA's
drinking water research program has begun to search
for existing monitoring technology that may be
adapted. One such existing technology is geophysical
monitoring developed for mineral resource exploration.
Oil and coal companies and hard-rock mining companies
have for years used geophysical monitoring technologies
to locate promising drilling sites and ore bodies. Other
promising technologies include magnetometers,
seismographs and resistivity measurement instruments.
These technologies may need to be improved or
modified for precision, accuracy, simplicity, speed and
reliability before they can be used to monitor ground
water.
Magnetometers measure the presence of metal
objects and other geomagnetic anomalies in the
subsurface by emitting electromagnetic energy which,
when it strikes the metal object, either induces a
current in a detector coil or alters the proton spin of
reference material. The sensitivity of these
measurements can be sufficient, it is expected, to
locate abandoned well casings in the vicinity of
proposed injection wells. Seismic reflection monitoring
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Drinking Water
uses mechanically or explosive-produced subsurface
pressure waves to map underground features, including
ground-water characteristics such as depth and types of
soil and rock. Resistivity instruments measure the
electrical resistance of soils, which changes in
proportion to the amount of water in the soil.
Resistivity surveys may be a means to monitor fluid
movements from injection wells and to track and map
contaminant plumes from waste sites.
EPA will test these technologies in actual
contamination situations. Airborne and surface-
operated magnetometers will be tested in cooperation
with the USGS to locate abandoned wells. This
research will determine the best survey patterns to
locate well casings based on the sensitivity of the
instruments and the magnetic properties of well
casings. Resistivity and seismic surveys will also be
conducted at existing injection wells.
Issue: Does subsurface biotransformation of pollutants
help to protect underground sources of drinking water?
Knowledge of the biotransformation of pollutants
in regions of the earth below the root-zone is
incomplete, primarily because systematic investigation
of the phenomenon was begun only a few years ago.
The USGS has produced a small but useful body of
literature concerning the biotransformations of
industrial wastes injected into deep disposal wells, and
petroleum microbiologists have shown that
biotransformations can occur deep within the
subsurface in petroleum reservoirs. But the
microbiology of organisms indigenous to more shallow
aquifers containing potable water was ignored until
recently, probably because many microbiologists felt
that these regions did not receive enough
metabolyzable organic carbon to support life.
Recently, some surprising results emerged from a
three-site survey carried out by EPA and the National
Center for Ground-Water Research. The survey
revealed high densities of microbes -- 10 to 10 per
gram of subsurface material — in shallow water-table
aquifers and the associated regions of the unsaturated
subsurface environment. Generalizing from these
results, it may be true that the total biomass of
bacteria in aquifers and associated unsaturated zones is
greater than the biomass of bacteria in the rivers and
lakes and comparable to the total bacterial biomass of
surface soil. By the end of 1983, EPA plans to have
developed a set of methods for describing the character
and populations of subsurface microorganisms.
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Drinking Water
The biochemical components of the subsurface
microbes are recognizably different from those found in
surface habitats. Biotransformation assays reveal that
subsurface microbes can degrade several organic
pollutants (chlorobenzene, toluene, styrene,
bromodichloromethane) that are also degraded by
surface organisms. There is preliminary evidence from
field studies that the halogenated aliphatic
hydrocarbons undergo biotransformation under
anaerobic conditions, occasionally resulting in
extremely undesirable products such as vinyl chloride.
The precise environmental conditions required for these
biotransformations are, as yet, very poorly defined.
EPA's primary research role in this area has been
to develop techniques to sample the subsurface without
contamination from surface materials. To this end, the
research will produce a manual for non-drilling
monitoring and characterizing techniques, and a
document assessing the state of the art for down-hole
(in situ) sensing techniques. Both documents will be
available in 1984. In 1985, updated manuals will be
produced for sampling and monitoring well construction
and, in 1986, a manual on tracer technology will be
published.
An additional EPA research role is to develop
techniques for using uncontam mated samples to
construct microcosms for studies on the
biotransformation of important organic contaminants.
Researchers are studying the numbers, metabolic
activity, and biochemical characteristics of the
organisms in the same subsurface materials used to
construct the microcosms. Researchers supported by
EPA were the first to obtain evidence for
biotransformation of halogenated aliphatic
hydrocarbons under anaerobic conditions. On-going
work will test these findings and more precisely define
the environmental conditions under which these
biotransformations can be expected.
Other major research organizations are
conducting related research which is being closely
followed by EPA. USGS researchers have conducted
some biotransformation studies in support of
comprehensive hydrogeologic appraisals at specific
waste disposal sites, including industrial deep well
disposal operations, municipal wastewater injection
sites, and an abandoned wood-creosoting operation.
This work has consisted almost exclusively of
laboratory studies of organisms obtained from polluted
well waters and, for the most part, has not been
concerned with aquifers containing potable water.
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Drinking Water
Recently initiated projects, however, include studies of
hazardous wastes in drinking water aquifers. Additional
related work has been done by Swiss researchers who
have studied the fate in aquifers of a number of
important ground-water contaminants, including
trichloroethylene and several chlorinated phenols.
The major objectives of EPA's current and future
research on biotransformation of pollutants in the
subsurface are to identify those biological processes
that may occur in various subsurface environments, to
determine the influence of subsurface physical and
chemical factors on biological activity, and to
characterize the biological processes quantitatively.
Once this is done, data from the research can be
incorporated into solute-transport models which, in
turn, can help in the selection of cost-effective
regulatory or clean-up strategies. By 1985, it is
expected that the research will identify those
subsurface conditions which determine whether abiotic
or biotic processes dominate pollutant behavior.
Laboratory microcosms are being used to depict
the course of biotransformation of organic pollutants
under various subsurface conditions, to determine the
effect of pollutant concentration on the rate of
biotransformation under both aerobic and anaerobic
conditions, and to identify the minimum concentration
of an organic pollutant that perturbs subsurface
microbes and changes biotransformation rates. Work is
in progress to evaluate the ability of the microcosms
which are now in use to simulate the biotransformation
processes at an existing waste disposal site. Later
studies will determine requirements for the
extrapolation of data from a microcosm study to actual
pollution incidents.
A possible benefit of the microcosm work is the
identification of a biological characteristic that can be
used as an index to predict biotransformation rates.
Such an index would greatly reduce the cost and effort
required to project the fate of a pollutant. Potential
indices include cell density by direct microscopic
examination, biomass estimates based on quantities of
cellular structural components (such as muramic acid or
lipid phosphates) and estimates of metabolic activity
(such as adenosine triphosphate content or
dehydrogenase activity). Preliminary results indicate
that this approach is promising. However, at least ten
microcosm studies will be needed to produce sufficient
data to identify a suitable index.
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Drinking Water
Results from this and other research are due in
the next few years. Information about the degradation
of low-molecular-weight chlorinated hydrocarbons,
polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, alkylbenzenes, and
chlorinated phenols will be available in 1983 and 1984.
Data about the effect of pollution concentration on the
rate of biotransformation will also be available within
the next two years. By 1985, a model will be proposed
for use in predicting ground-water quality, at a given
point of water withdrawal, that would result from the
release of contaminants into the subsurface
environment.
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Chapter Four
TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND PESTICIDES
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TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND PESTICIDES
Outline:
Introduction
Legislative Mandate for Toxic Substances
Legislative Mandate for Pesticides
Background
Major Research Issues
Issue: What monitoring and data handling methods
need to be developed?
Issue: What environmental parameters need to be
factored into hazard, exposure and risk models?
Issue: What new tests are needed for chemical
hazards and risks?
Issue: To what extent do substances of similar
chemical structure produce similar health or
environmental effects?
Issue: What biological responses are of concern
for toxic substances and pesticides?
Issue: Does field information verify pesticide
exposure models?
Issue: How can pesticide transport and fate
models be improved?
Issue: What environmental measurements should
be required for biological pest controls?
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Toxic Substances and Pesticides
INTRODUCTION
Man-made chemicals are pervasive in American
society. Some of these chemicals are hazardous to
humans, plants or animals. If used with careful
controls,,these synthetic substances can be extremely
beneficial. If used inappropriately, they can be
detrimental to humans and to the stability of the
environment.
The problem is illustrated by pesticides. By
controlling pests, these synthetic chemicals increase
agricultural production, lower food prices, and may
reduce the likelihood of disease in animals and humans.
However, used improperly the same chemicals can be
toxic to untargeted plants, animals and humans. These
toxic effects may arise at various points in the
manufacture, use and disposal of the chemical. By-
products and impurities, and the persistence of the
chemicals in the environment, may increase the health
risk and add to the problems of defining toxicity and
risk.
The task of controlling toxic chemicals in general,
and pesticides in particular, is twofold: first, to
prevent unreasonable risk to human health and the
environment, and second, to ensure that the tests
required for the control of these substances are as
accurate and cost-effective as possible. Decisions
about the control of toxic chemicals and pesticides
must be based on accurate information about the costs,
benefits and risks of each substance. EPA's toxic
substances and pesticides research programs are
dedicated to maintaining and improving the quality of
this information.
The purpose of this chapter is to explain the
research needs of EPA's Office of Pesticides and Toxic
Substances, to describe the research objectives related
to those needs, and to indicate the EPA research
activities planned to meet those objectives. In
addition, the chapter will describe the current research
focus and future trends.
The toxic substances and pesticides research
program for fiscal year 1983 is allocated $33.7 million.
This total is divided among two subprograms: toxic
substances research, $27.2 million, and pesticides
research, $6.5 million. The total resources for the
toxic substances and pesticides research program are
distributed among the major research areas as follows:
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Toxic Substances and Pesticides
environmental processes and effects, 38%; health
effects, 35%; monitoring systems and quality assurance,
18%; stratospheric modification and the National
Center for Toxicological Research, 5%; engineering and
technology, 2%; and scientific assessment, 2%.
LEGISLATIVE MANDATE FOR TOXIC SUBSTANCES
The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
establishs EPA's authority to regulate, if necessary, all
commercial chemicals except those uses specifically
exempted in the act.
Section 4 of TSCA gives EPA the authority to
require manufacturers and/or processors to test their
chemicals for health or environmental effects. This
authority is selective, applying only to those chemicals
for which EPA makes certain findings as to the need for
testing. Testing requirements under Section 4 are
imposed by rule, each rule specifying not only the
chemical to be tested, but also the nature of the
required tests. EPA's Office of Toxic Substances is also
using negotiated testing agreements to implement
Section 4.
Section 5 of TSCA establishes a premanufacture
notification process for all new chemicals or significant
new uses of existing chemicals. The manufacturers of
these chemicals are required to submit information to
EPA for review prior to production. Unless EPA finds
that the chemical poses an unreasonable risk or
demonstrates the need for additional testing, the
chemical is placed without restriction on the EPA
inventory of existing chemicals.
Sections 6 and 7 of TSCA provide control
authority for existing chemicals. Section 6 is general
regulatory authority and Section 7 gives EPA special
powers to address imminent hazards. Section 8
provides EPA with information-gathering authority.
Using these three sections, EPA can limit the
production, distribution, disposal or use of chemicals to
prevent unreasonable risks to health or the
environment.
LEGISLATIVE MANDATE FOR PESTICIDES
EPA's legislative authority to regulate pesticide
use comes from the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Sections 180, 193 and 561
of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).
FIFRA gives the EPA responsibility for determining the
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Toxic Substances and Pesticides
standards for registration of pesticides for legal use in
this country. Section 3 of FIFRA provides EPA with
the authority to regulate the use of pesticides in a
manner which will not result in unreasonable adverse
effects to the public health and the environment.
Sections 180, 193 and 561 of the FFDCA provide EPA
with the authority to set tolerances and exemptions for
pesticides in food crops and in animal feed and food
additives.
To obtain registration for a pesticide, a
manufacturer must first test specific health and safety
aspects of the substance using testing guidelines
suggested by EPA. Results of these tests are then
submitted to EPA, which decides either to register the
pesticide for general or restricted use, to request more
information from the manufacturer, or to deny or
revoke registration. When a pesticide is registered,
EPA specifications for it include allowable use, means
of production, disposal requirements, crop residue
limits, and tolerances in animal feeds and food
additives.
The Registration Standards Program involves an
intensive review of the data base supporting already
registered chemicals. The Special Review Program
includes risk/benefit reviews of registered pesticides
when there are effects exceeding established criteria
for "reasonableness". Special reviews may be launched
if such criteria are met or exceeded during
development of a Registration Standard, or because
such information is made known to EPA.
BACKGROUND
In addition to conducting and supporting research
projects, EPA's research program investigates the
scientific literature and follows relevant projects of
other federal agencies such as the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences, the National Cancer
Institute, the Food and Drug Administration, the
National Center for Toxicological Research, and the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The toxic substances and pesticides research
programs are designed to meet specific research
objectives in support of EPA's enforcement and
regulatory functions. Although the research programs
are separate, much of the research being done and
many of the scientific questions and issues being
addressed are similar. The programs, therefore, are
presented together in this Research Outlook.
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Toxic Substances and Pesticides
The objectives for toxic substances research are:
• Develop methods and provide quality assurance
for TSCA data and analytical activities.
• Develop and validate test methods to assess
health and environmental hazards of chemicals.
• Develop and validate methods to predict and
monitor human and environmental exposure to
chemicals.
• Develop structure-activity fate and effects
relationships in support of premanufacturing and new
use reviews.
The objectives for pesticides research include:
• Define the environmental and health endpoints for
research.
• Develop methods for improved risk assessments.
• Develop and validate test methods to identify
health and environmental effects.
• Develop and validate techniques to assess human
and environmental exposure.
• Provide quality assurance assistance and support
for regional/state laboratories and other FIFRA
activities.
The key scientific issues now being studied by
EPA to fulfill both sets of objectives are:
• What monitoring and data handling methods need
to be developed to meet the requirements of TSCA and
FIFRA?
• What environmental parameters need to be
factored into mathematical models and what is required
to verify that the models are accurate predictors of
hazard, exposure and risk?
• What new tests are needed to assess chemical
hazards and to evaluate risks of known effects?
• To what extent do substances of similar chemical
structure produce similar human health and
environmental effects?
• What biological responses are of concern for toxic
substances and pesticides?
• Does field information verify pesticide exposure
models? If not, to what extent do the models need
improvement?
• How can pesticide transport and fate models be
refined to gain greater precision?
• What environmental measurements should be
required for biological pest controls.
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Toxic Substances and Pesticides
MAJOR RESEARCH ISSUES
Issue: What monitoring and data handling methods need
to be developed?
Many existing chemicals that fall under the
purview of TSCA are difficult to monitor. Data about
them cannot be collected or analyzed with a high
degree of confidence because of inadequate methods.
As a result, there is a tendency to rely on large safety
factors to ensure the protection of the public from
poorly defined risks.
With regard to potentially toxic substances, TSCA
requires sound and rigorous monitoring methods and
data collection and analysis techniques. Such
techniques and methods, being developed to meet the
mandates of other environmental protection legislation
(e.g., the Clean Air Act), may suffice technically for
TSCA. However, in some cases development schedules
may not be in phase with regulatory needs. Therefore,
EPA's toxic substances research program will focus on
developing and improving key technical methods.
Method development specific to TSCA needs
includes monitoring methods for collecting field data to
improve estimates of human exposure, improved
collection methods for polar compounds and improved
methods for analyzing the large quantities of data
gathered.
In addition, research will continue to improve
methods for both PCS and bulk asbestos. The PCB
research seeks to improve ways to differentiate among
the numerous PCB isomers and to develop associated
quality assurance reference materials. The asbestos
research effort continues to provide quality assurance
audits and develops measurement techniques to allow
the EPA regulatory offices to assess the effectiveness
of asbestos clean-up operations.
The risk assessments mandated by TSCA require
exposure assessments which are, of necessity, based
primarily on data collected for other purposes. With
exposure becoming a more important factor in EPA
regulations, research in this area is focused on
improved methods for collecting exposure data. In
particular, portable monitors and biological tests to
document exposure in individuals will be developed for
specific chemicals of concern. Methods will be
developed, using questionnaires and statistics, to relate
individual measurements to larger populations. In
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Toxic Substances and Pesticides
addition, field sampling techniques will be developed to
monitor exposure pathways, both to provide data and to
validate predictive models.
A related research area of growing importance
involves improved methods and techniques for handling
the great quantities of data generated under TSCA.
Research is directed at pattern recognition and other
data reduction techniques and at improving computer
programs for presenting and relating diverse data sets.
Because implementation of TSCA requires a
greater reliance on biological measurements than did
previous legislation, quality assurance research will
focus on developing laboratory guidelines for biological
tests, standardization of biological methods and
development of standard reference materials for
biological tests. Additional quality assurance work will
develop guidelines for validating the predictive models
currently being used in the regulatory process.
Issue: What environmental parameters need to be
factored into hazard, exposure and risk models?
Mathematical models are used as part of the
regulatory process to assess the impact of toxic
substances and pesticides on the environment.
Effective models share two characteristics. First, they
realistically describe the physical and biological
components of the environment. Second, they can be
used to reasonably predict exposures and hazards of
toxic substances to individual species or designated
populations.
Mathematical models of the physical environment
are used to estimate the movement and concentration
of toxic substances in the environment. Jhe models
produce estimates of environmental concentrations
which are, in turn, used in risk assessment
determinations. The problem is that relatively few of
the physical models have been validated in the field;
their precision and accuracy of prediction need to be
defined for specific applications. Field validation may
reveal the extent of uncertainty in the model segments
that have been exhaustively analyzed and can help to
define confidence intervals. Such analysis is key to
documenting the reliability and limitations of the
mathematical models.
To validate models, current model users will
define intended model use and determine the most
important components for validation. The resulting
prioritized list of research tasks will be submitted to
peer review to define the details of research necessary
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Toxic Substances and Pesticides
to produce models that will yield reliable and accurate
results.
The approach to be taken is first to fine tune a
model's simpler components under controlled laboratory
conditions and then to move to simulation of the more
complex components, also under laboratory conditions.
Models will then be validated in the field. One key
assumption to be tested is that components that work
individually can also work in tandem. Field validation
of the integrated components will focus on the
applications likely for the model. Verification will
include non-steady-state conditions for time and
chemical loading factors. A test model will be
developed by EPA, subjected to scientific peer review,
to review by EPA program officials and to validation
and comment. If successfully validated, the method
will be formally announced by EPA along with its
intended use and limitations. Estimates of a model's
precision and accuracy will be part of its description, as
will comparison with other models.
Major planned results from this research include a
second-generation environmental exposure assessment
modeling system (EXAMS) in 1983, screening toxicity
prediction models for the estuarine environments, due
in 1984, models to predict the concentrations of toxic
substances in the air and in terrestrial environments
including ground water, due in 1984 and 1986, and
models to estimate human exposures to organic
chemicals, due in 1985. Results expected from the
pesticides research effort include: methods to
quantitatively describe sorption kinetics and exchange
rates in soils and sediments, and models to predict
microbial degradation rates, transformation processes
and rate variations for pesticides in aquatic systems,
due in 1983, a field validation and general availability
of a fate model for orchards, due in 1984, and
improvements and field verification of models to
estimate exposures and risks in 1985 and 1986.
Issue: What new tests are needed for chemical hazards
and risks?
The levels of chemical hazard are measured by
tests which use whole organism responses to known
concentrations of a chemical substance. EPA
establishes methods based upon various statutes to
ensure that the tests are accurate, reliable,
economical, and scientifically sound. Currently, 96
testing methods have been published. Research is now
underway to improve these tests, increase their
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Toxic Substances and Pesticides
applicability to other chemical classes, decrease their
costs and advance their use in overall hazard
assessment. Also, more complex tests are being
developed for upper tiers of a given test scheme.
Existing tests are designed to evaluate the
responses of single species of organisms to toxic
chemicals. The tests are relatively simple and serve as
first-tier, screening methods for rapidly evaluating
whether chemicals need more complicated testing.
Additional tests are needed to measure and evaluate
multi-species and system-level impacts of toxic
substances and chemical pesticides. Furthermore,
methods to evaluate other environmental processes
must be added to available test methods, and inter-
laboratory comparison (round-robin) testing must be
carried out to evaluate test reproducibility and the
expected range of error. Subsequent microcosm and
field testing of the methodologies will validate these
procedures.
Ongoing EPA research and that of other federal
agencies including NCI, NCTR, and FDA, will enable
EPA to produce a completed spectrum of lower-tier
testing schemes. Development of upper-tier test
methods will continue.
Among the major planned products of the toxic
substances and pesticides research effort are:
o Inter-laboratory comparison of tests using benthic
marine organisms for ecological hazard assessments,
1983.
o Short-term assays to define ecological risk
associated with sediment-bound toxic chemicals, 1983.
o Use of fish as surrogates for mammals in toxicity
studies, 1984.
o Established criteria for judging the usefulness and
validity of test results in freshwater, system-level
assessments, 1984.
o Guidelines on laboratory-to-field extrapolation of
toxic stress on estuarine macro-benthic communities,
1984.
o Data base development and field validation of
tests for predicting effects of toxic chemicals in
marine systems, 1985.
o Field validation of laboratory-derived,
microcosm, bioassay and effects test methods, 1985.
o Test methods for use in defining possible hazards
of chemicals for: cardiovascular disease (1984),
^immune system impairment (1985), mutagenesis (1985),
reproduction (1985), neurobehavior (1986), cancer
(1986), and liver/kidney impairment and disease (1986).
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o Short-term testing methods for specific
neurophysical, neurochemical and neurobehavioral
changes to screen for the effects of toxicants, 1986.
o Assessment methodology for human heritable
effects of chemical exposure, 1985.
o Development and validation of short-term, cost-
effective methodology for identifying the teratogenic
potential of chemicals in order to support or eliminate
the need for extensive animal tests, 1985.
o Development of methodology for the prediction of
potential reproductive toxicity which may be used in
determining the need for two-generation animal
studies, 1986.
For the pesticides research program, planned products
include:
o Techniques for culturing and maintaining aquatic
"indicator" organisms (e.g., fish and invertebrates) used
in toxicity testing, 1983.
o Acute and chronic testing studies to determine
critical life-stages of exposure to toxicants and to
determine pesticide toxicity (dose) and effects on key
species, continuing.
o Studies to compare laboratory toxicity test
results with findings from field studies, continuing.
Issue: To what extent do substances of similar chemical
structure produce similar human health and environ-
mental effects?
The results of careful studies on molecular
structure and specific activities, or reactivities,
indicate that compounds of similar chemical structure
may have similar biological properties and effects.
This phenomenon is called structure/activity
relationship or SAR.
Structure-activity relationship analysis is a key
part of EPA's evaluation of new chemicals under the
premanufacture notification (PMN) program. Most
PMNs are accompanied by little test data on health or
environmental effects. As a result, EPA employs SAR
analysis to set priorities among PMNs in terms of
potential hazard and to build the case for requiring
testing under Section 5(e) of TSCA. Similarly, EPA
may use SAR analysis to support testing requirements
or to guide in the selection of the most appropriate
tests for existing chemicals under Section 4 of TSCA.
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The SAR approach is an attractive and potentially
useful one which may be used to produce rapid,
inexpensive, scientifically acceptable data to evaluate
the biological effects of chemicals and thus to improve
risk assessment. With verified SAR methodology, data
collected and validated on one chemical could be
applied to another chemical of similar structure. This
could eliminate or reduce the time and expense of
testing and evaluating the newer chemical for
environmental and health dangers. Moreover, SAR data
that showed the possibility of chemical properties or
effects of concern could be used to optimize the
allocation of test and evaluation resources among
specific compounds to target the most potentially
dangerous substances first.
Other organizations are also involved in SAR
research. The Food and Drug Administration continues
to investigate SAR, with emphasis on human health
effects. EPA is interested in both health effects and
environmental fate and effects. A number of industrial
and private laboratories, as well as academic
institutions, are also developing SAR methodologies.
EPA's research program in verifying SAR began
with a review of research done by the FDA, chemical
companies and private laboratories. Data on a wide
variety of compounds are being collected from these
sources and from EPA's research to identify useful
correlations and define the applicability and limitations
of recognized correlations.
The research has two objectives: to develop a
data base of existing information and correlations, and
to determine the cause-effect relationships between a
chemical's molecular structure and its behavior in the
environment. Currently there are some recognized
scientific methods that can be applied to determine a
compound's environmental fate as it relates to chemical
structure. Methods to determine the relationships
between environmental effects and structure require
further development.
The chemical compounds emphasized in the
research effort will be selected from a prioritized list
of those chemicals which are most hazardous and most
frequently proposed for manufacture. By 1985 the
research effort will produce preliminary SAR models
for evaluation of environmental fate and toxicity of a
number of classes of chemicals in various
environmental media. By 1986 EPA will be
investigating a system using molecular structure
descriptions and combinations to predict genetic and
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carcinogenic activity in humans. Research will begin to
define a set of performance characteristics that
compare predictions with defined sets of field data to
estimate the models' precision and accuracy.
EPA's research seeks to extend the applicability
of SAR use. The results of this work will be applied to
assuring that the uses of pesticides and other chemicals
are properly controlled.
Major research products planned as part of the
SAR effort include:
• Prediction capability of toxicity of 12 classes of
chemicals to selected fish species, 1983.
• Development of a model for predicting toxicity of
organic compounds to selected marine biota, 1983.
• Provision of an SAR analysis of the S. cerevisiae
mitotic recombination data set, 1983.
• Definition of thermodynamic properties of
chemicals used to estimate reactivity in the
atmosphere, 1984.
• Production of a preliminary model for predicting
toxicity to terrestrial plants and animals, 1985.
• Field validation of preliminary SAR models
developed with laboratory-derived data, 1985.
• Development of an SAR method using molecular
electrostatic interaction potentials as a screen for
predicting toxicity, 1985.
• Assessment of genetic activity vs. chemical
structure based upon GENE-TOX and similar data
sources, 1985.
Issue: What biological responses are of concern for toxic
substances and pesticides?
A biological response is a discernable reaction in
an organism to exposure to toxicants. This response
may be used as an indicator of effects or as a targeted
endpoint. For human health, endpoints of concern as
indicators of reactions to toxic substances are
reasonably well defined. These endpoints include
cardiovascular disease, immune system impairment,
reproductive dysfunctions, neurobehavioral defects and
cancer. One specific new indicator for biological pest
controls that use baculoviruses is mammalian
immunological effects. Data on this endpoint are
currently being developed.
The biological responses for ecosystems, on the
other hand, are not yet well defined. This problem
arises because environmental toxicology focuses on
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"populations," and biological complexity increases
significantly from an analysis of populations to field
studies of ecosystems. Thus, while some specific
indicators in single-species environments have been
identified by validated tests, there is no accepted
means to extrapolate the effects indicated by these
responses to the multi-species, complex communities of
an ecosystem. Moreover, the ability to predict
ecosystem effects without collecting extensive and
expensive data does not yet exist. Research is needed
not only to identify what the environmental responses
should be, but also to determine the biological kinetics
associated with species and ecosystem resiliency and
recovery.
EPA's research effort is beginning to define
quantitative environmental indicators. For toxic
materials in general, they will be identified in terms of
their commercial significance — a possible indicator
may be retarded growth or degraded quality of
commercial crops. Existing data will be analyzed to
identify research to quantify responses or, at the
minimum, to qualitatively estimate them. Field
validations of the estimates will be compared to
existing data.
By 1988 a catalog of terrestrial and aquatic
environmental responses will be available. If the
indicators in the catalog suggest adverse effects from
toxic chemicals or pesticides, analysis of the data will
indicate whether the biological response quantitatively
or qualitatively measures the degree of adverse
environmental impact.
Issue: Does field information verify pesticides exposure
models?
Sophisticated laboratory models have been
developed to determine the fate of pesticides in the
environment. The output from these models is being
used to predict, in part, the exposures to the ecosystem
components and to humans and to assess the subsequent
risks from those exposures. Much of the output,
however, is not validated with specific field
measurement. EPA's pesticide research program will
perform the field validation.
The proposed field studies seek to replicate actual
pesticide use conditions. Models using pesticide data
for crops grown in a variety of circumstances will be
validated with field studies. One example is an EPA-
developed pesticide orchard ecosystem model (POEM)
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that predicts the distribution of pesticides in or on
trees, grass, broadleaves, litter and soil. POEM will be
validated in an orchard in the Northwest.
A cooperative study between EPA and the U.S.
Geological Survey in Georgia will gather field data on
the migration of pesticides through soil to ground
water. The results will be used in evaluating several
predictive leaching models. Studies will also be
designed for pesticides used against specific pests. A
field study using actual mosquito control pesticides of
an organophosphate or carbamate base applied to ponds
will measure population changes to the pond's non-
targeted organisms, as well as brain
acetylcholinesterase and pesticide residues in fish,
aquatic invertebrates and food. Development of a
mosquito pesticide model will be coordinated with a
regional mosquito control program in a Midwest
metropolitan area.
The approach taken in the research is to use
existing data and "targets-of-opportunity" for the
validation. One such target of opportunity involves
validation of an estuarine exposure model using field
data collected from the kepone contamination of the
James River and estuary.
Information from this research will help in the
evaluation of data submitted by pesticide
manufacturers for EPA registration decisions as well as
in the confirmation of limits specified as part of the
labeling requirements. In the long run, field-validated
models are expected to improve future EPA pesticide
decisions by making them more timely, cost-effective,
accurate and credible.
Issue: How can pesticide transport and fate models be
improved?
Mathematical models are used to assist in
prediction of pesticide transport, fate and exposure.
Currently, the models for exposure and fate are being
worked on to improve the precision and reliability of
their predictions of environmental concentrations of
pesticides and toxic substances. Subsequently, these
models will be validated in the field. At present,
improvements are being made along several lines,
including integration of single-medium models into
multi-media models, development of models to predict
concentrations when source input varies with time, and
validation of existing models in microcosms and field
ecosystems.
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Improvement of the mathematical models is an
exacting task, due to their complexity. The models are
made up of components that represent conditions in the
field. The hazard component identifies and measures
potential adverse effects, and is derived from biological
analyses and stated in biological terms. The exposure
component is described in terms of pesticide
concentrations in various media. These components
must be integrated in a way that allows the model to
serve as a useful tool in assessment of environmental
risks.
EPA's research seeks to improve the
mathematical basis for determining environmental
risks. Initial work will refine the environmental
exposure assessment models to fit more closely into the
risk framework. The output will be an improved
mathematical model for more accurate estimates of a
pesticide's impacts.
Much of the effort will involve a careful review
and screening of data that is available through the
pesticide registration process. Researchers will also
review data from specific projects, such as one which
will take a census of terrestrial non-target organisms at
a pesticide spray site. Other data, such as data on
reproductive dysfunctions in humans and other species,
will also be studied.
Issue: What environmental measurements should be
required for biological pest controls?
Within the past few years an increasing interest
has developed in the use of biological control agents
(BCAs) to control pests. Over the last five years, the
number of EPA-registered BCAs has increased three-
fold. The BCAs consist of two distinct categories,
biochemical pest control agents and microbial pest
control agents. The former are biologically derived
chemicals (e.g., hormones and pheromones) and the
latter are living microscopic organisms. The living
organisms currently registered for use include bacteria,
fungi, protozoa and viruses. These microorganisms are
known to attack targeted pests but their transport,
persistence and fate in the environment and their
effects on non-target species are not clearly
understood.
The USDA and public and private institutions are
currently conducting research on BCAs. Their research
emphasis is on development of new agents, efficacy
testing and control of target pests. Environmental
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research is needed to evaluate problems associated with
non-target organisms. In response to the EPA's
regulatory needs, the pesticide research program will
investigate and evaluate hazard data to determine
effects from microbial BCAs and from some of the
biochemicals (excluding pheromones and hormones) in
estuarine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems.
The hazard research will include a broad range of
investigations. To determine the infectivity,
pathogenicity or toxicity of biological control agents in
the different media, exposed animals will be observed
for behavioral effects. Necropsies will be performed
and tissue samples will be subjected to histological,
biochemical and genetic analyses to detect the fate and
possible effects of the agent in non-target organisms.
For the freshwater analysis, the control agent Bacillus
thuringiensis will be used to measure exposure
concentrations from suspension in the water and from
diet and injection. The range of hosts attacked by the
microorganism and its stability and persistence will be
determined. The work is intended to determine if test
data accurately predict the field data.
Major planned research products include:
• Determination in the terrestrial environment of
the scope of the effects already known to be caused by
BCAs, 1983.
• Development and testing of selected tier 1
protocols for estimating hazards to non-target
terrestrial species. Microbial agents will be studied
with emphasis on dosing regimes, appropriate non-
target endpoints, and survival and persistence of BCAs
in the environment, 1984.
• In situ testing of Bacillus thuringiensis with non-
target freshwater organisms under field conditions,
1985.
• Laboratory exposure studies using aquatic animals
(estuarine) and insect viruses, 1984.
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Chapter Five
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Outline:
Introduction
Legislative Mandate
Background
Major Research Issues
Issue: How do people sensitive to air pollutants
respond to those pollutants?
Issue: What monitoring and measurement methods
are needed to detect and analyze air pollutants??
Issue: What models best describe pollutant
transport and transformation?
Issue: How can air quality models reflect complex
terrain conditions?
Issue: Can sources of pollution be identified by
the unique properties ("fingerprints") of their
pollutants?
Issue: What are the health effects from exposure
to combinations of pollutants?
Issue: What is the cost of damage to crops from
air pollution?
Issue: What are the most effective emissions
reduction technologies for volatile organic
compounds, nitrogen oxides and other air
pollutants?
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INTRODUCTION
There are four major air pollution research
programs at EPA.
The gases and particles program is concerned with
the health and environmental impact of sulfur oxides,
particles and lead.
The oxidants program studies nitrogen oxides,
ozone and ozone precursors, which are either directly
emitted or formed as a result of atmospheric chemical
reactions. Volatile organic compounds (VOC) are an
important subset of these precursor chemicals.
The hazardous air pollutants program studies
pollutants listed by EPA as hazardous and investigates
others which may require regulation. After screening
approximately 600 high-volume production chemicals,
EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards has
identified 37 compounds as being of high priority for
more intense investigation. Research during the next
two years will assess the health risks of these chemicals
and help to determine the need for further
investigation.
The mobile sources program produces scientific
information needed for assessing the impacts of
vehicular emissions. Major pollutants of interest are
carbon monoxide (CO), diesel particles and unregulated
organic emissions.
The air pollution research program for fiscal year
1983 is allocated a total of $59.4 million. This total is
divided among four subprograms: gases and particles,
$31.9 million; oxidants, $13.1 million; hazardous air
pollutants, $8.6 million; and mobile sources, $5.8
million.
The total resources for the air pollution research
program are distributed among the research disciplines
as follows: environmental processes and effects, 31%;
health effects, 27%; monitoring systems and quality
assurance, 21%; engineering and technology, 15%; and
scientific assessment, 6%.
LEGISLATIVE MANDATE
The Clean Air Act (CAA), as amended in 1977,
gives EPA the authority to set minimum standards for
air quality. State and local governments are
responsible for preventing and controlling pollution
sufficiently to attain those standards. EPA's research
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role under CAA is to conduct research and development
programs to acquire the information needed to support
both defensible standards and the air pollution
regulations necessary to attain them.
BACKGROUND
To meet CAA requirements, EPA's air pollution
research programs address two major tasks — gathering
data on the currently regulated air pollutants in order
to revise standards on a periodic basis, and compiling
data on unregulated pollutants to determine whether
potential health and environmental risks may warrant
future standards. In the first case, the research refines
and extends existing findings. In the second, the
research establishes and tests hypotheses. Data derived
from both efforts will support the National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS), the New Source
Performance Standards (NSPS), the National Emissions
Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS), the
Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD)
increments and mobile source standards.
The results of research on certain air pollutants
are compiled in "criteria documents" which are required
by section 108 of the CAA and which provide the
scientific criteria upon which many regulatory decisions
are based. Currently, criteria documents have been
published for the pollutants regulated by NAAQS under
Section 109 of the CAA. These pollutants are ozone,
nitrogen dioxide, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, total
suspended particulate matter, lead and hydrocarbons —
the "criteria pollutants."
Further research on criteria pollutants is
performed to refine the knowledge base underlying the
standards. For example, questions may include: Should
the standards be higher or lower? Should different
descriptive units for pollutants be devised (e.g.,
particles 10 microns and under)?
Research into hazardous air pollutants (those
regulated under section 112 of the CAA) asks such
fundamental questions as: What pollutants are of
concern? How dangerous are they? In what
concentrations? What are actual human exposures to
these pollutants? Results from this research are
published in health assessment documents.
Major themes cut across the air pollution research
programs and the issues associated with them. For
example, ambient air concentrations of a pollutant at a
fixed point may not realistically represent the actual
exposure that will determine adverse health effects.
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For some pollutants, it is now possible to measure
directly an individual's total exposure, including
exposure at work or at home. Such measurements will
significantly improve EPA's knowledge of actual 24-
hour exposure, the spatial representativeness and
temporal variability of ambient concentrations and,
consequently, estimates of actual health risks.
Research is needed, however, to develop methods
for more realistically determining exposure to other
pollutants. For example, little information is available
about hazardous air pollutants, their concentrations and
distribution. Research is now attempting to resolve
both the new and the long-standing arguments about
estimating cancer risks, evaluating mutagenic hazards,
determining effects to reproductive systems and
estimating the potency of toxic pollutants. This
difficult work is further confounded by the
uncertainties associated with extrapolating from data
on animals to prediction of effects in humans.
Currently, hazard assessment documents are
being prepared on 37 potentially hazardous air
pollutants. In addition, determining the potential
interactions of these pollutants to form products of
greater or lesser toxicity remains a major research
challenge. However, one of the problems with field
measurements is that, in many cases, measurement
technology is inadequate to detect and measure such
pollutants in ambient air. Technologies for making
measurements in the ambient environment are now
being modified or developed, especially for technologies
for measuring organic compounds found in urban
atmospheres.
Air pollution may pose greater risks to the health
of certain more susceptible groups of people than to the
remainder of the population. Research is looking
increasingly at populations at presumed greater risk.
Similarly, health studies using test animals now
concentrate on chronic, long-term, low-dose exposures.
The lower doses often portray more accurately the
pollutant levels seen in the environment. Such long-
term, low-dose health research may help to determine
if linear or non-linear dose-response curves more
accurately estimate the probability of human health
impairment from exposure to low doses of air
pollutants.
Other air pollution research will improve the
scientific basis of models, validate models in the field
and improve laboratory methods to refine the models.
The models range from atmospheric transport,
transformation, diffusion and deposition models, to
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biological tests that can be used to determine t
presence of certain compounds and to sere
compounds for potential toxicity. Once these mod«
are developed, they will be tested for accuracy.
The major research issues responding to tl
problems mentioned above are:
• How do people sensitive to air pollutants respoi
to those pollutants?
• What monitoring techniques and measureme
methods are needed to detect and analyze air pollutan
and/or predict actual population exposure?
• What air quality models best describe tt
regional, mesoscale and urban scale transport ai
transformation of pollutants?
• How can air quality models reflect the transpo
and diffusion of pollutants in complex terrains?
• Can sources of pollution be identified by tf
unique properties ("fingerprints") of their pollutants?
• What are the health effects from exposure
combinations of pollutants?
• What is the cost of damage to crops from a
pollution?
• What are the most effective emissions reductk
technologies for volatile organic compounds, nitrogc
oxides and other air pollutants?
MAJOR RESEARCH ISSUES
Issue: How do people sensitive to air pollutants
respond to those pollutants?
Health responses of members of the populatic
most sensitive to air pollution exposures need to fc
determined to assure these people an adequate level c
protection. Among the groups identified as sensitiv
are the elderly, asthmatics, those with chroni
obstructive lung disease (e.g., emphysema), persor
with coronary vascular disease and children.
EPA's air pollution research programs are buildin
upon a data base derived from air pollutant exposure:
The existing data base for effects in healthy peopl
demonstrates that some persons exposed to varioi
pollutants exhibited exaggerated responses such a
increased sensitivity to bronchoconstrictors an
increased airway resistance. Such responses have bee
seen either from constant or intermittent exposure t
low levels of pollutants over a period of time or fror
low levels of exposure with repeated higher peak;
Studies previously done by other investigators need t
be replicated, and further characterization is needed o
effects observed in response to various exposures ove
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long time periods. Other studies are needed of
immediate responses to short-term exposures.
The EPA's research will include epidemiological,
clinical and animal studies. The clinical studies will use
volunteer human subjects exposed to pollutants in EPA's
clinical exposure facility. These persons are exposed,
both at rest and while exercising, to pollutants at
concentrations bracketing ambient levels. All
exposures are acute (short-term) exposures. Subjects
will be tested before, during, and after exposure to
determine pulmonary function performance, effects on
biochemical parameters, and effects on peripheral
lymphocytes as an index of immune function.
Normal, healthy individuals of both sexes and
several races are being tested. In addition, other
groups of people suspected to be susceptible will be
exposed to low levels of ozone, NO,, SO2 and fine
particle aerosols alone and in combination and tested to
characterize thresholds of effects if possible.
Asthmatics will be studied, using ozone, nitrogen
dioxide and sulfur dioxide both alone and in combination
with aerosols in tests designed to model ambient
conditions. Persons with chronic obstructive lung
diseases will be studied using the same pollutants.
Persons with pre-existing conditions, enzyme
deficiencies such as alpha-1-antitrypsin globulin
deficiency, for example, which may predispose them to
increased pulmonary responses, will be also studied. In
addition, non-invasive methods using a gamma camera
to measure ventricular wall motion can be used to
monitor the heart. Such methods will be used to study
the effects of carbon monoxide on persons with existing
coronary artery disease prior to the onset of clinical
symptoms such as angina.
Animal tests are investigating both the increased
susceptibility to respiratory infections and development
of arteriosclerosis to determine if they are influenced
or caused by exposures to air pollutants. Studies will be
performed on both healthy rodents and those treated to
simulate conditions such as asthma or emphysema using
long-term (chronic) exposure regimens.
Additional studies will examine differences in
sensitivity among various species of small mammals.
These results will be useful for extrapolating effects in
animals to those predicted for humans, especially
effects from long-term exposures or exposures to
higher concentrations of pollutants. This is true
because by pointing out common responses or different
responses in different species and correlating them to
known differences between species it should be possible
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to better predict human responses based on knowledge
of human physiology.
Data on chronic pulmonary, pathological and
immunological effects of ammonium sulfate and sulfur
dioxide on normal animals and animals with impaired
respiratory functions will be available in 1987. Results
will contribute to revision of the particulate matter
standard. In 1987, data will also be provided on
respiratory, morphological, immunological and
metabolic effects of NO2 exposure in animals treated
to simulate pollution-sensitive human groups.
Further studies will evaluate lead exposure
absorption/retention relationships in sensitive
populations. Previous findings indicated effects at
lower exposure levels than expected. Additional data
on the sensitivity of neurological, behavioral and other
health factors in children exposed to low levels of lead
will be available in 1986.
Research will also provide data on physiological,
biochemical and immunological responses to exposure
to single and combined gases and particles in normal
populations and those in sensitive population subgroups.
Additional studies will analyze major urban particulate
pollutants (sulfuric acid and ammonium compound
aerosols) alone and in combination with ozone, nitrogen
dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Results of this work will be
available in 1987.
Issue: What monitoring and measurement methods are
needed to detect and analyze air pollutants?
Effective modeling, control, and regulation of air
pollution depend on rapid and precise methods to
measure air pollutant concentrations in both the
ambient atmosphere and from specific pollutant
sources. This means that an underlying theme of EPA's
monitoring research is the development of new
measurement methods and of quality assurance programs
to ensure that methods currently in use are reliable.
In addition to working to improve site monitors,
EPA research will develop non-invasive monitors to
gather physiologic data while collecting exposure data.
These monitors will be miniaturized for use in field
studies to gather accurate data under actual ambient
conditions.
For hazardous air pollutants, monitoring
technologies and measurement methods are needed to
determine precisely the composition of the air and to
help to identify those air pollution components that
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represent a significant health risk. Current collection
instruments were not designed to measure these
compounds. One major research goal is to develop and
deploy monitoring devices to determine if there are
pollutants in the air which are, or may be, hazardous.
Protocols for the new technology must be developed,
field-tested and verified. Most existing methods to
monitor hazardous air pollutants employ polymer
collection capsules in conjunction with a gas
chromatograph (GC) and mass spectrometer (MS).
However, some compounds known to be biologically
active "cannot be collected with the current polymer
capsules; new polymers are being investigated to
collect the potentially toxic compounds.
EPA recently sponsored the development of a new
technology to supplement the GC/MS measurement
process: the tunable atomic-line molecular spectrum
(TALMS) device. TALMS uses magnetic field excitation
to identify compounds. EPA research is currently
sponsoring development of a library of spectra for use
in identifying compounds.
EPA's research approach to the hazardous air
pollutant problem is to take measurements with state-
of-the-art equipment while simultaneously developing,
testing, refining and verifying new technology. EPA is
establishing a regional monitoring center that can
perform the sophisticated analyses necessary to detect
hazardous air pollutants. The center will also act as
the contact point for new stationary or mobile
measurement technology.
As the new monitoring and measuring
technologies are developed, they will be used for
identifying, screening and characterizing hazardous
atmospheric pollutants. Emphasis of this research will
be on quantifying the atmospheric transport and
transformation processes (i.e., chemical reactions and
dispersion) that govern the ambient concentration
distributions of primary and secondary (derivative)
hazardous air pollutants, and on determining the effects
environmental processes have on the frequency of
occurrence, ambient concentration ranges and patterns
of variability observed for hazardous air pollutants.
Similar to the proposed change in the particle
standard, there may be a change in the way of
calculating personal exposures to hazardous air
pollutants. Currently, exposures are estimated using
data on emissions and concentrations of the pollutants
in the ambient atmosphere. However, total exposures
based on actual 24-hour personal exposures may differ
from those estimated from the ambient concentrations.
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For measuring personal exposures, EPA is
developing new methods to work in concert with the
new or modified technology for measuring ambient
exposures. The results, which may be definitive within
the next half decade, will help to determine the
appropriateness of the current regulations for the seven
listed and four regulated hazardous air pollutants as
well as the potential need for regulations for other
pollutants. The research program for hazardous air
pollutants is expected to gain increasing emphasis
during the next few years.
Mobile sources research seeks to determine the
extent of human exposures to mobile-source pollutants
such as CO, NC>2, diesel particles and unregulated
organic emissions. Continuous, real-time personal
monitors are presently being used to measure CO
concentrations. NOj badges sensitive enough to
provide data on exposures at ambient concentrations
have been developed. Portable devices capable of
collecting airborne particles and gases for laboratory
study have also been developed. Measurement and
analytical procedures for unregulated pollutants,
however, need to be refined or developed.
Refinement of analytical procedures that apply to
a variety of unregulated pollutants is needed in order to
be able to use the procedures for analyzing priority
pollutants. Furthermore, development of the analytical
procedures is needed for measuring pollutants that are
not completely characterized and that pose a potential
carcinogenic threat, e.g., organics adsorbed on diesel
particles. Research work is attempting to develop
bioassay tests as an analytical procedure applicable to
emissions from various fuels and fuel additives. In
addition to the evaluation of pollutants from current
vehicles, these procedures will be needed to identify
and assess the health effects of new pollutants from
changing fuels and engine technologies.
Research for studying human exposures to CO
from mobile sources will be emphasized. Even though
nationwide CO emissions have been decreasing, the
relationship between vehicle emission rates and actual
CO exposures needs to be more precisely determined.
By developing a reliable predictive method for
determining population exposure profiles in urban areas,
CO exposures can be determined and exposures to other
mobile-source-generated pollutants can be inferred
using the CO data as a surrogate. The most critical
portion of the determination of these exposure profiles
is the development of sampling methods that can
adequately characterize CO levels in important
microenvironments.
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CO exposure research will also determine whether
existing, fixed, in-place monitoring sites for measuring
air pollutant ambient concentrations are sufficiently
representative of actual CO exposure concentrations.
Studies, for example, have shown that curbside
measurements vary significantly from sites at slightly
different distances from, and heights above, the
roadways.
The exposure data can be used to: (1) assess
better the health risk of CO to the population, (2)
provide a basis for improving the siting of existing
monitoring stations, and (3) validate existing exposure
models. This validation is particularly important. Field
data are needed to further validate estimates used in
establishing the National Ambient Air Quality Standard
for CO. Those estimates were statistical
approximations of the percent of the population
exposed to various CO concentrations; actual exposure
data are essential for determining whether future
emission standards or air quality standards should be
relaxed or made more stringent. Exposure models
field-validated for CO will be important for other
mobile source pollutants as well. As the first
statistically representative data base on human
exposures for a criteria air pollutant, it will serve as
the research benchmark for data bases to be developed
for the other mobile-source air pollutants.
The research approach is to develop a data base
collected by volunteers who will carry portable carbon
monoxide monitors developed by EPA. The monitors
are miniature (about the size of a small camera),
accurate, reliable and durable. By choosing a cross-
section of the population, correlations made between
exposures and urban-scale activities can be used as
scientific estimates of realistic exposures to pollutants
from mobile sources.
Data from the personal monitors will also be used
to validate and improve existing computerized human
exposure models such as the SHAPE (Simulation of
Human Air Pollution Exposure) model. Such models are
used to assess the impacts, in terms of exposure, of
changes in emissions and activities.
To assess the proper level of control of particles
from diesels, information is needed on projected
exposures of populations to diesel particles and the
long-term health effects from the exposures. Health
effects studies are being completed and risk
assessments for diesel emissions will be completed in
1983. Risk assessments need to be developed for
unregulated mobile source emissions that pose a
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potential carcinogenic threat, e.g., nitrosamines,
formaldehyde and dioxins.
In general, most toxic air pollutants pose
problems near to their sources but not over an entire
urban area. This is also true of some criteria
pollutants. In the mobile sources research program,
there is a continuing effort to determine emission rates
for many of these pollutants. Such source studies of
emissions may provide important input into determining
the cost effectiveness of alternative emissions
reduction strategies.
For gasoline-fueled cars and light-duty trucks,
emissions controls are relatively mature. For these
sources, research focuses on developing more precise
emissions inventories for volatile organic compounds
under different driving conditions. Such information is
important for maintaining air quality standards. For
other vehicles — especially heavy-duty trucks and buses
— research will aim at determining the impacts on air
quality and human health of alternative emissions
reduction scenarios.
The oxidants program will develop measuring
methods to help determine the reactivity of air
pollutants and the photochemical formation of smog.
Emphasis of the program will be on refining existing
monitoring technology and quality assurance.
Issue: What models best describe pollutant transport
and transformation?
When pollutants are emitted into the atmosphere,
they often undergo chemical and photochemical
reactions that change the initial pollutants into a range
of different compounds. To predict this phenomenon
requires that chemical process equations (e.g., for
reaction rates) and physical process algorithms (e.g.,
for dispersion) be integrated into one model. Regional
transport and transformation models are being
developed for sulfur dioxide, sulfates, particles, ozone,
nitrogen dioxide and nitrates including natural
emissions of hydrocarbons. The models will provide
information on how upwind pollutant sources affect
downwind urban areas. This information will be key to
developing effective pollution control plans.
The chemistry portions of the regional-scale
models are now sufficient to describe some atmospheric
reactions. Field studies will be conducted to verify
calculations that describe the formation of sulfates
from SO.,, the formation of particles, and the reactions
that produce ozone.
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Not as well developed, however, are the physical
algorithms. The traditional approach to such modeling
was based on Lagrangian models which are point-source
and area-source algorithms. The Lagrangian method
describes the motion of air parcels by specifying a
conceptual "parcel or volume of air" and tracing its
motion over time. These methods assume linear
chemistry. That is, they assume that the rate of
change in the concentration of a given pollutant is
directly proportional to the local concentration of that
pollutant. Such methods do not work well when the
reaction rate for the pollutant of interest is affected by
other factors (e.g., other pollutants) and is, therefore,
non-linear.
Eulerian (fixed coordinate) methods of describing
air transport will work much better for EPA's regional
photochemical transport model. Eulerian methods
describe the motion of air by specifying the air's
density and velocity at a grid of points in space at a
particular time. The Eulerian methods can include the
non-linear chemical calculations needed to predict the
downstream reactions that form ozone, sulfates and
nitrates. The methods also are applicable to long-
range, or regional, transport. EPA's research program
will develop the Eulerian framework of the models and
will integrate it with the chemistry modules.
At the same time, data will be collected to verify
dispersion coefficients interpolated from earlier
empirical, limited-situation studies. This verification is
necessary because the earlier studies were so limited
that generalizations may be inaccurate; also,
meteorological parameters work best under stable
weather conditions and are less accurate for unstable
(strongly convective) conditions.
Model development and verification will depend
upon data collected during the Northeast Regional
Oxidant Study (NEROS)/Persistent Elevated Pollution
Episodes (PEPE) program. The regional-scale model
will be tested and refined using this field data. A few
European countries have expressed interest in using the
models and adapting them with their data base.
The regional photochemical model will be a
reactive model. That is, it will be capable of handling a
number of different complex chemical reaction
mechanisms for ozone and particulate matter. The
model's 1983 version will address only ozone chemistry.
Following that, the model will be developed further to
include reactions of SO~ to sulfate, including liquid-
phase reactions. At a later date, nitrate chemistry will
be added to the model. A field-evaluated model should
be available in 1986.
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Urban-scale models will also be developed. The
urban-scale models that predict the concentrations of
photochemical oxidants in urban air are of two
completely/different types. One urban photochemical
model is based on the empirical kinetic modeling
approach (EKMA), much of which is derived from smog-
chamber studies. By specifying amounts of
hydrocarbons and NO/NO, in the urban atmosphere, the
EKMA will estimate the level of air pollution controls
needed to achieve the ozone air quality standards.
The other type of models — air quality simulation
models for urban photochemicals and particles — not
only provide estimates of concentrations, they also
predict the time-varying rate of transformation and
dispersion. These models use more advanced chemistry
and meteorology than does the empirical model. Most
of the research to date has focused on developing and
validating first-generation air quality simulation
models. The models were tested against a
comprehensive air quality and emissions data base
obtained through a five-year regional air pollution study
conducted in the St. Louis area during the mid 1970's.
EPA's research program is refining both of the
modeling approaches. Comparisons of several methods
to predict atmospheric chemical reactions showed large
discrepancies when existing ozone and NO predictive
models were run with low HC/NO ratios, suggesting
that current chemistry submodules may result in
erroneous ozone predictions and could introduce errors
when used in either the EKMA or air quality simulation
models.
To resolve these problems, EPA will conduct
indoor and outdoor smog chamber studies, and the data
obtained will be used to develop improved chemical
submodels of photochemical smog formation. Indoor
smog chambers will be used to investigate the
photochemical reactions of aromatic hydrocarbons and
their oxidation products. Outdoor chamber studies of
synthetic volatile organic compounds (VOC), and NO
and NO2 mixtures will investigate the effects of
hydrocarbon composition changes on the formation of
O, and other oxidants. Multi-day irradiations of
complex VOC/NO mixtures will assess the oxidant-
forming potential of "spent" air masses and provide the
necessary data for use in a regional oxidant model.
This research will produce chemical kinetic data
for use in either EKMA or air quality simulation models
and a validated O3 and NO2 chemical module in EKMA.
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An evaluation of EKMA models using improved O-,
chemistry will be available in 1984. Another significant
research output will provide the EPA regulatory office
with regional photochemical modeling results based on
target emission reduction strategies provided by the
Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards. These
results will be available in 1986.
At present, sulfate is the only chemical species
that will be .modeled explicitly. The chemical
composition of other particles Will be addressed as
regulations require.
Research will also lead to validated models which
predict one-hour, 24-hour, and yearly average values
for urban particulates and the contribution to these
values of plumes from large sources at mesoscale
distances (0-300 km). An operator's manual will be
produced for using the Particulate Episodic Model
(PEM) and the point-area-line model in urban situations.
An improved urban and mesoscale particulate model
will be produced for state and local governments and
industry for use in SIP revision based upon the proposed
new particulate standards.
Issue: How can air quality models reflect complex
terrain conditions?
The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 require
EPA to specify the use of dispersion models pertinent
to prevention of significant deterioration and to
attainment of National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS). However, no adequate model has yet been
developed which adequately describes dispersion in
complex terrains.
EPA research will develop such modeling
capabilities. Initial model development will use field
measurement data and results from the EPA Fluid
Modeling Facility (FMF) to provide modifications to
models currently used in the regulatory process.
Concurrently, atmospheric dispersion models will be
improved. Field research will include tracer studies
over moderately-sized terrain obstacles and a full-scale
plume study at an existing power plant in complex
terrain. These studies will provide data for evaluating
the performance of dispersion models under conditions
that cannot be adequately simulated in the FMF.
Subsequent research will evaluate the feasibilities
of transferring the models to settings of increased
topographical complexity, applying the models during
neutral or unstable conditions, and projecting the
calculated one-hour concentration to three- and/or 24-
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hour average concentrations. Coordination and data
exchange will be maintained with similar studies being
performed by the Department of Energy and the
Electric Power Research Institute.
If the development effort is successful, an
evaluated complex terrain model, including a user's
guide, will be published in 1985.
Issue: Can sources of pollution be identified by the
unique properties ("fingerprints") of their pollutants?
Air pollution samplers in current use can detect,
identify and measure the amounts of different airborne
compounds that are deposited on the collection grids;
the samplers and analytical procedures used cannot
identify the sources of the compounds. Now,
technology and procedures are being developed to
identify the sources of pollutants. The identification is
based upon unique chemical signatures of the collected
compounds. The concept is called source
apportionment.
Source apportionment works by analyzing
collected particles with X-ray diffraction, ion
chromatography, neutron activation, scanning electron
microscopy and other advanced chemical analysis
techniques. If the particles in question have the same
unique features characteristic of particles found only at
certain sources, then the sources of the particles in
quertion can be identified. Currently, the methods are
sufficiently advanced to be able to identify particles
emitted by certain industries but not from any one
specific plant within a group of similar industries. For
example, particles from quench towers of steel mills
have unique chemical signatures, but the methods
cannot tell which quench tower produced a certain
particle. At present, source apportionment methods
are limited by scant emissions data for determining
industrial source signatures. Both collecting the
requisite emissions data and verifying the chemical
analyses and signature matching methods are important
parts of this EPA research effort.
Source apportionment cannot, by itself, be used to
predict air pollution concentrations. By integrating the
apportionment data with urban particulate dispersion
models, however, a hybrid model may be able to
identify sources or, as the case may be, to predict
pollutant types and concentrations at given urban areas
under differing conditions. In 198^, EPA will use data
collected in Philadelphia to develop such a hybrid
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model. The immediate goal of the research is to
develop and test a comprehensive receptor model for
apportioning particulate mass to components from
emissions sources.
Issue: What are the health effects from exposures to
combinations of pollutants?
In breathing the air, people are often exposed to a
predominant single pollutant, but at other times they
may be exposed to a mixture of compounds, some of
which may be harmless, others hazardous. Health
effects research, therefore, is expanding its scope to
consider multi-agent exposures including potential
synergistic or antagonistic effects in addition to single-
pollutant effects. Depending on the findings, it may be
more appropriate to consider regulation of
combinations of pollutants.
EPA has almost completed single-pollutant
clinical research on non-sensitive populations, and
emphasis for studies on normal subjects is being shifted
to multi-agent studies.
The research is being conducted simultaneously
with exposure assessment studies so that health risks
can be better defined; however, because the exposures
are yet to be determined, in many cases, the effects
research does not yet replicate actual ambient
conditions. In lieu of that approach, the effects work
will continue to expose volunteers and animals to single
individual pollutants (e.g., O,, NO-, SO,, or particle
aerosols) and then to the pollutants togetner in various
ratios.
As exposure assessments produce results more
representative of actual population exposures, attempts
will be made to re-design multi-agent clinical and
animal experiments for exposure to air pollution
mixtures more characteristic of ambient conditions.
(There will probably not be a direct one-to-one
correspondence of data from this research with
epidemiological studies due to the fact that exposure
conditions for epidemiological studies cannot be
controlled as can the laboratory work. Nevertheless,
the object of these studies is to make such correlations
as meaningful as possible.)
A multi-year epidemiology study to determine the
health effects of fine particles will be considered
following analysis of a problem-definition study by the
University of Pittsburgh Center.
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Issue: What is the cost of damage to crops from air
pollution?
Reduced yields of crops and forest species have
been observed as a result of air pollution. These
reductions are known to adversely affect wildlife
habitats and human welfare, but the extent of the
effects from lost crop and forest productivity have not
yet been quantified. EPA has initiated a high priority
research program to measure the economic losses from
air pollution, with its primary focus on agricultural
productivity.
The research receives considerable involvement
from concerned state and local governments, several
federal agencies and departments and from non-
government research organizations. The research will
assess the economics of ozone pollution so that the
benefits of air pollution control to crop productivity
can be evaluated. Data for the research will come
from the National Crop Loss Assessment Network
(NCLAN), a national program begun by EPA in 1980.
Since ozone is believed to cause the greatest
damage to vegetation, the program will continue to
evaluate the impacts of ozone pollution through field
research conducted at six regional sites. Crop cultivars
typical of a region are exposed to ozone concentrations
that span the range of air quality conditions and to a
background level that provides an experimental control.
Open-top chambers are used in this research, because
they are the most thoroughly tested field exposure
systems and permit the best control of pollutant
concentrations under field conditions.
Results from field investigations will form the
basis for the construction of dose-response functions,
which relate crop yield effects with various
concentrations of ozone. Various types of
mathematical regression relationships are being
formulated, including a linear approach and a more
complex relationship which assumes a threshold
concentration. Dose-response information will be
integrated with crop yield data and ozone air quality
estimates gathered from counties across the United
States. In 1984, this information will be used to provide
a national assessment of the economic impacts of ozone
on the productivity of major crops. Field research is
planned to cover about 90% of the crop acreage in the
United States.
Research is also planned to quantify the role of
soil moisture as an influencing factor in the response of
crops to ozone and to evaluate the effects of high level
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episodes and of low-level chronic conditions. Since
these factors are highly important in the response of
crops to ozone, they will be evaluated to provide a
more quantitative economic assessment.
Issue: What are the most effective emissions reduction
technologies for volatile organic compounds, nitrogen
oxides and other air pollutants?
Control technologies either remove air pollutants
or reduce their formation by process modifications. At
present, engineering knowledge is available to provide
the necessary technologies, but capital outlays for air-
pollution control are significant burdens to many
industries. Thus the determination of the least-cost
option for controlling air pollution is an urgent goal for
ensuring a clean environment and helping to maintain a
strong national economy.
Priorities for this research are shifting to focus
on volatile organic compounds, including those
designated as hazardous. Emphasis on conventional
pollutants (sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particles)
is declining. In addition, large-scale demonstrations of
emissions reduction technologies are being phased out
in favor of less costly fundamental studies, pilot and
prototype testing and evaluation, and technology
transfer.
For the oxidants, research will be initiated to
determine the least-cost control alternatives for
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides
(NO and NO2)> which are the major precursors of
oxidants such as ozone.
In widespread areas of the country, VOCs are a
major cause of the non-attainment of the NAAQS for
ozone. Scientifically valid data bases, methodologies,
models and control technologies needed to control
VOCs will be provided by EPA's research to regulatory
decision makers; enforcement officials; state, regional
and local officials; and the regulated community.
Control technology such as industrial flares, capture
systems, carbon adsorption, catalytic oxidation, and
thermal oxidation will be assessed to establish
performance standards for new and existing sources of
VOCs. New source performance standards now in
existence will be reviewed and updated by EPA based
on the best engineering information that is currently
available. The main emphasis of this research program
will be on providing to industry cost-effective and
energy-efficient control alternatives that will meet the
standards.
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To control nitrogen oxides, research will be
conducted to determine combustion modification (CM)
methods for reducing NO emissions and for improving
the performance of industrial furnaces. Prior work on
utility boilers has proven that CM methods can
effectively control NO as well as other emissions.
Future research effortsxwill tailor CM methods to the
characteristics • of the many types of furnaces, e.g.,
stoker boilers, steamers, package boilers, cyclone, wall-
fired burners and heavy oil burners.
Research will also develop a technical basis for
estimating the lowest achievable nitrogen oxides
emissions from current and future combustion
equipment and fuels. This research will support
technology developments and enforcement activities.
Emission reduction methods from stationary internal
combustion (1C) engines using fuel modification and oil
or exhaust gas treatment will also be assessed.
For controlling gases and particles, research will
test the electrostatically enhanced fiber filter (ESFF)
technology to define cost-effective means of applying
baghouses in conjunction with dry-SO2 systems. SO
removal with this technology will provide an alternative
to costly wet flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) systems.
Further research will develop a better fundamental
understanding of the operational characteristics of
devices, processes and materials for controlling gases
and particles.
The shift of electric power utilities to dry
scrubbing for low-sulfur coals requires performance
tests using varying coal types as a prerequisite to NSPS
revisions. Assessments will also explore the feasibility
of combining several controls, including coal
preparation, for obtaining more effective pollutant
removals.
Electrostatic precipitator (ESP) research to
define the mechanisms and principal parameters for
two-stage ESP operation with low-sulfur coal fly-ash
will be completed in 1983. Using comparative
assessments, design parameters for two-stage collector
stages will be defined. A design report will be produced
to assist vendors and users to adopt this lower-cost ESP
technology.
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Chapter Six
ACIDIC DEPOSITION
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ACIDIC DEPOSITION
Outline:
Introduction
Legislative Mandate
Background
Major Research Issues
Issue: What are the relationships between sources
and receptors?
Issue: What are the quantitative relationships
between acidic deposition loadings and their
effects?
Issue: Has acidic deposition been increasing?
Issue: Is liming of acidified lakes cost-effective?
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Acidic Deposition
INTRODUCTION
The term "acidic deposition" means the
atmospheric deposition of acidic or acid-forming
compounds in either their dry or wet form. These
compounds exist in the atmosphere as gases or aerosol
particles. The gases are sulfur dioxide (SOA nitrogen
oxides (NO ) and hydrogen chloride (HC1). The aerosol
particles a?e sulfuric acid, nitric acid (a gas in the
troposphere) and certain sulfate and nitrate
compounds. While scientists generally agree that these
compounds are responsible for deposition of varying
degrees of acidity, there remain major uncertainties
regarding the causes, extent, consequences and cures
for the problem.
The major scientific issues are:
• Has acidic deposition been increasing?
• What source/receptor relationships should be used
to determine emission control strategies? Compare
deposition from local sources with deposition
transported from distant sources? Determine the
importance of acid aerosols from natural sources?
• What are the quantitative relationships between
acidic deposition loadings and their effects?
• Is liming of acidified lakes a promising mitigative
option?
To answer these questions and to provide the
scientific and technical data that regulators and
legislators need for formulating policy, EPA and other
federal agencies are conducting a major research
program.
EPA's program is investigating: (1) the
relationships between man-made emissions, precursors,
and acidic deposition, (2) the processes influenced by
the formation and transport of acidic and acidifying
substances, (3) the deposition of acidic substances on
terrestrial and aquatic systems, and (4) effects of
acidic deposition on aquatic environments, drinking
water, agriculture, natural terrestrial ecosystems and
materials. The program will provide assessments to
support policy analyses that determine the cost
effectiveness of potential control strategies.
The acidic deposition research program for fiscal
year 1983 is allocated $12.5 million, which is part of
the $22.3 million budget of the Interagency Task Force
on Acid Deposition. EPA's resources are divided among
the programmatic categories of the interagency task
force as follows: man-made sources, $1.1 million;
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Acidic Deposition
atmospheric processes, $3.9 million; deposition
monitoring, $1.6 million; aquatic impacts, $1.9 million;
terrestrial impacts, $1.5 million; effects on materials,
$0.4 million; and assessments and policy analysis, $2.1
million.
LEGISLATIVE MANDATE
EPA's program is a component of, and operates in
cooperation with, the National Acid Precipitation
Assessment Program (NAPAP), established by Congress
in 1980 under the Energy Security Act. Management of
the NAPAP research is being handled by the
Interagency Task Force on Acid Precipitation, which is
jointly chaired by EPA, the Department of Agriculture
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and includes research representatives
from those agencies and from the Departments of
Interior, Health and Human Services, Energy,
Commerce, State, the Council on Environmental
Quality, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, the National Science Foundation and
the Tennessee Valley Authority. The federal research
program has a ten-year legal mandate. It oversees all
federally funded acidic deposition research projects.
EPA has a coordination role in the task groups for
aquatics, control technology, and assessments and
policy analysis. EPA also has a major research program
to study man-made acidic deposition sources,
atmospheric processes, deposition monitoring and
terrestrial and materials damage.
BACKGROUND
Acidic deposition has most likely occurred in
cities for several centuries. It was first described by
Robert Angus Smith in Manchester, England, in 1853.
In the United States, acidic precipitation (snow, sleet,
rain, hail) has been measured over a large portion of the
eastern states for the past 25 years.
The formation of acidic deposition begins when
atmospheric SO, or NO , as either gases or liquid
droplets, are oxidized by other airborne chemicals to
become sulfate and nitrate aerosols or gaseous nitric
acid. While these atmospheric transformations are
thought to account for the majority of the acidic
compounds, some acidic aerosol particles are emitted
into the air directly from power plants, automobiles and
other man-made sources.
Once formed, acidic gases and aerosol particles
can be removed from the atmosphere by either rain,
snow or fog, resulting in acidic precipitation. Such
atmospheric removal processes are referred to
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Acidic Deposition
collectively as "wet deposition." If there is insufficient
moisture for precipitation to occur the acidic
compounds, including SCX and NO not oxidized to
aerosol particles, can settle or diffuse to the earth and
be deposited in a dry form, eventually oxidizing or
combining with water (and also oxidizing) to produce
sulfuric or nitric acid. This phenomenon is called "dry
deposition."
Atmospheric SOj and NO come from man-made
emissions as well as from natural sources. The
chemicals which serve as efficient oxidizing agents in
the atmosphere primarily are believed to come from
photochemical reactions involving volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) and NO .
Estimates of man-made SO- emissions show that
65% of U.S. emissions come from electric utilities and
the remainder from various industrial and
transportation sources. Estimates of man-made NO
emissions in the U.S. indicate that more than 40% come
from transportation sources, 30% from electric utilities
and the remainder from other types of combustion. The
primary man-made sources of volatile organic
compounds are automobiles, processes that use solvents
and facilities for fuel production and distribution.
The natural sources of atmospheric sulfur
compounds include marine bioactivity, swamps and
volcanos. Estimates of the global sulfur compound
emissions from these sources are comparable to those
for man-made sources, although man-made processes
are responsible for the dominant portion of $©2
emissions in industrialized areas such as eastern Nortn
America.
Estimates of global NO emissions from natural
sources (microbial activity in soils, burning of forests
and agricultural residues, and lightning) are much less
certain than are the SOj estimates. Current global
estimates indicate natural NO emissions to be of the
same magnitude as emissions Irom industrial sources.
For the United States, however, industrial NO
emissions are roughly estimated to be ten times greater
than natural emissions.
The amount of volatile organic compounds
emitted from natural sources is also uncertain. The
role of natural emissions in the regional formation of
oxidizing agents may or may not be significant.
Whether natural or man-made, all acid-forming
compounds and aerosols can be atmospherically
transported for distances of a few to many hundreds of
kilometers from their point of release to where they
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Acidic Deposition
return to earth as wet or dry deposition. If deposited in
the sea, the acidic aerosols and acid-forming
compounds are probably rendered harmless. If
deposited on land, however, the compounds may or may
not cause an adverse effect, depending upon the nature
and sensitivity of the receptor.
The effects of acidification on aquatic life have
been demonstrated, to some extent, in the field.
However, the extent to which these effects are caused
by acidic deposition has not yet been rigorously
determined. Quantification of these and other effects
on susceptible lakes and streams is currently under
investigation. Aquatic effects can manifest themselves
as changes in the life forms found in the water.
Fishless lakes, for example, can occur when a lake's pH
falls below 5 (note: the lower the pH, the greater the
acidity; a pH of 7 is neutral). Several reports,
scientific studies and surveys conclude that a number of
lakes in North America have been affected by acidic
deposition. On the whole it appears that a small
percentage of lakes or lake acreage may have been
significantly affected to date. Some scientists,
however, express concern that present deposition levels
of acidic and acidifying substances may cause
additional aquatic systems to become acidic.
Acidic deposition may also affect forests, crops,
soil systems, drinking water, man-made materials and,
indirectly, human health. Scientists are now seeking to
quantitatively determine if, and to what extent, such
effects occur. Because of the complexity of the
natural systems involved, however, decisive answers are
difficult to come by. For example, after more than a
decade of investigations, Scandinavian researchers still
find it difficult to demonstrate conclusive cause-and-
effect relationships between acidic deposition and
forest productivity.
Studies of acidic deposition effects on natural
terrestrial ecosystems have shown limited evidence of
damage. While acidic deposition may subtly influence
the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, potentially
harmful effects may be obscured in the short term by
nutrient enhancement from sulfates and nitrates.
Recently, however, declines in the productivity of some
forest systems have been noted, although the cause for
the declines remains unclear. Therefore, a primary
concern for research study is the long-term
implications of acidic loadings to natural systems.
Few studies have demonstrated that acidic
deposition either increases or decreases crop yield.
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Nutrient enhancement, again, tends to cloud the issue.
One recent report states that a decrease in soybean
yield may occur at ambient levels of acidic deposition.
However, because plant responses to acidic deposition
(in either natural or managed systems) depend on many
variables such as soil condition, species sensitivity, life
stage, other air pollutants and drought, no major
damage to plant productivity has been specifically
attributed to acidic deposition. Some researchers
theorize that responses to acidic deposition may be
occurring but that the responses are being masked by
the complexity of the affected ecosystems.
The direct risk to humans from acidic deposition
is believed to be very low. The pH of acidic deposition
is generally well within the range normally tolerated by
human skin and gastrointestinal tracts. Indirect risks to
humans which might come from drinking water and food
contaminated by acidic deposition are also quite low,
except where untreated cistern or well water are used.
For example, while acidification of plumbing pipes can
cause lead and copper to leach into cisterns, untreated
well water and drinking water, most urban and
municipal water systems control pH levels to reduce
such corrosion. Surveys will indicate whether pH is a
problem in smaller systems.
Acidification can also release heavy metals such
as mercury and cadmium from lake and stream
sediments making them available for uptake by fish.
These heavy metals, it is theorized, may accumulate in
fish tissues which may, in turn, be consumed by humans.
Although such effects could occur, current evidence
does not indicate that acidic deposition is a human
health problem.
Among the many research projects that are part
of the federal acidic deposition research program are
several that address the entire range of acidic
deposition issues. Two such projects are part of EPA's
program. The first involves production of a major
report summarizing the state of scientific knowledge
with regard to all aspects of acidic deposition. This
critical assessment of the acidic deposition phenomenon
will be published in 1983. The second project involves
completion of an integrated cost-benefit assessment
framework for linking emissions models, atmospheric
models and effects relationships. This framework,
intended for use in policy-related studies, will be
available in 1986.
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MAJOR RESEARCH ISSUES
Issue: What are the relationships between sources and
receptors?
The atmospheric chemistry processes that form
acidic deposition are being studied in order to develop
source/receptor relationships. Through mathematical
modeling and other means, quantification of
atmospheric processes will help scientists to understand
several key factors. For instance, scientists know that
the presence or absence of certain oxidants, other
chemicals, moisture and particulates influence the
conversion of SO- and NO to atmospheric acids, but
the complex interactions of all these elements have yet
to be unravelled. Likewise, ozone and hydrogen
peroxide are known to play a significant role in the
formation of oxidants, but their actual effect on the
conversion has yet to be determined.
Another major requirement for defining
source/receptor relationships is the identification and
measurement of factors that control atmospheric
transport of acid-forming compounds and aerosols. The
intricacies of meteorological mechanisms, which are
just beginning to be understood, make it difficult to
specify the atmospheric paths along which compounds
may be transported.
As part of EPA's research effort, large-scale
meteorological models are being refined. One current
shortcoming is that the models assume that the rate of
conversion of sulfur and nitrogen compounds to acidic
compounds is proportional to their respective
atmospheric concentrations — in other words, the more
SOj present in the atmosphere, the more acid sulfate
produced. Theory and experimental evidence show that
this assumption may be too simplistic to describe actual
photochemical conversion rates. Because of this,
models are now being improved to include the
influences of the mix of oxidants, chemical competition
for oxidants, and the presence of aerosols and
particulates to act as reaction sites. The refined
models will also be designed to more accurately reflect
the vertical transport of compounds between various
layers of the atmosphere than do current models.
Horizontal transport rates, and hence the extent of
dispersion, depend in large measure upon vertical
exchange rates.
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Another problem with using existing models to
differentiate between deposition from local and long-
range sources is that calculations for sulfur compound
deposition are far more developed than are those for
nitrates. In some areas, locally produced nitrogen
oxides may make an important contribution to acidic
deposition.
Finally, long-range transport models only indicate
the contribution of emissions from geographic areas;
they do not indicate those from individual sources or
types of sources. Thus, the models cannot differentiate
among emissions from utilities, industries, homes or
automobiles. Until refined to do so, their usefulness,
especially in formulating and testing control strategies,
is limited.
In 1983 EPA, NOAA, DOE and TVA will begin
field studies and the development of better atmospheric
models to provide more information about long- and
short-range acidic deposition transport and the relative
importance of wet and dry deposition. An inventory of
acid deposition precursor emissions data will be
developed to support the modeling research. Model
data will also help to determine oxidation reaction
pathways and atmospheric oxidant concentrations.
Building upon the results of this research,
numerical transport models are expected to
demonstrate improved source/receptor associations.
The research will include models for examining long-
range transport and regional aspects of acidic
deposition and a comprehensive field study of source-
receptor relationships using atmospheric tracers. These
results will be available in 1986 and 1988.
Among the other major planned research products
associated with this issue are:
• Produce a completed electric utility simulation
model for emissions forecasting for use in 1985.
• Provide a comprehensive emission inventory
system by 1985.
• Complete an industrial simulation model for
emissions forecasting in 1985.
• Produce a report in 1986 to define the relative
importance of deposition from local sources.
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Issue: What are the quantitative relationships between
acidic deposition loadings and their effects?
By studying the physical, chemical and biological
characteristics of lakes, streams and watersheds and
the relationships between amounts of acidic deposition
in a watershed and the pH levels in an aquatic
ecosystem, EPA research will seek to quantify the
relationship between acidic deposition loading and
ecosystem effects. One of the main problems facing
this effort results from dramatic local variations in the
buffering capacity of watersheds.
The buffering capacity of a lake and its watershed
are the main factors in determining a lake's ability to
neutralize acidity. Sensitive aquatic systems have
•watersheds with little or no neutralizing capability in
the soils and bedrock. As a result, such systems have
insufficient means to neutralize incoming acids. Areas
suspected to be sensitive are generally mountainous,
with shallow soils underlain by granitic bedrock. Such
areas include portions of New York, the New England
states, the Appalachians, the Ozarks, the Rockies,
Sierras, and Cascades, the provinces of Ontario, Quebec
and Nova Scotia, and mountainous areas in western
Canada.
Buffering capacity varies with the nature of
underlying rocks, surrounding soils and vegetation in the
watershed. Lakes in watersheds with low buffering
capacity may become acidified, while lakes in the same
region with watersheds having a higher buffering
capacity, may not. The Adirondacks, southern Ontario
and Nova Scotia are the main regions where some lakes
are believed to show the greatest effects from acidity.
In addition, areas of the Southeast and Upper Midwest
are also sensitive to acidic inputs due to the poor
buffering capacity of the soils in these regions.
Many lake features influence susceptibility to
acidic deposition. A lake's size and depth, its rate of
"flushing" (water flow through) and whether it is fed by
surface water or ground water all help to determine
how it responds to acidic deposition. Lakes that are
poorly buffered and unable to neutralize much acid are
particularly susceptible to surface water inflows with
low pH's. Surface water with a low pH can be caused
by acidic deposition, land use practices, natural "humic"
processes or a combination of all three. A dramatic
decrease in a lake's pH can occur in the spring when
acids accumulated in the melting snow flow into a lake.
This episodic phenomenon, known as "spring shock," can
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deplete fish populations and the lake's pH can decrease
quite drastically. Weather patterns also play a role.
Local air turbulence and eddys of rain and snow over
hills and mountains contribute to the local variability of
acidic deposition impacts.
The manner in which land is used in watersheds is
also an important factor contributing to potential lake
acidification. Logging may be important because it
causes a dramatic shift in an ecosystem's nutrient
cycling. Around populated lakes, effluents from
residences may neutralize some lake acidity.
To determine the extent and magnitude of lake
and stream acidification and the associated loss of
commercially important fish the EPA, the Departments
of Interior, Agriculture and Energy, the Tennessee
Valley Authority, industry and several states are
cooperating in a major research program. One goal of
the program is to develop a national inventory of the
impacts of acidic deposition on the quality of surface
waters, including drinking water. Another goal,
scheduled for completion in 1983, is the preparation of
regional and national tabulations and maps showing the
distribution of acidified, and acid-sensitive, waters. By
comparing historical water quality data with watershed
studies, the research will assess the rates of change in
water chemistries and thus provide information for
evaluating future water conditions. Field surveys will
be added in 1984 to inventory the biological impact of
acidification on fish.
Correlations among research results will help to
reveal the causes, as well as the extent, of altered
aquatic systems. A major assessment of atmospheric
deposition loading limits for aquatic ecosystems effects
will be published in 1985. Reports to assess damages to
aquatic ecosystems in physical and economic terms will
be published in 1986 and 1988. Another assessment,
this one of terrestrial effects in economic terms, is
scheduled for 1985 with updates in 1987 and 1989.
Issue: Has acidic deposition been increasing?
Regardless of where acidic deposition has been
observed and measured, there is insufficient evidence
to state with certainty that the acidity of precipitation
is increasing in North America. Historical data are
simply too meager. Useful historical data could be
gathered from glaciers and ice fields of the Arctic,
Greenland, the Antarctic and high mountains.
Theoretically, snow and ice core samples taken from
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the ice masses should contain a record of the trends in
the chemistry of acidic deposition. From those records
scientists should be able to determine patterns of acidic
deposition over hundreds of years. To date, however,
the few efforts to detect such patterns have not
produced definitive results. One key problem is
determining whether the acidity in the samples comes
from man-made sources or from natural processes.
Preliminary results from studies of glaciers do indicate
that SO. and metals deposition have increased since the
industrial revolution.
Historical records about U.S. air quality are also
inadequate for establishing scientifically rigorous
trends regarding atmospheric acidity or the
concentrations of precursor chemicals. In this case,
there is a need to understand natural cycles, or
geocycles, to avoid misinterpreting "apparent" short-
term trends.
In Scandinavia, where acidic deposition data
records are more complete than in North America,
analyses suffer similar shortcomings. Strong
correlations found between the concentrations of
sulfates and nitrates in precipitation and precipitation
acidity are not reproducible when sulfur emissions data
are collected from arrays of monitoring stations over
extended time intervals. The differences in correlation
between concentrations and emissions may reflect
year-to-year variations in atmospheric transport
patterns or the complexity of atmospheric mechanisms.
EPA and other federal agencies are currently
gathering data to determine acidification trends.
Effects studies include the examination of tree rings,
lake sediment cores, acidification damage to
tombstones, and an analysis of historical acidity
measurements. To gather precipitation data, EPA
participates in the National Trends Network (NTN)
which will have 150 precipitation chemistry monitoring
sites in the U.S. Presently, EPA also supports the
National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP), a
federal, state and private program that operates 110
monitoring sites, most of which will shortly become
part of the NTN when the two programs merge. EPA is
also cooperating with other agencies in initiating a
research program to quantify dry deposition loadings in
the U.S.
An assessment of forest effects from acidic
precipitation using tree ring analysis is due in 1984.
Similar assessment reports of effects on man-made
materials and cultural resources will be available in
1985 and 1989.
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Among the major planned research products
related to this issue are:
• A major evaluation of dry deposition
measurement techniques, along with recommendations
for monitoring network designs, will be produced in
1983 and updated in 1985.
• An assessment of trends related to acidic
deposition will be published in 1985 and updated in
1989.
Issue: Is liming of acidified lakes a promising mitigative
option?
One suggested method for protecting and
restoring susceptible lakes is to add lime to neutralize
the acids. Studies of Swedish lakes and streams
demonstrate that adding lime to the water restores fish
habitats, enables restocked fish to survive and
reproduce, and causes undesirable plant species
common to acidic water to disappear. However, the
protection of lakes continuing to receive acidic inputs
would require periodic reliming, varying from annually
to once every five years.
The Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department
of Interior is working with EPA to conduct field
research on lake liming in North America. Liming
strategies to protect against "spring shock" and to trap
metals in the watershed before they enter streams are
being tested. Additional liming research is being
funded by the private sector and by Canada.
These separate research activities will identify
where liming is practical and will quantify both
beneficial and adverse effects. A report on the
economic and biological feasibility of liming as a
mitigation measure will be produced in 1984. Final
recommendations on the use of liming will be made in
1986.
Among the major research products associated
with this issue is the publication of a cost-benefit
assessment of acidic deposition mitigation strategies.
This assessment will be published in 1987 and updated in
1989.
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Chapter Seven
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Outline:
Introduction
Legislative Mandate
Background
— Synthetic Fuels
— LIMB/LOW-NO
Major Research Issues
Issue: What are the key synfuels-related
pollutants?
Issue: What are the health and environmental
risks of synfuel-related pollutants?
Issue: What are the reliability and effectiveness
of alternative synfuel pollutant emissions
reduction technologies?
Issue: What is the best approach to monitoring
synfuel-related pollutants?
Issue: How do boiler conditions influence key
pollutant-related reactions?
Issue: What configurations employing LIMB/Low-
NO burners show promise of reduced emissions
control costs?
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INTRODUCTION
In the past few years, adequate energy supplies
and a decrease in the growth of overall energy demand
have effectively reduced the short-term crisis
orientation of America's energy policies. These
developments are reflected in EPA's energy research
program. The program has been reduced in scale, its
efforts have been more clearly focused and the timeline
for results has been extended. These changes give EPA
an opportunity to help to resolve energy-related
environmental problems at a more considered pace.
A number of major projects are planned or under
way and the program is still meeting its primary
objective — to provide EPA offices, federal, state and
local governments, and industry with the scientific
information necessary for producing and using energy
resources in an environmentally acceptable manner.
EPA's energy-re la ted research addresses two
major subjects: alternate fuels (including synfuels), and
limestone injection multistage burner (LIMB)/low NOX
emissions reduction technologies.
The alternate fuels program will evaluate the
transport, fate and effects of pollutants associated with
the production and use of synthetic fuels, and will
investigate alternative emissions-reduction techniques.
EPA-initiated research within the synthetic fuels
industry takes advantage of EPA's experience in
analyzing waste streams, pollutant loadings, health and
environmental effects, emissions reduction technology
strategies, cost/benefit relationships and regulatory
requirements of various energy technologies. Such
research efforts now will help to avoid costly future
corrections in the emerging synfuels industry by
identifying potential health and environmental risks,
and by providing information on the cost and
effectiveness of pollution control strategies before
plants are designed and built. To achieve these
benefits, EPA plans to initiate an intensive program to
characterize discharge and emissions reduction
technology in the first large U.S. commercial plants
that will start up in 1983 and 1984. The process for
permits to build and operate synfuel facilities will be
improved to reduce delays, and the technology to
minimize the pollutant emissions will be incorporated
at an early stage, not added on at a later time. In some
instances, the reduction of pollutant emissions may
actually improve overall plant efficiencies.
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The LIMB/low NOX research will provide
engineering and design information for promising
emission reduction technologies for new and existing
industrial and utility boilers. This information may
prove invaluable for states involved with the acidic
deposition issue and for plants which may be required to
further reduce their air pollution emissions. The
energy-related research program for fiscal year 1983 is
allocated $12.5 million. This total is divided among the
major research disciplines as follows: environmental
engineering and technology, 77%; health effects, 19%;
environmental processes and effects, *%.
LEGISLATIVE MANDATE
Air and water pollutants and solid wastes result
from the production and use of fuels. These pollutants
are subject to environmental regulations and
enforcement specified in the Clear Air Act, Clean
Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act, Toxic Substances
Control Act and the National Environmental Policy
Act. EPA research to support regulations and
enforcement responsibilities is mandated, directly or
indirectly, by these six federal acts.
For the synfuels program, EPA is authorized to
provide scientific information for the permit process
and preparation of environmental impact statements,
for consultation with the Synthetic Fuels Corporation in
reviewing new synfuel facilities, for characterization of
the potential discharges and review of alternative
methodologies which reduce emissions and discharges,
for evaluation of the need for the establishment of
pollution standards, and as assistance to federal, state,
and local governments and industrial organizations. In
addition, Section 131(e) of the Energy Security Act of
1980 directs EPA to provide scientific consultation, on
environmental monitoring technology and procedures,
to synfuel projects supported by the U.S. Synthetic
Fuels Corporation.
BACKGROUND
Synthetic Fuels:
• What are the key pollutants that result from the
production and use of synfuels?
• What are the health and environmental risks of
synfuel-related pollutants and fuels?
• What are the reliability and cost effectiveness of
alternative technologies for reducing synfuel-related
pollution?
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• What is the best approach for monitoring synfuel-
related pollutants?
Research and development planning has begun for
the task of collecting data on the five large synthetic
fuel plants (Great Plains, Cool Water, Eastman, Wood
River, Union Oil) expected to start up in 1983-1984.
Because there are no full-scale synthetic fuel facilities
currently operating in the United States (except for
smaller, industrial low-Btu gasifiers), very little data is
available at this scale. New pollution reduction
technologies have been applied only at bench- or pilot-
scale levels. Some emissions reduction technology has
been applied at full scale, but adequate data is not
available and major problems are known to exist. In
most cases, synfuels emissions reduction technology is
being designed by engineering extrapolation from other
industries.
Given these limitations, the initial research has
evaluated foreign facilities, and has incorporated
laboratory or pilot-scale research results into the
development of models that will provide data on
expected operations. Because the environmental
control technology for synfuel plants is in an embryonic
state, some problems may arise in relation to the
effectiveness and reliability of the technology. These
problems may need to be corrected on a quick-reaction
basis. As demonstration facilities are constructed and
more experience is gained with them, the verification
of initial results will progress.
EPA has been collecting data from its own
research activities and those of other federal
organizations, private industry and foreign researchers.
These sources have been investigating the occurrence
and potential effects of synfuel plant pollution for some
time. Research within the Department of Energy
(DOE) addresses reproductive, genetic and carcinogenic
effects and the environmental cycling of synfuel
pollutants in aquatic and terrestrial systems. The
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) has conducted some research into worker
health effects of synthetic fuel plant exposures. Data
from synfuel plants in Yugoslavia and South Africa has
also been evaluated by EPA. These data consist of a
characterization of effluents from a Lurgi gasification
plant and a study of morbidity and mortality rates
associated with specific plant operations. Ambient
monitoring and fugitive emissions data are also
available from the Yugoslavian facility. These plants
are not necessarily representative of the U.S. plants
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that will start in 1983-1984; both the technology and
the fuel characteristics differ substantially.
Nevertheless, because they are the only operating data
available, they are being evaluated to assess the
potential risks of operations in the United States, to
help quantify control levels, and to help EPA to
determine whether treatment or removal of potentially
dangerous materials is necessary.
EPA has worked closely with the Department of
Energy in many areas of synthetic fuels research and
development. Over the past several years, EPA has
gained access through DOE to most of the synfuel pilot
plants, including Solvent Refined Coal (SRC) I and II,
Exxon Donor Solvent (EDS) and the H-coal plants. DOE
is the operator of these plants and provides detailed
analysis of the product materials. EPA has developed
and continues to improve upon screening methodology
applicable as an indicator of appropriate emissions
reduction technology. EPA has also co-sponsored with
DOE the evaluation of a pilot Stretford (SO removal)
unit and emissions testing at the Department of
Interior's installation at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. EPA
and DOE have also participated jointly in the Industrial
Gasifier Commercialization Program. In this program,
which involves the use of synthetic fuels gasification to
power industrial applications, EPA has focused on
short-term source testing, while DOE has concerned
itself with long-term health effects.
Another area of cooperation is combustion
testing. DOE makes test fuels available to EPA, and
tests the fuels for combustability and efficiency (heat
content). EPA's job is to check the emissions, compare
them to petrofuel emissions and test for the presence
of hazardous organics. In addition, there is coordinated
research planning between the two agencies on
treatability of wastewater from synfuel plants. EPA
has also cooperated with the Department of Commerce
(DOC) by providing them with test recommendations.
EPA is focusing its research and development efforts to
learn how existing pollution control devices will act on
synfuel plants, and to quantify the synfuel-based
emissions by plant configuration and fuel
characteristics.
LIMB/low NO :
• How do combustion conditions in a boiler
combustion zone influence subtle physical and chemical
reactions?
• Are there LIMB configurations (fuel preparation,
low-NO burner, particle collection) which show
promise of reduced emissions reduction costs?
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EPA's research is producing fundamental and
bench-scale information. In cooperation with boiler
and/or burner manufacturers, additional EPA research
projects will provide prototype-scale information. To
carry the research one step farther, in cooperation with
foreign efforts (e.g., the Federal Republic of Germany),
the EPA program may seek to develop information
relating prototype-scale engineering data with full-
scale field applications.
MAJOR RESEARCH ISSUES
The major questions or issues to be addressed by
the synthetic fuels and LIMB/low NOX research
programs are:
Issue: What are the key synfuels-related pollutants?
Pollutants will be produced at various points in
the synthetic fuel production and use cycle. The types
of pollutants and their concentrations will vary,
depending on the processes used to produce the fuel,
plant design and the use of the fuel. To develop
adequate pollutant reduction technologies and
monitoring plans and to ensure that any hazardous
substances are kept below harmful concentrations,
synfuel process streams containing potential pollutants
need to be identified and loadings determined.
EPA researchers will continue to study pilot-scale
and full-scale synfuel .plants to identify and
characterize plant emissions. This research, plus any
data collected on the initial domestic plant start-ups in
1983-1984, will be used to assist permit writers in cases
where similar feedstocks and/or conversion
technologies are proposed. This will help to ensure the
adequacy of environmental permits and impact
statements produced for the second wave of synfuel
plants (those supported by SFC).
Another major research task is the identification
of pollutants from synfuel activities. Of particular
concern are those polycyclic organic matter (POM) that
are carcinogenic, reduced sulfur species (some of which
may be toxic), and hazardous fugitive volatile organic
compounds (VOCs). Identification of airborne emissions
will receive the most emphasis because of ongoing
research and available test facilities. Data collected in
field characterization studies will be used as input for
risk assessment studies.
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Research on synfuels from coal, peat, oil shale,
tar sands and heavy oil will target those fuel production
processes which are most likely to reach commercial
use at an early date. This effort will consist of
planning and tracking for the 1983-1984 start-ups, plus
some work on the Westinghouse comparative (synfuels-
to-petroleum) combustion testing, cooling tower
wastewater emissions and hazardous volatile organic
compounds.
Pollutants from an oil shale synfuel facility will
be studied either at the Union B site in Colorado or at
the Chevron site in Salt Lake, beginning in 1984.
Research activities will include characterizing air
emissions and the constituents of wastewater used to
moisten spent shale piles, identifying and measuring
leachate runoff, evaluating the physical stability of
spent shale piles and evaluating the potential for local
vegetation to take up toxic elements caused by shale
processing.
Over the next few years, the trend will be, first,
to characterize emissions from relatively uncontrolled
domestic pilot plants and foreign full-scale facilities,
and later, to extend the research to well-controlled
domestic full-scale plants. This second phase will
indicate how well controls can be expected to reduce
the impacts of pollutants of a future synfuels industry.
Major planned research products associated with
this issue are:
• A preliminary environmental risk analysis for
synfuels and shale oil production will be made available
in 1983.
• A report on comparative combustion technology,
cooling tower emissions and hazardous VOCs will be
produced in 1984.
Issue: What are the health and environmental risks of
synfuel-related pollutants?
Regulatory and enforcement decisions rely on
accurate analysis of risks to health and environment.
EPA integrates exposure and effects assessments of
synfuel pollutants into risk analyses which can be used
to evaluate potential health and environmental impacts
of the pollutants. The assessments consider
meteorological, hydrological, demographic and
environmental characteristics specific to the location
of synfuel facilities.
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EPA's research will also produce technology-based
risk analyses for coal gasification, direct and indirect
liquefaction technologies, and oil shale. The research
will also provide risk analyses for other synfuel
technologies in support of the permit process and the
Synthetic Fuels Corporation. The information from the
research can be used to examine such questions as: Will
hazards be reduced if the plant is sited elsewhere?
What are the cost/benefit considerations for locating
the plant at different sites? What levels of
environmental control are appropriate for the area in
which the facility is to be located? What are the
hazards associated with not having additional controls?
What reduction of hazard occurs with additional
controls?
The research method in risk assessment uses a
risk analysis unit (RAU) approach in which chemicals
are grouped into classes based upon their occurrence in
waste streams and their biological, physical and
chemical characteristics. Chemicals identified from
the data collected by EPA will be placed in RAUs, each
of which will then be analyzed to determine the health
and environmental risks of the entire RAU. The
research program will determine which RAUs are
insignificant and need minimal attention, and which
RAUs constitute a potential hazard and therefore must
be more intensively studied.
Research will focus on RAUs, upgrading the
documentation of the impacts for critical classes of
synfuel pollutants, refining the data about exposure
pathways within atmospheric, aquatic and terrestrial
media; and providing dose/response data for health and
environmental effects. Major research areas include:
• Continued development of models for predicting
the transport and transformation of synfuel pollutants
in the atmosphere, and in aquatic and terrestrial
systems.
• Evaluation of the impact of synfuel pollutants on
terrestrial and aquatic food chains with emphasis on the
uptake of synfuel chemicals and their by-products by
food chains leading to humans.
• Documentation of the importance of major
organic air and water pollutant RAUs to provide
estimates of ground-level concentrations.
• Documentation of human health impacts for
synfuel pollutants as determined from occupational and
ambient exposures.
• Evaluation of exposure and human effects to
develop dose/response functions for carcinogenic and
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reproductive risk analysis under ambient environmental
conditions and within the workplace.
Major research milestones associated with this issue
are:
• Initial health effects risk analyses for indirect and
direct liquefaction and shale oil production will be
provided in 1983.
• A report on exposure-health relationships in coke
oven workers — a surrogate for coal-based synfuel
technologies — will be made available in 1984. This
work re-evaluates some of the earlier studies by
employing new data and updating those studies.
• A report on the uptake of synfuel pollutants by
vegetation will be produced in 1984.
• An environmental risk analysis update for indirect
and direct liquefaction technologies will be produced in
1984.
• A summary report on aquatic exposure/toxicity
data, wildlife toxicology and atmospheric
transformation rates and products for major Risk
Analysis Units will be produced in 1985.
Issue: What are the reliability and effectiveness of
synfuel pollutant emissions reduction technologies?
Each synfuel production process has its own
pollution output, which may be discharged to air, water
or land. Different pollutants require different degrees
of control and there are numerous control options to
choose from. Before deciding on a set of emissions
reduction technologies at a plant, a detailed comparison
of control alternatives will help to meet emissions
limits at the least cost.
EPA's research program stresses the evaluation of
existing synfuel pollutant reduction technologies for
performance, reliability and cost trade-offs. A minor
effort will investigate a novel technique for difficult,
high-cost clean-up problems. Data will continue to be
collected from pilot-scale plants. When a commercial-
scale plant comes on line, it will serve as the validation
mechanism for the earlier data.
Other EPA-sponsored research will test new
methods for removal/recovery of sulfur species (COS,
H-S, CSj) from synfuel gas streams. For example, the
Claus/Scott and Stretford processes on high-CO2 gases,
plus key solvent evaluation for acid-gas cleanup, will be
investigated. Wastewater treatability studies are
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focused on post-biological treatment. Emissions
reduction technology and characterization data are
being used to complete a set of pollution control
technical manuals for specific commercial synfuel
processes. The data is also being used to provide
environmental engineering support to the regions and
states on environmental impact statements and permit
reviews.
A major planned research product associated with
this issue is publication of a major report on sulfur
clean-up technology and wastewater treatability in
1984.
Issue: What is the best approach to monitoring synfuel-
related pollutants?
Synfuel products and processes may pose greater
health and environmental risks than those associated
with traditional petroleum and coal combustion
facilities. Development of the synfuels industry
requires the assurance that the industry poses no
unacceptable risks to human health, welfare or the
environment. Such assurance depends on factual data
that pollution from synfuels facilities are not reaching
unacceptable levels. Monitoring will provide this
factual data.
The environmental monitoring issue is specifically
identified in the Energy Security Act of 1980. All
applicants who plan to build synfuel plants with
financial assistance from the Synthetic Fuel
Corporation (SFC) must provide SFC with an acceptable
outline of an environmental monitoring plan. EPA, in
conjunction with DOE, will produce the reference
information that applicants can use to develop
monitoring plans and that the SFC Board of Directors
can use in their review of the plans.
Another major function of EPA's synfuels
research program is to provide technical assistance to
states and EPA regions for monitoring proposed synfuel
plants. The assistance will help to ensure that
monitoring plans adopted by the states are technically
adequate and able to meet requirements set forth in
permits.
EPA's synfuels monitoring research will analyze
the applicability and cost effectiveness of existing
monitoring technologies in terms of their use in
tracking the expected synfuel pollutants. The research
will identify the species to monitor, and the sites and
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frequencies of sampling. It will also provide guidance
for identifying new species which may not have been
present in measurable amounts in pilot-plant emissions.
Results from this research will be published in a
single, integrated manual that will describe the
monitoring to be carried out and the procedures to use.
This manual, to be published in 1983, will represent the
state of the art for monitoring with existing
technologies. After this manual is published, the
research program addressing the synfuels monitoring
issue will be reduced until experience with the
operational plants indicates that further research is
necessary.
Issue: How do boiler conditions influence key
pollutant-related physical and chemical reactions?
Complex and subtle physical and chemical
reactions take place in the combustion zone of coal-
fired boilers. Boiler manufacturers and operators have
studied these reactions extensively to make boilers
more efficient; the reactions are now being studied to
optimize NO and SO control. For example, lower
boiler flame temperature reduces the formation of NO
emissions. A fuller understanding of the reactions that
occur in the combustion zone will enable scientists to
understand the cause-and-effect relationships which
then can be used to develop engineering design data.
EPA scientists and engineers are addressing a
number of questions about the fundamentals of
combustion. For example, as the amount of oxygen is
varied in the zone, how do NOx emissions vary? At
what portion of the flame front does oxygen injection
produce the least amount of NO ? What compounds are
created in different flame zones? Are the compounds
destroyed as they pass from primary to secondary to
tertiary flame zones? If SO and NO compounds are
destroyed in some portion of the flame can they be kept
from re-forming? How does the percentage of sulfur in
coal affect the compounds that are formed and the rate
of formation? What is the trade-off between SO
control and NO control within the same boiler? What
temperature gradients are optimum for SO and NO
control?
Specific studies will determine the mechanisms
and rates associated with the volatilization of sulfur
species from the coal particle matrix. The studies will
also identify the role of fuel-bound nitrogen and its
evolution from the coal particle matrix in the
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formation of NO . (Much of the NO from combustion
processes is a result of fuel-bound nitrogen.) A more
thorough determination of the role of the fuel nitrogen
in NO production is expected by early 1984. The rates
and mechanisms associated with volatilization of sulfur
species from coal will be determined by 1985.
Once the fundamental reactions indicated by
laboratory experimentation are duplicated at prototype
scale, the results of the experiments will be used to
develop engineering designs. Results from this research
will support engineering and design evaluations being
done by industry and by EPA.
A major planned research product associated with
this issue is a complete performance optimization of
industrial boiler low-NO burner evaluation in 1983.
Issue: What configurations employing LIMB/low-NOx
burners promise reduced emissions control costs?
Limestone injection multi-stage burner (LIMB)
technology is an evolving concept for controlling SO
emissions from boilers. Limestone injected at
appropriate places in a boiler combustion zone can
chemically capture sulfur compounds, keeping them
from being emitted as air pollution. When used in
tandem with low-NO burners or staged combustion to
control NO emissions, a LIMB/low NO system is a
potentially attractive alternative to current wet
scrubbers, now in widespread use. The LIMB technology
could cut construction costs by as much as 75% as
compared with wet scrubbing technology. In addition,
LIMB systems produce a dry waste which may be more
easily disposed of than wet scrubber sludge. LIMB
technology is also appropriate for retrofit to some
existing boilers. While LIMB is not expected to be as
effective as the wet process in removing SO , it could
prove to be an invaluable part of an overall system for
SO /NO control. Ultimately, the benefits from a
LIraB system will be a dry, less expensive, efficient
SO /NO integrated pollutant removal system applied
to utility or industrial boilers.
The key to achieving a commercially acceptable
LIMB system is to have one (or more) host boiler
operators install and operate such a system under
realistic conditions. But such a host may hesitate to
make the capital investment in LIMB until there is
convincing engineering data to suggest that the
investment is sound. Developing that engineering data
is the goal of EPA's LIMB research program. It is
expected that such data will be available by 1986.
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The LIMB research program is proceeding along a
number of paths. Fundamental chemical reactions
described earlier will be used as a basis to design pilot-
and bench-scale LIMB systems for pulverized coal wall-
fired and tangentially-fired boilers. Concurrently,
scale-up engineering parameters for utility-scale
boilers will be developed and cost-effectiveness data
evaluated. The objective is to produce the scientific
data and engineering parameters that will enable
commercial boiler manufacturers to design, build and
eventually to produce LIMB systems with private
capital. Another research effort involves a systems
evaluation of how LIMB can be integrated with other
control technologies such as coal cleaning, dry
scrubbers, and particulate controls to achieve necessary
emissions reductions at the lowest overall cost.
Once the research provides the necessary
fundamental information so that commercial LIMB
adaptation, scale-ups, and design can take place, the
next phase of research is to take performance data
from a host operator. Integral to this effort is
continuing information exchange and cooperation
between EPA and manufacturers and utilities interested
in the progress and potential of LIMB/low-NO
emissions reduction technology.
A major planned research product associated with
this issue is the production of a system analysis study of
the LIMB process to be available in 1983.
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Chapter Eight
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
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EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
Outline:
Introduction
Legislative Mandate
Background
Major Research Issues
Issue: What are the best indicators of an
environmental impact?
Issue: What factors control biodegradability?
Issue: What are the most accurate measurement
processes for airborne pollutants?
Issue: How do pollutants interact with soils?
Issue: What happens to pollutants at the water-
to-air interface?
Issue: Can water treatment be made more
efficient through a better understanding of unit
processes?
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Exploratory Research
INTRODUCTION
Many of today's environmental problems might
have been avoided if in the past there had been a
clearer scientific understanding of the physical,
chemical and biological relationships among the
environment, pollution and man. EPA is focusing much
of its research on solving the problems, mitigating the
hazards of immediate concern and providing a sound
basis for regulations as described in the preceding
chapters of this Research Outlook. Within that
research framework, there is limited room for seeking
entirely new knowledge and fundamental scientific
information. It is, however, just such information that
will yield major advances in controlling today's
environmental problems, and provide the means for
mitigating future problems. EPA's exploratory research
program is the vehicle by which EPA broadens and
deepens its base of scientific knowledge.
BACKGROUND
The primary goal of the exploratory research
program is to develop new knowledge and principles for
defining and predicting the relationships between
physical and chemical factors and biological systems.
A secondary goal is to identify emerging problems or
ways to handle current problems more effectively. The
mechanisms used to pursue these goals are research
grants. Research grants are based on competitive
proposals from scientists qualified to investigate
specific facets of the environment.
University research centers operate under
cooperative agreements with EPA to conduct
multimedia/interdisciplinary research focused on
specific environmental problems. Each center extends
the capabilities of EPA laboratories in specific research
areas — filling research gaps, providing broad-based
scientific advice and serving as a source of
professionals with an expertise which is valuable to the
agency. The current centers and their inauguration
dates are:
1979:
Epidemiology—University of Pittsburgh
Advanced Environmental Control Technology-
University of Illinois at Urbana
Ground Water—Consortium of University of
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Rice
University
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Exploratory Research
1980:
Industrial Waste Elimination—Consortium of
Illinois Institute of Technology, University of
Notre Dame
Intermedia Transport—University of California,
Los Angeles
Ecosystems—Cornell University
Marine Sciences—University of Rhode Island
1981:
Hazardous Waste—Louisiana State University
LEGISLATIVE MANDATE
In all proposed authorizations for EPA research
and development funds for each fiscal year since fiscal
year 1978, Congress has designated a portion of these
funds to support what has been variously termed long-
term, anticipatory, or basic research and development.
Of these bills, four have been enacted: 1978—P.L. 95-
155, 1979—P.L. 95-^77, 1980—P.L. 96-229, and 1981—
P.L. 96-569.
MAJOR RESEARCH ISSUES
The items that follow by no means cover the vast
range of topics of interest to EPA's exploratory
research program. They are, rather, topics that have
been described in the 1983 solicitation for research.
Issue: What characteristics best indicate an environ-
mental impact?
Often descriptors of an environmental impact on
an ecosystem only indirectly relate to the vitality of
the affected system. Most impact descriptors now in
use are physical parameters and concentrations of
substances known to affect the environment to some
degree. That ecosystems do respond to certain mixes
and/or levels of these characteristics is known, but
research is needed to determine how systems respond to
perturbations and to describe system stability and
resilience. In short, what are the characteristics of an
ecosystem response?
EPA's exploratory research will survey the data
that have been produced to describe environmental
stress factors. Ecosystem mixes for healthy
environments will be identified and compared with
ecosystems that have undergone species diversity
changes due to pollution. The comparison will help to
identify system variances and the spectrum of
responses.
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Exploratory Research
Some significant problems are expected to be
encountered in this research. For example, some
ecosystem processes operate over long periods and may
not reveal responses for some time; a method is needed
to identify those responses. Additionally, ecosystems
vary based on location, which makes similar pollution
inputs significant in some areas but of small concern in
others; techniques are needed to differentiate responses
by region and other sample parameters.
Once the nature of ecosystem stress is described
in detail, investigators may proceed to determine
damage on the sub-cellular, physiological and
behavioral levels. This, in turn, could improve the
capacity for identifying sub-lethal stresses and cause-
and-effect relationships. Such a capability could be
used to detect problems before individual deaths,
population reductions or species extinction.
The long-term objectives of the research are to
determine which pollutants can or cannot be handled by
defined biological systems, what level of control of
pollutants is required to minimize damage and how best
to achieve control. A current thrust in the EPA
research grants program focuses on methods to
determine impacts on organisms comprising the
environmental biota in specific locales and to integrate
these techniques into a holistic predictive methodology.
Issue: What are the fundamental factors that control
the biodegradability of substances?
Ecosystems have the natural ability to recover
from exposure to many types and concentrations of
pollutants. One of the major mechanisms through
which ecosystems neutralize toxic substances is
microbial degradation. Although much is known about
biodegradation, the basic factors are not fully
understood. Moreover, whether pollutants are
biologically degraded or whether the intermediate by-
products of a pollutant's biodegradation are innocuous
could be crucial information for a scientifically correct
pollution control decision.
EPA's exploratory research program seeks to
develop an understanding of fundamental scientific
factors (such as the identity and characteristics of the
dominant degrading organisms, the factors influencing
the rate of biodegradation and their specific modes of
action) involved in biodegradation. The objective of
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Exploratory Research
this research is to relate a chemical's characteristics
with an organism's degradation capabilities to
determine whether specific chemical inputs to an
ecosystem containing the organisms will cause damage.
Information resulting from this research will also
help improve waste and wastewater treatment, protect
water quality and drinking water resources, assist
industry to assure that process waste streams minimize
problems, and develop regulatory monitoring protocols
and test procedures for determining water quality
integrity.
Current research includes studies to upgrade
anaerobic treatment of industrial and municipal
wastewater, to increase process reliability and to
realize the energy potential of the methane gas that is
generated.
Issue: What measurement processes can more accurately
detect fine particles and airborne pollutants?
Scientists need precise data to learn more about
the nature and effects of pollutants found in the air.
This is especially true for new or exotic air pollutants
often found in low, but nonetheless significant,
concentrations, and for carbonaceous particles whose
importance as agents for promoting chemical reactions
and whose potential role as agents for emission control
have recently become apparent. EPA's research will
produce fundamental chemical and physical knowledge
to assist the development of precise instruments to
measure low concentrations. In-situ methods may solve
the artifact problems. Promising technologies for
detecting low concentrations are active remote sensing,
such as infrared and laser optical devices, and
techniques to analyze wave-front interference patterns
to detect compounds. The research will be useful for
developing a better understanding of atmospheric
chemistry and a more accurate description of the
kinetics involved. Ultimately, the research will make
air pollution transformation models more scientifically
rigorous and, therefore, more useful to EPA.
Issue: How do pollutants travel through, and react with,
soils?
To determine how pollutants affect underground
sources of water, it is necessary to understand the
mechanisms of movement through, and the interaction
of pollutants with, the subsurface environment. This
subsurface environment plays a dominant role in the
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Exploratory Research
transport and fate of contaminants. The aim of EPA's
exploratory research in this area is to develop
information sufficient to predict ground-water
contamination from both existing and future polluting
sources. EPA's research in this area is coordinated with
the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). USGS research is
directed primarily toward determining the locations,
quality and amounts of ground water, including
assessing the impacts of contamination on water quality
and quantity. EPA research is directed toward
understanding the processes that influence contaminant
behavior in the subsurface with the goal of predicting
the impact of contamination on underground water
sources. Current research is characterizing subsurface
parameters that influence the ground-water
contamination processes, processes that control the
mobility and transformation of pollutants, including
microbial activity. New techniques to detect and trace
subsurface pollution plumes are needed to assure that
data collected are of high quality. The sorption
characteristics of various classes of organics of concern
in ground-water contamination are being
mathematically described for inclusion in ground-water
models.
Issue: What are the fundamental dynamics of the water-
to-air interface that relate to pollutants?
Pollution moves between the three environmental
media — air, water and land. The rates and nature of
that movement are controlled by complex, and as yet
unclear, chemical, physical and biochemical processes.
But environmental protection regulations and the
scientific data to support them tend to concentrate on
a single phase of the media, which can result in
overlooking the contributions of other phases. EPA's
exploratory research into the water-to-air interface
centers on investigating the basic scientific aspects of
intermedia transport and transformation. The research
focuses on physical and chemical phenomena, such as
solubility and diffusivity, which are known to influence
transfer at the interface, and on the roles of suspended
sediment and turbulence in the transfer. The resulting
information will be used in models to predict
concentrations of toxic pollutants in air and water and
their variation with other atmospheric and aquatic
factors.
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Exploratory Research
Issue: How can water treatment methods be improved
through a better understanding of unit processes?
Current water treatment techniques and water
pollution control methods use specific
physical/chemical/biological reactions, known as unit
processes, as their primary means of operation.
However, many fundamental mechanisms that influence
the performance of unit processes are not well
understood. This lack of knowledge has prevented
engineers from designing the most cost-effective
control systems. To help fill this information gap,
exploratory research in water treatment will focus on
determining the role of bioflocculation and biofilm in
wastewater treatment processes and receiving waters,
identifying and measuring the influence of particulates
on process effectiveness, determining the reaction
kinetics, products and reaction mechanisms of oxidants
and other alternative disinfectants, describing
dislodging mechanisms during filter backwashing and
understanding the bioactivity of activated sludges. One
of the EPA exploratory research projects in this area is
currently investigating a novel approach to water
treatment to create polymerization of compounds so
that they become insoluble and settle out more rapidly
and at lower temperatures. This process would be
useful to industries in cold climates that have to store
wastes in large holding tanks during the winter until
warmer weather enables the use of biological treatment
processes. Other research is looking at ways to reduce
the volume of sludge and put it in a more treatable
form by de-watering it with new moisture-removal
methodologies. The research is balanced between
gaining a basic understanding of the unit processes and
applying that understanding to specific current and
expected water pollution control situations. The results
of the program should produce information upon which
to base future designs of cost-effective water
treatment control technology.
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APPENDIX A:
Resource Options
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APPENDIX A
RESOURCE OPTIONS
The law requiring the submission of this research
strategy document to Congress is Section 5 of Public
Law 94-475. The same law also requires that a five-
year projection be provided indicating the potential
research response to different resource levels.
The following section on resource options
includes, as required by the law, descriptions of
conditions for high, moderate and no growth. The
growth rates associated with these options are zero for
no growth, three percent for moderate growth and six
percent for high growth. No additional resources are
required or expected as a result of this submission.
Rather, these growth scenarios are intended, as
required by the law, to indicate potential program
increases in EPA's research and development.
HAZARDOUS WASTE
1983 CURRENT ESTIMATE $33.0 MILLION*
GROWTH
None
Moderate
High
PROJECTIONS
198*
27.4
27.4
27.4
1985
27.4
28.2
29.0
1986
27.4
29.1
30.8
1987
27.4
29.9
32.6
Figures are in millions of dollars
No Growth: The program will proceed as
described in this Research Outlook.
Moderate Growth: Additional efforts will seek to
discover the key factors leading to the failure of soil,
clay or synthetic liners for hazardous waste land
disposal sites.
High Growth: Techniques to detect and monitor
subsurface movement of hazardous waste leachate will
be further investigated. Emphasis will be on identifying
key early indicators of leachate migration problems.
*The 1983 number includes $2.4 million which was
used for exploratory research grants and centers.
These funds will be included directly in the exploratory
research budget in 1984 and, therefore, are not included
in these projections.
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WATER QUALITY
1983 CURRENT ESTIMATE $30.6 MILLION*
GROWTH PROJECTIONS
1984 1985 19S6 1987
None 19.2 19.2 19.2 19.2
Moderate 19.2 19.8 20.4 21.0
High 19.2 20.4 21.6 22.9
Figures are in millions of dollars
No Growth: The program will proceed as
described in this Research Outlook.
Moderate Growth: Efforts to develop flexible
protocols for determining site-specific water quality
will be accelerated as will efforts to transfer such
capabilities to state and local environmental officials.
High Growth: Efforts will be accelerated to
develop regimens for characterizing the ecosystems of
potential ocean outfalls and dumping sites.
Investigations of early indicators of potentially
negative ecosystem responses will also be accelerated.
These activities are in addition to those listed above
under moderate growth.
*The 1983 number includes $1.1 million which was
used for exploratory research grants and centers.
These funds will be incorporated in the exploratory
research budget in 1984 and, therefore, are not included
in these projections.
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DRINKING WATER
1983 CURRENT ESTIMATE $23.3 MILLION*
GROWTH PROJECTIONS
1984 1983 1986 1987
None 20.9 20.9 20.9 20.9
Moderate 20.9 21.5 22.2 22.8
High 20.9 22.2 23.5 24.9
Figures are in millions of dollars
No Growth: The program will proceed as
described in this Research Outlook.
Moderate Growth: Additional efforts will be
initiated to determine with greater precision the
potential health effects of those substances that are
found in drinking water treated via various disinfection
processes. Focus will be on those contaminants that
are non-volatile and, therefore, have yet to be
investigated in any great detail.
High Growth: The additional efforts cited under
the moderate growth option above will be augmented
and accelerated.
*The 1983 number includes $1.9 million which was
used for exploratory research grants and centers.
These resources will be incorporated in the exploratory
research budget in 1984 and, therefore, are not included
in these projections.
Ill
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TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND PESTICIDES
1983 CURRENT ESTIMATE $33.7 MILLION*
GROWTH PROJECTIONS
1984 1985 1986 1987
None 29.8 29.8 29.8 29.8
Moderate 29.8 30.6 31.6 32.6
High 29.8 31.6 33.5 35.5
Figures are in millions of dollars
No Growth: The program will proceed as
described in this Research Outlook.
Moderate Growth: Investigations into the
relationships between a chemical's structure and its
chemical, physical and biological properties will be
accelerated.
High Growth: Additional efforts will be made to
link health and ecological effects with various models
that describe the steps in the life cycle of a substance
from its production and release to its ultimate
destination. Such efforts are in addition to those
mentioned under moderate growth above.
*The 1983 number includes $1.5 million which was
used for exploratory research grants and centers.
These resources will be incorporated in the exploratory
research budget in 1984 and, therefore, are not included
in these projections.
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AIR
1983 CURRENT ESTIMATE $59.4 MILLION*
GROWTH PROJECTIONS
198* 1985 1986 1987
None 51.2 51.2 51.2 51.2
Moderate 51.2 52.7 54.3 55.9
High 51.2 54.3 57.5 61.0
Figures are in millions of dollars
No Growth: The program will proceed as
described in this Research Outlook.
Moderate Growth: Additional work will improve
the technology and techniques available for measuring
and monitoring hazardous air pollutants.
High Growth: An increased effort will identify
more clearly the causes and mechanisms of human
responses to air pollutant exposures. This effort will be
in addition to that cited under moderate growth above.
*The 1983 number includes $4.7 million which was
used for exploratory research grants and centers.
These resources will be incorporated in the exploratory
research budget in 1984 and, therefore, are not included
in these projections.
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ACIDIC DEPOSITION
1983 CURRENT ESTIMATE $12.5 MILLION
GROWTH PROJECTIONS
1984 1985 1986 1987
None 14.0 14.0 14.0 14.0
Moderate 14.0 14.4 14.9 15.3
High 14.0 14.8 15.7 16.7
Figures are in millions of dollars
No Growth: The program will proceed as
described in this Research Outlook.
Moderate Growth: In the source-receptor
relationship area, additional efforts will be made to
improve methods for identifying the source of a
particle by its "fingerprints." Work with tracers will be
accelerated.
High Growth: Efforts to delineate between actual
acidic deposition trends and other cyclic meteorologic
influences will be advanced and the efforts described
under moderate growth above will be accelerated.
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ENERGY
1983 CURRENT ESTIMATE $12.5 MILLION*
GROWTH PROJECTIONS
198* 1925 1986 1987
None 9.5 9.5 9.5 9.5
Moderate 9.5 9.8 10.1 10.4
High 9.5 10.1 10.7 11.3
Figures are in millions of dollars
No Growth: The program will proceed as
described in this Research Outlook.
Moderate Growth: Efforts to characterize
reaction conditions in limestone-injected multistage
burner configurations will be accelerated. The
information produced will serve to guide the
development of more refined (more effective) emissions
reduction configurations.
High Growth: The efforts described under
moderate growth above will be augmented and
accelerated.
*The 1983 number includes $1.4 million which was
used for exploratory research grants and centers.
These funds will be incorporated in the exploratory
research budget in 1984 and, therefore, are not included
in these projections.
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EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
1983 CURRENT ESTIMATE $17.5 MILLION*
GROWTH PROJECTIONS
1984 1985 19S6 1987
None 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5
Moderate 15.5 16.0 16.
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APPENDIX B:
Technical Reviewers
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APPENDIX B
Technical Reviewers
The entire Research Outlook 1983 was reviewed by the following
Science Advisory (SAB) Members:
SAB Subcommitte on the Research Outlook:
Dr. John Neuhold, SAB Subcommittee Chairman, Utah State
University
Dr. Edward F. Ferrand, New York City Department of
Environmental Protection
Dr. N. Robert Frank, Georgetown University
Dr. Leonard Greenfield, Private Consultant
Dr. Morton Lippmann, New York University
Dr. Francis C. McMichael, Carnegie-Mellon University
Dr. Daniel Menzel, Duke University
Dr. Anne M. Wolven, A.M. Wolven, Incorporated
SAB Executive Committe:
Dr. Earnest F. Gloyna, SAB Committee Chairman, University
of Texas
Dr. Herman E. Collier, Jr., Moravian College
Dr. Sheldon K. Friedlander, University of California
Dr. Bernard Goldstein, Rutgers Medical School
Dr. Daniel Harlow, Diamond Shamrock Corporation
Dr. Rolf Hartung, University of Michigan
Dr. Julius E. Johnson, Private Consultant
Dr. Roger O. McClellan, Lovelace Biomedical and
Environmental Research Institute
Dr. Robert Neal, Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology
Dr. John M. Neuhold, Utah State University
Dr. Gerard Rohlich, University of Texas
EPA Editorial/Production:
Richard M. Laska, Office of Research and Development
Katherine S. Weldon, Technical Information Office
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Individual Chapter Reviewers:
Hazardous Wastes;
Dr. Martin Alexander, Cornell University
Dr. William T. Gulledge, Chemical Manufacturers Association
Mr. Ernest C. Ladd, FMC, Incorported
Dr. Dames O'Rourke, Camp Dresser and McKee, Incorporated
Dr. Dave Rosenblatt, USA Medical Bioengineering Research
and Development Laboratory
Toxic Substances and Pesticides;
Dr. Kenneth Duke, Battelle Memorial Institute
Dr. Wendell Kilgore, University of California at Davis
Dr. George Manring, National Wildlife Federation
Dr. Robert G. Tardiff, National Academy of Sciences
Dr. Dewayne Torgeson, Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research
Dr. William Tweedy, Ciba-Geigy
Water Quality;
Dr. C. Fred Gurnham, Peter F. Loftus Corporation
Dr. Albert H. Lasday, Texaco, Incorporated
Dr. Perry McCarty, Stanford University
Dr. Mary McKown, Battelle Memorial Institute
Drinking Water;
Dr. Jay Lehr, National Water Well Association
Dr. Edwin Lennette, California Department of Health Services
Dr. Jack Mannion, American Waterworks Association
Dr. Nina I. McClelland, National Sanitation Foundation
Dr. Abel Wolman, John Hopkins University
Airt
Dr. Edward J. Burger, Georgetown University Medical Center
Dr. Frank Gifford, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Dr. Stan Greenfield, Systems Applications Incorporated
Dr. Lester Machta, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Acid Deposition;
Dr. George Hidy, ER&T Corporation
Dr. Rick Linthurst, North Carolina State University
Dr. Joseph Street, Utah State University
Dr. Glen Hilst, Electric Power Research Institute
Dr. Robert Brocksen, Electric Power Research Institute
150
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Energy;
Dr. Marvin Drabkin, U.S. Synthetic Fuels
Corporation
Dr. L. Barry Goss, Battelle Memorial Institute
Dr. Dennis Meadows, Dartmouth College
Dr. Laszlo Pasztor, Dravo Corporation
Dr. Gordon Newell, Electric Power Research
Institute
Dr. Ron Wyzga, Electric Power Research
Institute
Exploratory Research;
Dr. Herbert Allen, Illinois Institute of Technology
Dr. Bernard B. Berger, University of Massachusetts
Dr. Brue Hicks, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
Dr. James Kramer, McMaster University
Dr. Steven Stryker, Battelle Memorial Institute
Chapter Principals,
EPA Office of Research and Development:
Hazardous Wastes: Matt Bills
Toxic Substances and Pesticides: Frode Ulvedal
Water Quality: Jim Basilico, Jay Benforado, Tom Pheiffer
Herb Quinn,
Drinking Water: Marv Rogul
Air: Chuck Brunot, Bill Keith
Acid Deposition: Gary Foley
Energy: Al Galli, Dave Graham
Exploratory Research: Don Cook, John Reuss
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