PROCEEDINGS
VOLUME 2
Cleveland-August 3-6,1965
Conference
In the matter of Pollution off
Lake Erie and its Tributaries
U. S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
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CONTENTS
PAGE:
OPENING STATEMENT
By Mr. Stein
STATEMENT OF;
GOVERNOR JAMES A. RHODES 17
REPRESENTATIVE CHARLES A. VANIK 22
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN D. DINGELL 54
H. W. POSTON 56
DR. CLARENCE M. TARZWELL 62
GROVER COOK 97
STEPHEN MEGREGIAN 177
GROVER COOK AND STEPHEN MEGREGIAN 272
GEORGE L. HARLOW 324
GROVER COOK AND STEPHEN MEGREGIAN 327
COLONEL R. WILSON NEPF 357
K. L. KOLLAR 366
FRED WAMPLER 371
CHARLES R. COLLIER 374
FRED WAMPLER 384
ERNEST D. PREMETZ 404
FRED WAMPLER 429
LORING F. OEMING 447
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CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF:
RALPH W. PURDY
FRANK F. HOOPER
LEONARD J. GOODSELL
GERALD GOSHORN
BLUCHER A. POOLS
PERRY E. MILLER
DR. EMMETT W. ARNOLD
GEORGE H. EAGLE
FRED E. MORR
DONALD J. YARK
ROBERT E. FAHEY
A. V. AGNEW
VINCENT M. DeMELTO
RALPH S. LOCHER
VINCENT M. DeMELTO
CHARLES W. LOUNSBURY
PAUL R. PINE
H. L. ALLEN
R. M. WHITT
R. N. SIMONSEN
HAROLD F. ELKIN
OLGA M. MADAR
PAGE:
449
506
514
529
550
553
606
620
743
749
765
779
790
825
855
880
885
895
908
913
929
946
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CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF: PAGE:
HERBERT J. DUNSMORE 964
ANTHONY J. RUSSO 990
HARRY L. ALIEN 995
HENRY SINKIEWICZ 1001
JOHN PILCH 1004
ARVO E. SUNDBERG 1024
STEPHEN A. KAUFMAN 1032
JOHN W. TALBERT, JR. 1038
GEORGE H. WATKINS 1043
VERNE L. HARRIS 1051
MRS. HOWARD MOORE 1056
DAVID BLAUSHILD 1065
REV. ANDREW W. SMITH 1075
HARRIET ROTH PARSONS 1079
JOHN J. GARNER 1084
CLOSING STATEMENT
By Mr. Stein 1089
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Stephen Megregian
Economic Aspects
Although the Cuyahoga Basin contains only
three per cent of the land in the Lake Erie Basin, its
1.9 million people represent nineteen per cent of the
total population. Forty-nine municipalities wholly or
partly within the basin contribute heavily to this total.
A steady growth pattern since 1900 indicates that by
the year 2000 the population will have climbed over
three million. Cleveland and Akron are the principal
cities with populations of 876,000 and 290,000, respective-
ly.
The economic growth expected within the
basin should follow the increasing population.
The Cleveland area is one of the greatest
steel producing and fabricating areas in the world, and
Akron supplies 75 per cent of the world's rubber tire
needs. In addition to these two industries, automotive
manufacturing and chemical industries play a large role
in the economy of the basino These industries account
for over 225,000 jobs. There are more than 65 industries
operating within the Cuyahoga Basin and along the ad-
jacent lakefronto
Cleveland is a major Great Lakes shipping
port with well developed dock and storage facilities.
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Stephen Megregian
The principal commodities handled are iron ore, coal,
sand, gravel, and limestone.
Water Uses
Municipal
From its headwaters downstream to Lake Rock-
well, the Cuyahoga River supplies 50 mgd to the city of
Akron's filtration plant. At Cuyahoga Falls, the only
other municipal user, the river recharges a well water
supply system during periods of high flow.
Industrial
In the upstream portion of the basin, indus-
trial well fields tap underground supplies 18 mgd at
Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, and Kent. Surface water meets
another 200 mgd industrial demand in this area. Between
Akron and the navigation channel in Cleveland, 120 mgd
are withdrawn for varied manufacturing purposes.
Water supplied from the navigation channel
is 300 mgd, but this cannot be directly attributed to
river yield since the water levels in this section are
determined by lake elevations.
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Stephen Megregian
Waterborne Commerce
The Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, reported
that in 1962 over 16 million tons of cargo moved through
the port of Cleveland. Iron ore and related materials
for the steel industry, petroleum products, and materials
for the chemical industry were the major types of cargo
shipped through Cleveland.
Recreation
The upstream sections of the river are used
for fishing and boating. This area supports many species
of fish. Below Lake Rockwell, the species of fish become
less desirable and the quantities decrease. Reaches of
the river below Akron are unsuitable for all types of
water recreation.
Along the Cleveland metropolitan lakefront
there are 10 public beaches and several boat marinas <>
The city has adopted a "swim if you must" bathing beach
policy, because of the high coliform densities in the
nearshore zone.
Rural
In rural areas, the primary water supplies
are drilled wells. Most of the farms support dairy herds.
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Stephen Megregian
Water used for irrigation is negligible.
Esthetics
Debris-filled, oil-slicked, dirty-looking
waterways defines the Cuyahoga River at any place along
its course. Some reaches are blocked completely by
dead trees and stumps, while the banks are dotted with
many small dumps. Trash ranging from tin cans to re-
frigerators is a common sight in the river. In the
navigation channel where the Cuyahoga flows through
Cleveland even more debris exists and the water surface
often becomes black with oil from the industrial outfalls.
As long as these situations remain, the Cuyahoga will be
a liability to the cities it serves and adjacent property
owners, instead of an asset.
The lakefront is littered with debris. The
discolored water and floating debris, particularly behind
the Federal breakwater, have reduced the esthetic value
usually associated with the free, limitless beauty of a
natural body of water. The debris consists of discarded
lumber, tree limbs, metal cans, paper products, dead
fish, oil slicks, grease, and scum.
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Stephen Megregian
Sources of Wastes
Thirty-five sewage treatment plants dis-
charge to the Cuyahoga River. There are 1,124,000 PE
served by 33 secondary treatment plants and 29,000 people
served by 4 primary plants. Thirty-five thousand people
are not served by any central treatment plant at all.
Cleveland's Southerly Sewage Treatment Plant
and Akron's Water Pollution Control Station, which to-
gether treat the wastes from 1,000,000 PE, have been
classified inadequate by the Ohio Department of Health.
Of the 41 industries located within the basin, 19 have
inadequate treatment facilities, according to the Ohio
Department of Health.
The average daily loads to the navigation
channel at Cleveland are as follows: 80,000 Ibs./day
BOD; 3,500 Ibs./day phosphate; 42,500 Ibs./day ammonia
nitrogen; 9,100 Ibs./day nitrate-nitrogen; and 104 Ibs./day
phenols.
There are three large sewage treatment plants
that discharge directly to the Lake along the Cleveland
waterfront.
There are 1,000,000 people served by the
Cleveland Easterly Plant (secondary treatment) and 364,000
people served by the primary sewage treatment facilities
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Stephen Megregian
of Cleveland Westerly and Euclid.
Most industries in the lakefront area dis-
charge to sanitary sewers. There are two industries
under permit to the State of Ohio to discharge directly
to the Lake or to the small streams which drain eastern
Cleveland. However, there are 20 known industries that
discharge to the Greater Cleveland Lakefront. The pol-
lutional significance of these discharges has not been
determined.
A substantial portion of the City of Cleve-
land is served by a combined sewer system. With the
construction of sewage treatment plants, combined sewers
were connected to new interceptor sewers to collect the
dry weather flow with some allowance for storm waters.
Overflow structures were provided at most junctures
between the combined sewers and the interceptor so that
heavy storm water flows would discharge directly to the
nearest water course.
The City of Cleveland has approximately
383 combined sewer overflow structures which discharge
sewage and industrial wastes mixed with storm water
during periods of storm runoff. There are more than
one hundred and thirty stornTwater overflow devices
that discharge to the Lake or small streams in eastern
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Stephen Megregian
Cleveland. Over two hundred and fifty additional over-
flow devices discharge to the Cuyahoga River or small
tributaries. A number of these overflow structures are
continually malfunctioning and contribute a significant
amount of sewage to the lakefront area.
Effects of Wastes on Water Quality and Water Uses -
Cuvahoga River
DO-BOD Relationships
The dissolved oxygen concentration was
critically low below Kent, Akron, and in the navigational
channel in Cleveland. During 1964, oxygen concentrations
downstream from Kent's sewage treatment plant ranged from
a high of 9.25 mg/1 in the winter to a low of 0.05 mg/1
in the summer0 The DO below Akron's water pollution con-
trol station varied from 0.45 to 5.85 mg/1. In the navi-
gation channel which is below Cleveland's Southerly Treat-
ment Plant and amid the industrial complex> values ranged
between zero mg/1 and 1.20 mg/1. The five-day biochemical
oxygen demands (BOD) averaged 10.2 mg/1, 11.30 mg/1 and
8.9 mg/1, respectively, for these areas. Bottom dwelling
animals were limited to midge larvae and sludgeworms in
this section at the mouth of the river.
Dugway Brook and Nine-mile Creek were sampled
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Stephen Megregian
several times in 1963 and 1964 and showed indications of
pollution. The dissolved oxygen was generally zero and
the BOD varied from 9 to 30 mg/1.
>
Phenols
In 1964 phenol concentration increased from
Lake Rockwell to Lake Erie. The concentration averaged
1.8 micrograms per liter at Lake Rockwell, 7.2 micrograms
per liter at Akron, and 20.8 micrograms per liter at
Cleveland during the summer of 1964. In the navigation
channel, phenol averaged 58.0 micrograms per liter and
the maximum was 175 micrograms per liter.
Algae and Aquatic Plants
In the impounded waters above Kent, and
between Kent and Akron, there are prolific growths of
algae and aquatic weeds which create a nuisance condition
and degrade the esthetic value of the river. Decomposi-
tion of these growths which are nourished by the effluents
from the sewage treatment plants of Ravenna, Kent, and
Stow exert an oxygen demand on the river.
The waters flowing from Lake Rockwell sup-
port a clean water community of bottom dwelling animals.
Below Kent the population shifts to the pollution-tolerant
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Stephen Megregian
forms. Only pollution-tolerant forms were found between
Kent and the lower river. In the lower Cuyahoga condi-
tions were so severe that even the most tolerant forms
were totally absent.
Microbiological
Excessive bacterial pollution of the Cuya-
hoga exists from its headwaters to its mouth. Median
total coliform values per 100 ml ranged from a low of
9,200 organisms at Lake Rockwell to a high of 470,000
organisms at the head of the navigation channel. The
fecal coliform to fecal streptococcus ratio varied from
1:1 to 10:1, indicating pollution from human origin.
The human enteric pathogen study conducted in the Cleve-
land area showed 14 different species of Salmonella
organisms. Salmonella was detected in 65 per cent of
the samples. These observations confirm the health
hazard to humans contacting these highly polluted waters.
Debris and Oil
The fallen trees, trash, and debris make
the waterway unsightly and unusable at many locations.
Removal of this foreign material would permit more ex-
tensive boating in the upper reaches. The debris along
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Stephen Megregian
the lakefront detracts from the natural beauty of Lake
Erie and is hazardous to the many boaters on the Lake.
The oil on the surface of the river through-
out the navigation channel has fueled some large fires
in the lower river. The problem has reached such pro-
portion that fire breaks have been built to separate the
surface waters into sections so that oil fires can be
held within a certain area.
Effects of Wastes on Lakefront Water Quality and
Water Uses
The breakwater acts as a holding basin for
Cuyahoga River water. Depending on wind direction,
water flows out of the breakwater through either the
north or east outlets. Water within this basin tends
to be of uniformly poor quality with relatively higher
concentrations of chemical and microbiological pollutants
nearer the river mouth.
At the river-Lake junction, dispersion or
dilution of river water takes place. The dissolved oxy-
gen values approach saturation, and other substances
approach background concentrations of the Lake. Conduc-
tivity values show no appreciable concentration gradients
one-half mile beyond the breakwall.
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Stephen Megregian
The coliform concentrations decreased from
a median of 470,000 organisms per 100 ml at the head of
the navigation channel to about 5,000 per 100 ml at the
mouth of the breakwall» All stations inside the break-
water exhibited a very limited variety of tolerant bottom
animals. Only sludgeworms, fingernail clams, nematodes,
and bloodworms were found in this area» Sludgeworms,
which thrive on organic matter, averaged 400,000 per
square meter in the harbor. Outside the breakwater a
slightly more diverse fauna was found which included
less tolerant leeches, pulmonate and gill-breathing
snails, and aquatic sowbugs in addition to the forms
found inside the breakwater. No sensitive mayfly nymphs,
caddis fly larvae, scuds and unionid clams were found
at any of the stations sampled. The bottom type, depth,
and temperature here are suitable for all of these in-
tolerant groups, and they occur under similar conditions
in other parts of Lake Erie.
The U. S. Corps of Engineers routinely
dredge the shipping channels in Cleveland Harbor and
the Cuyahoga River0 The material dredged from these
areas until recently was deposited about eight miles out
in the Lake but is now deposited on an experimental basis
near the north side of the east breakwall. A narrow band
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Stephen Megregian
microbiologically polluted water exists along the shore
and behind the breakwater. There is a sharp break be-
tween this band and the offshore waters, rather than a
gradual dispersion. Thus a condition exists where the
beach areas are highly polluted, while the water a dis-
tance of one-half mile from shore is suitable for recrea-
tion and other purposes.
The results of a microbiological study of
bathing beach areas this past summer by the Cities of
Cleveland and Euclid and the Public Health Service are
summarized below,. Median values are recorded in this
table. These data show the high counts observed on all
beaches and these beaches all remained open during the
study periodo
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Stephen Megregian
EASTERN OHIO
Area Description
The principal tributaries to Lake Erie in
Northeastern Ohio are the Grand River, Ashtabula River,
and Conneaut Creek. The combined drainage basins cover
an area of 1,208 square miles, of which 86 per cent is
ruralo The population of 180,000 is concentrated along
Lake Erie and in Lake County. Manufacturers of chemical
and allied products and other diversified industries are
found near the mouth of the three major streams. The
ports of Fairport Harbor, Ashtabula and Conneaut, at
the mouth of the three major streams, handle 11 per
cent of Lake Erie commerce. Dairying, greenhouses, and
nurseries are prominent agricultural pursuits in the
basin,
(Figure VI-1 follows.)
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EASTERN OHIO BASIN
FIGURE 3ZT - I
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Stephen Megregian
Water Uses
Municipal Water Supply
Lake Erie provides 83 per cent of the municipal water
supply in the Basin. Only two communities, Geneva and
Jefferson, withdraw municipal water from inland surface
streams. These communities located in the Grand River
Basin, withdraw 0.9 mgd from the Grand River and 0.25
mgs from Mill Creek, respectively. Only 1.43 mgd of
municipal water supplies are taken from ground water„
Industrial Water Use
Industrial water use in the Northeastern
Ohio Basin totaled 290 mgd in 1955 and water used in
power generation (exclusive of hydroelectric power)
totaled 540 mgd. Primary metal industries used 180 mgd,
60 per cent, chemical and allied products industries
used 109 mgd, 37 per cent total. Lake Erie furnished
98 per cent of the industrial water use. Sixty-six per
cent was used by industries at Fairport Harbor. The
major industrial water supply withdrawn from surface
streams was taken from the Grand River at the city of
Grand River. Cooling water accounted for 93 per cent
of industrial water usage.
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Stephen Megregian
Shoreline Recreation
The five main shoreline recreation areas in Lake County
are Mentor Township Park, Headlands State Park, Fairport
Beach, Painesville Township Park, and Madison Township
Park. These beach areas are used for swimming, boating,
water skiing, and fishing. These beaches serve the
people of Cleveland and its suburbs as well as local
residents. This area has partially replaced the Cleve-
land lakefront as a recreation center.
In the summer of 1964, the Lake County
Health Department conducted a study of these five beach
areaso The median coliform densities ranged from 130
to 1,000 organisms per 100 ml at Headlands State Park
and Painesville Township Park, respectively. It was
found in many cases that the coliform density increased
during periods of rainfall and high or gusty winds.
Principal Sources of Waste
A total of 113,000 population equivalents
(PE) of municipal waste is treated by 10 secondary and
11 primary sewage treatment plants. Of this total,
94,000 PE are treated by facilities tributary directly
to Lake Erie. Approximately 38,000 people use septic
tank disposal systems.
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Stephen Megregian
Principal discharges directly to Lake Erie
are from the lakefront communities of Ashtabula and
Conneaut and from two Lake County sewer districts. All
employ primary waste treatment.
All inland and upstream municipal discharges,
except in Fairport Harbor and Painesville, are minor be-
cause of small population centers, secondary treatment,
or discharge to the ground.
Data on the discharges of industrial wastes
to the Eastern Ohio tributaries are not complete. From
partial data obtained from the Ohio State Department of
Health, 19 principal industrial discharges have been
tabulated.
Chemical industries of the Basin are en-
gaged in processing sodium chloride and related products,
and primary metals such as titanium and aluminums They
discharge an undetermined amount of chloride, metals,
and other chemicals to the surface streams.
Except for chemical industries, the only
major water user is a synthetic textile plant, the
Industrial Rayon Company, which discharges its wastes
to Lake Erie. The flow reported for this industry is
3.5 mgd and the discharge contains approximately 20
tons/day of total solids, 800 pounds per day of BOD,
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Stephen Megregian
along with metals, oil, and other chemicals.
Waste discharges from metal finishing opera-
tions in the Basin are minor in flow quantities, compared
to the chemical and synthetic textile industries, but
improperly treated wastes are extremely toxic. They
consist of acid and alkaline cleaning compounds, cyanide,
chrome, and other heavy metals. The industries discharge
to minor tributaries of Lake Erie where little flow is
available for dilution.
Grand River
Three municipal treatment plants provide
primary treatment for 19,500 PE, and three plants pro-
vide secondary treatment for 6,000 PE in the Grand River
Basin. A total of 6,800 people in 14 communities are
not served by collection and treatment systems.
Six major industries also discharge to the
Grand River. These are: Diamond Alkali Company; Calhio
Chemicals; Naugatuck Chemical; Metal Craft Company;
A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company; and Welded Tubes,
Incorporated.
In addition to process chemicals, the major
contributions of these industries are chlorides and
solids. The industrial waste data are inadequate to
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Stephen Megregian
make an estimate of the loads contributed by these indus-
tries.
It is estimated that 94 mgd of the industrial
water is returned to the Grand River, approximately 83
per cent is used as cooling water.
Ashtabula River
There are no sewerage systems discharging
to the Ashtabula River. A total of 1,100 people in
three Ohio communities have no central treatment. The
City of Ashtabula treats 16,000 PE with primary treat-
ment and discharges to Lake Erie.
Nine major industries discharge to Fields
Brook which is tributary to the Ashtabula River in the
City of Ashtabula. These industries are: Olin Mathieson;
Cabot Titania Corporation Titania Dioxide Plant; Titania
Tetrachloride Plant; Detrex Chemical Industries, Chlorin-
ated Solvents Division; Reactive Metals Sodium and Chlor-
ine Plant; Reactive Metals Metal Reduction Plant; Reactive
Metals Extrusion Plant; Diamond Alkali Company; and Gen-
eral Tire and Rubber Company, Chemical Division.
Conneaut Creek
Four municipal treatment plants, all in
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Stephen Megregian
Pennsylvania, provide secondary treatment for 2,400 PE
and discharge to Conneaut Creek. Five communities
(7,200 people) are not served by sewerage systems.
Two communities (5,100 people) are in Ohio and the three
communities (2,100 people) are in Pennsylvania.
One major industry, Albro Packing Company
in Springboro, Pennsylvania, is located in the Conneaut
Creek basin.
Total Loads to Lake Erie
The load contributed by the Grand River,
as measured bi-weekly for one year at 2.3 miles above
the mouth, is presented below.
Average
Pounds per Pay
Chlorides 2,200,000
Biochemical Oxygen Demand 7,000
Phenols 75
Nitrogen Compounds 3,970
The actual load to Lake Erie is greater
because an undetermined quantity of industrial wastes
is discharged to the river below this sampling station.
The flow could be as great as 100 mgd.
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Stephen Megregian
Loads from the Ashtabula River at the
sampling station 3.3 miles from the mouth are as follows:
Pounds per Day
Chlorides 17,000
Biochemical Oxygen Demand 13,000
Phenols 1
Phosphate 55
Nitrogen Compounds 310
Again, the actual load to Lake Erie is
greater because an undetermined quantity of industrial
wastes is discharged to this river below this sampling
station.
Effects of Wastes on Water Quality
Grand River
The lower three miles of the river are
brightly colored, with hues ranging from bright green
and yellow to black. The green and yellow colors re-
sult from chemical discharges, but the black color is
attributed to fly ash discharges. The banks of the
river in this reach are covered with a white sediment,
from chemical discharges.
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Stephen Megregian
Chloride concentrations of 3,620 mg/1 and
5,260 mg/1 were found during the summer and fall of
1964, respectively, at mile point 2.3. This station is
below the discharges of several large chemical indus-
tries. Above these industrial discharges the chloride
concentrations were 40 mg/1 and 44 mg/1, respectively.
The degradation of the Grand River is objec-
tionable because the polluted water flows through an
expanding urban area at the river mouth. The same sedi-
ments that were found along the river bank were also
found on the sides of pleasure boats.
Coliform densities, less than 1,000 per
100 ml at the mouth of the river, do not indicate a
health hazard. No dissolved oxygen problems were found
in the chemically polluted Grand River and the highest
seasonal BOD was only 5.0 mg/1. Median total coliform
densities were found to be below 10,000 per 100 ml ex-
cept immediately below the Fairport Harbor and Paines-
ville sewage treatment plants where the median values
were 67,000 and 150,000 per 100 ml during the summer
and fall, respectively.
Between Painesville and the river mouth
bottom dwelling organisms were limited to pollution-
tolerant sludgeworms and bloodworms.
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Stephen Megregian
Ashtabula River
Above the city, the lowest dissolved oxygen
concentration found was 6.6 mg/1 and BOD averaged less
than 2.9 mg/1,, Median coliform densities in summer and
fall were under 7,900 per 100 ml and under 750 per 100
ml in the winter and spring.
Median coliform densities of 43,000 and
250,000 per 100 ml were found at mile point 0.7 during
the summer and fall.
The chemical and allied products industries
at Ashtabula discharge their wastes into a large marshy
area of Fields Brook creating a severe problem.
The dissolved oxygen concentration at mile
point 2.3 was below 4 mg/1 25 per cent of the time during
the summer, the lowest was 1.2 mg/1. The BOD average
was 10 mg/1 during October and November. Both of these
conditions were obtained during the extremely low flow,
7 cfs, during the summer and 3 cfs during October and
November.
Conneaut Creek
The only municipal waste discharges to
Conneaut Creek are two secondary treatment plants in
Pennsylvania which discharge only a total of 60 pounds
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Stephen Megregian
of BOD per day.
A meat packing operation at Springboro,
Pennsylvania, discharges approximately 140 pounds of
BOD per day from a secondary treatment plant.
Effects on Lake
The effect of the Grand River on Lake Erie
is noticeable up to two miles from shore. Sampling data
indicate that there is density stratification as it en-
ters the lake. Chloride concentrations which are high
in the river averaged 107 mg/1 at the entrance to the
harbor and 40 to 50 mg/1 outside the breakwall at the
upper layer.
The Ashtabula River exerts an influence on
the Lake as far as 1.5 miles from the river mouth, as
evidenced by coliform levels. The median total coliform
densities decreased from 41,000 to 150 per 100 ml. Off-
shore from Ashtabula, total coliform values in Lake Erie
were less than 1 per 100 ml 60 per cent of the time.
Within the harbor, median coliform densities were below
1,500 per 100 ml.
A median coliform value of 2,800 per 100 ml
was found at the station offshore from the Ashtabula
Sewage Treatment Plant.
The bottom dwelling animals outside of the
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Stephen Megregian
harbor were similar in both number and kinds to adjacent
inshore areas and no evidence of the River's effect
could be determined more than half a mile from the mouth.
Generally, the waters of Lake Erie beaches
in eastern Ohio are of satisfactory bacterial quality.
DETROIT RIVER AND MICHIGAN TRIBUTARIES
Pollution of the Detroit River and Michigan
waters of Lake Erie has been the subject of previous
enforcement conferences. Specific recommendations were
developed by the Detroit River-Lake Erie Project for
all known sources of municipal and industrial wastes
in the conference area. At the conference session
held June 15-18, 1965, the Michigan Water Resources
Commission agreed to implement the recommendations of
the U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,
as contained in the "Report on Pollution of the Detroit
River, Michigan Waters of Lake Erie, and their Tribu-
taries," April 1965.
The material in this chapter is an abstract
of the "Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations" volume
of that report.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Megregian, since the Detroit
River is the subject of another conference, and this is
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Stephen Megregian
an abstract of a record already made, I wonder if, in
the interests of time, could you just put this into the
record?
MR0 MEGREGIAN: That is entirely up to you.
MR. STEIN: May I suggest we do that, and
this will appear as if read in the record, because this
has already been discussed.
MR* MEGREGIAN: All right.
(The following is a continuation of Chapter
VII of the report:)
Description of the Area
The Detroit River, the Huron River, and
the Raisin River are the principal Michigan tributaries
to Lake Erie. The Detroit River is the connecting water-
way between Lake St. Glair and Lake Erie, and is the
International Boundary between the United States and
Canada. The Detroit River flows in a southwesterly,
then a southerly direction for about 31 miles from Wind-
mill Point to its mouth at Lake Erie. The major tributary
to the Detroit River is the Rouge River which discharges
at Zug Island. The Huron River begins west of Detroit
and flows in a southwesterly, then a southeasterly
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Stephen Megregian
direction to its mouth at Pointe Mouilee near the mouth
of the Detroit River. The Raisin River begins about
50 miles due west of Monroe and discharges to Lake Erie
just below Monroe.
The Detroit River, outstanding among great
waterways of the world, performs a number of important
functions for the area. It provides a shipping channel
for the heavy traffic through the Great Lakes, provides
vast quantities of water for municipal and industrial
purposes, and receives large volumes of untreated and
partially treated sewage and industrial wastes. The
Detroit River also provides, potentially, excellent
opportunities for recreation„
The Detroit, Huron, and Raisin River Basin
has a population of over 3.8 million people and a drain-
age area of 2,000 square miles. This area serves three
important economic functions: agriculture, industry,
and recreation. The inland area of the basin as well
as the land bordering the western edge of Lake Erie is
used for farming and recreation., There are at least
18 recreational areas and 63 marina facilities located
along the Detroit River and the Michigan portion of
Lake Erie. The Detroit area has developed into one of
the most important industrial centers in the world. The
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Stephen Megregian
automobile industry has been responsible for the rapid
industrial growth in the Detroit area over the past 30
to 40 years, bringing in many related industries.
(Figure VII-1 follows.)
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260
DETROIT )) /
MICHIGAN BASIN
SCALE IN MILES
FIGURE 3Zff -
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Stephen Megregian
Sources of Wastes
Every day more than 1.6 billion gallons of
processing and cooling water flow into the Detroit
River — 1.1 billion gallons from industry and 540 mil-
lion gallons from Municipal sewage treatment plants.
Huge quantities of waste constituents contained in this
discharge change the Detroit River from a basically
clean body of water at its head to a polluted one in
its lower reaches. These waters are polluted bacteriol-
ogically, chemically, physically, and biologically, and
contain excessive coliform densities as well as excessive
quantities of phenols, iron, oil, ammonia, suspended
solids, settleable solids, chlorides, nitrogen compounds,
and phosphates.
The City of Detroit's main sewage treatment
plant, serving more than 90 per cent of the people in
the area, contributes 95 per cent of the municipal waste
to the Detroit River and is also the major source of sus-
pended solids, phenols, oil, inorganic nitrogen, phos-
phates, and biochemical oxygen demand in the river.
Overflows from combined sewers in Detroit and its suburbs,
carrying both stormwater and raw sewage, contribute to
the degradation of the river.
In the upper Detroit River, the Great Lakes
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Stephen Megregian
Steel Company and the Allied Chemical Corporation are
the major sources of industrial wastes. The Ford Motor
Company is the principal contributor of inorganic wastes
to the Rouge River, and the Scott Paper Company is the
principal contributor of organic wastes. Downriver
industries contributing significant quantities of wastes
are the Great Lakes Steel Corporation, the McLouth Steel
Corporation, Pennsalt Chemical Corporation, and Wyan-
dotte Chemical Corporation. On the Raisin River the
leading polluters are the two Consolidated Paper Company
mills, Monroe Paper Products Company, and the Union Bag-
Camp Paper Company.
Other significant sources of pollution in
the study area are overflows from combined sewers, muni-
cipal and industrial waste spills, and wastes from shore-
front homes.
Effects of Wastes on Water Quality and Water Uses
Pollution of the Detroit River causes inter-
ference with municipal water supply, recreation, fish
and wildlife propagation, and navigation. Two municipal
water intakes are endangered by the high bacterial counts
of the river. The rising chloride levels indicate poten-
tial future problems for industrial water usage. In
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Stephen Megregian
addition, high concentrations of phenols and ammonia at
the Wyandotte water intake have interfered with municipal
water treatment by causing taste and odor problems and
reducing the effectiveness of chlorination. Excessive
quantities of chlorine are needed to reduce bacteria to
a safe level.
All forms of water contact sports in the
lower Detroit River are hazardous. Declining levels of
dissolved oxygen in the lower Detroit River as it enters
Lake Erie represent a threat to future water uses.
Bottom sludge deposits, oil, and toxic materials threaten
fish, migratory birds, and other wildlife. In order to
maintain navigation, extensive annual dredging is re-
quired at the junction of the Rouge and Detroit Rivers
and at the mouths of the Detroit and Raisin Rivers to
remove deposits of suspended solids in large part origin
ating in municipal and industrial waste discharges.
The Huron River carries significant quan-
tities of coliform organisms, nitrates, and phosphates.
It discharges into a large marsh at Pointe Mouillee
with no clear dispersion into Lake Erie. The marsh is
subject to backwater from the Detroit River. The back-
water and the long retention of pollutants in the marsh
tend to mask the effect of the Huron River on Lake Erie.
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Stephen Megregian
The lower Raisin River is frequently devoid
of dissolved oxygen, resulting in a continuous state of
putrefaction during the summer months. All uses of the
lower Raisin River except waste disposal and navigation
have been eliminated by pollution and deposits of settleable
solids. Navigation is also hampered, and extensive
annual dredging is required to remove deposited wastes
to keep the channels open for routine ship movement.
Bacterial counts in the lower River make any recreational
use of the water hazardous. The detrimental effect of
the Raisin River upon Lake Erie contributes to the
enrichment of the waters of the western basin and the
high coliform levels at bathing beaches nearby, including
Sterling State Park.
The Michigan waters of Lake Erie have two
major zones of pollution -- one in the vicinity of the
mouth of the Detroit River, and one near the mouth of the
Raisin River. Bacteriological densities in the Lake
from the mouth of the Detroit River to a point 2 or
3 miles south make the water unfit for recreational use;
following heavy rainfall in the Detroit area, this zone
is extended southward to Stony Point. Concentration
of chlorides, metals toxic to fish life in minute
concentrations, and suspended solids in the Lake portend
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Stephen Megregian
future problems with various water uses.
Pollution stimulated algal growths have
forced Monroe to move its water intake point to avoid
unpleasant tastes and odors in the water, and algal
blooms near the new intake again threaten to degrade
Monroe's drinking water. Discharges of nutrients and
organic wastes into the Michigan part of Lake Erie have
speeded the enrichment of that portion of the Lake.
Water at Sterling State Park is erratically
polluted, and this area occasionally has coliform counts
exceeding 100,000 organisms per 100 ml. The Raisin River
was found to be the chief source of this pollution; when
Lake currents are northerly (40 to 457o of the time) ,
polluted Raisin River water is carried directly to the
beaches. When currents are southerly, drainage from
malfunctioning septic tanks and wastes from Sandy Creek
and Stony Creek north of the Park affect the beach water.
Adverse effects of stormwater overflow on
water quality were found in the Detroit River and Michi-
gan waters of Lake Erie. During and after heavy rain-
falls, sewage plants bypass untreated wastes directly
to the rivers, and this can be expected to occur 33 to
45 days a year. The overflows average 8.2 hours and
have lasted as long as 5 days. Bacteria in storm over-
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Stephen Megregian
flows often approached the densities found in raw sewage,
with counts as high as 100 million per 100 ml. Storm-
caused overflows alone are responsible for the discharge
of 5 billion gallons of raw sewage to the Detroit River
yearly.
MR. MEGREGIAN: I would like to add one more
to the record.
MR. STEIN: All righto
MR. MEGREGIAN: I believe the printed report
that you have omitted the discussion of the general
recommendations that were contained in that report,
which we intended to include in our reading today.
I would like to have that part included.
MR. STEIN: Where is that?
MR. MEGREGIAN: It starts at Page 102.
MR. STEIN: We don't have that. Do you
want to add something?
MR. MEGREGIAN: Yes.
MR. STEIN: All right, go ahead if you have
something.
MR. POSTON: I think what Mr. Megregian
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Stephen Megregian
intends to insert here are the conclusions and the sum-
mary of the Detroit conference as agreed upon by the
conferees at that conference.
MR. STEIN: Go ahead.
MR. MEGREGIAN: The part that I would add
is not included in the report as printed.
MR. STEIN: All right, you read that.
MR. MEGREGIAN: All right.
Recommended Actions
The General Recommendations contained in
the "Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations" volume
of the "Report on Pollution of the Detroit River,
Michigan Waters of Lake Erie, and their Tributaries,"
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, April
1965, were as follows:
It is recommended that:
1. All municipalities provide a minimum
of secondary treatment plus adequate
disinfection of the effluent.
2. Sewerage systems with collection sewers
terminating in adequate treatment fa-
cilities be provided in those areas along
the Michigan shore of Lake Erie and the
Detroit River where sewers do not now
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Stephen Megregian
exist and homes discharge either raw
wastes or septic tanks effluent to --
MR. STEIN: Mr. Megregian, you are giving
the recommendations in the report.
MR. MEGREGIAN: That is correct.
MR. STEIN: Both of the conferees have dis-
cussed this here. I think this conference did come up
with recommendations and conclusions. Maybe the record
should stand on that, rather than doing this on an in-
terim basis now.
I think we have fairly well disposed of
the conclusions in the Detroit aspects of the case. I
might mention that Michigan and the Federal Government
were unanimous in that case.
We have an active program going on to abate
pollution. Mr. Oeming, head of the Michigan program, is
at my left. If anyone is interested, we or Mr. Oeming
will be happy to make these conclusions available, but
I think you are plowing the same ground, Mr. Megregian,
if you go over that.
MR. MEGREGIAN: The reason I wanted to in-
clude it here was because we were not going to repeat
this in the general recommendations for the basin area.
However, it is entirely up to the conferees,
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Stephen Megregian
as long as we understand that it is a part of the busi-
ness.
MR. OEMING: Mr. Stein, I would think that
we could dispose of this matter adequately if you would
include, at the end of this section, the conclusions
and recommendations that were reached on June 15 - 18
at the Detroit River-Lake Erie conference.
MR. STEIN: We would be happy to do that.
MR. POSTON: "These are the conclusions
and recommendations reached by the conferees."
MR. OEMING: By the conferees, that's right.
MR. POSTON: All right, I would agree to
that.
MR. STEIN: All right, sir, go on.
MR. MEGREGIAN: I think Mr. Grover Cook
will relieve me now and read the summary and conclusions
of this report.
MR. STEIN: Yes. Mr. Cook, before we do
that, we have been here a long time and we might take a
break.
However, before we take the break, if you
live long enough, I guess you see everything. For the
first time at one of these conferences, some lady out
in Ashtabula, Hazel Hartung, sent us a poem, and I would like
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270
to, without objection, include this poem, if I might,
in the record.
She says:
I am the Earth.
All mankind suckles at my breast -
As a mother who loves her children
1 freely offer all gifts which are best.
All green and growing things . . .
Succulent fruits of my verdant valleys,
Crystal-clear freshets born of mountain snows
-- With no payment of tithes or tallies.
Man is mentor over lesser things
The writhing, pulsing life of oceans,
And warm-blooded beings — four-footed and furry
Even the molds of his life-saving potions.
All good gifts -- the wind and the rain,
The sun and the snow in their seasons -
Canst tell me why evil for good is returned?
Canst tell me what are Man's reasons?
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271
Now does Man hate his own offspring
That he fouls the Earth for their coming?
My rivers and lakes are full of pollution!
Man sees it not; his fact'ries are humming.
My hillsides are ravaged -- my plains laid waste
Chemicals disturb my balance.
Man's knowledge attacks my placement in orbit
Festoons of refuse form a dirty valance.
Withered, wasted and weary . . .
Racked by unnatural stresses . . .
Futilely working at reclamation
Of field, forest and stream . . . time presses
And I grow old.
Now, if any of you are students of poetry,
I ask you to match that half rhyme of "balance" and
"valance,"
With that we will stand recessed for ten
minutes.
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Grover Cook
(After recess.)
MR. STEIN: May we reconvene?
Mr. Poston?
MR. POSTON: We will proceed with Mr. Cook
in the Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations.
CONTINUED STATEMENT OF MR.
GROVER COOK, U. S. DEPARTMENT
OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND
WELFARE
MR. COOK: I will now proceed with the
Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations.
Conclusions
Lake Erie and its tributaries are polluted.
The main body of the Lake has deteriorated in quality
at a rate many times greater than its normal aging pro-
cesses, due to inputs of wastes resulting from the ac-
tivities of man.
Identified pollutants contributing to dam-
ages to water uses in Lake Erie are sewage and industrial
wastes, oils, silts, sediment, floating solids and
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Grover Cook
nutrients (phosphates and nitrogen). Enrichment of Lake
Erie, caused by man-made contributions of nutrient ma-
terials, is proceeding at an alarming rate. Pollution
in Lake Erie and its tributaries causes significant
damage to recreation, commercial fishing, sport fishing,
navigation, water supply, and esthetic values.
Eutrophication or over-fertilization of
Lake Erie and the Maumee River is of major concern.
Problems are occurring along the lake shoreline and
at some water intakes from algal growths stimulated by
nutrients. Algal growths can be controlled, and eutrophi-
cation of Lake Erie can be retarded and perhaps even
reversed by reducing one or more nutrients below the
level required for extensive growth.
Soluble phosphate is the one nutrient most
amenable to reduction or exclusion from Lake Erie and
its tributaries. Present technology is capable of re-
moving a high percentage of soluble phosphates from
sewage at a reasonable cost.
More than three-fourths of the soluble phos-
phates reaching Lake Erie are from municipal waste dis-
charges; this includes some industrial wastes routed
through municipal facilities. Proper design and opera-
tion of secondary sewage treatment plants will result in
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Grover Cook
significantly greater removal of phosphorus compounds
than that produced by primary treatment alone. This
will result in substantial reduction of aquatic growths
and will be reflected chiefly in a better fishery, a
better water supply and better water for recreational
uses.
Discharges of municipal and industrial
wastes originating in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsyl-
vania, and New York are endangering the health or welfare
of persons in States other than those in which such dis-
charges originate. This pollution is subject to abate-
ment under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
Pollution of the Detroit River and Michigan
waters of Lake Erie has been the subject of a previous
enforcement conference. Specific recommendations were •
developed by the Detroit River-Lake Erie Project for
all known sources of municipal and industrial wastes in
the conference area. At the conference session held
June 15 - 18, 1965, the Michigan Water Resources Com-
mission agreed to implement the recommendations of the
U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as
contained in the "Report on Pollution of the Detroit
River, Michigan Waters of Lake Erie, and their Tribu-
taries."
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Grover Cook
The Maumee, Sandusky, Black, Rocky, and
Cuyahoga Rivers and their tributaries, all of which are
tributary to Lake Erie in Ohio, are grossly polluted.
This pollution is caused by refuse, sewage, and sludge
resulting in low dissolved oxygen, algal growths, bac-
terial contamination, and odors associated with polluted
waters. This pollution interferes with water uses for
municipal and industrial supply, recreation, fishing,
and esthetic enjoyment. Specifically, phenols and ni-
trogenous compounds cause taste and odor problems in
municipal water supplies. Other pollutants found in
significant areas of these tributary rivers are oil,
silt, and sediment.
Lake Erie and its tributary streams in the
Pennsylvania basin are polluted by discharges of munici-
pal and industrial wastes, combined sewer overflows,
accidental spills from vessels and industries and wastes
from Lake vessels, and land drainage. This pollution
has caused taste and odor problems in domestic water
supplies, bacterial contamination of bathing beaches,
fish kills and algal growths. In addition, wastes which
cause the receiving waters to foam, turn blackish-brown,
and have a foul odor have interfered with recreation
and esthetic enjoyment.
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Grover Cook
Lake Erie and its tributary streams in the
western New York basin and the Erie-Niagara basin in
New York are polluted by municipal and industrial wastes.
Discharges of these wastes cause interferences with
municipal and industrial supplies, recreation, fish and
aquatic life. In addition, these wastes cause discolora-
tion of the receiving waters, foul odors and algal growths.
General Recommendations
Lake Erie is more than a valuable water re-
source; it is a priceless natural heritage. The present
generation has an obligation to use it wisely and to pre-
serve it for posterity. Each city and town, each indus-
trial firm - each and every citizen of the basin - must
bear a share of that responsibility.
Recommendations for abating water pollution
interfering with water uses in Lake Erie and its tribu-
taries will be made in two groups: general recommenda-
tions, covering the broad objectives of pollution abate-
ment in the conference area, followed by specific recom-
mendations in Parts 2 and 3 of this report, for the solu-
tion of particular problems. The specific recommendations
are offered in addition to, and not in place of, the
general recommendations.
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Grover Cook
The recommendations which limit the effluent
concentration of a particular waste constituent are made
with the purpose of reduction of waste loadings from a
facility. If changes in concentration are brought about
by increased dilution, combination of outfalls, or other
methods without reducing waste loading, a corresponding
decrease in recommended waste concentrations will be re-
quired.
Municipal Wastes
It is recommended that:
1. Municipal wastes be given secondary
biological treatment; such treatment to produce an ef-
fluent not exceeding the following concentrations:
a. Suspended solids - 35 mg/1
b. Settleable solids - 5 mg/1
c. Ammonia - 2 mg/1
d. Phenol - 20 micrograms per liter
e. Oil - 15 mg/1
f. 5-day BOD - 20 mg/1
2. Secondary treatment plants be so designed
and operated as to maximize the removal of phosphates.
3. Disinfection of municipal waste effluents
be practiced in a manner that will maintain coliform
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Grover Cook
concentrations not to exceed 5,000 organisms per 100 ml,
and not to exceed 1,000 organisms per 100 ml where the
receiving waters in proximity to the discharge point are
used for recreational purposes involving bodily contact.
4. All new sewerage facilities be designed
to prevent the necessity of bypassing untreated wastes.
5. Combined storm and sanitary sewers be
prohibited in all newly-developed urban areas, and elim-
inated in existing areas wherever opportunity is afforded
by redevelopmento Existing combined sewer systems be
continuously patrolled and flow-regulating structures
adjusted to convey the maximum practicable amount of
combined flows to and through treatment plants.
60 A program be developed to prevent acci-
dental spills of waste materials to Lake Erie and its
tributaries. In-plant surveys with the purpose of
preventing accidents are recommended.
7. Unusual increases in waste output and
accidental spills to be reported immediately to the
appropriate State agency.
8. Disposal of garbage, trash, and other
deleterious refuse in Lake Erie or its tributaries be
prohibited and existing dumps along river banks and
shores of the Lake are to be removed.
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Grover Cook
Industrial Wastes
It is recommended that:
1. Industrial plants improve practices
for the segregation and treatment of waste to effect the
maximum reductions of the following:
a. Acids and alkalies
b. Oil and tarry substances
Co Phenolic compounds and organic
chemicals that contribute to taste
and odor problems
d. Ammonia and other nitrogenous com-
pounds
e. Phosphorus compounds
fo Suspended material
g. Toxic and highly-colored wastes
h. Oxygen-demanding substances
ia Excessive heat
j. Foam-producing discharges
k. Other wastes which detract from
recreational uses, esthetic enjoy-
ment, or other beneficial uses of
the waters
2. The Michigan Water Resources Commission,
the Indiana Stream Pollution Control Board, the Ohio Water
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280
Grover Cook
Pollution Control Board, the Pennsylvania Sanitary Water
Board, and the Mew York State Department of Health are to
undertake action to insure that industrial plants dis-
charging wastes into waters of Lake Erie and its tribu-
taries within their respective jurisdictions institute
programs of sampling their effluents to provide necessary
information about waste outputs. Such sampling shall be
conducted at such locations and with such frequency as
to yield statistically reliable values of all waste
outputs and to show their variations. Analyses to be so
reported are to include: pH, oil, tarry residues,
phenolics, ammonia, total nitrogen, cyanide, toxic ma-
terials, total biochemical oxygen demand, and all other
wastes listed in recommendation #1, under Industrial
Wastes.
Waste results to be reported in terms of
both concentrations and load rates. Such information
will be maintained in open files by the State agencies
for all those having a legitimate interest in the infor-
mation.
Surveillance
The Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare will establish water pollution surveillance
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Grover Caok
stations at appropriate locations on Lake Erie and its
tributaries. The Department will welcome the participa-
tion and assistance of the appropriate State agencies.
The effectiveness of improvement measures,
especially steps for phosphate removal, should be ob-
served over the coming years, and additional measures
instituted as a need is indicated.
Mr. Megregian will give you the specific
recommendations»
MR. STEIN: Will you refer to the page so
that they can follow you as you go through? You are in
Volume 2, aren't you?
MR. MEGREGIAN: We are in Volume 2, that is
correct. We pulled these out. I don't have the page
numbers.
MR. STEIN: That is all right then. Go right
ahead.
CONTINUED STATEMENT OF MR.
STEPHEN MEGREGIAN, U. S.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION,
AND WELFARE
MR. MEGREGIAN: Recommended Actions for the
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Stephen Megregian
Maumee River Basin.
The recommendations for pollution abatement
set forth in Chapter I, Part 1 should be adopted where
applicable in the Maumee River Basin. In addition, it
is recommended that the following specific actions be
taken:
1. The City of Defiance improve its collec-
tion system and treatment facilities,
and resolve with Johns Manville Company
the problem of excessive phenol dis-
charges.
2. The following industrial plants take the
necessary action to provide waste treat-
ment facilities to reduce their waste
loadings to the receiving stream:
Interlake Iron Company Solids reduction
Johns Manville Company Solids and BOD
Waterville reduction
Defiance Phenol reduction
Buckeye Sugars, Inc. Evaluate completed
improvements
National Refinery Oil removal
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283
Stephen Megregian
Standard Oil Company
Refinery Phenol reduction
Petrochemical Evaluate completed
improvements
Chemical Company Nitrogen removal
3. Intensified effort in control of soil
erosion and land use practices, to reduce
the inputs to receiving waters of silt
and nutrients.
4. The Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare, in cooperation with other Federal
agencies and the States involved, inves-
tigate means of providing streamflow
regulation to maintain desirable water
quality after all practicable measures
have been taken to eliminate or control
waste discharges at their sources.
5. The unknown source of waste on the St.
Marys River be located and brought under
control.
Recommended Actions for the Western Ohio Basin
The recommendations for pollution abatement
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Stephen Megregian
set forth in Chapter I, Part I, should be adopted where
applicable in the Western Ohio Basin. In addition, it
is recommended that the following industrial plants take
the necessary actions listed:
Industry Necessary Action
General Motors Corporation Cyanide and metal
Ternstedt Division reduction
Swift and Company Oil removal
General Electric Company Treatment of sewage
Bechtel-McLaughlin Chromium reduction
The Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad Company Oil removal
Recommended Actions for the Rocky River Basin
The general recommendations for pollution
abatement set forth in Chapter I, Part I, should be
adopted where applicable in the Rocky River Basin. In
addition, it is recommended that the following specific
actions be taken:
1. A master sewerage plan be prepared for
the Cleveland metropolitan area, includ-
ing Cleveland, its suburbs, and rapidly
developing urban lands - and an appro-
priate regional organization be given
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Stephen Megregian
authority and responsibility for its
implementation.
Recommended Actions for the Cuvahoga River Basin
The recommendations for pollution abatement
set forth in Chapter I, Part 1, should be adopted where
applicable in the Cuyahoga River Basin, In addition, it
is recommended that the following specific actions be
taken:
1. The following industrial plants take
the necessary actions listed:
Industry Necessary Action
Republic Steel Removal of spent pickling
solutions;
Increased oil and solids
removal
Standard Oil Corp. Oil removal
U. S. Steel Corp. Removal of spent pickling
solutions;
Increased solids removal
E. I. DuPont
Jones and Laugh1in
Steel Company
Harshaw Chemical Company
Metals reduction
Removal of spent pickling
solutions
Metals reduction
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Stephen Megregian
Industry Necessary Action
Cuyahoga Meat Company Reduction of solids
and BOD
Masters Anodizers and Platers, Inc. Metal reduction
Sonoco Products Company Reduction of solids
and BOD
Thompson Ramo Woolridge Metals reduction
2. A master sewerage plan be prepared for
the Cleveland metropolitan area, in-
cluding Cleveland, its suburbs, and
rapidly developing urban lands -- and
an appropriate regional organization be
given authority and responsibility for
its implementationo
3. Similar action to No. 2 be taken in the
Akron metropolitan area.
Recommended Actions for the Eastern Ohio Basin
The recommendations for pollution abatement
set forth in Chapter I, Part I are to be adopted where
applicable in the Eastern Ohio Basin. In addition, it
is recommended that the following specific actions be
taken:
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Stephen Megregian
1. The following industrial plants take
the necessary actions listed:
Industry Necessary Action
Olin Mathieson
Cabot Titania Corp.
Detrex Chemical Industry
Reactive Metals
Diamond Alkali Co.
General Tire & Rubber Co.
pH Control and Solids
Reduction
Solids Reduction
Reduction of Iron and
Chlorinated Hydrocarbon
Solids Reduction and pH
Control
Solids Reduction
Solids Reduction
Metals Reduction
Industrial Rayon Co.
Cleveland Electric Illuminat-
ing Co. (Eastlake) Solids Reduction
2. Master sewerage plans be prepared to
guide development in areas where urbani-
zation is taking place.
This is the end of the recommendations through
Part 2.
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
We will open this now for questioning, al-
though I think right at this point maybe we can save some
time. I would like to clarify one point on jurisdiction
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
here.
I don't think that it is within the juris-
diction of the conferees under the Federal law to make
any recommendations on regional organization. While we
appreciate the recommendations, 1 think that is beyond
the scope of our authority. We certainly will give con-
sideration to all the others.
So, if we have any questions, we can go
ahead with them,,
Mr0 Oeming, do you have any?
MR, OEMING: Yes, Mr. Stein.
Mr. Stein and fellow conferees:
I have a number of questions, and perhaps
some of them will refer to the testimony or the statement
made by Mr» Cook and some by Mr. Megregian. I don't
know how you wish to handle these.
MR. STEIN: Why don't you ask the question,
and the one who wants to answer it will answer it, unless
you direct the question to a specific one.
These men may have other specific experts
from the organization with them. I see a sprinkling of
them in the audience.
On any of these questions, if you feel that
you want to call on these people, call them up so that
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
you can get a precise answer.
MR. OEMING: On Page 9 there is a statement
that the annual evaporation from the Lake surface averages
33.5 inches.
Was this determined by the Public Health
Service in this two year study?
MR. COOK: I don't think it was, Mr. Oeming.
I think this probably was information from the Weather
Bureau.
MR. OEMING: Now, on the whole matter of
lake currents, both surface and circulation of currents,
is this information that was determined during the past
two years from your Lake stations, or is this from some
other source?
MR. COOK: Most of it is from work of the
last two years, some from Lake stations, some from dye
studies, some from Drogue, and other studies. Some of
the information was substantiated by previous studies.
MR. OEMING: I see. On Page 14 there is
a table in the report that lists municipal water supplies
on Lake Erie, and Michigan is listed as having two. I
wonder if you would tell us what those two are.
MR. COOK: Well, Monroe must be one of them.
MR. MEGREGIAN: I believe the second one was
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
listed as the Enrico Fermi Treatment Plant, and I under-
stand that after it was listed, it should not have been
since it is not a municipal supply.
MR. OEMING: It does not furnish water for
municipal uses. That is the understanding that this
table is intended to convey, and it is not accurate.
On Page 16 there is a figure given for the
decline of the fishing in Lake Erie, and the most recent
figure that is given in the report is 7,400 pounds for
blue pike in 1960.
Do you have any more up to date information
than that, say as of 1964? 1964 would be adequate.
MR, COOK: I couldn't answer that, Mr.
Oeming. Possibly there were no more blue pike.
(Laughter.)
MR. OEMING: Well, possibly there might be
more too, mightn't there?
MR. COOK: That is possible. I think this
was a statement from a summary report dated 1960.
MR. OEMING: But you haven't anything for
1964?
MR. COOK: I am sure we have information
in the files on it, yes.
MR. OEMING: I have to go back to this
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
question that I directed to Dr. Tarzwell this morning.
I wonder if you can tell me this: On Page
17, where you are talking about phosphorus being a con-
stituent in domestic sewage and certain industrial wastes,
and that it must be controlled, what are we talking about?
Are you referring to soluble phosphorus, total phosphorus,
or phosphorus as what?
MR. COOK: We are talking about total phos-
phorus, PO^. That is PO^. Did I say "soluble phosphate"?
That is what I meant, total soluble phosphate, PO^.
MR. OEMING: That is what you mean through-
out your report when you are talking about phosphorus?
MR. COOK: That is right.
MR. OEMING: Then this .03 means total soluble
phosphorus as PO^?
MR. COOK: Total soluble phosphate as PO^.
MR. OEMING: Phosphate as PO^
On Page 20, has the DO depletion been found
in the western basin during this two year study?
MR. COOK: Yes9 sir.
MR. OEMING: On how many occasions, sir?
MR. COOK: On one occasion.
MR. OEMING: One occasion?
MR. COOK: Yes.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. OEMING: At the bottom of Page 20, I
wonder if you would expand a little bit on the basis for
the statement that the DO deficit is caused largely by
lake enrichment?
What portion is traceable to other sources
than sewage and domestic wastes? And is the DO depletion
entirely accounted for by the amount of soluble phosphorus
introduced by waste sources?
MR. COOK: Well, I will take the first part
of that question first.
No, it isn't all, of course, caused by the
introduction of domestic wastes or industrial wastes.
The indirect effect of organic enrichment by agricultural
runoff is also a part of this.
It is a very difficult thing to measure,
and we haven't measured it, frankly.
MR. OEMING: You haven't measured the others?
MR. COOK: The effect from agricultural run-
off, but we know it is substantial. We mention in the
report that better soil practices, agricultural practices,
have to be put into effect in the Maumee Basin, for in-
stance, in order to help control this.
Now, the second part of your question was
what?
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. OEMING: I asked you what portion was
traceable to the wastes, and then I asked you, is deple-
tion of DO entirely accounted for by the amount of
soluble phosphorus introduced by waste sources.
MR. COOK: No, I don't think it is. A
large amount of it is, of course. The other part is
the amount of percentage of materials that are introduced
into the Lake at various waste sources.
MR. OEMING: On the next page, there is a
statement that oxygen deficits occur only in those lakes
where large amounts of oxygen consuming materials or
nutrients have been introduced. Is this true in every
case?
MR. COOK: That is true.
MR. OEMING: Irrespective of whether the
natural bottom is mud or peat, or it doesn't matter what
material?
MR. COOK: If the bottom is mud or peat,
it is that way because of the introduction of nutrients
and organic materials from natural sources or man-made.
MR. OEMING: In other words, all lake origin-
ally had nice clean bottoms, and the runoff —
MR. COOK: We weren't here when they were
originated, but most of them were -- glacial lakes, yes.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. OEMING: The western basin does not
become stratified, you indicate, except during 6 to 7
day periods of calm, and the central and eastern basins
do become stratified.
I wonder if you would reconcile these two
statements with the fact that nutrients are present in
the eastern and central basins.
Do you follow my question?
MR. COOK: Not exactly, no.
MR. OEMING: Well, there are nutrients pre-
sent in the eastern and central basins, aren't there?
MR. COOK: Yes*
MR. OEMING: DO depletion occurs steadily
in the central basin and eastern basin; is that true?
MR. COOK: Correct.
MR. OEMING: But DO depletion was only found
in one particular instance in the western basin.
MR. COOK: That is right, following the long
period of calm.
MR. OEMING: Now, the nutrients are present
in both cases, are they not?
MR. COOK: That is correct.
MR. OEMING: How do you explain the lack of
dissolved oxygen depletion to the same extent in the
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
western basin as you have in the eastern basin?
MR. COOK: Because it doesn't become strati-
fied in the western basin except under an unusual situa-
tion. The oxygen demand by the bottom muds is not exerted
to the same extent. That is, there is complete mixing
throughout most of the year in the western basin.
MR. OEMING: You charge it all to mixing
then?
MR. COOK: Not all to mixing, but partially
to mixing.
MR. OEMING: 1 see, but don't you say later
that the overall easterly movement carries some of the
materials to the quieter waters of the central basin,
where it settles to the bottom?
MR. COOK: Yes. In the western part of the
central basin, the water is quieter, it is deeper, and
therefore there is not the top to bottom mixing that
there is in the western basin.
MR. OEMING: I see. On Page 25, you have
a table that says "Industrial Waste Sources - State
Classification0" The third column is headed "Unknown,"
with numbers for each State underneath it.
Would you explain what you mean by "unknown"
there? Does that mean that they don't know about it, or
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
that it has not been evaluated?
MR. MEGREGIAN: May I answer that?
This listing was brought together to indi-
cate that out of a total industrial waste, of known
industrial waste sources as represented opposite each
State, that a certain portion of these were known to be
inadequate, and the other number, the unknown, means we
do not know whether these are adequate or inadequate.
MR. OEMING: At the bottom of the page,
the following statement is made:
"Data have not been made available for the
computation of meaningful waste loads from industries."
Do you mean this to apply to the Detroit
River report of the Public Health Service, in which you
had complete information on all of the industrial waste
sources? Is that meaningful or not?
MR. MEGREGIAN: Not at all, Mr. Oeming.
This applies only to the Lake Erie Basin.
MR. OEMING: This doesn't say that it applies
only to Lake Erie, does it?
MR. MEGREGIAN: I'm afraid it doesn't.
MR. OEMING: All right.
Now, on Page 26, I wonder if you would
clarify the two statements in the second and third
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
paragraphs with respect to suspended solids„
I have in mind particularly the first sen-
tence in the second paragraph, which states: "These
substances that have damaging effects on the water use
of the total waters of the Lake are suspended solids,"
and then other things.
Then, in the next paragraph, it states:
"Damage to Lake Erie resulting from suspended matter" --
and then drop down to the end of the sentence — "having
largely local effects."
My question here is: Would you reconcile
these two statements? One says that the total waters
of the Lake are affected, and then in the next paragraph
it says it has only largely local effects.
MR. COOK: I think both statements are cor-
rect, to a degree.
Under the inputs up above in the introductory
paragraph, where it states there that suspended solids
indicate lake-wide problems or effects, that was stated
because we know that suspended solids, depending on
their nature, how heavy they are or how light they are,
can sometimes be carried a long ways by mass transporta-
tion of water.
However, I think you will agree that the
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
greater effect is the localized effect of solids that
settle near the waste loadings.
MR. OEMING: You are giving more emphasis
then to the local effect rather than the effect on the
total body of the Lake; is that right?
MR. COOK: Yes, sir.
MR. OEMING: All right.
Further down on that page, you state: "Con-
trol must be instituted through improvements in land use
practices on the watershed."
I don't find any specific recommendations
here. Do you have any for the guidance of this board?
MR. COOK: I wish we could. I wish we
could. I think all of us who have worked in water pol-
lution for some time know that this is a problem.
I think something needs to be done» I am
not sure what it would be. Perhaps the conferees will
think of something.
We have not made any recommendations, no,
sir.
MR. OEMING: On Page 27, you indicate the
concentration of chloride being of the magnitude of 7
mg/1 in the headwaters of the Detroit River and 23 mg/1
at Buffalo, a threefold increase.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
I wonder if you could tell me what you feel
is the significance to water uses of this increase?
MR. COOK: I think we all agree there is
no damage to any water use from this kind of increase,
and I think we made it fairly clear that the only reason
we presented this information was because it does indi-
cate a rather dramatic increase of one constituent over
a relatively short period of time.
MR. OEMING: But it is doing no damage?
MR. COOK: Doing no damage.
MR. OEMING: To the fish or bottom animals?
MR. COOK: To my knowledge, it is not damag-
ing to the fish.
MR. OEMING: When you computed the increase
in chloride because of the use of salt on the streets,
as to this 800,000 tons a year, first of all, is this
from the total basin, did you determine?
MR. MEGREGIAN: This is from the data that
was supplied to us by various --
MR. STEIN: Would you speak into the micro-
phone, please?
MR. MEGREGIAN: This is from the results
of data that were supplied to us from the salt companies
themselves, that were producing and delivering salt to
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
the Lake Erie Basin.
This does not include Detroit, I don't be-
lieve.
MR. OEMING: I don't think it does either.
You have computed now an increase in the
chloride level of the Lake water. Is this weighted to
the period in which these chlorides would reach the
Lake water — that is, during the runoff period?
MR. MEGREGIAN: This is an annual average
for the whole Lake.
MR. OEMING: 1 see.
MR. MEGREGIAN: It does not include any
concentration changes, or for seasonal purposes, no.
MR. OEMING: It would be higher, wouldn't
it, because these salts reach the Lake during two months
of the year probably?
MR. MEGREGIAN: That is correct.
MR. OEMING: Two or three?
MR. MEGREGIAN: That is correct.
MR. OEMING: Now, with respect to the dis-
solved solids, here you evaluated the increase from 110
to 115 mg/1 at present, and the increase in Lake Erie
at Buffalo in the same period from 115 to 192.
Would you tell me what significance there
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
is in this to water uses?
MR. MEGREGIAN: I would respond the same way
as Mr. Cook did with respect to chlorides, merely to
indicate that there is a greater use of these waters
which receive these inorganic salts as discharges, and
therefore, while there is no specific problem today,
this is a forewarning that there might be problems in
the very near future.
MR. OEMING: With regard to the next para-
graph, Nitrogen Compounds, would you discuss a little
more here what happens in phosphorus removal? If nitro-
gen continues to support algae, how much is accomplished
with phosphorus removal in terms of arresting growth?
As I understand your statement, nitrogen
is a factor in this fertilization of the Lake. This is
something that can't be controlled.
Now, if it is a factor, it is going to re-
main after the phosphorus would be taken out, isn't it?
How much good then would we do?
This is my question.
MR. COOK: Well, the nitrogen is in good
supply throughout the world and every place in nature,
including the atmosphere.
Any attempt to reduce the nitrogen to effect
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
a reduction in algal growth would be like punching
feathers.
Incidentally, nitrogen is not the only other
growth factor. There are a good many other elements that
we have to have in measurable amounts in order to grow
algae -- some in trace amounts. Nitrogen is probably
the one that is in greatest supply. It will be there
no matter what we try to do.
Secondary treatment will substantially re-
move some of the nitrogen, but if the other growth fac-
tors are present for algae growth, nitrogen is not much
of a problem. Somehow or other, nature will find a way
to supply nitrogen to the algae.
MR. OEMING: On Page 28, toward the end of
the second paragraph, you state that in 1964, or, rather,
the third paragraph -- meaning phosphates, I guess —
"It produced an oxygen deficit estimated at 270,000,000
pounds."
Am I correct that you have attributed the
deficit in oxygen now to the phosphate which you know
is going into the Lake? You have been able to put a
finger on it?
MR. MEGREGIAN: This computation developed
from the observations that the 2600 square miles of the
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
Lake exhibited an oxygen deficiency at a level of zero
to 2 mg/1.
In calculating what kind of an oxygen con-
suming substance could produce such a deficit, we had to
arrive at the conclusion that this is nature-produced,
resulting from nutrients, since there are no other man-
made sources of any kind that could produce such a defi-
cit in such a short time.
MR. OEMING: Well, I guess we have to explore
this a little bit more.
Are you saying that the total deficit then
is solely attributed to phosphates?
MR. MEGREGIAN: The phosphates are the
stimulating forces that produce the organic material or
the productivity, if you will, that later decays and
produces this oxygen deficit.
MR. COOK: I think we should include also
that some of these oxygen consuming materials are those
organic sediments that have unsettleable material for a
while that have come in through waste sources.
The phosphates indirectly do develop oxygen
*
consuming materials, but others from waste sources,
rivers and direct discharges, certainly are a factor
to it.
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304
Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. OEMING: Well, did you find very much
unsettleable organic material as such — not as phos-
phates, but unsettled organic material in the Lake proper?
MR. MEGREGIAN: No.
MR. OEMING: Let's take, for example, the
line across the Erie Island.
MR. MEGREGIAN: Yes.
MR. OEMING: Did you find very much across
that section of unsettled oxygen demanding material that
would extract oxygen from this portion of the Lake?
MR. MEGREGIAN: Not in any single sampling
run.
MR. OEMING: In any run, let's say, or a
combination of them.
MR. MEGREGIAN: No, we did not, not as
measured by the BOD tests.
MR. OEMING: All right. The total of all
oxygen consuming wastes from man-made sources then is
only a small portion of the demand?
MR. MEGREGIAN: That is right.
MR. OEMING: That is, this is a negligible
portion, despite the fact that there might be primary
or secondary, or no treatment at all?
MR. MEGREGIAN: This is the thing that we
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
arrived at.
MR. OEMING: I see.
MR. MEGREGIAN: I believe our report indi-
cates that there is, in the total, something like 3 to
4 million population equivalents discharging into the
basin daily.
On the matter of pounds of BOD, dividing
this number by 6, we arrive at a biochemical oxygen de-
mand, a five-day demand, on the nature of perhaps a
million pounds per day*
This deficit certainly that was actually
developed here is much greater than the total daily
input of biochemical oxygen demand from any or all
sources.
MR. OEMING: Now, at the top of the page,
Mr. Megregian, the next page, you point out that at
least 40 per cent of present PO^ input -- is that what
you measured? You are talking now about what comes
from sources such as sewerage and wastes? You don't
include the total input to the Lake?
MR. MEGREGIAN: We include only those
sources that we feel could be controllable. In other
words, we included sources that were man-made or ap-
proachable by man in the controls.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. OEMING: Would you have any idea what
fraction we would be dealing with if we would be talking
about the total input of the Lake? Do you have any no-
tion about this?
It would be something less than 40 per cent,
wouldn't it?
MR. MEGREGIAN: I am not sure about that.
We included in our totals -- in the 175,000
pounds per day totals in our Table 8, I believe — all
of the inputs from man-made sources that were discharg-
ing directly to the Lake, and also the measured inputs
from our sampling program that were discharged by the
tributaries, so in effect we think we have got a good
deal of the soluble phosphate input to the Lake.
I am not sure whether we have 75 per cent
or 90 per cent or 95 per cent, but we think we have got
a good portion of it.
MR. OEMING: In that connection, one of the
reasons I raised that question is because when you got
into Part 2, I didn't see the input from the Maumee
River as such. I saw the input to the river, but I did
not see the input to the Lake from the river.
MR. MEGREGIAN: Well, that was summarized
in Part 1.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. OEMING: It was?
MR. MEGREGIAN: Yes, sir.
MR. OEMING: Mr. Cook indicated that you
had only measured a portion, and you didn't know what
fraction you were measuring here when you were talking
about sewerage'and wastes —- that you had no way of
evaluating the land runoff sources and these other
things.
MR. MEGREGIAN: His answer is correct in
terms of the discharges of the Maumee River.
We have here in Table 8, on Page 50, soluble
phosphates to Lake Erie, and we list Maumee River as
11,000 pounds per day.
This is a measurement that we made above
the Lake affected portion of the Maumee River, which
indicated to us this is what is coming into the Lake
from above, regardless of the source, whether it is
municipal or land runoff or industrial. This was what
was being carried by that river into the Lake.
Then we have added to it these other inputs
as we have measured them and determined them. For in-
stance, the City of Toledo is included here separately.
MR. OEMING: In the last paragraph you state:
"After these treatment practices are in operation it can
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
be reasonably expected that significant improvement in
the water quality in Lake Erie will be observable within
a few years."
I wonder if you could enlarge upon that
and educate me a little more. In what terms would there
be significant improvement, related to DO, nuisance blooms,
water quality, taste, odor, recreation, fish, or whatever
you like?
MR. COOK: First of all, Mr. Oeming, I would
like to go back to some of the words that Dr. Tarzwell
used earlier today, when he said that we were at the
threshold, and that if improvement or retardation of
this situation weren't implemented very shortly, we could
have a much more serious situation.
Now, if you stop to think that under favor-
able conditions, one pound of soluble phosphate can grow
a million pounds of algae, it stands that removing one
pound of phosphate or by preventing it getting into the
Lake would have a very fine effect, and if you multiply
this by several thousand, you really come up with some-
thing.
In other words, it is the introduction of
these materials over a long period of time that has
created the problems we have had. If we now start going
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
the other way, by reducing these inputs there is every
reason in the world to expect we will have improvement
almost immediately -- I would say within one decade after
the implementation of the programs we are presenting is
carried out.
MR. OEMING: Well, you have given me a very
nice figure here. 1 wish it had been in the report be-
fore. 1 wouldn't ask all these questions.
One pound of phosphate will remove how many
pounds of algae?
MR. COOK: No. Remember I said under favor-
able conditions.
MR. OEMING: Well, I am assuming these are
favorable.
MR. COOK: It is conceivable that the re-
moval of one pound of soluble phosphate could remove or
could prevent the growth of one million pounds of algae.
MR. OEMING: In other words, if we follow
this table on Page 28 and remove all of this phosphate,
72,000 pounds, we could multiply that by a million and
take that much algae out of the Lake?
MR. COOK: I would hope we could do that.
MR. OEMING: How much of the oxygen deficit
of 270,000,000 pounds would be reduced by this? You have
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
given me a nice figure on this algae. Now let's get to
the oxygen. I am concerned about this big hole out here
without any oxygen in it.
MR. COOK: Well, it has been there for some
time, and it is apparently getting worse. If we can just
hold it and keep it from getting any worse right now, if
we can prevent that area from becoming anerobic and then
prevent the recirculation of more phosphorus from the
bottom of the Lake, this is the thing we are aiming at
right now.
This is the immediate concern, to prevent
the Lake from getting any worse. From there on, we can
move ahead perhaps <,
MR0 OEMING: Well, you don't have any nice
rule of thumb like you gave me on algae, where so many
pounds of oxygen will be restored by every pound of
phosphorus you take out?
MR* COOK: That is something for a mathe-
matician or a biologist. I'm sorry.
MR. STEIN: This is an engineering question
you are asking. Do we have an engineer who wants to
try that?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: No? All right.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR, OEMING: When you were talking about
the phosphorus load on the Lake, you said a phosphorus
load from the tributaries themselves as differentiated
from the loadings into the tributaries.
MR. MEGREGIAN: Yes»
MR. OEMING: Do you have that for the Cuya-
hoga River as a whole to the Lake now? I haven't been
able to find it. I only found the contributions to the
Cuyahoga, but not to the Lake.
MR. MEGREGIAN: Let me bring you back to
the table again.
MR. STEIN: What page is that, Mr. Megregian?
MR. MEGREGIAN: On Page 50. I believe we
have the Cuyahoga River there as contributing 3,500
pounds to the Lake.
MR0 OEMING: I see. Mr. Megregian, I missed
that. I'm sorry.
In two places, in both reports, and I am
referring now to the Detroit River conference, the state-
ment is made that at the conference session held June 15
to June 18, the Michigan Water Resources Commission
agreed to implement the recommendations of the U. S.
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as con-
tained in the Report on Pollution of the Detroit River,
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
Michigan waters of Lake Erie, and their Tributaries,
April 1965.
I would refer you to the conclusions and
recommendations which have been attached now, Mr. Meg-
regian, to Part 2, and ask you if you find in there that
particular statement?
MR. MEGREGIAN: No, this is not included
in our text.
MR. OEM1NG: I am not asking if it is in-
cluded in the text. I am just asking you if you find
the statement in Part 2 of the report is confirmed by
the conclusions and recommendations reached by the con-
ferees at the Detroit conference?
MR. COOK: The answer is no, Mr. Oeming.
MR. OEMING: The answer is no. Which do
you think controls?
MR. COOK: I think that is with the confer-
ees --
MR. OEMING: Somebody wrote this report,
and I just want to know which we are to rely upon here,
whether we rely upon the conclusions of the conferees,
or rely upon this report?
MR. COOK: If you want my opinion —
MR. STEIN: Wait a minute. Mr. Poston and
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
I were sitting here all afternoon waiting to see how
long it would take you to pick that outo
Obviously, the conclusions of the Detroit
conferees will govern.
MR. OEM1NG: All right. Now I would like
to go to the Conclusions and Recommendations. Perhaps
some of these questions have been answered, and perhaps
not.
On Page 1, it states: "The main body of
the Lake has deteriorated in quality at a rate many
times greater than its normal aging processes," and so
forth.
With respect to what constituents has it
deteriorated in quality? 1 am talking about the main
body of the Lake.
MR. COOK: Well, I think we have made it
clear in the report, Mr, Oeming, that the reflection of
this is in the algae primarily, not only the suspended
algae that causes the water to become murky and green
and causes dissolved oxygen deficit, but also the fila-
mentous forms that wash up on the beach and foul fisher-
men's nets, and this sort of thing.
This essentially is what we are talking
about here.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. OEMING: Not bacterial contamination
or toxic conditions?
MR0 COOK: Tne overall condition is prin-
cipally one of over-feri-ilization.
MR. OEMING: I see. We have been over this
question about the level required for extensive growth,
and 1 guess there isn't any use pursuing that question
further.
MR. COOK: I think you are right.
(Laughter.)
MR. OEMING: You opened a question here in
my mind, in the fourth paragraph, about the technology
for reducing these phosphates, and you state: "Present
technology is capable of removing a high percentage of
soluble phosphates from sewage at a reasonable cost."
My question here is directed at what you
mean by "a reasonable cost"?
MR. MEGREGIAN: I think I had a statement
prepared in anticipation of this kind of question.
MR. OEMING: I'm glad I didn't disappoint
him.
(Laughter.)
MR. MEGREGIAN: Presently operating second-
ary treatment plants have reported in recent literature
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
phosphate removals anywhere from 10 to 74 per cent.
Just as a background, the Metropolitan Sani-
tary District of Greater Chicago has reported as much
as 74 per cent on one of its treatment plants, and 50
per cent on another, and about 25 per cent on a third.
A recent article in the Water Pollution
Control Journal by Levin has indicated that increased
removals by secondary treatment plants can be affected
by several things, such as a higher aeration rate in
the aeration tank, higher proportions of returned
sludge, and —
MR. OEMING: Mr. Megregian, I don't want
you to go into this. My question is directed to cost.
MR. MEGREGIAN: Cost? We have not, of
course, specifically determined cost.
MR. STEIN: I think we may get an answer
to this.
Is Mr. Coulter here? I think we might get
you an answer. Mr. Coulter, will you come up?
You know, you ask these engineering ques-
tions, so we might get an engineer up here.
I don't remember the cost figure, but I
think they did some work at the nuclear installation at
Hanford. We really had a problem with phosphorus, because
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
the phosphorus was radioactive and we really had to get
it out.
They developed a flocculation technique out
there using alum, 1 believe, and came up with some costs
per million gallons, which, I understand, were relatively
reasonable.
Do you recall that, Jim?
MRc COULTER: My name is James B. Coulter.
I am Chief of the Water Projects Section in Washington,
D. Co, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Mr. Oeming, I believe the question was what
are the costs for the removal of phosphates?
MR« OEMING: My question went to the ques-
tion of reasonable cost, and I wondered what you con-
sidered as reasonable cost.
MR. COULTER: 1 can give you some limits on
it. The Advanced Wastes Research Project has been work-
ing on phosphate removal, assembling costs, computing
the unit processes that would go in to substantially
complete phosphate removal.
As an outer limit, we think the cost would
be between five and eight cents per thousand gallons for
complete removal, utilizing coagulation and sedimenta-
tion processes.
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James B. Coulter
I believe that the recommendations here have
to do with secondary treatment. If a secondary treatment
process or a secondary treatment plant were in place,
and if it had incineration or other means of disposing
of the sludge, the cost of phosphate removal would be per-
haps no greater than the maintenance and operating cost
of the plant if you ran at the maximum BOD removal.
I would simply be an adjustment in the plant
operation.
MR. OEMING: Well, Mr. Coulter, this coagu-
lation and sedimentation would remove phosphate at a
cost of about five cents a thousand gallons?
Now, this is primary treatment, supplemented
by coagulation and sedimentation?
MR. COULTER: NOO That is secondary treat-
ment followed by coagulation, sedimentation, and filtra-
tion.
MR. OEMING: So that if you added it to a
presently existing plant, you would add about five cents
a thousand gallons?
MR. COULTER: If you wanted to go to com-
plete phosphate removal, as they are doing, for instance,
in the Tahoe installation in California.
MR. OEMING: That answers the question.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR, STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Coulter. Remain
available, please„
MR. OEMING: I guess Mr. Cook might answer
this, and perhaps you have answered it in another way.
When you say that discharges are endangering
the health and welfare of persons in states other than
those in which such discharges originate, is this demon-
strated primarily in the body of the Lake now by the
enrichment of the Lake, the nutrient problem?
MR. COOK: Yes, sir.
MR. OEMING: You said there was no bacterial
contamination.
MR0 COOK: That is right.
MR. OEMING: On the question of land drain-
age, I have asked you if that can be corrected, and you
have answered that you don't know how, haven't you, or
you have no proposals at this time for us to adopt here
as conferees?
MR. COOK: No, sir.
MR. OEMING: At the bottom of Page 2, the
recommendations which limit the effluent concentration
of a particular waste constituent are made, with the pur-
pose of reduction of waste loadings from a facility.
Shouldn't the purpose be to abate pollution?
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. COOK: That is correct. This is inserted
here, because it would be conceivable that particularly
an industrial organization could reduce their concentra-
tion by merely diluting it with more lake water.
For example, yesterday, when we were taking
our trip up the Cuyahoga River, we saw two large twin
outfalls that were side by side, and separated only by
a concrete wall. One of these contained a very strong
waste, and the other only cooling water.
It would be a simple matter to go up the
sewer a little ways and break a hole and dilute it.
This we don't want to have.
MR. OEMING: With reference now to your
specific recommendations on municipal wastes, in view of
the importance we have attached so far in this conference
to phosphates, could you tell me why hasn't a figure been
given for phosphates as a goal, a concentration goal, in
your recommendations?
MR. COOK: We recognize that treatment plants
have individual designs, and we are reasonable people.
I think that the best we can do is ask for
maximum phosphate removal under the best operating prac-
tices.
MR. OEMING: Well, I would like to know what
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
you think is maximum for phosphate removal?
MR. COOK: We have said in the report as
much as 65 per cent should be removed, with a plant that
was well designed and well operated.
We recognize some plants are not that well
designed, and less removal might be effected even at
maximum secondary treatment.
That is the best we can do, I'm afraid.
MR. OEMING: All right.
MR. STEIN: Let me see if I understand it.
I wish Mr. Coulter wouldn't disappear so
rapidly. Maybe he can hear this.
As I understand the situation here, there
is a tremendous variance in the phosphate removal in
secondary treatment ranging between, you said, about
25 and 75 per cent.
The notion that these people have, I think,
is to maximize the operations of every secondary treat-
ment plant, to remove the maximum amount of phosphates
in this area.
It is recognized that not all plants will
be able to get up to 75 per cent removal because of the
basic design of the plant, but we will try to get as
much phosphates out as we can. The notion is to try to
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
go ahead and do that and see how much that will alleviate
the problem.
When that is done, as I think this report
points out, there will have to be a reevaluation. If
more phosphates have to be removed, then we may have to
consider some of the techniques that Mr. Coulter was
talking about, as, after secondary treatment, a floccu-
lation and filtering operation to remove additional
phosphates.
I think this is the proposal, and their pro-
posal is to try to make do with the existing secondary
plants and see how much phosphorus we possible can get
out by giving them a fair run under the best operating
conditions „
MR. OEMING: Do you like the answer that
your attorney gave here?
MR. COOK: I did. I'll enjoy reading that
later, I'm sure.
(Laughter,)
MR. OEMING: Recommendation No. 4 states:
"All new sewerage facilities be designed to prevent the
necessity of bypassing untreated waters."
Would you enlarge upon that a little as to
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
what you mean by "sewerage facilities," first?
Do you mean interceptors, pumping stations,
and treatment works, the whole system?
MR. MEGREGIAN: No. This is intended for
the sewerage treatment'plant itself.
MR. OEMING: All right.
On Recommendation No. 5 here, again we run
into this "maximum" business, which apparently gets to
be kind of elastic.
What do you mean by "the maximum practicable
amount of combined flows to and through treatment plants"?
Can you express this in more specific terms?
MR. MEGREGIAN: We cannot pin this down to
ratio per volume, because in most cases these sewerage
systems are already in place. They already have a volume
ratio between the dry weather flow and the storrawater,
and so on.
What we are aiming at here is to try to
prevent the unnecessary spillage of any combined sewerage
or raw sewerage, for that matter, which the system can
take to the treatment plant.
MR. OEMING: Then do I understand, Mr. Meg-
regian, that where you have a combined system that is
taking the maximum now that the plant can handle, you
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
are satisfied with this?
MR. MEGREGIAN: We are satisfied only to the
extent that we can't do much about it right at this mo-
ment.
I think the Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare has no specific recommendations at this time
as to what to do with stormwater overflows. We are em-
barking on a rather large--
MR. OEMING: You can stop right there.
That's all I want to know.
(Laughter.)
MR. OEMING: Also, in Recommendation No. 5,
you say: "Combined storm and sanitary sewers be pro-
hibited."
Do you know what improvement will result?
And in order to help you with the answer to this ques-
tion, are you aware of the detailed studies that were
made on a separate sewer system in connection with the
Detroit River-Lake Erie Project, and the results of that,
and what, in terms of pollutants, you get out of a sepa-
rated system, and so forth?
MR. MEGREGIAN: I am not too fully aware
of that particular study. However, I believe that a
study of a similar nature was carried out by the Sanitary
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
Engineering Center —
MR. STEIN: Let's call on Mr. Harlow for
this. A good many of these questions are engineering
questions.
Mr. Harlow, will you come up and identify
yourself?
As 1 pointed out before, we have a variety
of specialists. Mr. Cook is a biologist, Mr. Megregian
is a chemist, and while these people are very familiar
totally with the field, I think it is best on the spe-
cifics to have someone in the particular field.
As you have probably guessed by now, Mr.
Oeming is an engineer, and a very good and a cute one,
so we will try to have an engineer answer some of these
questions.
Would you identify yourself, please?
MR. HARLOW: For the record, my name is
George Harlow. I am with the U. S. Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare, and I am the Director of the
Detroit River-Lake Erie Project.
Hello again, Mr. Oeming.
MR. OEMING: How do you do, Mr. Harlow.
Do you know my question?
MR. HARLOW: I think I do. What you are
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George L. Harlow
inferring here is the comparison of what comes out of
a separate system compared to what enters the receiving
stream from a combined and separate system.
MR. OEMING: No.
MR. HARLOW: From a combined storm and sani-
tary system.
MR. OEMING: All right. Will you answer
that?
MR. HARLOW: The report that you are re-
ferring to is comparing the City of Detroit system with
the City of Ann Arbor system, Ann Arbor having a separate
system and Detroit having combined.
The record shows that approximately ten-fold
or ten times the amount -- I am thinking of coliform
bacteria now — comes out of the combined system as
compared to the separate systems, and in addition it
indicates that this polluting material that is discharged
from a separate system is more animal pollution than it
is human pollution. It is still pollution though because
it does degrade water uses.
MR. OEMING: My question, Mr. Harlow, is
when you have a nice separate system, the separated
storm system, would you say this was acceptable in all
cases for discharge and would not interfere with water
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George L. Harlow
uses?
MR. HARLOW: No, it is not acceptable.
As I recall some figures now from the Ann
Arbor system, the report shows that a coliform count is
approximately 1,000,000 from the separate system, and
this is still a considerable amount.
MR. OEMING: Thank you very much.
MR. HARLOW: I would not recommend that for
water contact sports.
MR. OEMING: Thank you very much.
MR. HARLOW: Any more questions?
MR. OEMING: Not any more from you.
I have another one I think for either Mr.
Cook or Mr. Megregian.
On Page 4, you make recommendations about
filing reports of analyses, and you list a whole series
of them, plus some others.
I wonder if you mean this as you say it, or
whether these substances would only be reported where
they are applicable, or whether they are inherent in the
process?
MR. MEGREGIAN: That is what we mean.
MR. OEMING: All right. What in your opinion
is the legitimate interest in the information that is in
open files by State agencies? Who has a legitimate
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
interest in this besides the Federal Government, I mean?
MR. MEGREGIAN: Those people that have
regulatory responsibility.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Oeming, may I say this —
MR. OEMING: I am asking him.
MR. STEIN: I know you are asking him. That
is a legal concept and I have answered this before.
In my opinion, a newspaper reporter has a.
legitimate interest, not just a regulatory agency. We
have made that abundantly clear.
MR. OEMING: I think that is all, Mr. Chair-
man.
MR. STEIN: Thank you very much.
MR. OEMING: Thank you for answering my ques-
tions.
MR. STEIN: Yes, Mr. Poole?
MR. POOLE: Well, I have a few. Mr. Oeming
covered several that I had jotted down.
My first one is on Page 20 where you refer
to this 2,600 square miles of area in the Lake with a
low dissolved oxygen.
My question is, does this 2,600 square miles
involve interstate portions of the Lake, or is it con-
fined to the Ohio section of the Lake?
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. MEGREGIAN: The 2,600 square miles is
the result of something that is happening through inputs
throughout the Lake, and, therefore, to my way of look-
ing at it, it vould apply to all of the Lake area.
MR. POOLE: In other words, you class it
as an interstate problem?
MR. MEGREGIAN: I am no lawyer in this case,
but I certainly do, yes.
MR. POOLE: My next question, and Mr» Oeming
referred to this, is on the statement you have on Page
25, at the bottom of the page, with reference to indus-
trial waste data that had not been made available for
computation.
My question is, does this involve data from
Indiana industries?
MR. MEGREGIAN: No, sir. I believe the
Indiana Department of Water Pollution Control, or the
Stream Pollution Control Board has made the data avail-
able to us as we needed.
MR. POOLE: Thank you. I thought we had.
I just wanted to be sure.
Now, I don't want to start beating this
phosphate removal thing around again. It has occupied
a good portion of the questioning part of the afternoon.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
I candidly have some personal misgivings about the 65
per cent removal by secondary treatment plants, and I
want to be sure from you, Mr. Stein, that your defini-
tion or your answer to Mr. Oeming's question prevails.
As I understand your answer, you were saying
that rather than the 65 per cent, which is documented on
Page 28, that it was the intent of HEW that all of us
who have secondary treatment plants operate them to the
maximum efficiency that we can get out of them for phos-
phate removal.
Is that correct now?
MR. STEIN: That is as I understand the
investigators, yes. This is what they meant by that.
MR. POOLE: I wanted to get that clear,,
We have some sewage treatment plants in
Indiana where, by a major redesign and major additions
or rebuilding of the treatment plant, we might accom-
plish the 65 per cent removal, but I am very skeptical
about our being able to do that without what I would
classify a major overhall to at least the sludge re-
moval into the sewage treatment process.
MR, STEIN: I couldn't agree with you more.
This is my personal view too.
As a matter of fact, if you had to do that,
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
it might pay to get to the flocculation business, and
it might be a lot cheaper than tearing down an existing
secondary plant and rebuilding it. What 1 was trying
to do was clarify what I think the intent and the thrust
of this recommendation of the investigators is.
MR. POOLE: My question now, and I don't
want to belabor this Michigan situation, and I guess,
Mr. Stein, this question is addressed to you more than
to the men over on the end, is, I am a little bit con-
fused in that I am aware of the June conference in De-
troit, and 1 have a copy of the conclusions that the
conferees agreed to.
The part where I am just a bit confused
is that 1 had assumed, when I came here as a conferee
on Lake Erie, that we were to include in our delibera-
tions the Michigan load, just the same as the Indiana
load and the Ohio load, the New York load, and the
Pennsylvania load.
I am correct in that assumption, 1 hope?
MR. STEIN: Yes. I don't see how the facts
of the situation would permit otherwise.
MR. POOLE: I don't want to go back to the
Michigan conclusion, but I am not sure that there is
complete harmony. Maybe there is, and we will deliberate
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
on that later on.
I just want to be sure there is complete
harmony between the Detroit conclusions and the recom-
mendations that are made for the rest of us that are
involved in Lake Erie.
MR. STEIN: I would hope this would prevail.
I think the answer about the load is answered
by geography for us. The Detroit River flows into Lake
Erie, as well as the Cuyahoga and the other rivers, and
it contributes to the load.
The correction we made here obviously re-
ferred to the statement that the Michigan Water Resources
Commission didn't agree to anything at the Detroit con-
ference. The conferees agreed to that, and that has
been corrected.
I would hope that the conferees would adopt
recommendations here which would be compatible with and
consistent with the recommendations made at Detroit.
MR. POOLE: This next question is directed
to Mr. Cook.
Mr. Cook, the best we could determine is
that we had 2,500 to 3,000 pounds of phosphates that
are added to the Maumee River at Fort Wayne. It is 135
miles from Fort Wayne, Indiana, down the Maumee River
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
Co Lake Erie.
My question is, what happens to those Indiana
phosphates? Do they all show up as a part of this Lake
Erie total, or are they used by this prolific algae
growth that you referred to in the Maumee long before
they get to Lake Erie?
MR. COOK: Well, Mr. Poole, this is an ex-
tremely complex situation, as you know. Certainly, those
nutrients do develop some very intense algal blooms of
a most undesirable quality, namely the blue-greens, which
cause noxious odors and taste in drinking water.
The fact that they are taken up by the algae
and probably almost reduce it from the water is only a
temporary thing, however. The algae, as they dry off,
release these phosphorus materials so that they again
become dissolved in the water and move on down the stream.
Not all of them do, and I am not prepared to say how many
or what percentage, but it is somewhere between 5 and 95
per cent, I guess.
That is about the best we can say about it,
but I am reasonably sure that some of the phosphorus
material entering the river at Fort Wayne and New Haven
does find its way eventually into Lake Erie.
MR. POOLE: Not being a biologist, I can't
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
contest that answer.
(Laughter.)
MR. POOLE: I have another question of one
of you, and that is, did you collect data on the Maumee,
and, incidentally, on the St. Joseph and the St. Marys
at or near the Indiana-Ohio line?
I note that in your report there was no
reference made to the condition of these rivers at the
State line.
MR. MEGREGIAN: Not at the exact State line.
Our sampling stations were at Antwerp, or near Antwerp,
Ohio, which is on the other side of the line, perhaps
about ten miles.
MR. POOLE: Of course, you have a station
just inside the Indiana border, where you collected some
data as a part of the Maumee survey?
MR. COOK: No, sir.
MR. POOLE: Now, on Page 57 of Part 2, you
referred to two plating plants in Fort Wayne, Indiana*
which contribute large amounts of cyanide and heavy
metals. Then you go ahead and document it with 38 pounds
from one company, and later on in a table you refer to
the 38 pounds again.
I did a little mental arithmetic, and the
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
absolute minimum river flow is somewhere in the vicinity
of 38 million gallons a day. This would be a pound of
cyanide for a million gallons of river water, or less
than a tenth of a part per million,,
It seemed to me you were laying it on a bit
heavy when you were talking about large amounts of cyan-
ide * I wondered if that tenth of a part per million
wouldn't have disappeared in a very short distance as it
went down the river.
What do you think?
MR. COOK: Well, Mr. Poole, it is very diffi-
cult finding major contributors in Indiana, and I think
this is why it has worked its way in.
(Laughter.)
MR. POOLE: Thank you.
MR. COOK: Certainly you are right.
MR. POOLE: I almost withdrew that question
after I found you referring this morning to a Federal
installation that had only two employees. I will admit
it is not quite fair to you.
(Laughter.)
MR. STEIN: You know, we have been through
this before, Mr. Poole. One thing we do is take them
big and small, as you well know.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
Mr. Poole has been through this with us
on hearing boards and in cases before. We have found
the most difficult thing is to make a cutoff as to who
is a significant polluter and who is not, and the only
way we have been able to resolve this is to take them
all.
One thing we don't do, no matter how large
the city is or how large the industry, we don't hesitate
to call them in too, but then we get to the other end of
the telescope and we come up with a water closet.
MR. POOLE: I think those are all the ques-
tions 1 have, except for the benefit of you who may
study the report, we can't find that 10,000 people in
five unsewered communities on the St. Marys River,
I think there is something wrong with that figure.
That is the end of my questioning, Mr.
Chairman.
MR. COOK: Thank you, Mr. Poole.
MR. STEIN: Is there any comment on that
last statement?
MR. COOK: We will check into that. There
may be an error someplace.
MR. STEIN: Thank you. Mr. Boardman?
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. BOARDMAN: The formal statement for
Pennsylvania will be presented at the second session of
the conference that will be held in Buffalo, New Yorko
1 would like to make a couple of comments
and ask some questions about the conclusions that were
presented today, since we won't be able to represent
ourselves in any other way today»
This matter that Mr0 Poole and Mr. Stein
were discussing, about small sources of pollution and
large sources of pollution, is quite appropriate, be-
cause if you look at the map you will see Pennsylvania
is a very small share of the basin land area, although
by reading the Summary and Conclusions in the report
this isn't very apparent.
When I first looked at it and saw Lake Erie
and the tributaries were polluted, the first question
in my mind was, were all the tributaries polluted, and
1 would like an expression from Mr. Cook or Mr<> Megregian
about what percentage of the tributaries from Pennsyl-
vania are polluted, or are they all polluted?
This is one question I have.
MR. MEGREGIAN: We are getting ahead of
ourselves. We intend to read that part of the report
next week.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. BOARDMAN: The reason I asked the ques-
tion is because the conclusions were read today, and it
stated that the tributaries and the Pennsylvania streams
are polluted„
I would hate to see the audience here go
home and say that Pennsylvania has a real pollution
problem in Lake Erie. We don't think we do. As a matter
of fact, I am somewhat surprised at some of the conclu-
sions that were arrived at. But this is why I asked.
I might point out that in Part 3, if you
look at the Pennsylvania section, we talk about trout
fishing and a number of other activities in the tribu-
taries in the Pennsylvania part of the basin.
MR. COOK: Mr. Boardman, your situation is
somewhat similar to Indiana's*
We recognize that the State of Pennsylvania
has done a good job in that part of the State, and prob-
ably throughout the State, However, you will agree, I
am sure, that there are some polluters there, and we
hopefully will get those taken care of.
Perhaps we will go into more detail next
week.
MR. BOARDMAN: Right. I am sure you will.
We do have some localized problems, and we hope that
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
our Department of Water Works is taking care of them.
Down on Page 1 where you indicate the dis-
charge of municipal and industrial wastes in Michigan,
Ohio, and the others, are endangering the health and
welfare of persons in other States than those in which
they are originating, 1 think it was pointed out that
here we are talking about phosphates.
Is that correct?
MR. COOK: That is correct.
MR. BOARDMAN: And also, further back in
the report, on one of the tables, you indicated that
Erie would remove 1,200 pounds of phosphate.
Does this mean that there would be no inter-
state pollution there from Pennsylvania?
MR. COOK: It would certainly help.
MR. BOARDMAN: This is the point that bothers
me. On what basis was this statement made? By measured
phosphate levels in the waters in the Pennsylvania por-
tion of the basin, or is this a generalized statement
just saying that there are phosphates contributing to
the basin, so everyone is causing pollution?
MR. MEGREGIAN: This is part of the total
contribution to the Lake, which can be effectively con-
trolled by a concerted effort by all of the input
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
sources.
MR. BOARDMAN: But is this considered to
be made on specific chemical indicators, levels of phos-
phates in water, or is this just a general conclusion?
The point I am getting at is, could we go
to Erie and say, "Fellows, if you remove this much phos-
phate, Pennsylvania will be contributing no more inter-
state pollution to the waters of Lake Erie"?
MR. MEGREGIAN: No, I don't think that means
that at allo 1 think that it means that Pennsylvania,
and every other contributor of phosphate to the Lake,
will always have to concern itself with how much it may
have to remove today and perhaps tomorrow or sometime
in the future as these loads increase.
It isn't the per cent removal that matters,
but it is how much in pounds can the Lake itself tolerate
and remain in a suitable condition.
MR. BOARDMAN: I understand this. If we
were talking about cyanide, you could tell Erie that,
okay, you would have to remove a certain amount and
you can only discharge so much cyanide, but this is
the question I am raising.
Do you have the information to tell Erie
or any other of our municipalities how much phosphate
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
they can discharge and not --
MR0 MEGREGIAN: I don't think we would be
in any position to tell them that. I think that we would
say specifically that Erie should do the best it can
under the conditions that it has available to it right
now.
MR. BOARDMAN: May I go one step further?
Do you know how much phosphate the Erie
secondary treatment plant is removing now?
MR. MEGREGIAN: We do not know how much it
is removing now. These calculations were based on popu-
lation equivalents.
MR. BOARDMAN: I don't see how you can say
that there is interstate pollution being caused from
Pennsylvania.
This point bothers me, and I am sure it
will be explored further next week, but I think there is
very little fact to back up the conclusions that are
made in the report.
I have one more brief comment, if we can
skip over to Page 2, which is Pennsylvania's paragraph
evidently in the report.
We are getting down to some pollution prob-
lems in Pennsylvania that Mr. Cook has thrown his hands
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
up to say that we don't know what to do with reference
to them. I think he threw his hands up at the combined
sewer overflow, land drainage, and also accidental spills
and wastes from lake vessels.
I think that this paragraph, even though it
says Lake Erie and the tributary streams in the Pennsyl-
vania basin are polluted, the remedial measures necessary
to remove this pollution are in the area of the unknown,
and that evidently, even though the report doesn't say
it, our municipalities and industries have done a good
job in water pollution control in the Lake Erie Basin.
That is all I have, Mr. Stein.
MR. STEIN: All right. Do you have any
other comments on that?
MR. COOK: No, I haven't.
MR. MEGREGIAN: It sounded like an editorial
that he wanted to put in. I have no comment on it.
MR. BOARDMAN: May I clear up a point?
It may be a statement that looks good in
this report, but when our newspapers in Erie pick up
this report and print it, and ask the Department of Health
why it is doing such a bad job, then it comes back to
haunt us, and I don't think this is the case.
MR. COOK: I am sure, as I said before, we
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
can get more detail on this in Buffalo next week.
MR.,STEIN: Mr. Hennigan, do you have any
questions or comments?
MR. HENNIGAN: Like Pennsylvania, most of
our comments and presentations will be made next week
in Buffalo.
However, I would like to point out that
New York, as far as Lake Erie is concerned, is the down-
stream State, that the Niagara River is not a tributary
to Lake Erie, and that in terms of percentages of total
loads into Lake Erie, the New York State contribution
in practically every instance will be in the neighbor-
hood of one per cent or less, which will be more fully
developed at the Buffalo meeting.
MR. STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Hennigan.
Who wants to speak for Ohio, either or all?
DR. ARNOLD: We have a couple of questions.
MR. MORR: We have several lines of inquiry.
I am Fred Morr, Director of the Department
of Natural Resources.
I should like Mr. Cook to refer to a letter
from Assistant Secretary James M. Quigley, Department of
Health, Educationt and Welfare, dated April 22, 1965, in
which he says, and I quote:
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
"Our report, studies and surveys indi-
cate that extensive pollution is occuring
in Lake Erie. They have not demonstrated
that this pollution is in fact interstate
in nature within the meaning of the law."
And now this report, of course, dated July 1965 does
establish on Page 1, Paragraph 6 that, and 1 ask is this
a conclusive finding, as our conferee from Pennsylvania
said, discharges of municipal and industrial wastes
originating in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
and New York are endangering the health or welfare of
persons in States other than those in which such dis-
charges originate?
Have we stablished that there is interstate
pollution in Lake Erie irrevocably and conclusively?
MR. COOK: The answer is yes.
MR. MORR: We have? With this in mind,
and since this is interstate, may I refer you to the
bottom of Page 24 for a moment?
You state, in the last paragraph:
"Approximately 79 per cent of the total
municipal waste in Ohio-Lake Erie Basin re-
ceives secondary treatment."
Then we find at the top of Page 25 that on-ly 11 per cent
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
of the total population receives secondary treatment.
We then move to Page 27, and under "Nitrogen
Compounds," we find that the largest input is the Detroit
River, and other major sources are the Maumee and Cuya-
hoga Rivers, and the industrial and municipal discharges
at Toledo and Cleveland.
We then go to the last sentence on Page 27,
which states:
"However, the institution of secondary
treatment will significantly reduce nitrogen inputs and
thereby aid in the control of local problems as well as
total inputs to the Lake."
Then at Page 28, under the "Soluble Phos-
phate" finding of the Public Health Service, in the
second to the last paragraph, it states:
"A 65 per cent reduction of phosphate
inputs can be achieved through secondary sewage treat-
ment, operated to effect optimum phosphate removal<>
Secondary treatment provides additional benefits through
greater reduction of oxidizable organic matter, disease-
causing organisms, phenolics, nitrogen, and other waste
materials."
Now, then, referring to the listing, you
state Detroit may reduce by 45,500 pounds. You then
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
mention Toledo. Here, you might note, we already have
secondary treatment begun, so there is a possible error
here in your listing.
At Toledo, and moving down to Sandusky,
Lorain-Avon, Lakewood, Westerly, Easterly, Euclid and
Erie, I would like to point out that Easterly Cleveland
has already begun secondary treatment.
Computing this, we have 63,600 pounds re-
ducible per day, and with Michigan contributing, accord-
ing to your figures, some 63,500 pounds of the total,
and using the total 62,600 -- and I go through these
figures rapidly because this is not my main query, but
I think the record shows it -- this would indicate that
today we might reduce 62,600,000,000 pounds of algae
per day.
Assuming then that these figures are cor-
rect, and I am using Mr. Cook's one pound of soluble
phosphate removing one million pounds of algae, might
it then not be wondered why -- and herein lies my query --
why do not the recommendations, in the light of these
citations and conclusions, found in Part 2, Pages 69,
75,79, 87 and 95, include the secondary treatment fa-
cilities when, according to Page 29 of the report,
Part 1, that should be given top priority, and which
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
would provide significant, and I am quoting from Page 29,
improvements in the water quality in Lake Erie observable
within a few years?
This is what we saw in Ohio, observable
within, in your conclusions, a few years, significant
improvement in the water quality in Lake Erie.
Do you understand my query?
MR. MEGREGIAN: I think I have tried to
follow your question.
I think the first point we want to make
here is that the corrections that are listed on Page 28
with respect to the phosphate removals from these var-
ious plants did take into account the secondary treat-
ment already existing, and the point here is that we
are certain that most of these plants were not operat-
ing to effect maximum phosphate removal, but were oper-
ating to effect perhaps normal BOD reduction, without
concern for phosphates.
MRo MORR: My question is why was not second-
ary treatment conceived, since you gave it such top
priority as being needed? Why were not secondary treat-
ment recommendations made?
MR. STEIN: Sir, in the interests of time,
if you look at Page 3, as I understand the format of
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
the report, and I have no brief for the format, but here
is what they say:
They came up with a general recommendation
that municipalities be given secondary biological treat-
ment.
All the other places that you cited, as I
read the report, assume that the secondary treatment will
be given, and they are in addition, but they have recom-
mended secondary treatment for all municipal wastes.
Is that correct?
MR. MEGREGIAN: That is correct.
MR. STEIN: And I think that, in answer to
your specific question, they did recommend it.
MR. MORR: Yes. You did, I understand, but
we have a great sensitivity, if I might say so, in the
recommendations leading toward improvement of industrial
treatment and municipal treatment, and I was just trying
to bring into play here or into the discussion or into
explanation the failure to perhaps give sufficient atten-
tion to secondary treatment in our sewer treatment fa-
cilities in Ohio and in Michigan, and perhaps the other
States, when top priority, at Page 29, is given secondary
treatment.
I just wondered, was there an attempt to
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
equalize the effect of industrial wastes and sewage
treatment?
MR. MEGREGIAN: As far as I can understand
what you are trying to say, we have no intention of
minimizing the need for secondary treatment anywhere
in the basin.
MR. MORR: It is very necessary, and needs
top priority, according to your conclusion on Page 29.
MR. MEGREGIAN: That is correct.
MR. MORR: Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further questions?
Go ahead, Mr. Eagle.
MR. EAGLE: I am George Eagle from Ohio.
I would like to go back to this table on
Page 28 again. Could you explain to me just how you
arrived at these figures of 2,900 pounds in the case of
Toledo, and 6,800 pounds in the case of Easterly?
Is this based on 65 per cent reduction?
MR. MEGREGIAN: Mr. Eagle, where the present
treatment was already secondary, we assumed that this
plant was removing 35 per cent, and through additional
controls could probably increase its removal up to 65
per cent.
Where the treatment plant is presently
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
primary, we expected the secondary treatment then to re-
move 65 per cent.
These figures are based on population
equivalents of phosphate, rather than exact measurements
from the effluents of these cities.
MR. EAGLE: Then, going back to your Recom-
mendation No. 2 on Page 3, about what you mean in lieu
of phosphates, you mean 65 per cent then?
MR. MEGREGIAN: I'm sorry?
MR. EAGLE: Would you mean Recommendation
No. 2 on Page 3?
The question was asked you a while ago
what you meant by maximizing the removal of phosphates.
You are using 65 per cent as your figure?
MR. MEGREGIAN: That is correct.
MR. EAGLE: Then if they don't remove 65
per cent of the phosphates, we will be expected to do
something about it?
MR. MEGREGIAN: I don't think that is quite
correct, Mr. Eagle,
MR. EAGLE: All right.
MR. MEGREGIAN: I think that if the plant
can demonstrate that this is the best it can do without
extensive increases in capital investment and other
engineering devices, we would be satisfied.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. EAGLE: Well, I would like to go to
Page 85.
In the fourth paragraph, you say there are
20 known industries that discharge to the Greater Cleve-
land Lakefront.
We would like to have a list of those 20
industries. We would like to know where they are and
who they are, because, to the best of our knowledge, we
do not have them.
This can be for a later time, but we would
like to have that list.
MR. MEGREGIAN: We will provide it.
MR. EAGLE: Going down now to the next to
the last paragraph, where you say that the City of
Cleveland has approximately 383 combined sewer overflow
structures, and so on, and talking about the 250 addi-
tional overflow devices, and so on, this is indicated
to be a very bad situation.
Where is this reflected specifically in
your recommendations, what should be done about this
situation?
MR. MEGREGIAN: The recommendations for
Cleveland?
MR. EAGLE: Yes.
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
MR. MEGREGIAN: The controlling of the storm-
water overflows to maximize the return of all wastes to
the city treatment plant.
MRo EAGLE: I think there is a little more
to it than that.
MR. MEGREGIAN: Yes, and the development of
a master sewerage plant to take more.
MR. EAGLE: But I understand that was taken
out by Mr. Stein, is this correct, that you did not have
the authority to recommend?
MR. STEIN: Yes, to recommend a regional
organizationo
By the way, now that you brought this up,
I don't think this is any different with the State than
with us. You don't go into any community and tell them
what kind of regional organization to set up.
MR. EAGLE: No.
MR. STEIN: And our authority on that is
precisely the way yours is.
MR. EAGLE: That is right.
MR. STEIN: We can't, and I don't think it
would be appropriate, under your law or our law, for us
to even think about it*
MR. EAGLE: Well, I noticed you were very
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
specific with regard to Defiance about correcting their
sewerage situation, and so on, but you were not specific
in this regard with Cleveland and some of the other areas
where they have different problems.
I just wish to point out that which I con-
sider to be a deficiency in the report„
I think that is all I have.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Eagle, again, I will try to
explain what these fellows have done.
In trying to shorten their report, they have
used a word that engineers love — extrapolated. They
have taken out general conclusions, so they didn't have
to repeat them for each city.
Part of this general conclusion, as 1 under-
stand it, is full secondary treatment for all municipal
wastes. It is not because of lack of emphasis that they
didn't want to keep repeating this over and over again.
Presumably this is the recommendation they
are making for Cleveland. Is this correct?
MR. MEGREGIAN: Absolutely.
MR. STEIN: You might want to pursue this,
but I think this is the point. The point is they made
this on Page 3 and they didn't say it again. They just
said it generally, and this applied every place you see
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
a municipality, large or small.
MR. EAGLE: Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Are there any other comments
or questions?
MR. HENNIGAN: Could I make a comment, Mr.
Chairman?
MR. STEIN: Certainly.
MR. HENNIGAN: I get the impression from the
presentation and going over some of the material, that
the major pollutional situations and the toughest prob-
lems are centered in the major urban centers around the
shore of the Lake, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Erie, and
the Buffalo-Niagara frontier.
Is this a valid conclusion? I mean, did I
reach a valid conclusion?
MR. MEGREGIAN: I don't believe there is
any doubt about it.
MR. HENNIGAN: Good. Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further comments
or questions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: Again, given our experience on
this, I think we have reached the point of diminishing
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Grover Cook and Stephen Megregian
returns for one day.
We will stand recessed until 9:30 tomorrow
morning, same place.
(Whereupon, at 5:50 p0m., the conference
was adjourned until Wednesday, August 4, 1965, at
9:30 o'clock a.m.)
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355
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1965
9:30 A. M.
MR. STEIN: May we reconvene? Mr. Oeming.
MR. OEMING: Mr. Chairman and Conferees:
During the presentation of the Federal report
yesterday, there were quite a few modifications and some
corrections indicated by the discussion, and I would like
the Chairman to rule on how these will be taken care of
in the transcript of the testimony of the conference.
MR. STEIN: First, I want to thank Mr. Oeming
for his exhaustive review, and I think yesterday we saw,
at least to my mind, the American system of democracy in
operation, where one group puts out a statement, we subject
that to public view and discussion, and get that corrected.
I think very many significant corrections were
made by Mr. Oeming, and the transcript and report will re-
fleet these corrections. I think all the conferees should
be thankful to Mr. Oeming for perfecting the record and
certainly, in my mind, making that a significantly better
report.
Thank you, Mr. Oeming.
MR. OEMING: Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Poston. I wonder if we could
call on Mr. Poston for a continuation of the Federal
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356
presentation.
MR. POSTON: In line with procedures set forth
for the conference, we have invited other Federal agencies
that have interest in these matters of water pollution to
make known their ideas on this and give a statement.
First, this morning, I would like to call on
Colonel R. Wilson Neff, District Engineer of the Corps of
Engineers, from Buffalo, who will make a statement at this
time.
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R. Wilson Neff
STATEMENT OF COLONEL R. WILSON
NEFF, DISTRICT ENGINEER, U. S.
ARMY ENGINEER DISTRICT, BUFFALO,
NEW YORK
COLONEL NEFF: Mr. Chairman and members of the
conference, ladies and gentlemen:
I welcome the opportunity to outline to you
the responsibilities of the Corps of Engineers and the
interest of the U. S. Army Engineer District, Buffalo, in
the very challenging problem of preventing pollution of
Lake Erie and its tributaries.
The Great Lakes drainage basin is under the
jurisdiction of the U. S. Army Engineer Division, North
Central, with headquarters in Chicago. Within this area
the Buffalo District is responsible for the construction,
maintenance, and operation of improvements authorized by
Congress for navigation and flood control of the water-
shed area from Sandusky Harbor, Ohio, to the east. The
U. S. Army Engineer District, Detroit, is responsible for
the area north and west of the Port Clinton-Marblehead pen-
insula. It is important to note that the Corps of Engi-
neers is involved in both regulatory and operational
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R. Wilson Neff
activities. I will first discuss our
REGULATORY ACTIVITIES
The laws administered by the Corps of Engineers
provide for the protection of navigable capacity of the waters
of the United States and the prevention of pollution of such
waters as may be necessary to protect the public rights of
navigation. The principal laws having a relationship to
water pollution are the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and
the supplemental Act of 3 March 1905. Section 10 of the
1899 Act provides for the regulation of construction,
excavation and filling in navigable waters. Section 13 of
this Act makes it unlawful to deposit "refuse matter of
any kind or description. . . " into any navigable water.
Section 4 of the 1905 Act authorizes and empowers the
Secretary of the Army to prescribe regulations to govern
the transportation and dumping Into any navigable water,
or waters adjacent thereto, of dredging, earth, garbage,
and other refuse materials of every kind or description,
whenever in his Judgment such regulations are required
in the Interests of navigation. Though the Oil Pollution
Act of 1924 is not applicable to the waters of the Great
Lakes, it has been held that oil discharged into navigable
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R. Wilson Neff
waters per se is a violation of Section 13 of the Act of
1899 (LaMerced, Circuit Court of Appeals, Washington, 84
Fed. 2nd 444).
Specifically exempted from regulation under
Section 13 of the 1899 Act are liquid wastes, other than
oil as held above, passing into navigable waters from
streets and sewers. Liquid industrial wastes, although
they may be pollutants, are not violations of the River
and Harbor Act of 1899 if they reach the water through
sewers. In addition, the complexity of many sewer systems
renders the securing of necessary evidence to enforce
existing regulations a most difficult task.
The Corps of Engineers, in the administration
of the laws, attempts first of all to eliminate illegal
deposits by encouraging industries to improve their treat-
ment of wastes, or use confined shore disposal. If this
is unsuccessful, or technologically infeasible, the indus-
try is requested to remove, or pay for removal, of its il-
legal deposit. In the event of refusal to remove the depos-
its, prosecution is recommended when supporting evidence is
obtainable. Since the primary purpose of these statutes
is to protect navigation from obstruction and injury, enforce-
ment has been concentrated on the prevention of illegal de-
posits, including oil, that will impede or injure navigation.
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R. Wilson Neff
Legal recognition of the responsibility of
industry with regard to the deposition of industrial
solids by steel companies has been reviewed in other con-
ferences on this subject. In brief, this involved the
successful enforcement of the Act of 1899 regarding the
depositing of flue dust in the Calumet River, Illinois,
by three major steel companies. Following appellate court
decisions granting a new trial in favor of the Government,
and after some nine years of litigation, the case was dis*
missed pursuant to a stipulation with the Government,
wherein the steel companies agreed to pay annually for
the removal of flue dust deposited in the Calumet River
as a result of their operations. Additional investiga-
tions are now being undertaken in view of this precedent.
Other efforts toward pollution abatement by
the Corps of Engineers are the periodic issuance of the
regulations pertaining to pollution in the form of a
public notice which also contains a reference to the
applicable statutes and an invitation to the public to
report all violations and a follow-up on all complaints.
Now let us turn briefly to our
OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Procedures and practices of the Corps of
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R. Wilson Neff
Engineers involving the construction and maintenance
of navigation structures and channels, flood control
works, and other public projects seek to preserve the
rights of many interests involved in the use of our
water resources. This includes all aspects of navi-
gation, industrial use, recreation and conservation.
Recently, there have been a number of
charges regarding the dredging practices of the Corps.
The need for maintenance of river channels and harbors
and our lakes and harbors seems to be clearly estab-
lished. Many great industrial centers began and flour-
ished simply because of their proximity to waterborne
transport.
Annual maintenance dredging here in Cleve-
land Harbor, which was brought up yesterday, including
the Cuyahoga and Old River Channels amounts to about
1,200,000 cubic yards at a cost each year of approximately
1 million dollars. This material is deposited lakeward
of the east breakwater. It is recognized that the
deposition of dredged material outside the breakwater
affects localized sedimentation rates but there is no
evidence that these operations have been detrimental
to shore installations or beaches. Any pollutants from
the rivers and harbors which may be deposited in the lake
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R. Wilson Neff
by dredging would eventually be carried out by a natural
current action.
While the dredging and disposal operation
may accelerate the movement of solids and to a minor
extent, liquid wastes, it does not add pollutants to the
waters.
A decision to curtail the use of Lake Erie
for disposal would require the availability of alternate
areas if deep draft navigation is to continue to serve
the states involved. There exists the possibility of the
disposal of dredged materials behind dikes or bulkheads.
This is being accomplished in the Detroit and Toledo
areas; however, in both these areas, this method of dis-
posal is more economical than hauling the material long
distances for disposal in deep water in the lake. Within
a densely populated metropolitan area as we have in Cleve-
land where land filling areas are scarce, the cost of such
an operation does not compare favorably with lake dumping.
One estimate utilizing the extension to the Burke Lake
Front Airport indicates an additional cost above that
normally required for maintenance dredging of $1,750,000,
and the disposal area would be filled in about two years.
In accordance with the present practice, local interests
would be required to assume this additional cost. One
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R. Wilson Neff
aspect, not considered in this estimate, is whether or
not the dredged material would make suitable fill mater-
ial.
I might add at this point that the informa-
tion placed in the record yesterday regarding work being
performed in Lake Michigan with the Corps does not agree
with the facts that I have. Our Chicago District states
that a permit for filling behind bulkheads in the East
Chicago Harbor and Indiana Harbor, Indiana, have been
issued by that office. In both cases, the areas are
being used entirely for the disposal of slag from the
steel companies and no dredging is involved. These oper-
ations are being performed entirely by private interests.
The shore disposal at Toledo has been accom-
plished by direct pump out of the Hopper Dredge MARKHAM
which is based here in Cleveland and operated by the
Buffalo District. The Hopper Dredge HOFFMAN, also based
here in Cleveland and operated by the Buffalo District,
is being modified this fall in order to be able to perform
the same operation in the Rouge River near Detroit. It
should be noted that any pollutant in liquid form is not
eliminated by this type of disposal since dilution water
must be drawn off during the disposal operation.
To summarize, it appears that future disposal
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R. Wilson Neff
of most dredged material will of necessity continue to
be in Lake Erie, and that control of the spread of pol-
lutants must come through the elimination of the sources
of pollution. Since most forms of pollution reach navi-
gable waters via sewers in liquid state and do not cause
any obstruction to navigation, the Corps of Engineers
does not have a clear basis for attempting to eliminate
them.
From my office in Buffalo, where I observe the
Niagara River and its inexorable flow which averages some
130 billion gallons per day and in 957 days is equivalent
to the total volume of water in Lake Erie, one is impressed
by the natural forces which are operating to assist in keep*
ing the water clean. In the interest of economy it would
appear wise to take advantage of these natural forces and
the application of pertinent statutes and foresight to
accomplish the desired end of reducing pollution.
Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Thank you, Colonel, for an excel-
lent presentation and description of the Corps' work. As
you know, the Corps and we and certainly the other Federal
agencies are assisting in the Federal Water Pollution
Control Program, but the Corps of Engineers and we have
another bond because of all the agencies, both the Corps
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R. Wilson Neff
and we go before the same Committees of the Congress
for our legislation and review, so, as you can see, we
work together more or less like Siamese twins.
Are there any questions or comments from
the panel?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: If not, thank you very much,
Colonel.
MR. POSTON: I would like to call on Mr.
K. L. Kollar, Director of Water Industries and Engin-
eering Services Division of the U. S. Department of
Commerce.
Mr. Kollar is from Washington, D. C. and
represents the Department of Commerce. I neglected to
include him in the list of names yesterday morning as
one of the Federal representatives who wishes to be
heard.
Mr. Kollar.
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366
K. L. Kollar
STATEMENT OF
K. L. KOLLAR, DIRECTOR
WATER INDUSTRIES AND ENGINEERING
BUSINESS AND DEFENSE
SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Mr. Chairman, Conferees, Ladies and
Gentlemen:
I am K. L. Kollar, Director of the Water In-
dustries and Engineering Services Division, BDSA, U.S.
Department of Commerce.
The Department of Commerce has spearheaded
a nationwide drive to modernize U.S. industry over the
past two years. Briefly, the purpose of this drive is
to improve our competitive position in the engineering
one-world market, and to increase our rate of economic
growth.
It is not necessary to present Department of
Commerce statistics which indicate that our economy is
strong. Nor is it necessary to show that we cannot
stand still. We must continue to increase productivity,
lower costs, decrease unemployment, and increase consumer
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K. L. Kollar
buying if we wish to compete profitably in today's and
tomorrow's market and leave the same legacy of opportunity
for our children and grandchildren. Part of the answer
rests in modernization.
Certainly this Administration has provided
incentives and laid the groundwork for greatly increased
economic activity with the $11.5 billion tax cut, the
liberalized depreciation regulations, and the investment
tax credits. These measures have been instrumental in
pumping more cash into corporate coffers for expansion
and modernization.
The^Government can only set the stage, while
business initiative, ingenuity, and enterprise, power-
fully stimulated by the profit motive, are always the
factors most responsible for our economic growth.
Modernization generally brings to mind
plant production equipment and the associated economic
benefits in addition to finance and research development.
One of the most important benefits could be
the effect on water.
The Department of Commerce would like to
emphasize to this Conference that great water pollution
control benefits can accrue from modernization. Modern-
ization could decrease water use by conservation, re-
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K. L. Kollar
circulation, reuse, multiple use, and stepped up use, while
water pollution could be decreased by reclaiming wastes
and preventing leakage and spills.
Pollution need not always be controlled by
treatment. It could involve diligent process control,
employee education, and recovery systems, which in a
way, are part of modernization. Companies spend money to
study and survey efficiency of organization, operation,
and production. Considerable savings can be effected
from surveys of in-plant water use and sources of pollution
for the purpose of minimizing both. Time does not permit
recounting cases where companies, acting on their own
initiative and with an eye to the future, have developed
programs which will create very few problems to the en-
forcement of water pollution control laws.
This short presentation has emphasized
some of the industrial aspects of water pollution, since
the Department of Commerce has the responsibility for
assisting and advising businessmen and acting as liaison
between business and the Federal Government.
Industry has already invested hundreds of
millions of dollars on control and abatement facilities.
These investments support the objective of
President Johnson's message to Congress on "Natural
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K. L. Kollar
Beauty of Our Country" in which he charged municipalities
as well as industry "....to organize for action and re-
build and reclaim the beauty we inherited".
It is therefore incumbent on local govern-
ment and industry to continue working hand in hand to
solve pollution problems where they exist.
Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Kollar, for a
concise statement.
(Applause.)
MR. STEIN: Are there any comments or ques-
tions?
Mr. Morr.
MR. MORR: Mr. Kollar, you represent the
Business and Defense Services Administration?
MR. KOLLAR: Yes, sir.
MR. MORR: In the fourth paragraph, you
state:
"Certainly this Administration has
provided incentives and laid the ground-
work for greatly increased economic ac-
tivity."
I suppose you refer to the Business and De-
fense Services Administration?
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K. L. Kollar
MRo KOLLAR: No. I mean, the Federal, the-
Government, the Administration of the Government, the
total Government. Really, these are tax laws of the
public Treasury Department of the United States, but
the Department of Commerce is instrumental in seeing
that some of these tax facilities were given to the
industries.
MR. MORR: Do you want to change that
statement then to the Department of Commerce?
MR. KOLLAR: Well, it is the Government
Administration. If you want to call it the Johnson
Administration, you can.
What I am really saying is it is not really
Business and Defense Services Administration. Is that
your question?
MR. MORR: I just wanted to get that. Thank
you very much.
MR. KOLLAR: The total Government is what
I am referring to.
MR. MORR: I see. Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Kollar. Are
there any further comments or questions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: If not, thank you very much, sir.
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Fred Wampler
Mr. Poston?
MR. POSTON: Next I will call on Mr. Fred
Wampler, Regional Coordinator of the Appalachian program,
who will present a statement for the Department of the
Interior.
Mr. Wampler, I understand, has additional
statements from the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, and
he will call on others.
STATEMENT OF MR. FRED WAMPLER,
REGIONAL COORDINATOR, U. S. DE-
PARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
MR. WAMPLER: Mr. Stein, distinguished mem-
bers of the Panel, and gentlemen:
I am Fred Wampler, Regional Coordinator,
Ohio River-Appalachian Area, U. S. Department of In-
terior, and it is a pleasure to participate in this
conference.
In fact, it is, for the simple reason that
it enables the Department of the Interior to express
the Secretary's desire to sort of nationalize the De-
partment of the Interior and extend their activities
beyond the Mississippi River, and this is a pleasure.
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Fred Wampler
Also, it has brought back about 34 years
of memory, when I made my debut as a football coach in
the State of Ohio. There was a lad on my team, a stellar
player, very versatile, agile, prudent, and had the abil-
ity to lead.
I apparently followed him very little, un-
til I came to Cleveland yesterday, and I find that the
Honorable Mayor of the City of Cleveland, Ralph Locher,
had the opportunity to unite again with his former foot-
ball coach.
I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Chairman, that we
had to pollute Lake Erie and its tributaries to reunite
a couple of old cronies.
(Laughter.)
The Department is pleased that the States
of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan
are concerned in the matter of pollution of the inter-
state and Ohio intrastate waters of Lake Erie and its
tributaries.
The broad interests of the Department of
Interior in water quality and related problems in Lake
Erie is reflected in the Department's Agencies repre-
sented at this conference. While each of these agencies
has its own program, the Department exercises the
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Fred Warapler
administration necessary to assure that all programs are
coordinated to avoid duplication and to achieve results.
Water, the problems and opportunities it
carries, ignores State, Regional and even International
boundaries. It is important that the inter-relationships
of water be so recognized, and that State, Federal, and
local government agencies charged with various aspects
of water management and development work harmoniously
in solving these many problems.
The Department of Interior and the many
agencies in it dealing with water problems, remains ready
to fulfill its responsibilities to the States and the
Nation.
Therefore, I will call on Mr. Charles
Collier, the Assistant District Chief for the Ohio Dis-
trict for Water Resources, U. S. Geological Survey, out
of Columbus, who will give you a brief outline of the
concern of that agency in the matter of pollution of
the interstate and Ohio intrastate waters of Lake Erie
and its tributaries.
Mr. Collier.
MR. STEIN: While Mr. Collier is coming up,
I should tell you that Mr. Wampler is really modest. He
has been interested in water for a long time.
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Charles R. Collier
After he was a coach, as many of you people
know, he went to Terre Haute, Indiana, in Blucher Poole's
state, and had a distinguished record as Congressman
from Terre Haute, Indiana, with their interest in water
pollution problems, and then he was associated with the
Wabash River Interstate Compact.
So we indeed have an old friend and an ex-
pert, and in Mr. Wampler, to me at least, a former boss.
STATEMENT OF MR. CHARLES R.
COLLIER, ASSISTANT DISTRICT
CHIEF, U. S. GEOLOGICAL SUR-
VEY, COLUMBUS, OHIO
MR. COLLIER: Mr. Chairman and Conferees:
The United States Geological Survey, De-
partment of the Interior, welcomes the opportunity to
present a summary of its investigations of the water
resources of Lake Erie and its tributaries. Since its
creation more than a century ago, the Department of
the Interior, through its agencies, has been primarily
devoted to the exploration, development, management,
utilization, and conservation of the Nation's natural
resources. In performing these duties, the Department
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Charles R. Collier
of the Interior and the Geological Survey have set as
their goals, maximum benefit to the public and continued
contribution to the economic growth of the Nation.
Our society today places an ever-increasing
demand on the Nation's water resources. Misfortunes
such as devastating floods, severe droughts, and dwindling
water supplies have always been of vital interest to the
public, and much has been done to control or alleviate
them. Never before, however, have the demands for water
been so great. The water requirements for domestic, in-
dustrial, and recreational uses, and for waste disposal,
have all increased sharply in the past decade, and con-
tinue to increase year by year.
In order to meet this increasing demand
for water, it is essential that the total supply provided
by Nature be conserved, developed, and managed to provide
for its fullest and most efficient use. The agencies
which have this responsibility must therefore continually
increase their fundamental knowledge of our water supply
and the natural and cultural factors which control its
quantity, quality, and movement.
The U. S. Geological Survey, in its system-
atic appraisal of the Nation's natural resources, has
for many years provided data basic to the development
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Charles R. Collier
and management of these resources. Among the products
of the Survey which contribute to the scientific knowl-
edge of water and its environment are geologic maps,
topographic maps, and published reports providing hydro-
logic information and interpretation.
Geologic maps not only provide valuable
information to the construction engineer and mining in-
dustry, but they also aid in the understanding of ground
water, its location, quantity, quality, and movement.
Topographic quadrangle maps, the basic maps
of the land surface of the United States, provide to
the water-resources specialists a wealth of information
concerning the physical features of streams and their
drainage basins. These maps are the source of informa-
tion on the size, shape, slope, and drainage network of
the basins; location of water diversions and waste-water
outfalls, as well as land surface elevations and cultural
features. They are used extensively as a base for geo-
logic and flood-inundation mapping.
Recent topographic maps are available for
all of the land surface drained by streams tributary to
western Lake Erie in the States of Michigan, Indiana,
and Ohio. In 1962 the Geological Survey, in cooperation
with the State of Ohio, completed a 3-year program of
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Charles R. Collier
complete remapping of the State by aerial photogrammetry.
The resulting maps were published as 7-1/2 minute quad-
rangles at a scale of 1 to 24,000. These maps are re-
vised periodically so that they remain up-to-date and
reflect recent changes in drainage and land use due to
urbanization, highway relocations, shore erosion, etc.
Let us look at the hydrologic information -
the basic water facts - and the interpretation of those
facts, which the U. S. Geological Survey provides.
The work focused toward the description and understand-
ing of water in its environment and the continuous ap-
praisal of the water resources of the Nation. Through
close cooperation between the State and local agencies
and the Geological Survey, emphasis is placed where
water problems are most urgent. These hydrologic inves-
tigations include the determination of quantity, chemi-
cal and physical quality, distribution, movement, and
uses of both surface water and ground water.
The collection of water facts on streams
tributary to western Lake Erie was begun by the Geologi-
cal Survey in 1898 with the establishment of stream-
gaging stations on the Maumee River at Waterville, Ohio,
and on the Sandusky River at Mexico, Ohio, and near
Fremont, Ohio. Since this early beginning, a network
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Charles R. Collier
of stream-gaging stations has been established which
includes all the major rivers and many of the smaller
streams draining into Lake Erie. Water-quality records
are being obtained at many of these stations. The net-
works of streamflow and water-quality stations are
financed under cooperative programs with the States of
Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, by the Corps of Engineers,
and by Federal Geological Survey funds.
In Michigan, continuous streamflow data
have been obtained at 14 sites in the Huron River and
River Raisin basins. In addition, 6 partial record
stations are operated in those basins to obtain hydo-
logic data during periods of low streamflow when water-
quality conditions are most critical.
Daily streamflow records have been obtained
at 11 stations in the Indiana portion of the Maumee River
basin. Since 1954, the daily sediment discharge of the
St. Marys River has been measured by the Indiana Flood
Control and Water Resources Commission. In 1963, as
part of a cooperative program with the Geological Survey,
this station was included in a statewide Indiana network,
and two additional sediment stations were added in the
Maumee River basin.
In the early 1920's, the State of Ohio and
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Charles R. Collier
the Geological Survey expanded the stream-gaging network
in Ohio to include the major tributaries entering Lake
Erie. The network has continued since that time, and
today it includes 32 continuous recording stations and
29 stations for low-flow or flood-crest information.
In 1946, the cooperative program with Ohio
was expanded to include the measurement of water quality.
In the Lake Erie basin, facts on chemical and physical
quality of water are now available for 44 stations,
water temperature data for 28 stations, and sediment
discharges for 4 stations. In addition, occasional
samples have been collected for chemical analyses at
a great many other sites in the area.
Chemical water-quality measurements are
designed to measure the contribution of dissolved mineral
matter by the rocks and soil through which the water
flows on its path to the Lake, as well as the dissolved
material added to the water by domestic and industrial
wastes. Measurement of the physical characteristics
of the water - such as specific conductance, temperature,
color, and sediment content - is an integral part of
the hydrologic studies.
Data obtained at the chemical-quality sta-
tions vary both in the frequency of sampling and in the
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Charles R. Collier
completeness of the analysis. Sampling schedules - set
according to need - may be daily, weekly, monthly, or
seasonal. Some stations are operated throughout the
year and some only during periods of low flow when, due
to the shortage of dilution water, pollution problems
become more critical.
At some stations, continuously recording
instruments may be required to define the water quality.
The recording monitors provide a continuous record of
the specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, and
water temperature of a river. These records, supplemented
by daily sampling for more complete analysis, provide an
excellent measure of the water quality of the stream,
particularly of those streams which receive municipal
and industrial waste loades that cause rapid fluctua-
tions in the water quality.
As part of the Geological Survey's coopera-
tive programs with the Ohio Department of Health and the
Ohio Department of Natural Resources, recording monitors
are now operating on the Mautnee River at Waterville, on
the Cuyahoga River at Independence, and on the Cuyahoga
River here at Cleveland. Additional monitors are sched-
uled for installation near the mouths of the other major
tributaries to Lake Erie and on the principal rivers
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Charles R. Collier
and tributaries inland from the Lake.
Water quality of a stream is greatly influ-
enced by the quantity of streamflow. The water managers
are therefore regular users of these water facts in
assessing stream conditions. The data are basic to the
design and evaluation of water development, control, and
pollution abatement programs. They are particularly
valuable when they extend over a long term, so that a
wide variety of hydrologic events are included in the
records.
The Geological Survey publishes the records
of basic data annually so that they are available to
all governmental agencies, to industry, and to the pub-
lic. For the records of surface-water discharge, a
series of publications has been established for each
State entitled, "Surface Water Records of Ohio, or
Michigan, or Indiana," and each report contains the
day by day discharge at each station for a complete
water year. At 5-year intervals, these records are
summarized and the compilations published in the Water-
•
Supply Paper series.
The records of water quality, including
chemical analyses, water temperature, and suspended
sediment, have in the past been published annually in
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Charles R. Collier
the Water Supply Paper series by river basins. Beginning
with the 1964 water year, these records will be available
for each State similar to the streamflow records, with
compilation reports in the Water Supply Paper series.
Fluctuation in ground-water levels recorded
in wells comprising the observation well network is in-
cluded in the Water Supply Papers. This network of
wells is used to determine the changes and trends in
ground-water levels of the principal aquifers. The Ohio
network includes 30 wells located in the Lake Erie drain-
age basin.
To further the knowledge and understanding
of our water resources and man's effect on it, these ba-
sic water facts are used as a foundation for interpretive
studies and investigations. The water resources of Lake
Erie and its tributaries are the subject of or are in-
cluded in many of these reports. I will mention only
a few.
In the 1950-1952 Lake Erie Pollution Survey,
the U. S. Geological Survey cooperative program with
*
Ohio was expanded to provide the necessary streamflow
data and analyses, and to define and interpret the chemi-
cal and physical quality of the principal rivers in
Ohio emptying into Lake Erie. This survey provided a
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Charles R. Collier
comprehensive study of the hydrology and existing water-
quality conditions of the area.
Report No. 14 of the Ohio Water Plan Inven-
tory, Quality of Surface Water in Ohio, provides a review
of the chemical and physical characteristics of Ohio's
streams, including those draining into Lake Erie.
Bulletin 37 of the Ohio Department of
Natural Resources, "Low-flow frequencies and storage
requirements for selected Ohio streams," includes the
major tributaries to Lake Erie and will be invaluable
in the design of water-management and pollution-abatement
programs. Reports available on the flow duration, flood
frequencies, and major floods of these streams will aid
in this work.
A study of the hydrologic system and the
interrelationship of ground water, surface water, and
water quality of the Maumee River basin has been com-
pleted and will be published as a Hydrologic Atlas.
Investigations are underway or completed on the geology
and ground-water resources of Portage County, Geauga
County, and on the principal aquifers of 14 counties
in northeastern Ohio.,
From these studies and active "water-fact"
programs, a wealth of information is provided on the
fundamentals of the water resources of the Lake Erie
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Charles R. Collier
basin. The abatement of pollution and the maintenance
of water quality must be based on a clear understanding
of the hydrology and fundamental water facts. Develop-
ment and management must be from the standpoint of water
as a resource.
Mr. Wampler will continue with the Interior
presentation.
Thank you very much.
I wonder, do you want to withhold questions
until the whole presentation is through?
MR. STEIN: I think that might be better.
Just hold yourself available.
Mr. Wampler.
CONTINUED STATEMENT OF MR.
FRED WAMPLER
MR. WAMPLER: Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, I will make a presentation
for the next three bureaus within the Department of the
Interior. The first is the Bureau of Sport Fisheries
and Wildlife.
Man, in becoming settled to communal living
has so unsettled natural conditions that few water users
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Fred Wampler
obtain water in its original quality. Landscapes have
been scalped, pastures cultivated, forests burned, and
waters polluted -- all this in man's quest for living
space and a better standard of living.
Much of the economy and recreation benefits
of the Lake Erie Basin are directly attributable to the
Lake proper. Water from the Lake is indispensable for
the continued growth and survival of the Lake Erie Region.
While the needs for water are increasing at
a tremendous rate, the supply of water remains fairly
constant. The task of providing clean water in the
face of an ever-increasing need is made more difficult
by the increased demands for recreational water supplies.
More people are enjoying additional leisure and clean
water is essential to recreational pursuits.
Concurrent with these human needs are the
requirements of fish and wildlife. These resources
need water of satisfactory quality to provide for their
feeding, reproduction and growth.
Pollution problems in the Lake Erie Basin
have increased to the point where there is a real threat
to many forms of aquatic life. Natural habitats of Lake
and stream dwelling animals have been seriously depleted -•
some to the point of irreparable damage. The impact of
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Fred Wampler
gross deterioration of water quality upon aquatic life
has been startling. Early surveys of water quality of
Lake Erie serve to document the decrease in desirable
fish species and aquatic insects which has come about
as a result of polluted water and environmental condi-
tions.
Comprehensive surveys made by the cooperat-
ing Lake Erie states, have revealed that pollution from
tributary streams has significantly reduced aquatic re-
sources. Bottom muds, once the environment for desirable
insects, have been so degraded that only pollution-
tollerant organisms now survive. Fish habitats have
in some areas become so degraded that they are almost
devoid of desirable species. Many tributaries, once
used as spawning areas by muskellunge, bass, trout, and
sturgeon, are now unusable for this purpose. Fishing
near the mouths of polluted tributaries has similarly
decreased.
Many Lake Erie tributary streams were badly
polluted during the transition of agriculture to indus-
try to the early 1900*s. Some became devoid of fish
following pollution. Draining of marshes and other wet
areas destroyed valuable habitat for some important food
and forage fishes. Industrial plants pouring effluents
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Fred Wampler
into streams included steel mills, slaughter-houses,
dairies, breweries, and food processing plants.
The sport fishery of the Lake Erie Basin
provides almost unlimited fishing opportunities. Pre-
ferred sport fishes include trout, bass, walleyes,
northern pike, muskellunge, and various panfishes. If
desired species of fish are to survive throughout this
basin, it is evident that expanded facilities for pollu-
tion control must be designed and regulations -- once
put into effect — rigidly enforced.
The lower Detroit River, Western Lake Erie
and the Upper Niagara River have traditionally supported
wildlife populations of National significance. Of pri-
mary importance are the large numbers of migratory
waterfowl which congregate in these areas during periods
of migration and during the winter months.
Fur animals, including muskrats and mink
have, throughout the years, made a substantial contri-
bution to the economy of Western Lake Erie. Annual
fur harvests are valued in excess of one million dollars.
To these birds and mammals, Lake Erie must
provide much more than a safe water supply for drink-
ing. Wildlife requirements resemble those of fish,
inasmuch as the aquatic environments must afford a
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Fred Wampler
stable and readily available food supply, shelter, and
a place for reproducing and rearing of the young.
For the most part, water-oriented forms of
wildlife are adaptable to the environmental changes
wrought by man. Over the years, man's activities have
warmed some of these waters to the point where they re-
main ice-free. Large numbers of migrating waterfowl
now use these areas throughout the winter. In some
instances moderate enrichment resulting from sewage
has brought about increased production of the aquatic
plants and animals which provide food for wildlife.
Pollution forces the wildlife to either adjust to the
new conditions or disappear from these areas. Too often
it disappears. On several occasions, the lower Detroit
and portions of Western Lake Erie's great marshes have
functioned as death traps for great numbers of water-
fowl. Smaller, but regular losses have also occurred
in and around major harbors of the Lake and in the
Niagara River. In several areas, large beds of aquatic
plants have been eliminated. Lake bottoms are covered
with the shells of small snails and clams, yet few liv-
ing mollusks can be found! Waterfowl food supplies
are rapidly disappearing.
In many cases Lake Erie's wildlife problems
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Fred Wampler
,can be traced to pollution from industrial sources.
Domestic pollution continues to be a problem in some
•
areas.
Water pollution cannot be controlled by iso-
lated efforts. United actions will be necessary to check
or control this evil. The task is so formidable that
only a monumental and combined effort of public agencies
at the State, Federal and municipal level — working
closely with industry -- can be expected to succeed.
Delay can only result in bigger problems, so let's go
to work.
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
MR. WAMPLER: The next is for the Bureau
of Mines.
Should I continue, sir?
MR. STEIN: Yes. Go right ahead.
MR. WAMPLER: Thank you.
For the Bureau of Mines:
Many of the water problems which concern
us today must be approached comprehensively in order to
progress toward an effective solution„
The Bureau of Mines is concerned with water
as a commodity, and also because of its utility in pro-
ducing, processing, and shipping minerals. Over a period
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Fred Wampler
of years the Bureau has accumulated experience, facili-
ties, and qualified personnel whose knowledge of chemistry,
•
geology, metallurgy, engineering, and even bacteriology
permits attack on the diversity of problems. We are
particularly concerned with the effect of water quality
on the development and use of mineral resources, with
the nature of aqueous effluents from mineral industry
operations, and with the continued use of cheap water
transportation of bulk mineral materials.
In common with other agencies, the Bureau
of Mines has interests and responsibilities in the
economic and social aspects of water quality management.
Quantity requirements and competitive uses must be given
consideration in programs for multiple-purpose water
development projects. The Bureau takes particular
account of the economic and other effects that protec-
tion of water quality and pollution abatement will have
on the community.
In 1963 the value of U. S. mineral produc-
tion from the area draining directly into Lake Erie was
about $175 million; this represented principally raw
materials for the construction, chemical, and ceramic
industries. Since such activities play vital parts in
both the regional and the national economy, it is
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Fred Wampler
obvious that growing demands for minerals must continue
to be met. Output of these mineral products requires
process water, and usually will generate waste effluents.
Stream pollution from process wastes now
is generally recognized to be a serious problem. En-
lightened management in the mineral industries recognizes
the need for meeting responsibilities to the public.
Within the limits of available technology and economics,
it is developing methods for minimizing its waste dis-
charges. However, pollution abatement programs take
time to become effective and sometimes industry, under-
standably, does not welcome controls for which current
technology affords no economically practical means of
compliance.
A significantly large part of the Nation's
iron ore is smelted along the shores of Lake Erie, and
in furnaces as far from the Lake as Pittsburgh, Youngs-
town, Warren, Canton, Massillon, and Steubenville.
Maintenance of water levels in the Great Lakes which
will permit operation of deep-draft vessels is vital
to the continued cheap transport of iron ore, limestone,
and coal for a healthy steel industry.
The Bureau, thus, is concerned both quan-
titatively and qualitatively with the waters of Lake
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Fred Wampler
Erie itself. It welcomes opportunities to assist and
cooperate with other organizations that have similar
interests.
Mr. Chairman, next is the Bureau of Outdoor
Recreation.
The Bureau of Outdoor Recreation was estab-
listed by act of Congress on May 28, 1963, as a result
of recommendations made by the Outdoor Recreation Re-
sources Review Commission, to provide a focal point in
the Government for the Nation's outdoor recreation ac-
tivities. The Congress took this action because they
deemed it desirable that (1) all American people of
present and future generations be assured adequate out-
door recreation resources, and (2) that prompt and
coordinated efforts be made toward conserving, develop-
ing and utilizing such resources for the benefit and
enjoyment of the American people. Thus, it has become
the purpose of this bureau to fulfill these desires of
the Congress. As a result, this bureau shares a very
deep concern for events which have been and are taking
place in the area under consideration here, events which
have affected the natural resources of this region and
their usefulness to the American people for recreational
pursuits.
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Fred Wampler
This bureau is presently engaged in a study
of water-oriented outdoor recreation in the Lake Erie
Basin including the St. Glair and Niagara Rivers and
intervening waters. The study area coincides very
closely with the area of concern to this conference.
This study area had a 1960 population of
nearly 10 million people. It is among the most highly
urbanized and industrialized in the nation. Population
projections indicate the population will more than
double in the next fifty years. Water-oriented recre-
ational resources on the other hand are now inadequate,
particularly in the large metropolitan areas, and very
likely will remain at present levels unless developed
artificially at great expense. Contributing to the
present inadequacy, is the fact that the waters of Lake
Erie and many of its tributaries are polluted to the
extent that they are unsuited to certain water-oriented
recreation activities especially in the vicinity of the
highly urbanized areas.
It has been established through studies by
the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission that
our greatest need is for outdoor recreational areas
near population centers. The ORRRC studies further
indicate 90 per cent of all Americans participate annually
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Fred Wampler
in some type of outdoor recreation with 44 per cent pre-
ferring water-oriented recreation, mainly swimming.
Most of the 10 million inhabitants of this
area are within the day-use zone of Lake Erie, among
the largest bodies of fresh water in the world. The
Lake is a real treasure for many as a place to enjoy
outdoor recreational activities. However, the pleasure
of swimming in its cooling waters or sunbathing along
one of its pleasant beaches is diminished to varying
degrees due to deterioration of water quality. For
example, the beach at Sterling State Park near Monroe,
Michigan, has been posted as unsafe for swimming since
1961. During this period annual attendance has dropped
from over a million to less than 320,000 in 1964. Other
areas hard hit by pollution include the shore east of
Toledo, near Loraine and Cleveland, Ohio; Silver Creek,
Dunkirk and Buffalo, New York. One of the beaches of
Presque Isle State Park, in Pennsylvania, has also ex-
perienced pollution problems which, as a recent study
indicates, are becoming progressively worse. The pollu-
tion of portions of Lake Erie and its tributaries has
also affected other forms of recreation. The recent
failure of boat livery businesses near Buffalo, New York
was attributed to pollution of adjacent waters. Thus,
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Fred Wampler
pollution prevents full use of one of the most important
recreational assets of this region in the very locations
where recreational development is needed most.
Indications are that if the present trend
continues, millions of people within this area will be
left without a place to swim. In addition, boating and
other recreational activities utilizing the lake for
esthetic purposes will surely be curtailed if action is
not initiated at an early date.
The Bureau is pleased that such action is
being considered by the U. S. Public Health Service and
other interested agencies who recognize the problems in-
volved in the matter of pollution of Lake Erie and its
tributaries. We pledge our cooperation and assistance
to the States and to the Public Health Service in actions
designed to meet these problems and make the public beaches
and waters safe again for water-oriented recreational
pursuits by the local citizens and other visitors to
the area.
Since the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries
has been actively participating with the Public Health
Service on the Great Lakes-Illinois River Basin Project,
and has shown a very great concern and effort in their
studies, analyses, decisions, and active participation,
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Fred Wampler
we felt it was most fitting that we take the introductory
remarks that I have here, Mr. Chairman, and have them
entered into the record, and I will then call on Mr.
Ernest Premetz, Associate Director for Commercial Fish-
eries at Ann Arbor, who will present a statement.
MR. STEIN: Without objection, that will
be done.
MR. WAMPLER: Thank you. The following
are the introductory remarks by the Bureau of Commercial
Fisheries:
The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries has been
actively participating in the Public Health Service's
Great Lakes-Illinois River Basin Project, which includes
Lake Erie. In fact, scientists of the Bureau of Commer-
cial Fisheries are closely coordinating their research
activities with those of the Public Health Service to
assure that pollution abatement measures reflect full
cognizance of fishery problems. The aim is to prevent
further deterioration and, to the extent possible, miti-
gate damage to fish and aquatic life. In the early
stages of the Public Health Service study, the Bureau
of Commercial Fisheries was pleased to make available
vessels and technical know-how of its personnel. Many
of the Public Health Service scientists concerned with
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Fred Wampler
this tudy were afforded an opportunity to work intimately
with, and receive guidance from, the Bureau's experts,
whose extensive experience with Great Lakes fisheries
and the effects of pollution on fish and aquatic life
have been long recognized.
Interest in and authority for participation
by fisheries interests in such coordinated studies
originates in a Congressional Act of March 3, 1887
(16 U.S.C. 744), which authorized the Commissioner,
United States Fish Commission, to prosecute investiga-
tions and inquiries concerning the supply of food fishes
of the coasts and lakes of the United States and the
determination of protective, prohibitory, or precaution-
ary measures to be adopted. Subsequent legislation,
particularly the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956, as
amended, and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of
1958, as amended, refined and strengthened these re-
sponsibilities.
Section 5 of the Fish and Wildlife Coordina-
tion Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior,
through the Fish and Wildlife Service (the Bureau of
Sport Fisheries and Wildlife and the Bureau of Commercial
Fisheries) and the Bureau of Mines, to make such inves-
tigations as he deems necessary to determine the effects
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Fred Wampler
of domestic sewage, mine, petroleum, and industrial
wastes, erosion silt, and other polluting substances in
wildlife and to make reports to the Congress concerning
such investigations and of recommendations for alleviat-
ing dangerous and undesirable effects of such pollution.
Pollution has many definitions depending
on the interests of the individual. If water for human
consumption is the main interest, then with adequate
treatment, perhaps the waters of the Lake Erie drainage
are of good quality. However, some water intakes have
been abandoned and others have been extended out into
the lakes because of water quality problems. A measure
of pollution is the suitability of water for a required
use. Consequently, pollution can be defined as the
addition of any substance or any action or condition
which interferes with, lessens, or destroys a beneficial
use of a water. The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries is
presently concerned with the suitability of the waters
of the Lake Erie drainage for fish and fish food organ-
isms.
The Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 recognizes
that fish and shellfish are capable of making a great
and continuous contribution to the national economy,
food supply and health, recreation, and well-being of
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Fred Wampler
our citizens. VJhen these resources are property protected,
properly developed, properly managed, and properly uti-
lized, the Act considers them capable of being greatly
increased. Control of pollution is one conservation
measure that must be practiced. The alternative is
destruction by neglect.
It is the National Fisheries Policy to:
1. Increase and maintain forever, for the
people of the United States, a fishery
resource capable of yielding the maximum
annual product.
2. Strengthen and maintain a vigorous fish-
ery industry by assuring full and fair
access to the American market.
3. Do these things in partnership with the
States and in full accordance without
international obligations and without
sacrificing the system of free enter-
prise .
In pursuing these policies, the Federal
Government has a responsibility to the public as a whole
to see that our fishery resources are utilized to the
fullest economic extent without damage to their future
productivity.
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Fred Wampler
There are few greater challenges to this
mission than Lake Erie, whose fisheries are currently
in acute distress. In many areas, commercial fishing
has all but disappeared and sport fishing becomes pro-
gressively less attractive. The loss of Lake Erie's
fish production capacity is coming when there is a
rapidly increasing need for food protein in this country;
for that matter, throughout the world. Compared to the
thousands of commercial fishermen who were able to make
their livelihood fishing Lake Erie only a few years ago,
now only a small percentage are still in business.
Many of these men fish on a part-time basis. During
the past decade alone, the total catch from U. S. waters
has declined 45 per cent and the dollar return, 60 per
cent.
The fishing industry of Lake Erie has lost
much of the production of high-priced species. It must
subsist largely on such medium-priced varieties as yel-
low perch and white bass, and on such low-priced, often
unmarketable, fish as sheepshead and carp. Other vast
quantities of fish, e.g., gizzard shad, are also present
for which markets do not exist and are, therefore, not
harvested at all.
These shifts in species composition have
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Fred Wampler
been long term and their causative factors are very
complicated* The evidence is strong, however, that the
primary causative factors stem from environmental changes.
The major change has been the progressive and growing
enrichment of the Lake. Man's activities along Lake
Erie and its tributaries are telescoping the time scale
and pushing Lake Erie into premature senility. All
lakes age naturally, but we have packed into a decade
what it would take nature centuries to accomplish. Fer-
tility in modest measure is useful, but man is making
Lake Erie so fertile so fast that conditions are rapidly
approaching the intolerable.
The concentrations of calcium, sodium,
potassium, sulphates, and chlorides, for which research
records are available over a sufficient long period to
show trends, have exhibited build-ups -- 230 per cent
in the case of chlorides. Other substances in sewage
and drainage from chemically treated uplands are prob-
ably also accelerating their build-up, but the lack of
long-term data makes this difficult to demonstrate.
Largely unknown are the effects on lake temperature
of the 3 billion gallons of water used for cooling
condensers in power-generating plants.
What is known is that as many as 4,000 square
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Fred Warapler
miles of bottom water in Lake Erie become utterly devoid,
or reach levels below which fish can live, of oxygen
that is so essential to life. In addition to affecting
fish spawning and survival, it has completely changed
the formerly abundant insect population upon which the
fish relied for food. Although these desirable insect
food organisms have been replaced by other forms that
can tolerate low or no oxygen, they may not be as nutri-
tious or are not available to the fish.
The greatest changes in fish populations
have occurred during the past 10 to 15 years. These
changes have occurred during the period of greatly in-
creased use of detergents and pesticides. Consequently,
increased fertility may not be the only factor involved
in changes in the Lake. The present adverse state of
affairs in Lake Erie represents only a stage in a pro-
cess that has been underway for many years and which
now seems certain to advance at an accelerated rate as
human population and industrial activities expand. Al-
though immediate conventional abatement of the worst
pollution situations will be helpful, much still remains
to be done if we are to prevent future deterioration of
fish and aquatic life resources, let alone mitigate past
damages. For this reason, the Bureau of Commercial
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Fred Wampler
Fisheries intends to continue its close working relation-
ship with the Public Health Service. The Great Lakes
pollution problems will continue to receive priority
attention in the research programs of the Bureau of
Commercial Fisheries*
Because of the direct application of Bureau
of Commercial Fisheries research on Lake Erie to the
subject matter of this conference, Mr. Ernest D. Premetz:,
Deputy Regional Director of the Bureau's Great Lakes and
Central Region, will present an additional statement.
This statement will go into the technical aspect's in
greater detail and outline the Bureau's involvement
with the Public Health Service study.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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Ernest D. Premetz
STATEMENT OF MR, ERNEST D. PREMETZ,
DEPUTY REGIONAL DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF
COMMERCIAL FISHERIES, U. S. DEPART-
MENT OF THE INTERIOR, ANN ARBOR,
MICHIGAN
MR. PREMETZ: Mr. Chairman, Conferees,
ladies and gentlemen:
For the record, I am Ernest Premetz, Deputy
Regional Director for the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries,
at Ann Arbor, Michigan. We cover 18 states in the Great-
Lakes and central area, so we have a lot of water prob-
lems to worry about.
As Mr. Wampler mentioned, the Bureau of
Commercial Fisheries has been actively participating
with the Public Health Service in its Great Lakes-Illinois
River Basin Project. In fact, we just recently completed
a comprehensive study of Lake Michigant and a report
has been prepared which has been turned over to the
Public Health Service for inclusion with their compre-
hensive report.
We are now in the process of completing
a similar study in Lake Erie, and the report will be
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Ernest D. Premetz
available this fall. This will cover the data we have
accumulated over a period of some 50 years and, in some
cases, our records go back before the turn of the century,
so that we do have a vast amount of data.
Evidence is accumulating that pollution may
be a major factor in limiting the production of fish in
fresh and estuarine waters, and pesticide pollution may
even be influencing fish populations in the open ocean.
Consequently, the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries has
reason to be concerned about pollution and has, in fact,
been directed by Congress to work for its prevention
and control.
Pollution has many definitions depending
on the interests of the specific individual or group.
Almost everyone will agree that pollution means the
addition of something — whether trash, chemicals, bio-
logical entities, or even heat -- which reduces the
quality of an environment for specific purposes. A
widely accepted measure of pollution is the suitability
of water for a required use* Therefore, we cannot con-
sider a single set of water quality standards as being
applicable for all uses. Water suitable for industrial
use may not be acceptable for human consumption and
even less acceptable for fish and wildlife. In dealing
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Ernest D. Premetz
with the suitability of water for fish we are not con-
cerned merely with the question of whether fish can
survive in the water; we must consider whether the entire
environment is suitable for satisfactory reproduction
and growth of fish.
I am deeply indebted to Hr. larzwell for
the excellent job he did yesterday in giving all of you
a short course on pollution and on eutrophication.
These are terms we hear often.
The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries is very
concerned about Lake Erie as a suitable environment for
fish, since there have been dramatic decreases in the
abundance of several important commercial species.
I hate to use the terms "commercial" and
"sport," because we try to study fish generally. We
talk about fishes, rather than sport and commercial
fish.
Gone from Lake Erie are the keystones that
supported a healthy and lucrative sport and commercial
fishing industry — second to none in the years 1935 -
1958. Blue pike, walleys, whitefish, and yellow perch
stocks have dwindled to insignificance or have changed
character so much that their contributions to the wel-
fare of the fishing industry are almost nil. For example,
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407
Ernest D. Premetz
following the initial collapse of the blue pike and
walleye production in 1958, fisheries for both species
continued to decline to insignificant levels. Blue
pike production dropped from 6,855,000 pounds worth
$1,316,000 in 1956 to 200 pounds worth $120 in 1963.
I don't have later figures with me, but from
what I have been able to gather, the blue pike is now a
biological rarity in Lake Erie.
Walleyes contributed 5,035,000 pounds
worth $1,357,000 to the catch in 1957 and only 433,200
pounds worth $186,000 in 1962. In less than eight years
the fishing industry in U. S. waters of Lake Erie lost
dock-side value in these two species alone of 2.5
million dollars annually.
At the same time, in Ohio alone, 750 jobs
have been lost in the fishing industry in the last five
or six years, so we can see that the contribution to the
economy of the area has declined somewhat as a result
of these problems.
Other usable fishes in Lake Erie are threat-
ened to the extent that stability and development of
stocks are extremely undependable and beyond predictions.
We are at a loss to be able to predict anything.
From evidence available it appears that
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Ernest D. Premetz
walleye and blue pike populations collapsed as the re-
sult of a series of poor year-class survivals. Among
the walleyes, estimates of year-class contributions to
the fisheries indicate weak year classes in 19^5, 1957,
and 1958* and moderately weak year classes in 1953, 1955*
1956, and 1959. If the large catches of walleyes during
1953-1959> which consisted of large and older fishes
(2-8 years of age), are any indication of the size
of the spawning populations, then certainly the reason for
lack of survival of the young was not because of a
dearth of eggs. The adult population of walleyes,
except for 1958-59, was as large or larger than previous
populations that were capable of increasing the size
of the walleye stocks. Something in the environment
was limiting the survival from eggs to juvenile wall-
eyes. Just what this something was cannot be named
with certainty. But, studies of the environment, par-
ticularly the bottom conditions of the Lake, were showing
drastic changes in chemistry and biota, either of which
could have been responsible. These fish are cJosely
associated with the bottom sometime during their life.
They have eggs that settle to and hatch on the bottom
and bottom organisms are an important part of their
diet. Consequently, any significant changes in the
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Ernest D. Premetz
sediments can affect these fish. All data collected to
date indicate that changes have occurred. A significant
change in dissolved oxygen in the bottom waters of the
western basin of Lake Erie was discovered by Ohio State
University in September of 1953. In less than 5 days,
the dissolved oxygen levels reached 0.7 - 1.2 ppm in
many areas. Unfortunately, observations were not made
in the central basin of the Lake so that the true extent
of this phenomenon cannot be circumscribed.
However, studies made in the central basin
as early as 1929 showed oxygen deficiencies below 65
per cent (some stations below 40 per cent) saturation
in some areas during July and August. It is not un-
reasonable to assume that serious oxygen deficiencies
in the central basin occurred regularly and even more
frequently than in the western basin. Two phenomena
always accompany periods of oxygen deficiency in Lake
Erie. Thermal stratification is established and the
zone of oxygen deficiency is always near the bottom;
so much so that special samplers have had to be devised
to demonstrate the vertical extent of the affected
column of water. Frequently, the thermocline and
oxygen deficient layers are less than 2 meters thick.
Since 1953, extensive oxygen deficiencies
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Ernest D. Premetz
in the middle and frequently the western basins of Lake
Erie have occurred affecting thousands of square miles.
This condition has been detected every year since 1958
and it appears that its regularity of occurrence is
becoming accepted as a seasonal phenomenon.
Along with those evidences of oxygen de-
ficiency other characteristics of the chemistry of Lake
Erie have been changing. In summary., here are the trends
among some of the uujor constituents:
Item 1907 1961
Calcium 31.0 ppm 38.3 ppm
Sodium and potassium 6.5 11.0
Silica 5.9 1.6
Sulfates 13.0 24.0
Chlorides 7.0 23.4
Total solids 133.0 183.0
Data on nitrogen and phosphorus are not
directly comparable among years of observation. How-
ever, from the various sources one can conclude that
both nutrients in all their general forms increased
during the past 50 years.
The situation in Lake Erie is difficult to
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Ernest D. Premetz
deal with employing the usual surveys, techniques, and
criteria for detecting and measuring pollution, since
much of our knowledge concerning pollution has been
developed from work on rivers, streams, and small bodies
of water. We have relatively little knowledge of the
effects of pollution on large lakes. Nevertheless,
ample evidence exists to demonstrate that Lake Erie has
changed appreciably during the past 50 years.
As Dr. Tarzwell explained, lakes are es-
sentially transitory things on the geological time scale,
and as they age they change. The aging process of a
lake is usually so slow and subtle that it frequently
goes unnoticed in a lifetime of man. In fact, it has
been unnoticed really until the last 10 or 15 years in
Lake Erie, but it has been going on for a long, long
time.
When lakes are used for the disposal of
industrial and human wastes, the aging process may be
greatly accelerated as has been thoroughly documented
in Lake Zurich in Switzerland and Lake Washington near
Seattle over the past 50 years. Never before, however,
has such a dramatic process of accelerated aging or
eutrophication been detected in a lake the size of
Lake Erie.
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Ernest D. Premetz
Except for the oxygen deficiencies, one
might say that limnological changes have not been highly
critical. However, to make the consideration more com-
prehensive, we must add at least two additional factors
that are definitive where fisheries are concerned.
In the last 45 years, mean annual water
temperatures have risen almost 2° Fahrenheit. The sedi-
mentation rate has increased markedly and these sediments
have become more active and complex chemically with the
passage of time. Preliminary experiments with the sedi-
ments demonstrate a very high oxygen demand. A small
amount of sediment (5 gm) can remove almost all the
dissolved oxygen in a 250 ml water sample in less than
5 minutes.
This explains why at certain times of the
year in Lake Erie we have as much as 4,000 square miles
of bottom water which is entirely devoid of oxygen.
The relationship of fisheries and pollution,
then, in Lake Erie can be traced primarily to the
spectacular oxygen depletion that results whenever
these sediments and the bottom waters become isolated
by thermal stratification from the usually active cir-
culation of the Lake's entire water mass. Since 1953,
this phenomenon has reduced the abundance of mayfly
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413
Ernest D. Premetz
larvae (Hexagenia) from 400 to 10 individuals per square
meter, and in places, entirely eliminated them; in-
creased sludge worms (oligochaetes) many fold; reduced
caddisfly larvae almost to the vanishing point; favored
large increases in the populations of low oxygen toler-
ant forms of midges; reduced the nontolerant midge
forms; caused an increase in some fingernail clams;
and generally reduced the numbers of all bottom organ-
isms.
The original community of organisms was
an essential part of the food chain which contributed
vital components to the survival and normal growth of
the various species of fish that were desirable in the
fishery. Changes in this community have reduced markedly
the success of the normal fish populations and, in turn,
the economics of the fishing industry. To the Bureau
of Commercial Fisheries, this rather narrow stratum in
the bottom of Lake Erie, with its associated low dis-
solved oxygen content, is polluted to the extent that
the status of the entire Lake as a useful producer of
fishery products is uncertain.
In view of the Bureau's responsibility,
this condition is as vital and as in need of correction
as any undesirable feature of the Lake that impinges
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Ernest D. Premetz
directly on the public health or safety. We will not
have completed our job until the conditions that militate
against fisheries have been corrected. The Bureau in-
tends to continue its studies of and its interest in
the improvement of this Lake and its drainage basin.
I have completed the formal part of the re-
port, but I do want to add one thing.
I hope the people who are sitting here are
not looking for a miracle, and that they don't get the
impression that by holding hearings such as this and
getting a start on some of these things, we have found
the Fountain of Youth for Lake Erie.
Things have changed. We have a serious
situation in Lake Erie. Things are going to continue
to change. We are not going to bring back the good old
days, regardless of what we do.
We can, however, take these first steps that
are being recommended here to prevent further deteriora-
tion, and, believe me, there is going to be further de-
terioration unless we do something about it.
At the same time, I hope we don't become
complacent when we take the steps that are recommended
here and feel that the job has been done. It has not
been done. There is considerable research still to be
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415
Ernest D. Premetz
done and it is going to take a long time, and this re-
search should be underway now and should be started as
soon as possible.
There is a lot we don't know, and there is
a lot we have got to learn if we are going to save our
lakes. It may be too late to save some of them, but there
are still others that are on their way out unless we do
something about it.
At the present time, our scientists feel
that conditions have not deteriorated as greatly in the
eastern end of Lake Erie as they have in the western
end, but their estimate is that within 15 years the
eastern end of Lake Erie is going to be just as bad as
the western end. In fact, they feel that there is about
a 15 year difference between the two areas, simply be-
cause of the different character of the two areas.
We have deeper waters in the eastern end.
Another thing: I do urge that we consider
not only what enters the lake from the industries along
our shore, but what enters the Lake from the various
sewage treatment plants.
These all contribute, yes, to some extent,
but we have one other factor. All of these things have
washed off our lands. We have a great agricultural
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Ernest D. Premetz
industry throughout the Great Lakes area. They use all
forms of pesticides on the land, and things of that sort.
This is washing off into our water. This is settling in
our lakes. This is in the bottom sediments which are
highly active. This is affecting our fish populations.
This is not something that we have to worry
about as far as human population at the moment, and I
hope we never do, but it is affecting the fish population
and particularly their ability to reproduce. Various
species, of course, are affected differently by these
things.
So, these are all things that I hope we con-
sider. I hope we don't stop after we take some actions
at these particular conferences. I hope we continue to
give this problem the serious and continuing attention
it deserves.
Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
Mr. Wampler?
MR. MORR: Mr. Stein, could I ask a question?
MR. STEIN: Yes, but I think we said that
we would allow the completion of the presentation. I
know there are several questions.
MR. MORR: All right. Thank you.
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417
Fred Wampler
CONTINUED STATEMENT OF
MR. FRED WAMPLER
MR. WAMPLER: In order, Mr. Chairman, to
bring this presentation to a conclusion, I wish to state
that I think that we will gladly entertain any questions
from the panel here, especially those that can be fielded
by Mr. Collier and Mr. Premetz in the scope of their
areas, and those that are dealing with the other bureaus
where a presentation was made, we will ask the recorder
to send the particular question to the bureau, and we
will come up with the information.
MR. STEIN: Thank you very much, Mr. Wampler,
for an excellent and comprehensive presentation.
I for one have welcomed the Department of
the Interior's interest in water quality on a nationwide
basis. I was particularly interested in Mr.Premetz's
notion that we shouldn't just confine ourselves to waste
coming from cities and industries, but that we have to
take into account runoff from agriculture.
We welcome your participation in the 17
western states too. We think Mr. Premetz has made a
very good statement on all three aspects, industries,
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Ernest D. Premetz
municipalities, and agriculture, and we hope that your
Bureau of Reclamation out there might agree with that
and cooperate with us too.
MR. WAMPLER: Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Morr, did you have a ques-
tion?
MR. MORR: I have a question of Mr. Premetz,
if I may.
Just to make this as clear as we might, is
it then the conclusion of your bureau -- I'm sorry I
don't have a copy of your statement, or I might not have
felt it necessary to ask this question -- but is it the
conclusion of your bureau that the primary causative
factor for the decrease in walleyes and blue pike in
Lake Erie would be pollution or siltation?
I didn't get this clearly, the primary
causative factor.
MR. PREMETZ: Actually, the only thing we
can do is to relate what has happened in the environment
to what has happened to fish.
The environment has been changed by various
things we have added to the water. Therefore, I would
say yes, on the basis of this established relationship.
It is very, very difficult to try to perform
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Ernest D. Premetz
an autopsy on a fish, or to actually be able to state
with certainty that a particular fish has declined com-
pletely because of one or two or three different factors
or different things that might be introduced into the
water.
MR. MORR: What about a biological change?
MR. PREMETZ: Yes, we have natural changes
too.
I mentioned the increases in water tempera-
ture of two degrees. This has affected certain species,
but not those that we are concerned with right at the
moment. This is probably the causative factor of the
decline of the Cisco fish, which, as earlier papers
showed, was not due to and earlier scientists felt was
not due to pollution.
MR. MORR: But we are establishing today
that a primary causative factor is pollution?
MR. PREMETZ: Yes.
MR. MORR: And possibly siltation, speaking
about an entire change of events or a biological change
within the environment?
MR. PREMETZ: Right.
MR. MORR: Is there also then a cyclical
occurrence that has an apparent effect on the decline of
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Ernest D. Premetz
walleyes in Lake Erie, a cycle situation?
MR. PREMETZ: Well, you have increases and
decreases in abundance of particular species as a result
of success or failure of a particular year class, but we
have found this in the earlier years.
Even in walleyes we always had a large num-
ber of year classes in a fishery that were supporting
a fishery. Now this has narrowed to one and, at the
most, two-year classes that contribute to a fishery,
so we had virtually complete failure. The environment
is just not suitable.
In the case of the blue pike, the environ-
ment has changed so drastically that they can't survive
at all. As I mentioned, they are a rarity now.
MR. MORR: Is this a cyclical difference
in the number of walleyes to be found?
MR. PRKMETZ: We have noticed a cycle, yes,
but not something that would explain the extreme drop,
or explain anything else.
MRo MORK: The purpose of my inquiry is to
establish if there might be a cyclical pollution problem,
or more cyclical than a siltation problem.
MR. PKEMETZ: This I could not answer.
MR, MOKH: I just wondered whether you could
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Ernest D. Premetz
enlighten me to that extent.
Thank you very much,
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
Mr. Oeming, do you have any questions or
comments?
MR. OEMING: Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman. My
questions are directed to Mr. Premetz.
You indicated, in answer to Mr. Morr, that
scientists earlier had ascribed the decline in fish to
other reasons. What were those reasons?
MR. PREMETZ: Well, earlier scientists
felt that in many cases it was just a normal aging of
the lake, a normal change that takes place in the pro-
cess, and now, of course, we find the same change is
taking place but it has been accelerated.
This is the point we are making here. The
environment is changing more rapidly than it would nor-
mally change through nature. The earlier changes were
through nature.
In any lake, whether we have anyone around
it, we are always going to have a change. We are going
to have a change in the population in that lake, but
man can accelerate this change. He can create an
accelerated aging of a lake, and an accelerated change
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Ernest D. Premetz
to less desirable species.
MR0 OEMING: If I remember correctly, back
in the references to investigations of the fishery and
Lake Erie, there were some conclusions reached some
years ago by the bureau and some international bodies
that other things than aging of the Lake were involved.
I wonder if you are familiar with those
conditions that were used then as the basis for explain-
ing the decline of the fishery?
MR. PREMETZ: Of course there are various
other factors too.
MR. OEMING: Well, let's bring it out in
the open.
MR. PREMETZ: All right.
MR. OEMING: Are we talking about over-
fishing or poor fish practices? Were those contributing
to the decline?
MR. PREMETZ: No. We haven't been able to
establish anywhere actually over-fishing, over-exploita-
tion.
MR. OEMING: That was found though in one
instance.
MR. PREMETZ: We have had some people that
indicated that they felt there was over-fishing. Present
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423
Ernest D. Premetz
day scientists do not agree with them.
MR. QEMING: Thank you.
MR. PREMETZ: In fact, we are learning a
lot more about this, and we are learning that we must
utilize these resources to a far greater extent than
we have if we are going to have a healthy resource.
There are other factors too that have af-
fected fish in the Great Lakes. We have had other
species that are coming into the lakes. We have the
ailwives, which is an ocean fish. We have the shad,
which is an ocean fish. We have the smelt, which is
an ocean fish. These fish have all invaded the Great
Lakes area and are affecting the native species to
some extent.
For example, in Lake Michigan, right at
the moment we are seriously concerned about the compe-
tition of the ailwives with the native chub in that
area. During certain times of the year, they occupy
the same zones. The chub at that time are much smaller,
they have just hatched, and they are susceptible to
the ailwives who prey on them,,
There are many factors and there are many
things we must still understand0 We have not completed
the job, but I do want to point out one thing, that
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Ernest D. Premetz
there has been a definite relationship established between
the eutrophication or the accelerated aging of this Lake
and what man has put into the Lake.
Therefore, then, for the sake of the fisher-
ies, we must make some changes in our practices and try
to at least halt this change.
Now, there is still more to be done beyond
this, certainly.
MR. OEMING: Mr. Premetz, in citing your
statistics on the yield of blue pike and walleyes from
Lake Erie, do these include the total yields from Lake
Erie -- that is, from both Canadian and United States
yields?
MR. PREMETZ: No. The figures I have pre-
sented here cover only the United States side, the United
States waters of the Great Lakes.
MR. OEMING: Would you think that that might
affect these figures any, the total yields?
MR, PREMETZ: No. The actual changes have
been very, very similar in both.
MR. OEMING: To the same extent?
MR. PREMETZ: No, of course not, because
certain species of fish are distributed differently.
There may be more on the Canadian side and less on the
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Ernest D. Premetz
United States side, and vice versa, depending on the
character of the area. Certain species of fish like the
reefs for spawning, and, therefore, they frequent that
area.
MR. OEMING: I see. One more question, Mr.
Premetz.
You have cited a table which showed some
increases in calcium, sodium, potassium and other ele-
ments in the Lake, and I wonder if you could ascribe
any significance at this time to these increases.
These are chemical increases, and not the
dissolved oxygen problem, but I am looking for informa-
tion about an increase from 31 to 38 parts of calcium,
and sodium, 6 to 11 parts.
Can you ascribe any significance to these
or relation to the fisheries?
MR. P8EMETZ: It has affected fisheries,
but I am not as intimately familiar with this aspect of
it as our people that are actually doing the research5
and this is a question that they should answer.
Now, I don't know. Public Health has some
people that have been working on it, I'm sure*
MR. OEMING: Well, yesterday the Public
Health Service indicated an increase in chlorides did
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426
Ernest D. Premetz
did not have any significance.
I am asking now, as a fisheries man, whether
you felt differently about this.
MR. PREMETZ: No. From the evidence we have
to date, it does not. Some of our people feel that it
does, in combination with other elements, but this has
not been established yet.
As I say, I can't say.
MR. OEMING: That is, there are many waters,
aren't there, where we don't have the same situation in
Lake Erie with respect to dissolved oxygen, but we do
have the same situation with respect to the present day
calcium, and so on, and yield a good fishery?
MR. PREMETZ: Not the same species of fish.
Here is another factor too: We really don't
know enough about the tolerance of any particular specie.
MR. OEMING: All right, you have answered
my question.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further questions
or comments?
Mr. Morr?
MR. MORR: Mr. Premetz, nowhere yet have
we mentioned the inclusions that might be made in the
low water levels of our Great Lakes. Do you have any
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427
Ernest D. Premetz
conclusions or any testimony that might add to our con-
ference here as to the effects of the low water levels?
That is, on our fishery particularly?
MR. PREMETZ: Low water levels have certainly
affected the fishing industry in some areas.
For example, in Lake Huron, Saginaw Bay,
they haven't been able to get into their docks. They
have had to find other places to go to. At the same
time, it has compounded the pollution problem in some
of these areas too, because of the low water levels,
and that has had an effect on the fish in the area too.
MR. MORR: Thank you.
Referring to the expression of your bureau
through your testimony here pertaining particularly to
western Lake Erie, has your work been more extensive in
western Lake Erie than in eastern Lake Erie?
MR. PREMETZ: Yes, it has. Our work has
been considerably more extensive in western Lake Erie
in our limnological work. We have, however, done work
in eastern Lake Erie as well, and also Lake Ontario.
MR. MORR: And you consider conclusively
that the western Lake Erie fishery is in a very sad
state of affairs?
MR. PREMETZ: Extremely sad state of affairs.
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Ernest D. Premetz
MR. MORE: All right. I have a final ques-
tion.
As Mr. Stein has mentioned, with relation
to the agricultural makeup of the western parts of our
States, and finding too the agricultural contribution
that might be present from other states in the western
Lake Erie area, you did not indicate that was necessarily
a primary causative factor, or did I misunderstand your
testimony on that point?
MR. PREMETZ: No, I can't, on the basis of
recent results.
This is an area we are embarking upon. We
are studying this matter of pesticides, determining
pesticide levels not only in fish, but also in the bottom
sediments. In fact, we are studying this to determine
just what is in the sediment and just what might be
affecting the fish.
MR. MORR: When will your studies be fairly
conclusive?
MR. PREMETZ: These have just been started,
and it will take some time.
MR. MORR: Thank you very much.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further comments
or questions?
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429
Fred Wampler
MR. BOARDMAN: I have a question for Mr.
Wampler.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Wampler, Mr. Boardman has
a question.
MR. BOARDMAN: Mr. Wampler, in your reading
of the statement for the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation,
you indicated that one of the beaches in Presque Isle
State Park in Pennsylvania has also experienced pollu-
tion problems which, in a recent case, are becoming
progressively worse.
I would be interested in the study that
this information was taken from, since, according to
our records, as far back or as recent as 1938, all of
the Presque Isle beaches in Pennsylvania were polluted
by sewage.
Today there are three beaches that are
relatively pollution free, and one that is somewhat
affected by pollution.
In our estimation, this is an improvement,
not a degradation.
Again, as Mr. Stein said, I have put some
editorial questions, but we just want to keep the re-
cord straight. We would be interested in the reports
of degradation of the beaches.
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430
Fred Wampler
MR. STEIN: Mr. Boardman, I never made a
remark about you making editorial comments.
MR. BOARDMAN: Well, that was directed to
me yesterday, I believe.
MR. STEIN: I didn't say it.
Mr. Wampler?
MR. WAMPLER: Your point is well taken.
I think if we have any studies that we have
within the realm of the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation
that would enlighten the State of Pennsylvania, you can
be assured that we will furnish them.
MR. BOARDMAN: Thank you,
MR. STEIN: Are there any further comments
or questions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: If not, thank you very much,
and I would like to thank the Department of the Interior
for a very comprehensive presentation.
Mr. Poston?
MR. POSTON: Before closing the Federal
presentation, I would like to ask whether there are
any other Federal agencies who would care to be heard
at this time?
(No response.)
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431
MR. POSTON: I do not have any further re-
quests, and if there are no other Federal agencies that
care to be heard, Mr. Stein —-
MR. MORR: Mr. Poston, before we close the
Federal record, several thoughts have come to my mind.
In speaking of the Report on Pollution of
Lake Erie and its Tributaries, Parts 1, 2, and 3, ac-
cording to Mr. Megregian yesterday, the report is con-
clusive as to the interstate nature of the Lake Erie
pollution.
Secondly, top priority or the importance
of municipal secondary treatment in Detroit, Toledo, and
the Cleveland area are noted, and the sources of the
industrial contributions are noted.
My question is, on what date was the field
work for this report completed? May we know that, since
we have the report, and may we assume that the field
work is completed, and, if so, when it was?
MR. POSTON: This report was prepared at
the specific request of our Secretary for purposes of
this particular conference. Our studies are proceeding
and, insofar as our Great Lakes Project is concerned,
the studies have not been completed.
MR. MORR: They have not been?
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432
MR. POSTON: That is right.
MR. MORR: When might we expect them to be?
MR. POSTON: They will be continued. We
would expect to have a completion of this Lake Erie por-
tion within a year.
MR. MORR: I wouldn't want to indicate that
the conclusions and recommendations are based upon in-
complete studies.
MR. POSTON: We feel that we are able to
make these recommendations at this time.
MR. STEIN: Sir, as far as I know, the studies
that Mr. Poston is talking about are comprehensive studies,
something that the Congress undertook for all the Great
Lakes, and Lake Erie is one part of it.
This governs all aspects of water quality.
As we proceed in comprehensive studies, we do get suf-
ficient information to proceed with an abatement case
and an enforcement case.
The theory is that we do not wait for the
completion of all the studies, if we can do something
at this time.
MR. MORR: I see.
MR. STEIN: And since we had the request
from the Governor and the feeling of the Secretary,
evidently the investigators felt they had sufficient
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433
information at the present time to come up with these
conclusions, but the total study authorized by the Con-
gress on the Great Lakes of course will continue.
MR. MORR: Will there be, Mr. Poston, further
studies directed to the contribution from watercraft, both
those used recreationally and commercially?
MR. POSTON: I think our final report will
include this type of information.
I might say that our comprehensive studies
deal not alone with pollution that we have today, but we
look into the future, and for this purpose we are trying
to look 50 years in the future to determine what the
conditions will be at that time, so we will not be caught
with conditions such as we have in Lake Erie, where we
didn't have any concern for eutrophication of the Lake
10 years ago. We didn't know about this.
MR. MORR: Thank you very much.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Boardman?
MR. BOARDMAN: If I recall correctly, and
Mr. Poston can probably tell me whether I do or not,
at the May 10th conference, I believe you indicated at
that time that the study had come up with no evidence
of interstate pollution occurring. Now, today you say
it has.
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434
Is there a possibility that when this study
is complete you will change your mind again?
MR. POSTON: I don't think at the Governors'
Conference -- at the Governors' Conference we did not
have evidence that we could trace pollution from one state
to the other.
We think, as a result of this report, that
we can say this, and this is based upon current studies,
upon eutrophication studies of the Lake, and I think our
biologists and our chemists, and all of our technical
people indicated this in their presentations yesterday.
I do not think that, after making this de-
cision, we are going to have another change, or any change,
MR. STEIN: Mr. Boardman, you, I guess, are
a real good editorialist, but I don't understand the as-
sumption of your question about the change in mind.
Where is the change, when a man said several
months ago that they don't have the evidence? Now they
come in with a report and say they do have the evidence.
What is the change? Where is the change in mind, and
what is the underlying assumption of the question?
MR. BOARDMA.N: It was my understanding, Mr.
Stein, from working relatively closely with the Great
Lakes Projects, that even at the time of the Governors'
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435
Conference, the majority of the field work had been com-
pleted for the Lake Erie study, and that now the biggest
portion of the study is the report-writing phase.
MR. STEIN: Well, I don't know that that
necessarily assumes a change in mind at all.
The question here was that a few months ago,
as I understand their position, they did not believe that
the evidence was prepared in a sense where interstate
pollution could be shown. Now the project has moved
along where evidently the investigators feel that that
is the conclusion they can arrive at.
In the logical progression of events in any
scientific endeavor, I don't see that that constitutes
any assumption of a change of mind anywhere.
Are there any further comments or questions?
MR. HENNIGAN: Mr. Chairman?
MR. STEIN: Yes, Mr. Hennigan.
MR. HENNIGAN: If I may, I would like to
make some comments relative to the entire presentation,
or at least the conclusions and recommendations, as I
understand them.
According to the evidence that I have lis-
tened to, the major findings so far are that Lake Erie
is over-fertilized, they have a problem of eutrophication
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436
and algal blooms; there are critical DO's in a wide area
in the central section of the Lake; there are poor or non-
existent industrial waste practices; serious water quality
problems around the shore exist, particularly at the major
metropolitan areas -- that is, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland,
Erie and Buffalo, and this would include DO, algae blooms,
coliform counts, floating or settleable solids, toxic
wastes, sludge deposits, and refuse disposal; there is
serious interference with major water uses, particularly
fish and aquatic life, recreation, and esthetic considera-
tions; and the general feeling is that a critical situation
exists.
Is this a reasonable summarization of what
has been presented?
MR. STEIN: Mr. Boston?
MR. POSTON: I think that is a very reason-
able assumption of what has progressed to this point.
I think everyone who has been heard empha-
sized this, and everybody seems to feel that we should
act, and act now, starting right with the first presenta-
tion at this conference.
The Governor was very interested in action
and in an action program., I think we saw this probably
at its worst on our boat trip. We need action, and we
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437
need it now.
MR. HENNIGAN: Could I continue for a minute?
MR. STEIN: Go right ahead, surely.
MR. HENNIGAN: In the total recommendations
that have been made to date, I would again like to attempt
to summarize these.
First, secondary treatment and chlorination,
with emphasis on phosphate removal, for all municipal
sewage discharges.
Limitation of the use of combined sewers
and better control of the overflow structures on existing
systems.
Prohibition of solids waste disposal into
the Lake*
Regional or area-wide approaches to metro-
politan sewage collection and treatment problems*
Improved industrial waste practices based
on the premise that all wastes should be reduced as far
as practical, and continuous and proper surveillance is
needed.
Continuous surveillance system of the water
quality of Lake Erie.
Better land-use practices, including the
use of insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides, and more
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438
research into their effects; and, in some instances, stream
flow regulation where indicated in order to improve water
quality.
My question on this is, is this a reasonable
summarization of the recommendations in the document, ex-
cluding the question of jurisdiction?
MR. STEIN: Mr. Poston?
MR. POSTON: I think that is a very reasonable
summarization.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further comments
or questions?
MR. HENNIGAN: Yes.
There is one thing that concerns me. I think
most of these recommendations as presented represented in
many instances existent practice. I think they are funda-
mentally minimum recommendations.
Some things have been raised which concern
me as far as watering down some of these recommendations
where, I think in most instances, they are absolutely
essential if any progress is going to be made at all in
the whole question of pollution abatement, or the whole
question of improving water quality.
The secondary treatment requirement has been
compromised, in reference to an agreement reached at the
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439
Detroit conference, so I wondered whether or not this
recommendation could be carried through.
The use of combined sewers and a method of
approaching the use of combined sewers is a need that is
well recognized. 1 got the impression that people were
floundering around and didn't know what to do about it
yesterday.
The question of a regional area-wide approach
to —
MR. STEIN: Mr. Hennigan, 1 don't want to
interrupt you, but I think we might, if we are going to
arrive at something, take one of your problems at a time.
I wonder if you would clarify this: What
do you mean by your statement that the question of second-
ary treatment at Detroit has been compromised? What do
you mean by that?
Do you understand that is so?
MR. OEMING: No.
MR. HENNIGAN: I just read the section of
the agreement on Page 17 of the report of Michigan.
On Page 17, it says:
"All municipalities and industries be
required to provide a degree of treatment
sufficient to protect all legitimate uses."
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440
MR. STEIN: Yes.
MR. HENNIGAN: To continue:
"Where the effluent contains significant
bacterial loadings deleteriously affecting
legitimate water uses, disinfection of the
effluent will be required."
Does Number 7 mean secondary treatment? If
it does, I withdraw my comment.
MR. STEIN: Well, are you reading the only
comment at all?
I don't have that in front of me, but there
is, as far as I know, another recommendation that Michi-
gan will take action to implement the Federal report.
The Federal report recommends secondary treatment for
various municipalities.
I don't understand your problem.
MR. HENNIGAN: Well, there isn't any problem
if the question of secondary treatment for all municipal
waste discharges into Lake Erie is well understood by
everybody.
In the Michigan case, it is part of the
agreement which has already been reached. You know better
than I do on that, because you were there.
MR. STEIN: Yes.
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441
MR. HENNIGAN: As to the limitations on
the combined sewer question, as I said yesterday when
somebody raised an issue relative to how do you control
combined sewers, we seem to move from rather firm ground
to rather shaky ground.
MR. STEIN: Again, I think, if we may take
not only this city but other cities where we have met
the combined problem, the point is that you can just do
what you are physically capable of doing.
Mr. Premetz pointed out that if we stop
the deterioration of the Lake we are probably not going
to return this Lake overnight, by waving a magic wand,
or slapping down of a gavel, and make that Lake what it
was 100 years ago.
The point is, you need development; you need
research in various areas. We do know that one of the
most difficult and vexing problems that we have in the
older cities of the country is these combined sewers.
We do know that we have come up with solutions to these
problems in various cities, notably Washington, D. C.,
where we feel we are cutting down the stormwater overflow
to a real minimum.
The problem that you had in Detroit is a
very, very severe one. The problem that you had in Chicago,
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442
when we had a case there, is a very severe one.
Recognizing the necessity of meeting the
problem and the imperfections of the art, the recommenda-
tions at those places is that within a specified time
limit -- and I think it was two years in Detroit, and
possibly about the same in Chicago -- that they come up
with a program for elimination of stormwater overflows.
Now, if you can recommend something that
we can adopt today at this conference for Cleveland, or
Buffalo, or Erie, or Toledo, we will be glad to do it,
and I will recommend that to Detroit and to Chicago,
and I am sure the people here will welcome it.
MR. HENNIGAN: Well, as soon as the New
York City plan is operating, we will have recommendations
for everybody.
The other point, which I think is of some
concern, is this question of a regional area-wide approach
to metropolitan problems, which was recommended through-
out the document in various places, and which 1 again
think is essential to any intelligent approach to metro-
politan sewage collection and treatment.
Mr. Stein, you made some remarks relative
to whether or not this was a proper recommendation, or
something to that effect, in terms of the legality of
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443
the recommendation.
MR. STEIN: Let me make the position clear
on that, and we can check with the States. I think Mr.
Eagle kind of associated himself with that view.
Personally, I strongly agree with those
recommendations, and I think that is the only reasonable
way of doing it. The point, though, that we have to face
here is the authority of either the State -- and I think
I know the State laws in the States involved --or the
Federal Government in a regulatory agency, and whether
we have the authority to do that.
What we generally are talking about is pro-
tection of water quality, and we recommend that certain
things have to be done in terms of treatment and collec-
tion of wastes to protect water quality.
The way that is done is left up to local
option legally. We cannot say whether you go into a
multi-county operation, whether you go your separate ways, or
whether you have a single city signing contract with the
people in the suburbs.
Our experience has been that a regional
approach is the most intelligent and most economical ap-
proach, and, although some do not employ it, I can't imagine
communities not doing it.
-------
As a matter of fact, in the new Federal
amendments that are being processed through the Congress
now, we will be authorized to give a bonus to a municipal-
ity or a group of municipalities in a construction grant
if such municipalities have embarked on this regional
planning approach, but the device of giving a bonus is
quite a different technique in governmental operation
and authority than a regulatory agency telling someone
they have to do it.
MR. HENNIGAN: 1 have no further comments.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further comments
or questions?
Mr. Morr?
MR. MORR: Mr. Stein, the statement by Mr.
K. L. Kollar of the Business and Defense Services Ad-
ministration, in its conclusion, said that it is there-
fore incumbent on local government and industry to con-
tinue working hand in hand to solve pollution problems
where they exist.
May 1 interpret this then, in your statement
of a moment or two ago, that the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare, and Interior and Commerce are
looking then to local government and industry to, as soon
as propitious and as financing may be arranged, solve
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445
pollution problems beginning at the earliest possible
moment, where they may exist?
MR. STEIN: Yes, I would agree with that.
Again, you speak of from the State govern-
ment or from the Federal Government. I do not think
that the day to day operation of pollution control can
possibly rest with the Federal Government, and I suspect
not too much with the State government.
The point is it has to be done, it has to
be done on the local level, and, as you see us here now,
you may not completely subscribe to the notion, but one
of our biggest jobs is disengaging from a case in the
Federal Government.
Some of these States have worked with us
more closely than others, as Mr. Poole and Mr. Blucher
here know. Once we get this on the way, and the State
and local governments are operating, we just step back,
and just check from time to time to see that that is
operating. We are not here every day looking over your
shoulders.
We are firmly convinced that water pollution
problems, like any other problem, can best be solved
by the day to day operation at the lowest local unit
of government possible.
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446
MR. MORR: Thank you very much.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Poston?
MR. POSTON: I would like to comment to the
effect that our total Federal program is geared to as-
sisting of the States in their operation, and it starts
right now with our grant programs.
We have grants for municipalities, to help
them build these plants. We have grants to assist the
State agencies extend and expand their programs. We
have technical assistance which is given to State agencies
or industries, or those who have the need, and we presently
are starting in on a research program with a big research
center to study problems, so that we can give answers to
State and local agencies on how to solve their problems.
We have felt that research can be combined
for several State areas, and study particular problems
of an area, and that these things are all geared to give
assistance and not to carry a program.
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
If there are no further comments, I believe
this concludes the Federal presentation.
With that, we will stand recessed for ten
minutes.
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Loring F. Oeming 447
(After a short recess.)
MR. STEIN: May we reconvene?
Our schedule now will call for a lunch re-
cess at about 12:30, just as we had it yesterday.
At the present time, I would like to call
on Mr. Oeming for the Michigan presentation.
I should say there is some kind of design
for this precedent. We are moving in the Lake, and I
am calling on the States from west to east, so we will
call on Mr. Oeming of Michigan.
Mr. Oeming.
STATEMENT OF MR. LORING F.
OEMING, CONFEREE AND EXECUTIVE
SECRETARY, MICHIGAN WATER RE-
SOURCES COMMISSION, LANSING,
MICHIGAN
MR. OEMING: Mr. Chairman and fellow Con-
ferees:
The Michigan presentation will consist of
three statements, three appearances, and perhaps some
statements which I would ask to be read into the record.
The personal appearances will be made by
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448
Loring F. Oeming
Mr. Ralph Purdy, on behalf of the Commission, Mr. Frank
Hooper on behalf of the Department of Conservation, and
Mr. Leonard J. Goodsell on behalf of the Great Lakes
Commission.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I would like to
call upon Mr. Ralph Purdy, the Chief Engineer of the
Michigan Water Resources Commission, to present the
statement on behalf of the Water Resources Commission.
1 believe, Mr. Chairman and conferees, you
all have a copy of Mr. Purdy's statement.
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449
Ralph W. Purdy
STATEMENT OP
RALPH W. PURDY
ON BEHALF OP THE
MICHIGAN WATER RESOURCES COMMISSION
Mr. Chairman, Conferees, Ladies and
Gentlemen:
I will first outline the Statutory
Authority and Legal History.
Statutory Authority
Michigan's legislative effort to control
water pollution is summarized as follows:
1. Act 350, P.A. 1865. . . .Conservation
Department
2. Act 98, P.A. 1913. . . .Health De-
partment
3. Act 17, P.A. 1921. .. .Conservation
Department
4. Act 245, P.A. 1929. . . .Stream
Control Commission
5. Act 61, P.A. 1939. . . .State
Supervisor of Wells (Conservation Department)
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450
Ralph W. Purdy
6. Act 117, P.A. 19^9, amending (4)
above. . . .Water Resources Commission
7. Act 219, P.A. 1949, amending (2) above. .
State Health Commissioner
8. Act 40, P.A. 1956 (Drain Code). . . .
County Drain Commissioners or Intercounty Drainage
Boards
9. Act 306, P.A. 1927, as amended. . . .
County Health Departments
10. Act 165, P.A. 1963, amending (4)
above. .Water Resources Commission
11. Act 328, P.A. 1965, amending (4)
above. .Water Resources Commission
No. 1 was enacted for the protection of
fish and fisheries.
No. 2 initiated Health Department supervision
of municipal water and sewerage facilities and related
developments concerned with public health.
No. 3 The basic Act creating the Conser-
vation Department. This carries a broad grant of
authority in the following words found in Section 3:
"to prevent and guard against the pollution of lakes and
streams within the state, and to enforce all laws pro-
vided for that purpose with all authority granted by law."
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451
Ralph ¥. Purdy
No. 4. The Legislature's attempt to resolve
Health and Conservation Department differences of the
late 1920's by the creation of a Stream Control Commission.
The Act also provided for compliance under a formal
notice, hearing, and order procedure. Unlawful pollution
was defined as the discharge to waters of the state as "any
waste or pollution of any kind that will tend to destroy
fish life or be injurious to public health."
Section 12 of the new Act provided that it
should be construed "as ancillary to and supplementing"
existing provisions of law governing pollution of lakes
and streams "except as the same may be in direct conflict
herewith."
The Commission was further required to as-
certain, in taking appropriate action, whether the con-
ditions created were "unreasonable and against public
interest in view of the existing conditions in any lake,
river, stream or other waters of the state."
Monthly meetings were required of the five-
member Commission to consist of the Director of Conser-
vation, Commissioner of Health, the Highway Commissioner,
the Commissioner of Agriculture, and the Attorney General.
No. 5. This enactment made the Director
of Conservation the State Supervisor of Wells (for oil and
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452
Ralph W. Purdy
gas). Among his other duties he was authorized "to pre-
vent waste or damage to oil and gas, the fresh, brine,
and mineral waters or to life and property.'
No. 6. A Water Resources Commission of
seven members was created to replace the Stream Control
Commission of 1929. To make up its membership of seven,
there was added to the four hold-over ex-officio members
heading the Health, Conservation, Agriculture and Highway
Departments, three Executive appointees (with Senate
approval). The citizen members represent respectively,
Industrial Management, Municipalities, and Organized
Conservation Groups.
The preservation and encouragement of member
departmental activity in this field was continued as was
authority to call upon "any officer, board, department,
school, university or other state institution for any
assistance deemed necessary to the carrying out of this
Act."
No. 7. The last series of amendments to (2)
above strengthened the Health Department's control of
plans, construction, operation and supervision of
public water supply, sewerage and sewage treatment
facilities. From the standpoint of water pollution con-
trol one sentence of the Act is particularly significant:
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453
Ralph W. Purdy
"The State Health Ccanmissloner shall exercise due care
to see that sewerage systems are properly planned, con-
structed and operated so as to prevent unlawful pollution
of the streams, lakes and other water resources of the
state."
Authorization "to act as agent to the Stream
Control Commission on request" appears in Section 11 of
the Act.
No. 8. The Drainage Code, up for further
amendments each year, carries in Section 423 its definition
of the unlawful use of county drains and intercounty
drainage facilities for the carrying of sewage and other
wastes. Action under this law has been the lease pro-
ductive of pollution control results.
No. 9. The basic Act providing for the
establishment of county and district health departments
authorizes the County Board of Health to exercise
the same powers as conferred on boards of health of
townships, villages and cities. On this basis the
local health departments have adopted and enforced
county regulations controlling the installation and
operation of private sewage disposal systems.
No. 10. Authorizes state officer to
designate a representative from his department to serve
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454
Ralph W. Purdy
in his stead as a member of the Water Resources
Commission.
No. 11. Amendments clarify wording in various
sections of the basic Water Resources Commission act.
Broadens the definition of unlawful pollution to pro-
vide for what may become injurious; includes substances
which are injurious to the value or utility of riparian
lands, and provides that the discharge of any raw
sewage shall be considered as a prima facie evidence of
a violation. Also a city, village or township which
permits or allows the discharge of raw sewage by any of
its inhabitants shall be subject to the remedies pro-
vided in Section 7 of the act. New penalty section
provides for a minimum fine of $500 per day.
Act 245, Public Acts of 1929 as amended
through the 19&5 regular session of the legislature is
attached as Exhibit "A". The amendments provided in
Act 328, Public Acts of 1965 are effective 90 days
after the adjournment of the present regular session.
Legal History
Prior to 1929 authority of the State of
Michigan to abate pollution rested upon a basis of
common law. In 1913 the Michigan Supreme Court held
in Attorney General ex rel Township of Wyoming vs. City
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Ralph W. Purdy
of Grand Rapids, 175 Mich. 503, that the state Attorney
General acting under his broad common law powers had the
authority to file suits on behalf of the State of
Michigan to compel the City of Grand Rapids to abate
the public nuisance that it was making in the waters of
the Grand River by discharging raw sewage therein. In
its decree the Supreme Court ordered that the City con-
struct such works as were necessary to abate the pollution
within one year.
In 1929 the Michigan Legislature enacted
the Stream Control Commission Act (Act 2^5, P.A. 1929)
establishing a five-member Commission consisting of the
Director of Conservation, the State Health Commissioner,
the Highway Commissioner, the Commissioner of Agriculture,
and the Attorney General. This Act defined unlawful
pollution as the discharge to the waters of the state of
''any waste or pollution of any kind that will tend to
destroy fish life or be injurious to public health". The
law further provided the Stream Control Commission with
authority to ascertain and take appropriate action where
existing conditions in any lake, river, stream or other
waters of the state were deemed by the Commission to be
unreasonable and against public interest. In order to
insure compliance with Stream Commission orders, the
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Ralph W. Purdy
statute provided for a formal notice, hearing and
order procedure.
The constitutionality and authority of the
Stream Control Commission to issue orders requiring the
abatement of pollution of the waters of the state were
reviewed in City of Niles vs. Stream Control Commission,
296 Mich. 650, decided March 11, 194l. In that case the
City of Niles appealed from an order of the Stream Con-
trol Commission directing the city to begin construction
of a sewage treatment plant for the purpose of preventing
the discharge of raw sewage into the St. Joseph River.
The Supreme Court sustained the authority of the Commission,
validated its order and compelled the City of Niles to
comply.
In the course of that decision the court made
some notable observations, among which is the following:
"In order to stop pollution of the river,
it was necessary for the Commission to take action against
the City of Niles, inasmuch as it was the first city in
the State on the course of the river below the Indiana
cities and thus open the way for suit to compel the
Indiana cities to stop pollution of the waters of the
river. It is an instance where the State must clean up
its own door-yfu?£ before being in a position to ask or
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Ralph W. Purdy
seek to compel its neighbor to clean up. This was not
an arbitrary exercise of power by the Commission but a
practical movement toward accomplishment of a most de-
sirable end." (quoted on p. 157, 305 Mich. Rep.)
However, the most notable series of cases
involved the enforcement of the order issued by the Stream
Control Commission against the City of Port Huron. On
February 11, 1936 the Commission issued an order against
the City of Port Huron requiring it "to proceed to the
construction of a sewage treatment plant and the necessary
collecting and intercepting sewers, pumping stations,
force mains and other appurtenances in connection there-
with, all when and as approved by the Michigan Department
of Health to permit treatment for the sewage of the city
before its discharge to State waters". The city failed to
comply with this order and the Commission filed a bill
of complaint on December 9, 1939 to enforce it. After an
extended trial the Circuit Court denied the relief sought
by the Commission and the matter was appealed to the
Supreme Court. In the course of its opinion (St rearn
Control Commission vs. Port Huron, 305 Mich. 153), re-
versing the decision of the lower court and validating the
order of the Commission, the Supreme Court referred to
the argument made by the city that construction of the
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Ralph W. Purdy
sewage plant would not materially reduce pollution in
the river and that its present method of sewage disposal
did not create a public nuisance to the people residing
along the river as well as those in the cities of Marys-
ville, St. Glair, Marine City and Algonac situated within
30 miles below Port Huron. In disposing of this con-
tention, the court stated (p. 157):
"The record contains sufficient testimony
to substantiate the State's contention that the present
raw sewage disposal method is a constant menace to the
health and well-being of the downriver communities as
well as to tourists. This evidence clearly justifies
the Commission's order. Under the authority of the
City of Niles case, supra, where similar arguments were
advanced, it is no defense to a statutory charge of river-
water pollution that others have or are contributing to
that condition. ''
A contention made by the city consisted of
invoking the doctrines of "balancing of equities" and
''comparative injury11. These doctrines are always in-
voked when a number of municipalities or industries con-
tribute to the pollution of a body of waters, each one
claiming that it should not be required to abate its con-
tribution to the pollution until the others are required
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Ralph W. Purdy
to do likewise. In disposing of this contention the
Supreme Court said (p. 157-158):
"Even if we should concur with the trial
judge in his conclusion that a 'balancing of equities'
favors the city, this is not a proper case for the appli-
cation of that doctrine. The doctrine of 'comparative
injury' should be confined to those situations where the
plaintiff can be substantially compensated. This principle
is distinguished in City of Harrisonville vs. W. S.
Dickey Clay Manfg. Co., 289 U. S. 33^, 337 (53 Sup. Ct.
602, 77 L. Ed. 1208)."
* * * *
"The doctrine of 'comparative injury1 should
not be invoked to justify the continuance of an act that
tends to impair public health."
Another contention made by the City of Port
Huron was its financial inability to comply with the order.
In disposing of this issue against the city, the court
stated (p. 159):
"The act creating the Commission was under
the police power vested in the State, and the order in
question was not arbitrary or unreasonable but became
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Ralph W. Purdy
necessary by reason of the previous refusal of the city
of Port Huron to stop pollution of the St. Glair and
Black rivers. The evidence justified the order of the
Commission, and the decree entered below must be vacated.
"We are not unmindful of the situation caused
by war conditions and the fact that the city of Port
Huron will have difficulty in complying with the Commission's
order due to necessary materials now required for war pur-
poses. This, however, does not, and should not, prevent
the city from immediately taking those steps necessary to
insure the carrying out of the mandate of the Commission,
but a reasonable time should be allowed for completion of
the project. We apprehend that the State and city can
agree upon the time that is necessary, and if they cannot,
this is a matter which can be determined by the trial
judge upon proper proofs."
The City of Port Huron, however, failed to
comply with the order of the Supreme Court and consequently
the Attorney General filed a motion for final process to
enforce the decree. The court rendered its opinion in
People ex rel Stream Control Commission vs. City of Port
Huron, 323 Mich. 54l. In a per curiam opinion reviewing
the events that had occurred including reference to war
conditions that had made it impossible for the city to
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Ralph W. Purdy
procure necessary materials for construction and that time
was required for this purpose, and pointing out that the
city had authorized the issuance of bonds totalling $1,600,000
for construction of the sewage disposal plant, the court
stated:
"This phase of the situation presents a
matter for practical consideration. The problem is one
that cannot be solved other than by the construction of
proper facilities necessary for the treatment of the raw
sewage . . . The condition existing is one, as indicated
in the prior opinion of this court, that should be remedied
as soon as possible. If the course the city commission
claims it is pursuing is followed with reasonable diligence,
it seems clear that the desired result can be accomplished
in the not far distant future .... It seems expedient
now that a definite date should be fixed prior to which
the sewage disposal plant, the intercepting sewers and
other necessary appurtenances shall be completed so that
the existing situation may be ended.
"The injunctive relief sought by the motion
of the attorney general will be granted effective as of
October 1, 1950."
Even this, however, did not end the controversy
because the City of Port Huron experienced difficulty in
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Ralph W. Purdy
selling the bonds to raise the money for construction of
the works. Apparently the bonding houses wanted a decision
from the State Supreme Court validating those proposed bonds,
Consequently, upon the city treasurer's refusal to counter-
sign the bonds, mandamus proceedings were filed by the
mayor of Port Huron against him. The Attorney General
intervened as plaintiff and the matter was decided by
the Supreme Court in Port Huron Mayor vs. Treasurer, 328
Mich. 99. In its opinion the court reviewed the prior
proceedings, the various resolutions and ordinances
adopted by the city for the issuance of the bonds, and
the court pinpointed the critical issue as follows (p. 106):
'The most important question raised by
the pleadings is whether the issuance of the general ob-
ligation bonds of $1,300,000 must be approved by a 3/5
majority of the qualified electors of the city of Port
Huron after due notice has been given to them in the same
manner and to the extent that is required for issuance
of other general obligations bonds issued under the
charter of the city of Port Huron and by the home rule
act.''
The bonds had not been submitted to the
electors for approval and thus the court was faced with
the responsibility of deciding whether its previous orders
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Ralph W. Purdy
could be complied with without reference to any refer-
endum for the issuance of the bonds to raise the money
needed for compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court.
Act 320, P.A. 1927, authorized the legislative bodies of
municipalities to issue and sell bonds necessary for the
construction of sewage disposal plant "whenever a court
of competent Jurisdiction in this State shall have ordered
the installation of a sewage or garbage disposal system
in any of the governmental agencies of municipalities
herein mentioned and the plans therefore shall have been
prepared and approved by the state commissioner of health.
Another statute known as the Municipal
Finance Act, namely Act 373* P.A. 1925, contained the same
provision with reference to the construction of "necessary
storm and sanitary sewers'.
After reviewing the various authorities, the
court held that whenever a municipality finds it necessary
to raise money for the issuance of bonds for the purpose
of complying with a court order involving the public health
of the State, no referendum of approval by the people
is necessary, its opinion on this point stated:
"The action of the plaintiffs was in strict
accord without peremptory order for the installation of a
sewage treatment system in Port Huron. The proposed bond
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Ralph W. Purdy
issue was not to raise money for ordinary municipal
purposes or improvements, but to carry out the order of
this Court, and prevent defendant from further polluting
public streams and endangering the health and comfort not
only of its own inhabitants but also of all others in any
way affected by the pollution of the waters by the filth
from the Port Huron sewers. This no longer created
solely a problem of Port Huron but one of the State and
this may have been the reason for enactment ofAct No. 320,
supra, sections of which we have quoted. The order was
for the protection of the people of the State of Michigan.
It transcended local purposes.
"Claims of defendant that notice and vote of
the electors of Port Huron were necessary are fully ans-
wered by sections 7 and 8 of P.A. 1927, No. 320, supra.
The city of Port Huron was bound to carry out the order
of this Court, which confirmed the previous order of the
Stream Control Commission. There was neither necessity,
occasion, nor any reason to publish the resolution
authorizing the issuance of the bonds, nor, as previously
stated, did it require the vote of 3/5 of the electors."
(Emphasis supplied).
Another point raised was that the levying
of the tax for the payment of such bonds would exceed the
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Ralph W. Purdy
tax limitations provided by the city charter. This is a
contention which is usually made by municipalities
whenever they are faced with complying with an order
of the Water Resources Commission. In its opinion the
court rejected this contention by holding that there is
ample authority in Act 320, P.A. 1927, to levy taxes for
the purposes mentioned in that statute; and that even
though the tax limitations were exceeded, such defense
was not valid when the city is required to comply with
a court order.
The Supreme Court thereupon issued its writ
of mandamus ordering the city treasurer to countersign the
bonds and in due time the sewage disposal system of the
City of Port Huron was built and has been operating
ever since.
The series of cases referred to paved the
way for enforcement of Water Resources Commission orders
and enabled Michigan municipalities to finance construction
of projects necessary to comply with Commission orders.
Today no municipality in the State of Michigan can plead
that it is financially unable to comply with orders of the
Water Resources Commission. Financial inability is not a
defense against the abatement of a nuisance either by
private citizens or by a municipal entity.
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Ralph W. Purdy
State Program for Control of Water Pollution
The State of Michigan takes pride in its
energetic efforts and programs to improve water quality and
banish pollution.
While many tasks remain to be done, the
programs which have been successfully completed and those
now in progress are impressive and evidence a long history
of effective water pollution control. The water pollution
control policies and programs of the State of Michigan
recognize the many uses which water, our most precious
resource, must satisfy. The needs of domestic water
supply, industry, agriculture, and recreation, including
fishing, swimming and boating, must all be considered
if water pollution control programs are to receive the
public support and confidence required to carry such
programs to successful completion. It has been the pur-
pose of Michigan's control programs to effectively up-
grade water quality in all areas consistent with local
requirements and to abate unlawful pollution deemed to
be unreasonable and contrary to the public interest.
The legal machinery provided by the State of Michigan
is adequate to place under proper control any species
of waste discharges where needs can be identified and
improvements predicted.
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Ralph ¥. Purdy
The record made by the State of Michigan clearly
shows that the State has consistently followed effective
abatement programs and evidences the readiness at all times
of the State to initiate whatever action is required or
may be required to correct a violation of State Law.
The need for an investigation and appraisal
of the discharges of waste water to the Detroit River and
Michigan waters of Lake Erie was recognized by the Michigan
Water Resources Commission and an outline of a proposed
comprehensive study was prepared in 19&L. The survey was
to be undertaken and performed by the state. An alternate
procedure was selected by then Governor Swainson and by
letter dated December 5j 196l, asked, "In accordance
with Section 8 of P.L. 660 as amended (P.L. 8?-88), I
request that you, as Secretary of Health, Education, and
Welfare, assist the State of Michigan to identify and rec-
ommend methods for correcting the sources of pollution
going into the Detroit River and subsequently into Lake
Erie".
A conference in the matter of pollution of
the navigable waters of the Detroit River and its tribu-
taries within the State of Michigan and Lake Erie was
held March 27-28, 1962. At the close of the conference
the conferees agreed to the following conclusions and
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Ralph W. Purdy
recommendations:
1. Lake St. Glair, the Detroit River, and
Lake Erie, within the State of Michigan, and their tribu-
taries within the State of Michigan, are navigable waters
within the meaning of section 8 of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act.
2. Pollution of navigable waters subject to
abatement under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act is
occurring in the Michigan waters of Lake St. Glair, the
Detroit River, and Lake Erie, and their tributaries. The
discharges causing and contributing to the pollution come
from various industrial and municipal sources.
3. This pollution causes deleterious con-
ditions so as to interfere with legitimate water uses,
including municipal and industrial water supplies,
fisheries resources, commercial and sport fishing, swimming,
water skiing, pleasure boating and other forms of recreation.
4. It is too early, on the basis of the record
of the Conference, to make an adequate judgment of the
adequacy of the measures taken toward abatement of the
pollution. The Conference discussions demonstrate that
there are many gaps in our knowledge of sources of
pollution and their effects.
5. Cognizance is taken of the program of
the Michigan Water Resources Commission for development
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Ralph W. Purdy
of adequate pollution control measures on a progressive
basis and the excellent progress being made by many
municipalities and industries under this program. Delays
encountered in abating the pollution may well be caused by
the existence of a municipal and industrial complex con-
centrated in an area with a limited water resource. The
conferees are also aware of the vast problems that Detroit
faces as a result of the stormwater outflow from a system
of combined sewers. The problem thus becomes one of
approaching the entire area on a coordinated basis and
putting in adequate facilities based on an overall plan.
6. Cognizance is also taken of the six-county
study as a useful approach to the solution of the
pollution problem in the Detroit area.
7. The Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare, in order to close the gaps in the knowledge
as to sources of pollution, nature of pollution, and the
effects thereof, appropriate methods of abatement, and
appropriate methods to avoid delays in abatement, will
initiate an investigation and study to gather data and
information on the waters involved. This investigation
and study will be carried on in close cooperation with
the State agencies concerned, with the details of the
investigation to be determined by the technical staffs
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Ralph W. Purely
of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the
Michigan Health Department and the Michigan Water Re-
sources Commission. The Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare will establish a resident survey group to
provide technical assistance for this investigation.
8. The Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare will prepare reports on the progress of this in-
vestigation at six month intervals which will be made avail-
able to the Michigan Water Resources Commission. The
Michigan Water Resources Commission will make information
contained in these reports available to all interested
parties.
9. The Conference will be reconvened at the
call of the Chairman with the concurrence of the Michigan
Water Resources Commission to consider the results ob-
tained from the investigation and study, and to agree on
action to be taken to abate pollution.
A special field unit of the Department of
Health, Education,and Welfare working in cooperation with
the staffs of the Michigan Water Resources Commission and
Michigan Department of Health conducted the intensive
comprehensive study. The report of this study written by
the staff of the Department of Health, Education, and Wel-
fare was completed and was the subject of the reconvened
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Ralph W. Purdy
Federal Conference June 15 through June 18, 1965. Th®
conference closed with the conferees in agreement on the
following conclusions and recommendations:
1. The Detroit River and Lake Erie within the
State of Michigan, and their tributaries within the State
of Michigan, are navigable waters within the meaning of
Section 8 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
2. Pollution of navigable waters subject
to abatement under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
is occurring in the Detroit River, the Michigan waters of
Lake Erie, and their tributaries within the State of
Michigan. The discharges causing and contributing to the
pollution come from various industrial and municipal
sources.
3. While many sources of waste discharge
in the area have adequate facilities, many sources still
have inadequate waste treatment facilities. The delays
in controlling the pollution problem of the area covered
by the Conference are caused by the lack of such adequate
facilities and the complex municipal-industrial nature
of the problem.
4. Recognition is taken of the excellent
work and programming of the Michigan State authorities.
Most wastes in the area receive a measure of treatment
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Ralph W. Pur dy-
er control.
5. The Report on Pollution of the Detroit
River and the Michigan waters of Lake Erie and their
tributaries, prepared by the U. S. Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare, dated April 1965* will be sub-
mitted to the Michigan Water Resources Commission for
implementation under State and local law. Action taken
by the Michigan Water Resources Commission will be re-
ported to the Conferees at six-month intervals at public
meetings to be called by the Chairman of the Conference.
The Conferees expect that a time schedule for the control
of pollution in the area covered by the Conference will be
established by the Michigan Water Resources Commission
regarding all sources of pollution within one year from
the date of the issuance of this summary.
6. The Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare will consult with the Michigan Water Resources
Commission on action taken under State law by that Commission
relating to specific problems of the Detroit River and
Michigan waters of Lake Erie. Staff members of the Department
of Health, Education, and Welfare will be available for
presentation of evidence and testimony at conferences and
hearings before the Michigan Water Resources Commission.
7. All municipalities and industries be
required to provide a degree of treatment sufficient to
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Ralph W. Purdy
protect all legitimate uses. Where the effluent con-
tains significant bacterial loadings deleteriously
affecting legitimate water uses, disinfection of the
effluent will be required.
8. Sewerage systems with collection sewers
terminating in adequate treatment facilities be provided
in those areas along the Michigan shore of Lake Erie and
the Detroit River where sewers do not now exist and
homes discharge either raw wastes or septic tank effluent
to the watercourse.
9. Waste treatment facilities be designed
to prevent the necessity of bypassing untreated wastes
during maintenance and renovation operations. Cognizance
is taken of the fact that many installations provide this
protection at the present time.
10. Programs to reduce the likelihood of
accidental spills of waste material to the river be con-
tinued and strengthened.
11. All municipal waste water treatment plants
and industries discharging wastes analyze regularly signi-
ficant waste constituents contributing to pollution, and
furnish such reports and records to the Michigan Water
Resources Commission as specified by it.
12. A Department of Health, Education, and
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Ralph W. Purdy
Welfare water pollution control surveillance station be
established in the lower section of the Detroit River.
This will be in addition to the Department station now
in operation at the head of the Detroit River so as to
indicate changes in water quality after improvements are
made.
13. Surveillance will be the primary re-
sponsibility of the State of Michigan. The Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare will assist the State at
such times as requested. Surveillance will include regular
sampling of waste effluents and overflows from combined
sewers as well as aerial and power boat reconnaissance as
practiced by the Michigan Water Resources Commission. Ex-
pansion of this activity is encouraged and recommended.
14. The Conference may be reconvened on the
call of the Chairman.
The Michigan Water Resources Commission at
its June 24, 1965 meeting received the recommendations of
the conferees and took the following action:
Quoting from our Commission minutes:
"That the municipalities and industries in-
volved be requested to appear before the Commission for
conferences to discuss the recommendations in the Federal
report and to explore and identify the issues as the basis
for a determination of further action to be taken by the
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Ralph W. Purely
Commission; that the staff of the Michigan Water Resources
Commission be instructed to develop proposals for water
quality goals to be sought in the Detroit River and Michi-
gan waters of Lake Erie; and that the following pro-
cedure and program be pursued:"
1. July 29, 1965, Commission meeting at
Lansing; Decision on recommendations requested from
Commission staff for water quality goals to be sought in
the Detroit River and Michigan waters of Lake Erie, for
presentation at August conference with municipalities,
industries and other water users.
2. August 25-26, 1965, Commission meeting
at Detroit (2 days); Conference on water quality goals,
adoption of goals.
3' September 29-30, - October 1, 1965,
Commission meeting at Detroit (3 days); Conferences
with municipalities and industries in Detroit River area
on action to be taken to meet specific individual re-
quirement s.
4. November 4, 1965» Commission meeting
at Monroe (1 day): Conferences with municipalities and
industries in Monroe-Lake Erie area, on action to be
taken to meet specific individual requirements.
5. December 15 (Noon) - 16. 1965* Commission
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Ralph W. Purdy
meeting at Lansing (l| days); Invoke the statutory pro-
cedures or other appropriate action disclosed by pre-
ceding conferences to be required to establish programs
and dates for abatement of pollution determined to be
unlawful under State statutes; this may include Notices
of Determination and Hearing, Stipulations, etc.
In addition to our prepared text I would
like to call to the attention of the Conferees that the
Commission schedule calls for the establishment of a
time schedule for the control of pollution six months in
advance of the date required by the Conferees, or the
decision reached by the Conferees at the June 15-18
Detroit Conference.
MR. STEIN; I can applaude at that.
(Laughter).
MR. PURDY; The initial decision on water
quality goals was reached on July 29, 1965 as scheduled
and it can be anticipated that the remaining portion of
the program will proceed as scheduled.
The State of Michigan has assumed its ob-
ligation. It will seek by all possible means to achieve
and preserve a water quality that is consistent with the
myriad needs that are involved. The record shows a
continuing dynamic program of progressive water better-
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Ralph W. Purdy
ment. As valid goals are defined the program will be in-
tensified. The goals however must be framed in the realties
of what can be supported by law, for the equities involved
may limit the extent to which even the most public spirited
organization can go without compulsion.
We are aware of the extensive studies of the
Great Lakes system, and in particular those involving
Lake Erie now being conducted by the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare under the special authority for such
studies provided by Section 2 and 4 f of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act. At the International Level, the
governments of the United States and Canada have requested
the International Joint Commission to ascertain whether
pollution of Lake Erie originating on one side of the
border is producing or is likely to produce injury on
the other side, and, if so, the extent, causes, and
localities of that pollution and the nature and cost of
appropriate remedial measures.
The Federal studies as well as the Inter-
national Joint Commission Investigations -can properly be
assumed to have been undertaken on the premise that the
available store of knowledge has not sufficed as a basis
upon which to found comprehensive action programs or to
predict their effectiveness. Deficiencies in present
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Ralph W. Purdy
knowledge have been broadly identified by the Department
of Health, Education, and Welfare as relating to the aging
process of the lake as well as to the effects, significance,
and possibilities for control of various man-made in-
fluences upon the lake water quality.
The protection and enhancement of this great
water resource must necessarily be a cooperative effort
involving the Federal Government, the several states, and
the waste contributing cities and industries. With each
of these entities playing its appropriate role, supported
by an alert and responsible citizenry, we believe that
the orderly processes of investigation and execution
which have been initiated and which are being followed by
the State of Michigan will lead to the realization of
our mutual objectives in the water quality of Lake Erie.
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Ralph W. Purdy
Exhibit "A"
State of Michigan
Water Resources Commission
Act 245, Public Acts of 1929 as amended
through 1965 regular session
Sections not amended by Act 328, P. A. of
1965 shown full page width.
Sections amended by Act 328, P. A. Sections amended by Act
of 1965 shown as before amendment 328, P. A. of 1965 shown
in this column as amended in this column
An act to create a water resources commission
to protect and conserve the water resources of the state,
to have control over the pollution of any waters of the
state and the Great Lakes, with power to make rules and
regulations governing the same, and to prescribe the
powers and duties of such commission; to prohibit the
pollution of any waters of the state and the Great Lakes;
to designate the commission as the state agency to cooper-
ate and negotiate with other governments and agencies in
matters concerning the water resources of the state; and
to provide penalties for the violation of this act.
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Ralph W. Purdy
Sec. 1. For the purpose of carrying out
the provisions of this act there is hereby created a
water resources commission, hereinafter referred to as
the commission, which shall consist of the director
of conservation, the commissioner of health, the high-
way commissioner, the director of agriculture, and 3
citizens of the state to be appointed by the governor,
by and with the advice and consent of the senate, 1
from groups representative of industrial management,
1 from groups representative of municipalities, and 1
from groups representative of conservation associations
or interests, for terms of 3 years each except that of
the members first appointed, 1 shall be appointed for
a term of 1 year, 1 for a term of 2 years, and 1 for
a term of 3 years. Vacancies shall be filled for the
unexpired term in the same manner as original appoint-
ments. Members of the commission shall be entitled to
actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance
of official duties. It shall be the duty of the depart-
ment of administration to provide suitable office fa-
cilities for the use of the commission.
Each of the aforesaid state officers is
hereby authorized to designate a representative from
his department to serve in his stead as a member of
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Ralph W. Purdy
Che commission for 1 or more meetings.
Sec. 2. The commission shall organize and
make its own rules and regulations and procedure and
shall meet at least once each month and shall keep a re-
cord of its proceedings. The commission shall protect
and conserve the water resources of the state and shall
have control of the pollution of surface or underground
waters of the state of Michigan and the great lakes,
which are or may be affected by waste disposal of
municipalities, industries, public or private corpora-
tions, individuals, partnership associations, or any
other entity. The commission is empowered to make or
cause to be made surveys, studies and investigations of
the uses of waters of the state, both surface and under-
ground, and to cooperate with other governments, govern-
mental units and agencies thereof in making such surveys,
studies and investigations. The commission shall assist
in an advisory capacity any flood control district which
may be authorized by the legislature of this state.
The commission in the public interest shall have the
right and duty to appear and present evidence, reports
and other testimony during the hearings involving the
creation and organization of flood control districts.
It shall also be the duty and responsibility of the
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Ralph W. Purdy
of the commission to advise and consult with the legis-
lature on the obligation of the state to participate in
the costs of construction and maintenance as provided
for in the official plans of any flood control district
or intercounty drainage district. The commission shall
have the authority to, and shall enforce the provisions
of this act and shall make and promulgate such rules and
regulations as shall be deemed necessary to carry out
the provisions of this act. The rules and regulations
of the commission shall be promulgated in conformity
with the provisions of Act No. 88 of the Public Acts of
1943, as amended, being sections 24.71 to 24.82, inclusive,
of the Compiled Laws of 1948.
Sec. 2A. The water resources commission is
hereby designated the state agency to cooperate and nego-
tiate with other governments, governmental units and
agencies thereof in matters concerning the water resources
of the state, including but not limited to flood control
and beach erosion control. The commission is further
authorized to take such steps as may be necessary to take
advantage of any act of Congress heretofore or hereafter
enacted which may be of assistance in carrying out the
purposes of this act.
The commission shall report to the governor
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Ralph W. Purdy
and to the legislature at least once in each year any
plans or projects being carried on or considered and
shall include in such report requests for any legislation
needed to carry out any proposed projects or agreements
made necessary thereby, together with any requests for
appropriations.
Sec. 3. The commission shall be
authorized to bring any appro-
priate action in the name of the
people of the state of Michigan,
either at law or in chancery as
may be necessary to carry out
the provisions of this act, and
to enforce any and all laws re-
lating to the pollution of the
waters of this state.
Sec. 3. The commission
shall be authorized to
bring any appropriate ac-
tion in the name of the
people of the State of
Michigan, either at law
or in chancery as may be
necessary to carry out
the provisions of this
act, and to enforce any
and all laws relating to
the pollution of the waters
of this state. Whenever
the attorney general deems
it necessary, he shall
take charge of and prose-
cute all criminal cases
arising under the provi-
sions of this act.
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Ralph W. Purdy
Sec. 4. The commission or any agent duly ap-
pointed by it shall have the right to enter at all reason-
able times in or upon any private or public property for
the purpose of inspecting and investigating conditions
relating to the pollution of any waters of this state.
The commission shall have the right to call upon any offi-
cer, board, department, school, university or other state
institution and the officers or employees thereof for
any assistance deemed necessary to the carrying out of
this act.
Sec. 5. The commission shall establish such
pollution standards for lakes, rivers, streams and other
waters of the state in relation to the public use to which
they are or may be put, as it shall deem necessary. It
shall have the authority to ascertain and determine for
record and in making its order what volume of water actu-
ally flows in all streams, and the high and low water
marks of lakes and other waters of the state, affected
by the waste disposal or pollution of municipalities,
industries, public and private corporations, individuals,
partnership associations, or any other entity. It shall
have the authority to make regulations and orders re-
stricting the polluting content of any waste material
or polluting substance discharged or sought to be discharged
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Ralph W. Purdy
into any lake, river, stream, or other waters of the
state. It shall have the authority to take all appro-
priate steps to prevent any pollution which is deemed
by the commission to be unreasonable and against public
interest in view of the existing conditions in any lake,
river, stream, or other waters of the state.
Sec. 6. It shall be unlawful Sec. 6. (A) It shall be un-
for any person to discharge lawful for any person direct-
or permit to be discharged ly or indirectly to discharge
into any of the lakes, rivers, into the waters of the state
streams, or other waters of any substance which is or
this state any substance which may become injurious to the
is injurious to the public
health or to the conducting
of any industrial enterprise
or other lawful occupation;
public health, safety, or
welfare; or which is or may
become injurious to domestic,
commercial, industrial, ag-
or whereby any fish or migra- ricultural, recreational, or
tory bird life or any wild
animal or aquatic life may
other uses which are being
or may be made of such waters
be destroyed or the growth or or which is or may become
propagation thereof be pre-
injurious to livestock, wild
vented or injuriously affected animals, birds, fish, aquatic
or the value of lawfully taken life, or plants or whereby
fish or game be destroyed or
the growth or propagation
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Ralph W. Purdy
impaired as the consequence
of said pollution. Any per-
son who shall discharge or
permit to be discharged any
waste or pollution into any
of the waters of this state,
thereof is or may be prevented
or injuriously affected: or
whereby the value of fish and
game is or may be destroyed or
impaired.
(B) The discharge of any raw
in contravention of the above sewage of human origin, direct-
provisions of this section,
shall be deemed to violate
the provisions of this act.
ly or indirectly into any of
the waters of the state shall
be considered prima facie evi-
dence of the violation of sec-
tion 6 (A) of this act unless
said discharge shall have been
permitted by an order, rule,
or regulation of the commis-
sion. Any city, village or
township which permits, allows
or suffers the discharge of
such raw sewage of human origin
into any of the waters of the
state by any of its inhabitants
or persons occupying lands from
which said raw sewage originates
shall be subject only to the
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Ralph W. Purdy
remedies provided for in section 7 of
this act.
(C) Whenever a court of competent
jurisdiction in this state shall have
ordered the installation of a sewage
disposal system in any township, and
the plans therefor shall have been pre-
pared, and approved by the state health
commissioner, the township shall have
authority to issue and sell the neces-
sary bonds for the construction and in-
stallation thereof, including the dis-
posal plant and such intercepting and
other sewers as may be necessary to per-
mit the effective operation of such sys-
tem. Such bonds shall be issued in the
same manner as provided for in Act 320,
P.A. 1927, being sections 123.241 to
123.253, of the compiled laws of 1948;
or any other act providing for the is-
suance of bonds in townships.
(D) Any violation of any provision of
section 6 shall be prima facie evidence
of the existence of a public nuisance
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Ralph Wo Purdy
and in addition to the remedies
provided for in this act may be
abated according to law in an ac-
tion brought by the attorney general
in a court of competent jurisdiction.
(Section 7 before and after amendment is as
follows:)
Sec. 7. Whenever in the opinion of the com-
mission any person shall violate or is about to violate
the provisions of this act, or fails to control the pol-
luting content or waste discharged or to be discharged
into any waters of the state, the commission may notify
the alleged offender of such determination by the commis-
sion. Said notice shall contain in addition to a state-
ment of the specific violation which the commission believes
to exist, a proposed form of order or other action which
it deems appropriate to assure correction of said problem
within a reasonable period of time and shall set a date
for a hearing on the facts and proposed action involved,
said hearing to be scheduled not less than 4 weeks or
more than 8 weeks from the date of said notice of deter-
mination. Extensions of the date of hearing may be granted
by the commission or on request. At such hearing any
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Ralph W. Purdy
interested party may appear, present witnesses and submit
evidence. Following such hearing, the final order of
determination of the commission upon such matter shall
be conclusive: Provided, That such order may be reviewed
de novo in the circuit court for the county of Ingham,
in chancery, or for the county in which such alleged
violator resides, or for the county in which said alleged
violation occurred, upon petition therefor, filed within
15 days after said final order of determination.
Sec. 7. Whenever in the opinion of the com-
mission any person shall violate or is about to violate
the provisions of this act, or fails to control the pol-
luting content or substance discharged or to be discharged
into any waters of the state, the commission may notify
the alleged offender of such determination by the com-
mission. Said notice shall contain in addition to a
statement of the specific violation which the commission
believes to exist, a proposed form of order or other ac-
tion which it deems appropriate to assure correction of
said problem within a reasonable period of time and shall
set a date for a hearing on the facts and proposed action
involved, said hearing to be scheduled not less than 4
weeks or more than 8 weeks from the date of said notice
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Ralph W. Purdy
of determination. Extensions of the date of hearing
may be granted by the commission or on request. At such
hearing any interested party may appear, present witnesses
and submit evidence. Following such hearing, the final
order of determination of the commission upon such matter
shall be conclusive unless reviewed in accordance with
the provisions of the administrative procedures Act. No.
197 of the public acts of 1952, as amended, being sec-
tions 24.101 - 24.110 of the compiled laws of 1948, or
any amendment thereto in the circuit court for the county
of Ingham, in or for the county in which such person re-
sides, or for the county in which the violation occurred,
upon petition therefor, filed within 15 days after the
service upon said person of the final order of determina-
tion.
(Section 8 before and after amendment is
as follows:)
Sec. 8. (A) Whenever any person shall feel
himself aggrieved by the restriction of polluting content
or waste, or pollution, or any other order of the commis-
sion, he shall have a right to file a sworn petition
with the commission, setting forth the grounds and reasons
for his complaint and asking for a hearing of the matter
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Ralph W. Purdy
involved. The commission shall thereupon fix the time
and place for such hearing and shall notify the petitioner
thereof. At such hearing the petitioner and any other
interested party may appear, present witnesses and sub-
mit evidence. Following such hearing, the final order
of determination of the commission upon such matter shall
be conclusive: Provided, That such order may be reviewed
de novo in the circuit court for the county of Ingham,
in chancery, or for the county in which such alleged
violator resides, or for the county in which such alleged
violation occurred.
(B) Coincident with the effective data of
this amendatory act, it shall be the duty of any person
then or thereafter requiring a new or substantial increase
over and above the present use now made of the waters of
the state for sewage or waste disposal purposes, to file
with the commission a written statement setting forth
the nature of the enterprise or development contemplated,
the amount of water required to be used, its source, the
proposed point of discharge of said wastes into the waters
of the state, the estimated amount so to be discharged,
and a fair statement setting forth the expected bacterial,
physical, chemical and other known characteristics of
said wastes. Within 60 days of receipt of said statement,
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Ralph W. Purdy
it shall be the duty of the commission to make an order
stating such minimum restrictions as in the judgment of
the commission may be necessary to guard adequately
against such unlawful uses of the public waters as are
set forth in section 6 above. If the order is not ac-
ceptable to the applicant, he may request a hearing on
the matter involved, following which the commission's
final order of determination in this connection shall
be conclusive: Provided, That such order may be reviewed
de novo in the circuit court for the county of Ingham,
in chancery, or for the county in which such alleged
violator resides, or for the county in which said al-
leged violation occurred, upon petition therefor, filed
within 15 days after such final order of determination
is adopted: Provided further, That failure to comply
with the final order of the commission under this sec-
tion of the act shall not be considered a violation of
this act unless and until such failure results in pollu-
tion contrary to section 6 of this act.
Sec. 8 (A) Whenever any person shall feel
himself aggrieved by the restriction of polluting con-
tent or waste, or pollution, or any other order of the
commission, he shall have a right to file a sworn petition
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Ralph W. Purdy
with the commission, setting forth the grounds and rea-
sons for his complaint and asking for a hearing of the
matter involved. The commission shall thereupon fix
the time and place for such hearing and shall notify the
petitioner thereof. At such hearing the petitioner any
any other interested party may appear, present witnesses
and submit evidence. Following such hearing, the final
order of determination of the commission upon such mat-
ter shall be conclusive unless reviewed in accordance
with the provisions of the administrative procedures
Act No. 197 of the Public Acts of 1952, as amended, being
sections 24.101 - 24.110 of the compiled laws of 1948,
or any amendment thereto in the circuit court for the
county of Ingham, or for the county in which such person
resides, or for the county in which the alleged violation
occurred.
(B) On and after May 18, 1949, any person
requiring a new or substantial increase over and above
the present use now made of the waters of the state for
sewage or waste disposal purposes shall file with the
commission a written statement setting forth the nature
of the enterprise or development contemplated, the amount
of water required to be used, its source, the proposed
point of discharge of the wastes into the waters of the
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Ralph W. Purdy
state, the estimated amount so to be discharged, and a
fair statement setting forth the expected bacterial,
physical, chemical and other known characteristics of
the wastes. Within 60 days of receipt of the statement,
the commission shall make an order stating such minimum
restrictions as in the judgment of the commission may
be necessary to guard adequately against such unlawful
uses of the waters of the state as are set forth in
section 6. If the order is not acceptable to the user,
he may request a hearing on the matter involved, follow-
ing which the commission's final order of determination
in this connection shall be conclusive unless reviewed
in accordance with the provisions of the administrative
procedures Act. No. 197 of the public acts of 1952, as
amended, being sections 24.101 - 24.110 of the compiled
laws of 1948, or any amendment thereto in the circuit
court for the county of Ingham, or for the county in
which the user resides, or for the county in which the
use is contemplated, upon petition therefor, filed with-
in 15 days after service upon said user of the final
order of determination.
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Ralph W. Purely
(Section 9 before and after amendment is
as follows:)
Sec. 9. Any duly appointed agent of the
commission shall have authority to enforce the provisions
of this act and may make criminal complaint against any
person violating the same. After service of a written
notice of determination setting forth specifically any
violation of this act, any person who shall fail to
comply with the order of the commission shall be subject
to the penalties of this act.
Any person who wilfully violates any pro-
vision of this act or any restriction, regulation or
final order of determination of the commission made
thereunder, shall be subject to a penalty of not to
exceed $500.00 per day for each and every day of such
violation, such penalty to be recovered in a suit in
the circuit court.
Sec. 9. Any duly appointed agent of the
commission shall have authority to enforce the provisions
of this act and may make criminal complaint against any
person violating the same. After service of a written
notice of determination, setting forth specifically any
violation of this act, any person who shall fail to comply
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Ralph W. Purdy
shall be subject to the penalties of this act.
(The following is the new Section 10, there
having been no such section 10 heretofore:)
Sec. 10. Any person except a municipality
who discharges any substance into the waters of the
state contrary to the provisions of section 6 or who
fails to comply with any restriction, regulation or
final order of determination of the commission made
under the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished
by a fine not less than $500.00 and in the discretion
of the court it may impose an additional fine of not
less than $500.00 per day for any number of days during
which such violation occurred: Provided however, that
such person shall not be subject to the penalties of
this section if the discharge of the effluent is in con-*
formance with and obedient to a rule, regulation or
order of the commission. In addition to the minimum
fine herein specified, the attorney general, at the
request of the Department of Conservation, is authorized
to file a suit in any court of competent jurisdiction
to recover the full value of the injuries done to the
natural resources of the state by such violation.
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Ralph W. Purdy
Sec. 11. Whenever the word "person" is used
in this act, it shall be construed to include any muni-
cipality, industry, public or private corporation, co-
partnership, firm or any other entity whatsoever. Wherever
the words "waters of the state" shall be used in this act,
they shall be construed to include lakes, rivers and
streams and all other water courses and waters within
the confines of the state and also the great lakes
bordering thereon.
(Section 12 before and after amendment is
as follows:)
Sec. 12. This act shall not be construed
as repealing any of the provisions of the law governing
the pollution of lakes and streams, but shall be held
and construed as ancillary to and supplementing the same
and in addition to the laws now in force, except as the
same may be in direct conflict herewith.
Sec. 12. This act shall not be construed
as repealing any of the provisions of the law governing
the pollution of lakes and streams, but shall be held
and construed as ancillary to and supplementing the
same and in addition to the laws now in force, except
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Ralph W. Purdy
as the same may be in direct conflict herewith. This
act shall not be construed as applying to copper or iron
mining operations, whereby such operations result in
the placement, removal, use or processing of copper or
iron mineral tailings or copper or iron mineral deposits
from such operations being placed in inland waters on
bottom lands owned by or under the control of the mining
company and only water which may contain a minimal amount
of residue as determined by the water resources commis-
sion resulting from such placement, removal, use or
processing being allowed or permitted to escape into
public waters; or applying to the discharge of water
from underground iron or copper mining operations sub-
ject to a determination by the water resources commission.
• «•*»<•»••
Sec. 12. (A) The provisions of this act
shall be construed as supplemental to and in addition
to the provisions of Act. No. 316 of the Public Laws
of 1923, as amended, being sections 261.1 to 277olO,
inclusive, of the Compiled Laws of 1948, and nothing
in this act shall be construed to amend or repeal any
law of the state of Michigan relating to the public
service commission, the department of conservation and
the department of health relating to waters and water
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Ralph W. Purdy
structures, or any act or parts of acts not inconsistent
with the provisions of this act.
Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Purdy.
(Applause.)
MR. STEIN: Are there any comments or ques-
tions?
MR. POOLE: Mr. Chairman, I have one.
MR. STEIN: Yes, Mr. Poole.
MR . POOLE: Mr. Chairman, I asked this ques-
tion yesterday, and I am still a little bit confused on
just how far this Detroit drainage goes and how it af-
fects us, in any conclusions that we may arrive at here.
Now, the recommendations of your report
yesterday were specific in regard to secondary treatment,
and I believe that the recommendations of your Detroit
report were equally specific, but as I interpret these
conclusions that have been read here today, the Michigan
Water Resources Commission still has some running room,
if you will, in its decision on the degree of treatment
that will be required in the Detroit area.
Have I made a fair assumption?
MR. PURDY: Are you asking that of me, Mr.
Poole?
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Ralph W. Purdy
MR. POOLE: Well, I would like to know spe-
cifically just what the Michigan position is.
MR. PURDY: I can't commit our commission
to its position, but it would seem to me that this is
a decision that must be reached by our commission, and
that a decision of the conferees could not be binding
upon our commission.
MR. POOLE: This is the same interpretation
I have put on it.
MR. PURDY: In the same way that a decision
of the conferees, I don't think, could be binding upon
the Indiana Water Pollution Control Board. They have
to reach their own decision.
MR. POOLE: It depends on which aspect of
the law you get involved in, whether you are discussing
interstate waters or intrastate waters.
I have assumed, perhaps wrongly, that if
as a result of a conference that involved interstate
waters, the conferees agreed on something, and if the
Secretary subsequently adopted those agreements, that
they would probably overrule any decision that a State
agency might make to the contrary.
I am not an attorney, but this has been my
interpretation of what the Federal Law is.
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Ralph W. Purdy
MR. PURDY: 1 don't believe that we are quite
at that stage yet on the Detroit River. This was referred
back to the State of Michigan.
MR. POOLE: Obviously we are not and we will
not be at that stage tomorrow or at the end of next week,
whenever we conclude with Lake Erie, but we will be one
step down the road in the direction of that stage.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Poole, I have every confi-
dence that with Michigan, the Michigan Water Resources
Commission, we won't ever reach that stage, because, as
you know, we both have worked with them for many, many
years, and I am confident we are going to see eye to eye
on it.
Now, you know what the Secretary's position
is. You know what the recommendations of HEW have been.
We have given a report to the Michigan Commission for
implementation. They are proceeding, as far as I can
see, in an orderly manner under their statute. They
are proceeding more rapidly than we agreed to. They
are following this out with complete dispatch.
We all have to recognize here, as I pointed
out, that we are operating in a very, very difficult
field of Federal - State - local relations, and what
we are trying to do is accomplish a cleanup of the
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Ralph W. Purdy
Detroit River, in this case, and its contribution to Lake
Erie, within the existing mechanism that we have inherited
from our forefathers.
We have the State government and the State
commission, the Federal Government and the Federal au-
thorities and agencies, and, of course, the local govern-
ments. I think we are proceeding through this complicated
government maze with due care and with due prudence, and
with a notion of the problems you can get into if you
do not touch all your bases.
But I do suspect that the Michigan staff
and the HEW staff will come out in complete agreement.
1 suspect that the cities and industries will be satis-
fied with that agreement, and I also suspect, and I cer-
tainly hope, that the people of the area will be satisfied
with improved water as the result.
MR. POOLE: 1 wouldn't want anyone to con-
strue my earlier remarks as any derogatory statements
or feelings with respect to the State of Michigan and
its activities'.
I have for many years admired its aggressive
program, and have attempted to model the Indiana program
somewhat along the same lines.
I trust, Mr. Stein, that your summary of the
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Ralph W. Purdy
way the situation will develop will be the way that it
will actually develop.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further comments
or questions?
MR. MORR: Mr. Purdy, briefly, may we assume
that the State of Michigan recognizes the quite great
contribution to particularly the western area of Lake
Erie, to the pollution problem therein, by the Detroit
River, and that the State of Michigan recognizes then
that there is a degree of responsibility for such condi-
tions as we might find in Lake Erie?
MR. PURDY: The State of Michigan recognizes
that injuries are occurring to legitimate water uses in
these waters, and they have set forth a program to bring
about the correction.
MR. MORR: I understand they have, and for
this we are grateful.
Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further comments
or questions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: If not, thank you very much for
an excellent presentation, Mr. Purdy.
I think we are a little ahead of schedule,
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Ralph W. Purdy
which is fine. We probably can do better at lunch.
It is suggested that we reconvene at a
quarter to two promptly. We stand recessed until a
quarter to two.
(Whereupon, at 12:15 p.m., a luncheon re-
cess was taken.)
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505
AFTERNOON SESSION
2:00 P.M.
MR. STEIN: May we reconvene?
Mr. Oeming?
MR. OEMING: Mr. Chairman and fellow Con-
ferees:
At this time I would like to provide the
opportunity for a statement to be presented by Mr. Frank
Hooper, who is the Chief Biologist for the Institute
for Fisheries Research of the Michigan Department of
Conservation.
Mr. Hooper.
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Frank F. Hooper
STATEMENT OF MR. FRANK F. HOOPER,
IN CHARGE, INSTITUTE FOR FISHERIES
RESEARCH, MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF
CONSERVATION
MR. HOOPER: Mr. Chairman, Conferees,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am Frank F. Hooper, in Charge, Insti-
tute for Fisheries Research, Michigan Department
of Conservation. I am making this statement on be-
half of Dr. Ralph A. MacMullan, Director of the
Michigan Department of Conservation.
An earlier statement giving the Michigan
Department of Conservation's viewpoint on the pollu-
tion of the Detroit River and Lake Erie was presented
at the June 15-17, 1965 conference at Detroit. The
present statement is intended to emphasize portions
of the earlier statement that apply to Lake Erie.
Lake Erie has great significance as a
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Prank. P. Hooper
natural resource. We would like to point out some
characteristics of lakes as resources. A lake is
more than a tank to store and contain water and waste.
It is a natural phenomenon of value in itself. Its in-
gredients are chemical, biological, physical and esthetic.
They include plants, animals, matter in solution and sus-
pension, all brought into association by the medium of
water. Because of this combination of characteristics,
lakes and streams form a many-faceted resource. The
utilization of any one facet can have profound influence
upon each of the others. Each use can cause some hazard
to the lake or stream itself if carried to excess.
No single use of a lake or stream poses so
great a threat to all other values as the disposal of
waste. We believe that the concept of disposing of wastes
by committing them to lakes and streams ultimately must
change. We recognize the enormous financial and economical
implications of that statement; nevertheless, we are con-
vinced that the other values of these water resources are
such that the day will come when their use for waste
disposal will cease by popular demand
FISH
Fisheries resources, both sport and
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Frank F. Hooper
commercial, are entirely dependent upon water quality.
Within the past 30 years, the fisheries resources of Lake
Erie have deteriorated rapidly. This deterioration is
continuing. Desirable clean-water fish formerly present
are fast disappearing, and are being replaced by less
desirable, pollution-tolerant species. The evidence is
strong that the deterioration of fish resources has
come about principally because of environmental changes
resulting from pollution. These changes are complex and
subtle, and have affected fish life in many ways. Perhaps
the most important change is an acceleration of the aging
process brought on by the nitrogen and phosphorus compounds
present in organic wastes. Enrichment provided by these
wastes leads to oxygen depletion, turbidity, temperature
increases, and interruption of the biological food chains.
In addition, some chemical and industrial wastes contain
toxicants directly harmful to fish.
Until recently, Lake Erie was the most pro-
ductive of the Great Lakes in terms of useful fish. It
continues to support a large population of fish, but the
composition of that population has changed drastically.
The valued blue pike has disappeared; the lake herring
and whitefish are almost gone. The walleye is in a
precarious state. Of the desirable species, only the
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Frank F. Hooper
yellow perch remains abundant, and there are indi-
cations that even this tolerant and prolific species
is in trouble.
The new Lake Erie fish population is com-
posed chiefly of species such as carp and sheepshead
that are of little commercial value and are of minor
interest to sport fishermen.
PARKS AND RECREATION
The U. S. Public Health Service report on
the Detroit River and Lake Erie has adequately described
the restriction of recreational uses in Lake Erie and
its Michigan tributaries arising from pollution. We
can add nothing to this statement beyond detailing some
of the effects of pollution on parks and other recreation
facilities located along the Michigan shoreline of Lake
Erie.
Sterling, the only state park on the Michigan
portion of Lake Erie, has been closed to swimming since
1961, owing to bacterial contamination of its 7,800-
foot beach. Attendance at this park has dropped from
1,239,216 in 1959 to 319,500 in 1964, a decline of
approximately 75$. This drop occurred during years when
most other state parks were overcrowded to the point that
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Frank F. Hooper
tens of thousands of would-be users were turned away
annually. Since March, 1962, we have spent about
$500,000 for buildings, roads, water and sewage facilities,
and other improvements at Sterling State Park in an effort
to provide a badly needed major recreational facility
for this heavily populated part of Michigan and for
out-of-state visitors entering the state at its south-
east gateway. Consideration has even been given to con-
struction of an artificial swimming pool as a feeble
substitute for the natural beach. This would be a
shameful solution to a problem which should be solved by
cleaning up the pollution which necessitates "no
swimming" signs.
CONCLUSIONS
The Michigan Department of Conservation
wishes to support all policies and steps taken which are
aimed at minimizing the rate at which Lake Erie is aging.
Fishing and recreation have made the shores of Lake Erie
and connecting waters highly desirable sites for urbani-
zation and for cultural development. These advantages
will be jeopardized if aging and deterioration of this
habitat continues unchecked. Time will likely produce
major advances in waste treatment technology. However,
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511
Prank P. Hooper
these advances will be wasted as far as Lake Erie is
concerned if in the interim we allow the lake to
deteriorate to a point at which it has lost its recreational
and esthetic values.
All steps taken now towards collection and
treatment of industrial and domestic wastes and toward
curtailment of silt and agricultural runoff, can be
looked upon as very basic, necessary and preliminary
toward more refined processing in the future. Specifically,
our immediate goals should be: (1) Water quality which
would make available sites on the Michigan shoreline of
Lake Erie for all recreational uses, including bathing.
Treatment of industrial and domestic wastes entering
the lake should make this possible. Although nutrients
cannot be entirely eliminated and blooms of algae may on
occasion produce nuisances, treatment will, in part,
arrest long-range deteriorative changes, and will permit
most recreational uses. (2) The elimination of untreated
wastes from the western basin of Lake Erie should bring
about an improvement in the populations of bottom animals.
This in turn should assist in preservation of stocks of
species such as perch and walleye, which appear to be on
the verge of elimination and will very likely disappear
if present trends continue.
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Frank F. Hooper
Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Hooper.
Are there any comments or questions?
MR. OEMING: I have one.
MR. STEIN: Yes, Mr. Oeming.
MR, OEMING: Mr. Chairman, I would like to
point out that Dr. Ralph MacMullan, on whose behalf Mr.
Hooper presented this statement, has been and is an ac-
tive and aggressive member of the Water Resources Com-
mission by statute, and that his views will certainly
play a big part in what decisions the Commission reaches
with respect to the Detroit River and Michigan waters
of Lake Erie report.
MR. STEIN: If this were a court, I could
say we will take judicial notice of it. I have seen
him in action,
(Laughter.)
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
MR. POSTON: May I ask a question?
MR. STEIN: Yes.
MR. POSTON: Dr. Hooper, I take it that you
feel that pollution from Michigan interferes with recrea-
tional uses of Lake Erie within Michigan, and also with
the fishery in Lake Erie; is this right?
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Frank F. Hooper
MR. HOOPER: I don't think there would be
any question but that that is true.
MR. BOSTON: All right. Then, to proceed
a little bit further, would you say that this same pol-
lution then interferes with the fishery in other parts
of Lake Erie?
MR. HOOPER: I think undoubtedly it does.
MR. POSTON: Then you consider this as inter-
state pollution?
MR. HOOPER: I can't see how you can con-
sider it otherwise.
MR. POSTON: That is all.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further questions
or comments?
MR. OEM1NG: No questions.
MR. STEIN: All right, thank you.
Mr. Oeming, do you have anyone else?
MR. OEMING: Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to at this time call on Mr.
Leonard J. Goodsell, Executive Director of the Great
Lakes Commission, to present a statement on behalf of
the Great Lakes Commission.
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514
Leonard J. Goodsell
STATEMENT OF MR. LEONARD J.
GOODSELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
GREAT LAKES COMMISSION
MR. GOODSELL: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and
Gentlemen:
I am Leonard J. Goodsell, the Executive
Director of the Great Lakes Commission, based in Ann
Arbor, Michigan. And, of course, we make our contri-
bution to the separated sewage system at Ann Arbor
that was spoken of a little earlier.
So much has already been said here in this
conference that it is a little hard to keep from repeat-
ing what has been said, and maybe I can say some of the
things with just a little bit different shade of empha-
sis on some of them.
It is a very great pleasure to appear at
this conference. Specifically, I come at the invitation
of Mr. Oeming, Executive Secretary of the Water Resources
Commission of Michigan, and also Mr. Morr, Director of
the Department of Natural Resources of Ohio, but more
generally as the representative of the Great Lakes
Commission, which is a commission dedicated to the service
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515
Leonard J. Goodsell
of the eight states which border on the Great Lakes -
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin - on water resources matters.
I think at this stage of the game too we
have reached about a 100 per cent blooming factor.
Everything is being hurt. The lakes are not doing just
what we want them to do, but I went down to see the ball
game last night, and I think it was very kind of the
conferees to have that ball game in town while we were
here.
MR. STEIN: We planned it that way.
(Laughter.)
MR. GOODSELL: I figured that that was the
case. I didn't see Mr. Wampler there. I thought he
might be.
But one of the things that struck me on
the way down are these beautiful flowing fountains.
Let me say too that I went over and had a look at them,
and not one of those fountains has gin in it.
(Laughter.)
Now, in some places in the country you will
find that the fountains do have gin in them because you
don't have enough water to go around.
The other thing is down there at the stadium
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Leonard J. Goodsell
that grass is just as green a grass as you will see
any place in the country, and I might say too that that
is probably indicative of the fact that the Great
Lakes water will support a fine grass state. So we
are not altogether useless.
During the night 1 was awakened a couple
of times by boat whistles, and that made me believe
that maybe the boats are moving on the Lake. Naviga-
tion is moving on the Lake, so everything isn't wrong
yet.
Then, in the fifth inning last night, I
thought everything was going along pretty well for
Detroit. Detroit came up with nine runs in the fifth,
which was a little hard for Cleveland to take.
(Laughter.)
But then this morning we pursued the use
of the lakes a little bit further, and we had a caucus
during breakfast. There were three of us, and we
thought very hard, and we determined during that caucus
that Lake Erie water as a source of drinking water is
better than the Ohio River at Cincinnati, so that is
all for the Great Lakes as of this time -~
MR. STEIN: Is that supposed to be a recom-
mendation, Colonel?
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Leonard J. Goodsell
MR. GOODSELL: I am just making this as a
comparison, Mr. Stein. I think we all have to look at
things in a relative manner, you know.
First let me say the Great Lakes Commission
is unequivocably against water pollution and for pol-
lution control and abatement. In my dealings with the
Commissioners and Advisors of the Commission, I gain
the distinct impression that the states appreciate the
Federal effort in the control and abatement of pollu-
tion.
Mr. Stein and Mr. Boston and you other
people of the U. S. Public Health Service, you're doing
a grand job in the enforcement field, but in your di-
recting the enforcement effort and the state's trying
to do what you tell them to do, I sense a very real
void in that we don't know how, in an economical and
feasible manner, to accomplish the desired end. This
leaves a requirement, probably in the primary interest
sphere of other parts of U.S.P.H.S. or Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare, for some technical
and economic assistance in how to deal with the problems
that we face in cleaning up the Lakes.
Congressman Blatnik and Dr. Gordon McCallum,
Assistant Surgeon General of U.S.P.H.S., visited with
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518
Leonard J. Goodsell
the Commission during our semi-annual meeting in Duluth
about 11 or 12 days ago, and they are fully aware of
the Great Lakes Commission's interest in pollution con-
trol and abatement, and both indicated overwhelming
interest in cleaning up and preserving the waters of
the Great Lakes system.
Another item: Senate Bill No. 4, as passed
by the Senate and amended and passed by the House, now
awaiting Congressional conference action the last time
I checked -- that is called the Water Quality Act of
1965 -- goes part of the way in providing additional
assistance in constructing and improving waste treatment
plants.
There are many studies being conducted,
and study groups and the like working on the problem
of Great Lakes pollution -- but most of these groups
are engaged in determining, confirming and reconfirming
the fact that the Great Lakes are polluted and that
there are several known sources of pollution.
It appears that sometimes the efforts are
not entirely coordinated, and that maybe some of the
work is not being done with the utmost efficiency in
that some duplication of the effort is probably appear-
ing.
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519
Leonard J. Goodsell
I think, Mr. Stein, as a part of your
enforcement action here, your group will make some of
these same determinations as the reports already pre-
sented.
But that means that actions along enforce-
ment lines alone are not enough. We need more action
on solution of the many problems which are follow-on
to these enforcement conferences.
All of us will agree that a clean, sparkling,
high-level Lake Erie is a priceless thing - but there
is not one of us in this room that can put a definite
value on a clean, sparkling, and high-level Lake Erie.
We have got to realize that we will have to accept
Lake Erie water and quality standards at somewhat less
than 100 per cent pure, whatever that may be, at a cost
that we can bear. Somewhere along the line, we've got
to apply the judgment factor, and 1 think this judgment
factor was rather apparent from the discussion that
took place yesterday afternoon among the conferees.
Some possible solutions just aren't ac-
ceptable. If we were to run all the people and all
the industry off the Lake right now, we would still
have problems of lake pollution and lake aging from
the residue and the natural processes. It is obvious,
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520
Leonard J. Goodsell
of course, we can't decimate the people and industry
along and on the lakes. They must remain here.
This brings up the point that we have got
to balance out water use and determine the requirements
for water quality. Some of the water has to be used
for domestic and sanitary purposes, some has to be used
for navigation, some for hydro power, some for fish and
wildlife, and some for recreation. We can use some of
it over and over again for these purposes.
In some cases these uses of water are es-
sentially non-consumptive, and quality requirements are
compatible. Our problem stems from the use and pollu-
tion of the water, making it unusable for other purposes,
such as sanitary purposes versus domestic consumption,
fish habitat, recreation, and the like. We don't know
now what are the optimum or minimally acceptable water
quality criteria for these various purposes. These are
things we should and we will have to learn.
We have problems in the treatment processes
for municipal and industrial wastes. Removal or non-
generation of nutrients is one of the sticky problems;
processes to remove nutrients are only partially ef-
fective, and facilities for the collection, handling
and treatment are very expensive. Right now, we just
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521
Leonard J. Goodsell
don't know what is a good, effective and economical treat-
ment process.
We need some developments in the art of
treating sewage. This problem is, 1 realize, not the
major topic at this conference, but if we are not going
to squander funds unnecessarily, because we don't know
how to treat sewage, we are going to have to have some
new development, and this should center in the United
States Public Health Service.
What 1 am saying is that one part of Public
Health Service is saying "clean it up," but another part
is saying nothing or leaving the "how to do it" part up
to the States as their problem.
The apparent solution may be terrifically
expensive — a mistake most costly. So assistance is
needed in developing an effective, economical treatment
process that will do the clean-up job, to the required
standards or criteria.
As an example: The Department of the In-
terior has just recently, in its experimentation to
develop new uses of coal, described a process, now in
pilot plant stage, which uses coal as a filter material
in sewage treatment. The two-stage filter process is
reported to remove almost all suspended solids, to reduce
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522
Leonard J. Goodsell
BOD by 70 to 90 per cent; to remove phosphates in excess
of 90 per cent, which is the one we talked about so much;
and hard detergents by 90 per cent. The process, too,
is advantageous in that, in contrast to bio-oxidation
systems, it does not produce nitrates from nitrogen
compounds. The total in-plant time for the process is
in the order of two to four hours.
Bear in mind that this is information that
was gained when somebody was trying to sell something.
It may not be 100 per cent correct.
MR. STEIN: Does that make it suspect,
Colonel, in our society, that if you are trying to sell
something, you have to suspect it?
MR. GOODSELL: But at any rate, to my mind,
if these facts are correct — and I don't know — and
they are derived from a recent Congressional hearing,
and you have to more or less assume that you have some
honorable people, here is an action directed primarily
to the problem of making more use of coal, and 1 might
add that the coal used in the filtration process is
fully usable as fuel following its use as a filter.
This is a constructive action, and this may point the
way for a real breakthrough in the pollution control
and abatement process.
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523
Leonard J. Goodsell
The process, if found to have merit by your
pollution control people, should be pursued at an expe-
dited pace. A successful process of this type, refined
as necessary, will save the municipalities and indus-
tries of the lakes region millions of dollars, and will
do a job that we are apparently not doing too well now.
We know that you realize in the Public
Health Service these needs too -- witness the fact that
Mr. Poston soon will be heading up the pollution labora-
tory in Ann Arbor, and the new fresh water laboratory
at Duluth is about to be constructed.
Time-wise we have need for answers long
before either of these laboratories can become contri-
butory to the problem's solution. So what can we do
in the interim?
Now, according to Dr. Leon Weinberger,
Chief, Basic and Applied Sciences Branch, Division of
Water Supply and Pollution Control, U. S. Public Health
Service, conventional waste treatment plants have a
capability as follows:
BOD removal 90%
Total Organic removal 807.
Suspended solids removal 90%
"Hard" detergent removal 50%
-------
524
Leonard J. Goodsell
Total phosphate removal 10%
Total nitrogen removal 50%
Dissolved mineral removal 5%
and further, according to Dr. Weinberger, there are
several laboratory processes that will improve our
treatment processes. Electrodialysis is cited as the
most effective. 1 have cited only this one, electro-
dialysis, because it just happened to come up with the
higher figures in each one of the brackets, as I re-
call it. Those figures are:
BOD removal 99%
Total organic removal 99%
Suspended solids removal 99%
"Hard" detergent removal 98%
Total phosphate removal 87%
Total nitrogen removal 75%
Dissolved mineral removal 50%
The cost projected for the electrodialysis treatment
process is 40 to 50 cents per 1,000 gallons. This is
based on the volume of 10 to 20 million gallons per
day, and this cost would be in addition to the 10 cents
per 1,000 gallons cost of conventional primary and
secondary treatment. It is very expensive.
There were other processes that were
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525
Leonard J. Goodsell
discussed here yesterday. I think Mr. Coulter mentioned
the process whereby you can use the flocculation and
precipitation and come out with about 5 or 10 cents per
1,000 gallons.
Again, according to Dr. Weinberger, we need
research and answers in these three areas. I think two
of them are specifically applicable to the Great Lakes.
(1) Practicable means of treating municipal
wastes and other water-borne wastes to
obtain water at a quality suitable for
repeated reuse.
(2) Improved methods and procedures to
identify and measure the effects of
pollutants on various water uses.
(3) Investigation of augmented stream flows
to control water pollution not susceptible
to other means of abatement.
In other words, that is what can we do as far as dilution,
and Dr. Weinberger lists 17 major pollution problems and
research needs in water pollution for which current tech-
nology falls short. I will not list them here, in the
interests of time, because they were all covered in one
of the papers*
I speak generally as a layman in the pollution
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526
Leonard J. Goodsell
field. May I suggest, however, that this conference be
used as a vehicle for getting some answers and assistance
*
in effective, economical treatment methods that will meet
our overall objective of cleaning up not only Lake Erie
but preserving the other lakes as well. We can't afford
not to clean up the lakes •- neither can we afford the
ostrich or compartmented approach to the solutions of
the many problems connected with cleaning up the lakes.
In Summary:
a. Pollution of the Lakes (Lake Erie) must
be controlled and abated.
b. Federal and State agencies are working
on pollution control but I think we all
agree the problem has gotten ahead of us.
c. We must apparently depart from conven-
tional treatment processes to make head-
way in cleaning up the lakes*
d. Several processes appear to have promise
in meeting and providing solution to
some of the difficult problems in the
sanitary sewage and industrial waste
treatment processes. We must have an
economical, effective process.
e. Municipalities and industries may be
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527
Leonard J. Goodsell
saved huge sums of money and get better
results if an effective treatment pro*
cess can be brought to the fore. Time
is of the essence.
f. Federal agencies should evaluate the
coal filter process and others as they
are devised; expedite development of an
effective process and get the results
to the municipalities and industries
of the United States so that we won't
be expending huge sums on present day
conventional processes that are not
adequate and which are too expensive.
Mr, Stein and Mr. Poston, my compliments.
You are doing a grand job in enforcement. If you would,
please, as a part of your normal enforcement action make
it your concern to see that the Federal Government does
a thorough job in developing better and less enpensive
treatment processes.
I am convinced you probably know many of
the answers to many of our current problems. I am sure
all the interested parties in the Great Lakes, and not
only Lake Erie, will appreciate any help that will help
us to clean up the Lakes.
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528
Leonard J. Goodsell
Thank you very much.
MR. STEIN: Thank you, sir.
(Applause.)
MR. STEIN: Colonel, I must admit I am sur-
prised. Until you got to Page 8, in listening to your
statement, I never thought that Mr. Poston and I were
doing a grand job.
Are there any further comments or questions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: Thank you very much, sir.
MR. OEMING: Chairman Stein, I have one more
statement that has been presented to me.
I believe Mr. Gerald Goshorn, Superintendent
of the Village of Flat Rock Water Department is here.
If he is here and wishes to present this statement, I
will be happy to have him called up.
MR. STEIN: By the way, as Mr. Goshorn is
coming up, and we will make this announcement at the end
of today's session, the meeting tomorrow will be in the
ballroom across the lobby, on the same floor, and not
in this room.
Mr. Goshorn, will you identify yourself,
sir?
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529
Gerald Goshorn
STATEMENT OF MR. GERALD
GOSHORN, SUPERINTENDENT,
WATER DEPARTMENT, VILLAGE
OF FLAT ROCK, WAYNE COUNTY,
MICHIGAN
MR. GOSHORN: Mr. Stein, Gentlemen:
I am Gerald Goshorn, Superintendent of the
Water Department of the Village of Flat Rock, Wayne
County, Michigan.
I appreciate the opportunity of being
called upon to present this statement.
On December 18, 1962, it was necessary to
shut down the Flat Rock Water Treatment Plant because
of a high concentration of Hexavalent Chromium in the
Huron River which serves as our water supply. At
about 5 p.m. on that date, the concentration reached
70 ppb (parts per billion). We started every other
day sampling of the river at that time for Chromium.
This situation caused us much difficulty in
that we supply about ten thousand persons with water.
This also resulted in loss of revenue and the start of
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530
Gerald Goshorn
a law suit because of a broken contract. No action was
taken at that time by the appropriate authorities
against the persons who dumped the Chromium.
In May of 1963 a sample of floating debris
was sent to the Michigan Department of Health for analysis.
Although we received no written report we were told
verbally that this was a sulfide compound of some type
but definitely not harmful. Although the location of
this discharge was located the condition has persisted
to this date.
On July 7) 19°^ we picked up a large dose
of Chromium in one of our river samples. This con-
centration was 53 p.p.b. in one river sample and 120
p.p.b. at the effluent of the French Landing Sewage Plant.
The sewage going to this plant has since been diverted to
an interceptor and goes to Wyandotte. On June 21, 19&5
at 8 p.m. we started getting complaints of a medicinal
taste and odor in our water. A sample was taken from
our raw water pump about 8:00 a.m. on June 22 which
contained 50 p.p.b. of Phenol. River samples taken
that afternoon contained no measurable Phenol. This
led us to believe the Phenol was dumped sometime on
Monday June 21, 1965 and had passed by us Tuesday when
the river samples were taken. The Ypsilanti Township
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531
Gerald Goshorn
Water Plant located about twenty miles above us had no
difficulty at this time. Nor did they experience any
problems with Chromium on previous dates.
This situation again caused us a great deal
of trouble due to rumors that the water was poisoned.
Also the Water Department employees were accused of
laxity in allowing an overdose of Chlorine. Some of
our users had to dump large quantities of water for
which they demanded reimbursement.
A press release about this situation attrib-
uted the Phenol to a surge of water which flushed down
a lot of settled Phenol from the bottom of the river.
The river is "flushed" at least once a week during the
summer months and we had a flood in March without ex-
periencing any problem with Phenol. While we have had
minute quantities of Phenol before, it was never a prob-
lem until this last occurrence.
The citizens that depend on the Lower Huron
River for their water supply are very put out by these
occurrences and are demanding some constructive action
on the abatement of pollution of their lifeline.
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532
Gerald Goshorn
MR. STEIN: Thank you very much.
Are there any comments or questions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: If not, thank you very much for
your statement,
Mr. Oeming?
MR. OEMING: Mr. Chairman, this concludes
the notices I have had of requests for personal appear-
ances here.
I have two communications in addition that
I would like to read into the record, and then I would
also ask permission to reserve some time tomorrow after-
noon for an appearance by Miss Olga Madar of Detroit.
MR. STEIN: Without objection, I think we
can make that adjustment. The people from Ohio will be
on, I think, but when Miss Madar comes up, if Mr. Oeming
requests it, I don't think we should have any difficulty
putting her on. That will be done.
MR. OEMING: Now, Mr. Chairman, I would
like to read a communication by way of a telegram ad-
dressed to you as Conference Chairman, from James I.
Rouraan, Executive Director of the Michigan United Con-
servation Clubs.
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533
MURRAY STEIN, CHAIRMAN CONFERENCE ON
LAKE ERIE
SHERATON CLEVELAND HOTEL CLEVE
MICHIGAN UNITED CONSERVATION CLUBS, A
STATE-WIDE ORGANIZATION OF OVER 60,000 MEMBERS AND THE
MICHIGAN AFFILIATE OF THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION,
IS UNALTERABLY OPPOSED TO FURTHER DELAY IN THE CLEAN-
UP OF LAKE ERIE, THE DETROIT RIVER AND THEIR
TRIBUTARIES.
WE CAN NO LONGER IGNORE THE DEPLORABLE
CONDITION OF LAKE ERIE. IT IS RAPIDLY BECOMING A
CESSPOOL OF MUNICIPAL AND INDUSTRIAL WASTES. IT«
VALUE AS A RECREATIONAL RESOURCE HAS BEEN ALMOST
TOTALLY DESTROYED, AND UNLESS IMMEDIATE STEPS ARE
TAKEN TO REMEDY THE SITUATION^ WITHIN A FEW SHORT
YEARS THE LAKE WILL BECOME A HTDROLOGICAL WASTELAND
AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE EVEN FURTHER DEGRADED.
THREE YEARS AND A TOTAL OF $750,000
HAVE ALREADY BEEN SPENT ON A COMPREHENSIVE UTUDY OF
THESE WATERS. WE KNOW WHAT THE SITUATION IS AND WE
KNOW WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO CORRECT IT. TRUE THIS
WILL COST MONEY, BUT DELAY WILL ONLY INCREASE THE
EXPENSE AND LESSEN THE CHANCES FOR ULTIMATE SUCCESS.
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534
THE TIME FOR DEBATE AND ADDITIONAL STUDY HAS COME AND
GONE; THIS IS THE TIME FOR ACTION.
WE MUST NOT PERMIT FURTHER DETERIORATION
OF THIS ONCE UNTAINTED AND VALUABLE BODY OF WATER.
IF LAKE ERIE IS TO BE SAVED AT ALL, CORRECTIVE
MEASURES MUST BE UNDERTAKEN WITH DISPATCH. WE OWE
IT TO OURSELVES AND FUTURE GENERATIONS TO REVERSE THIS
DESTRUCTIVE TREND, AND TO RESTORE LAKE ERIE AND THE
DETROIT RIVER TO THEIR FORMER STATUS OF CLEAN AND
VALUABLE WATER RESOURCES FOR THE SURROUNDING STATES
AND FOR THE NATION.
JAMES I. ROUMAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MUCC
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535
MR. OEMING: I would ask that this be entered
into the record.
MR. STEIN: Without objection, this will be
done.
I would like to go off the record here.
(Discussion off the record.)
MR. OEMING: I also have, Mr. Chairman, a
resolution that was mailed to me by the City of Gibraltar,
with a request that it be entered into the record, and,
with your permission, I would like to read it.
MR. STEIN: Surely.
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536
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The City of Gibraltar has re-
ceived a written invitation from the Water Resources
Commission of the State of Michigan to attend or be
represented at the Lake Erie Intrastate Conference to
be held on Tuesday, August 3* 19&5; and
WHEREAS, The City of Gibraltar attended
and participated in a conference held in the City of
Detroit on June 15-1,8, 1965* relative to the pollution
of the Detroit River and the Michigan interstate waters
of Lake Erie and the tributaries; and
WHEREAS, The City of Gibraltar, through
its Officials, is unable to attend the Lake Erie Intra-
state Conference; and
WHEREAS, The City of Gibraltar is desirous
of communicating with the aforesaid Conference by Reso-
lution.
BE IT RESOLVED That the City of Gibraltar
officially spread upon the Minutes of this regularly
called meeting a commendation to Governor James A. Rhodes
of Ohio, who is responsible for the aforesaid conference.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED That the Conference
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537
specifically declare that this is the time of action,
and urge that Mr. Murray Stein of the U. S. Department
of Health, Education, and Welfare, as Chairman of the
Conference, and Loring P. Oeraing as its Executive
Secretary for the Michigan Water Resources, Join in
leading the Conference to positive action.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED That the City of
Gibraltar firmly believes that there exists more than
sufficient data through studies, research, testings,
surveys, investigations and census to prove a complete
violation in the pollution of the related waters, and
that it would serve no useful purpose whatsoever for
continuation of surveys and other related investi-
gations.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED That the City of
Gibraltar respectfully gives notice that any delay in
remedial action will cause irreparable injury and damage
to everyone concerned.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED That a copy of this
Resolution be forwarded to:
Conference on Pollution of Interstate
and Ohio Intrastate Waters of Lake
Erie, Sheraton Cleveland Hotel,
Cleveland, Ohio.
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538
Hon. Governor James A. Rhodes
of Ohio.
Mr. Murray Stein, U.S. De-
partment of Health, Education
and Welfare.
Mr. Loring F. Oeming, Executive
Secretary, Water Resources
Commission, Lansing, Michigan.
Unanimously adopted, approved and
passed this 26th day of July, A.D., 1965.
CITY OF GIBRALTAR
s/ CHARLES W. SHUMATE
Charles W. Shumate, Mayor
S/ JESSIE M. MARSH
Jessie M. Marsh, Clerk.
-------
539
MR. OEMING: I would request that this be
entered into the record.
MR. STEIN: Without objection, it will be
so done.
Are there any comments or questions?
(No response.)
MR. OEMING: I have one request to make, Mr,
Chairman, that an exchange of correspondence between me
and Dr. John L. Buckley of the Executive Office of the
President, Office of Science and Technology, Washington,
D. C., dated March 18, 1965, April 14, 1965, and May 4,
1965, be entered into the record.
This exchange of correspondence, Mr. Chair-
man and conferees, relates to the investigations and
studies being made in the Executive Office of the Presi-
dent on the problem of fertilization and nutrients in
surface waters across the United States.
MR. STEIN: Without objection, this will
be done.
(The correspondence referred to is as
follows:)
-------
540
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON
March 18, 1965
Dear Sir:
A section of the Panel on Environmental
Pollution is concerned with the undesirable enrichment
of waters by man-released compounds of nitrogen and of
phosphorus. It is our responsibility to (1) describe
the present spatial extent and severity of the problem;
(2) consider the relative contributions from various
sources -- industrial wastes, municipal sewage, agri-
cultural fertilizers and manures; (3) review present
research on the problem, and suggest additional research
most likely to be rewarding; (4) evaluate possible means
of relieving the problem, and recommend corrective actions
where appropriate to be taken within the limits of present
knowledge and technology.
We are requesting information from concerned
Federal and State agencies, research institutions, and
from individuals having known competence in the subject.
-------
541
We would like to know:
1. What bodies of water are overly en-
riched in your area — as apparent by algal blooms and
other biotic changes.
2. What are the sources of excessive
nutrients (industrial, municipal, agricultural).
3. What are your bases of judging that
certain waters contain excessive nutrients, and what
are your conclusions regarding the severity of the
problem in specific instances.
4. Short case histories of the most
critical cases of excessive enrichment of waters which
have occurred during this century, particularly in
recent years, and trends which may aggravate present
conditions.
5. Corrective actions, if any, applied
in your area, and your recommendation if additional re-
search or legislative action appears to be necessary.
Our subpanel has been given one additional
responsibility: to determine possible deleterious
effects resulting from the chlorinatlon of wastes.
Any information you may care to provide on the subject
will be most welcome.
Our report must be completed by the middle
-------
542
of May, 1965. I would appreciate receiving your reply
to my inquiries at your earliest convenience. Further-
more, if it is not too great an imposition, may I have
your response in six copies (one for each of the widely
scattered members of the subpanel)?
Sincerely,
JOHN L. BUCKLEY
Mr. L. F. Deming
Executive Secretary
Water Resources Commission
Station B
Reniger Building
200 Mill Street
Lansing, Michigan
-------
543
STATE OP MICHIGAN
WATER RESOURCES COMMISSION
GEORGE W. ROMNEY, GOVERNOR
STAFF OFFICES
200 MILL STREET
TEL. 373-3560
STATION B
LANSING, MICHIGAN 48913
April 14, 1965
Dr. John L. Buckley
Executive Office of the President
Office of Science and Technology
Washington, D. C.
Dear Dr. Buckley:
Thank you for your invitation to contribute
comments on our experiences with undesirable enrichment
of the aquatic environment by man-released compounds
of nitrogen and phosphorus. We welcome the opportunity
to participate in your panel's survey and investigation
of this important and growing problem.
Your introductory statements lead immediately
to a prefacing comment concerning Michigan's unique
-------
544
geographic position in the country. Together with parts
of our sister states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and upper
New York) we enjoy an immature area, geologically
speaking, which provides us with many natural lakes.
Most of these lakes were formed by glacial action and
have been aging ever since. We have lakes ranging from
the rocky, deep, and clear type to the extinct lakes
we are using as muck farms. Over much of lower Michigan
our still-developing soils provide runoff comparatively
rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. These elements stimulate
the growth and production of aquatic plants and algae
which contribute importantly to the aging of lakes.
Before a lake becomes a marsh or a peat bog it will under-
go years of heavy plankton blooms and weed growths
which contribute to the physical mass filling the lake.
My point is simply that your first questions
and your enumerated panel responsibilities seem predi-
cated on the assumption that man-released sources of
nitrogen and phosphorus bear the primary responsibility
for the algal blooms and other biotic changes which
accompany the aging of lakes. We acknowledge that man-
released nutrients accelerate the eutrophication process.
However, in the light of present knowledge, we are
hesitant to predict the outcome if all or part of
-------
545
these man-released nutrients were eliminated. We are
also hesitant to say that some lakes currently bothered
by nuisance algal blooms and/or aquatic weeds did not
«
have similar problems a century ago.
With this background established I will
take up your questions.
1. Several bodies of water in Michigan
are apparently undergoing eutrophication at a very rapid
rate. They are widely diversified in character and re-
ceive runoff and effluents from a variety of soils and
sources. Examples include small impoundments (less than
20 acres) on drains from intensively farmed muck land;
large natural lakes (750 acres) receiving similar drainage;
a large drowned rivermouth lake (2,000 acres) receiving
treated municipal wastes; a medium-sized (300 acres)
natural lake receiving treated municipal and paper mill
wastes; a 600-plus acre lake receiving treated municipal
and food processing wastes; a 150 acre lake receiving
treated municipal wastes; and a 400 acre natural lake
which receives treated municipal and food processing
wastes.
2. In addition to the sources of extra
nutrients mentioned above, most of the lakes are ringed
with cottages which place their wastes in septic tanks.
-------
546
How much of the nutrients so discharged ultimately reach
the lake via seepage is conjectural.
3. Unfortunately we have not been able to
develop chemical criteria which establish a valid limit
on the nutrient "carrying capacity" of a lake beyond which
nuisance conditions ensue. Because of the range in
buffering capacity in our natural waters, the same
amount of added nutrients could produce very different
algal growth reactions in different lakes. Many other
factors also have a bearing on type and amounts of algae
produced. This inability to predict accurately and con-
fidently at what nutrient level nuisance blooms will
commence makes it extremely difficult to place meaningful
restrictions on contributors of man-released compounds
of nitrogen and phosphorus.
We are convinced that the problem of
eutrophication (and especially high-rate eutrophication
involving serious nuisance blooms and severe, accelerated
biotic changes) is very important to many aspects of the
economy of the United States and especially of Michigan
where tourism and lake-shore property development are of
major concern. There is little doubt that property on
lakes suffering nuisance blooms will be less attractive
for recreational use than that on lakes without nuisance
-------
547
blooms.
4. Two case histories of vexing problems
are enclosed. Trends are apparent in virtually every
phase of man's water-oriented activities to aggravate
present conditions. At the same time man is demanding
better quality water, his very being places a heavier
burden on the water resource.
5. Present state pollution control law does
not provide the same basis for restriction of nutrients
addition that it does for the regulation of materials
that are directly pollutional. Much reduction in nutrient
discharge is, of course, accomplished by the requirements
that are imposed upon municipal and industrial waste
discharges to keep BOD, sediments, and other pollutants
within proper limits. However, the mere nourishment
of aquatic plant growth is not necessarily contrary to
Michigan law as it now stands.
It is believed that in order to provide
adequate statutory control over the discharge of
nutrient materials, the state law should be amended to
include this aspect of waste disposal. A proposal now
before the Michigan Legislature would amend the present
definition of unlawful pollution by adding the term
"creation of a public nuisance" to the prohibited acts.
-------
548
Other means for bringing nutrient materials clearly
within the statute may be considered.
Regardless of statutory authority, the need
will remain for:
(a) the development of feasible processes
by which nutrients can be removed from waste effluents
before they are released to lakes or streams;
(b) the advancement of scientific knowledge
from which reasonably accurate forecasts can be drawn
on the degree of correction that can be achieved over the
nuisance blooms under varying restrictions that might be
imposed upon the input of nutrients.
We understand that these needs are the
subject of considerable research, nationwide. Whether
additional research programs are necessary would be
beyond our knowledge.
We shall be glad to provide additional in-
formation if desired.
Very truly yours,
LORING P. OEMING
Executive Secretary
CMF:bs
Encl.
-------
549
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON
May 4, 1965
Dear Sir:
Your informative letter and copies of
pertinent documents have been of great help in our
review of the over-enrichment of waters by man-re-
leased nutrients and farm wastes. Please know how
much all of us on the sub-panel on nitrates and
phosphates (a component of the Panel on Environ-
mental Pollution) appreciate your interest and
assistance.
Sincerely yours,
DERIC 0'BRYAN
Mr. L. F. Oeming
Executive Secretary
State Water Resources Commission
200 Mill Street
Lansing, Michigan 48913
-------
550
MR. OEMING: Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the
opportunity to have presented these statements for Michi-
gan and on behalf of Michigan at this conference.
This concludes our presentation.
MR. STEIN: All right. Thank you very much,
Mr. Oeming.
Are there any comments or questions on
Michigan's presentation?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: If not, we will immediately
proceed to Indiana.
Mr. Poole.
STATEMENT OF MR. BLUCHER A.
POOLE, CONFEREE AND TECHNICAL
SECRETARY, INDIANA STREAM POL-
LUTION CONTROL BOARD, INDIANAPOLIS,
INDIANA
MR. POOLE: Mr. Poston, my colleague here
on my immediate left, on two or three occasions in the
last couple of days started to mention "Lake Michigan"
when he was thinking of Lake Erie. I assume that it is
because of my close proximity to him.
-------
551
Blueher A. Poole
We had one of these conferences in March
that lasted for several days and involved the south end
of Lake Michigan, in which the State of Indiana had a
much greater stake than 1 feel that we have in this
Lake Erie conference.
I am very happy to report that we concluded
that Lake Michigan conference with a unanimous agreement
among the conferees as to what ought to be done with
respect to the south end of Lake Michigan, and I am
equally hopeful that we can come out with a similar
agreement at the close of this conference.
As far as the State of Indiana is concerned,
and Lake Erie, it is my feeling that we are way out here
on the end of the dog's tail. We have less than 1/35
of the total population of the Lake Erie Basin. It is
located, as most of you people undoubtedly know, in
the Fort Wayne area, which is more than 100 miles via
the Maumee River from Lake Erie.
You have heard much discussion in the last
couple of days about this secondary treatment. We have
secondary treatment in all of the sewered communities
in Indiana that are on the Lake Erie watershed.
We have some industrial waste problems
which, in my judgment, are fairly minor as far as the
-------
552
Blueher A. Poole
Maumee River in the immediate vicinity of Fort Wayne is
concerned,
As I view the situation today, I don't
know that there is a great deal more that the State of
Indiana can do to contribute to the improvement of
Lake Erie until we get this economical method of a
higher grade of sewage treatment that has been referred
to by one of the earlier speakers this afternoon.
I am now going to turn the meeting over
to Mr. Perry Miller, who is Assistant Director of the
Division of Sanitary Engineering of the Indiana State
Board of Health, which does the work for the Indiana
Stream Pollution Control Board, and Mr. Miller will
present the Indiana data.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Poole, I just want to state
one jurisdictional fact here.
While what you say about Lake Erie is en-
tirely true, there aren't too many miles from Fort
Wayne to the Ohio border.
MR. POOLE: 25.
MR. STEIN: 25?
MR. POOLE: Correct.
MR. STEIN: And at the 26th mile, at least
theoretically, this becomes an interstate problem.
-------
553
Perry E. Miller
MR. POOLE: I understand that.
MR. STEIN: All right, thank you.
STATEMENT OF MR. PERRY E. MILLER,
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF
SANITARY ENGINEERING, INDIANA
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, Conferees, Ladies
and Gentlemen:
My name is Perry Miller. I am Assistant
Director of the Division of Sanitary Engineering, Indiana
State Board of Health.
You all have, the conferees at least, a
copy of the prepared statement. I would like to read
the Summary and Conclusions last, and will start with
the second page of the report.
The portion of the Lake Erie drainage
system that lies in the State of Indiana is composed
entirely of the upper drainage basin of the Maumee
River. The drainage area of the Maumee River in Indiana
is 1,284 square miles and includes parts of Steuben,
DeKalk, Noble, Allen, Wells and Adams counties. The
largest city in the basin is Fort Wayne with a population
-------
554
Perry E. Miller
of about 175,000. The estimated 1964 population of
the Indiana portion of the basin was 270,000. This is
about 20 per cent of the population of the entire
Maumee Basin.
The Maumee River originates at the junction
of the St. Marys and St. Joseph Rivers within the City
of Fort Wayne, The river then flows eattwardly and
enters Ohio about 25 miles downstream from Fort Wayne
and 108 miles upstream from the mouth of the river at
Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio. The St. Joseph River begins
near Hillsdale, Michigan, and flows southwest 60 miles
through southern Michigan and northwest Ohio before
entering Indiana about 40 miles above Fort Wayne. The
St. Marys River originates in Shelby County, Ohio, and
flows northwest about 60 miles before entering Indiana
southeast of Decatur, Indiana, and about 40 miles south-
east of Fort Wayne.
The entire surface area is a glaciated
area characterized by low relief and glacial till. A
large part of the Indiana area is in general farming.
Appendix I lists the low flow characteris-
tics of the streams in the Indiana portion of the Maumee
Basint This Appendix shows that low flows generally
-------
555
Perry E. Miller
prevail. Based on three years data at the New Haven
station on the Maumee River the minimum seven-day dis-
charge is 100 cfs. However, two minimum daily dis-
charges of only 48 cfs occurred in 1964. This represents
a total flow of about 31 million gallons per day. Fort
Wayne's sewage treatment plant effluent amounted to
approximately 22 million gallons per day. It can be
seen, therefore, that the low flow in the river was
mainly the threated effluent.
The only municipal surface water user in
the Maumee Basin in Indiana is the City of Fort Wayne.
The water is taken from the St. Joseph River at an in-
take in the City of Fort Wayne. A storage reservoir
is located on the river 13 miles above Fort Wayne
which impounds 500,000,000 gallons. A river impoundment
at the intake has a capacity of 185,000,000 gallons.
The water treatment at Fort Wayne consists of lime-
soda softening, primary and secondary flocculation
and sedimentation, carbonation, rapid sand filtration,
chlorination, ammoniation, fluoridation and taste and
odor control with chlorine dioxide and activated carbon.
The finished water is of excellent quality.
Industrial development is concentrated in
the Fort Wayne area although the Garrett-Auburn-Waterloo-
-------
556
Perry E. Miller
Butler area north of Fort Wayne has several industrial
plants.
BASIN STUDIES
St. Joseph River
The St. Joseph River originates in Hills-
dale County, Michigan and flows southwesterly across
Ohio and enters Indiana about mile point 41.0 above its
confluence with the St. Marys River at Fort Wayne. At
this point the drainage area is about 615 square miles.
According to the U. S. Geological Survey the average
daily discharge here is about 548 cfs, but the minimum
seven-day average is 18.6 cfs.
Surveys of the river conducted in 1964-65
by the personnel of the Public Health Service at a
point one-half mile east of the Ohio-Indiana state line
indicate the following results:
-------
557
u
00
*!
h*
O
o
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01
vO
$
O
s
^^
s
01
r-l r-l
01
01
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pi m
rci *
21 o
O 00
o d
CO
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CM
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-------
558
Perry E. Miller
This shows that the river is carrying some
wastes at the state line. The data from which the
above summary was made are in Appendix II.
Between the state line and Fort Wayne the
river accepts treated domestic wastes with a population
equivalent of 1,700 and an industrial waste load of
3,300 population equivalent. This information is sum-
marized in Appendices III and IV of this report.
The quality of the river just before it
enters the Fort Wayne area is shown by the following
summary of the data collected in 1964 by the Indiana
State Board of Health:
P.O.* % Sat, BOD* Cl* NO,* P0* Coli.**
"•""*"• —fL.
High 18.0 187 6.3 35 8.3 4.0 29,000
Low 6.0 53 1.7 10 0.0 0.3 < 100
Ave. 10.3 94 3.3 19 1.7 1.0 3,500
* mg/1
** MPN/100 ml.
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559
Perry E. Miller
The data from which this summary was made
are in Appendix V. These data indicate that the quality
of the water in the St. Joseph River improved in this
stretch of the river. This water is the raw water for
the City of Fort Wayne.
The average flow of the St. Joseph River
increases from 548 cfs at the state line to 967 cfs at
its junction with the St. Marys River to form the Maumee
River in Fort Wayne. The minimum seven-day discharge
increases from 18.6 cfs to 33.9 cfs at the same loca-
tions. Flow data and statistical analyses of these
flow data are part of Appendix I of this report.
St. Marys River
The St. Marys River enters Indiana from
Ohio at mile point 42.0. The river shows pollution at
the state line. A summary of the water quality 5.5
miles west of the Ohio-Indiana state line collected by
the Public Health Service in 1964-65 gives the follow-
ing results:
-------
560
I
K
U
Cfl
$
*
1-1
ft
o
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o
o
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EC I * * *
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-------
561
Perry E. Miller
There are no sources of pollution between
this station and the state line. The data from which
this summary was made are included in Appendix VI.
Between this station and the Fort Wayne
area about 780 population equivalent is added to the
waste load of the river. A chloride load is added to
the river at Decatur from the backwash from the municipal
zeolite water softening plant.
I might point out here that in the record
yesterday from the Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare, that there was reported an oxygen sag below
Decatur, that Decatur has a secondary treatment plant,
and a survey of this plant in August of 1964 revealed
that the BOD was 13 mg/1, suspended solids 15 mg/1,
and coliform 3,600.
We consider also that the St. Marys River
below Decatur is an intrastate stream.
The river had the following parameters of
water quality in 1964 at its entrance in the Fort Wayne
area:
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562
Perry £. Miller
D.O.* % Sat. BOD* Cl* N03* Coli.**
High 13.5 180 9.0 125 9.2 320,000
Low 4.0 38 2.4 8 0.0 200
Ave. 8.5 83 4.3 66 2.1 23,000
* mg/1
** MPN/100 ml.
At the entrance into the Fort Wayne area
the quality of the water is better than at the state
line except for the chloride concentration. These data
are included in Appendix VII.
The average flow of the river varies from
about 557 cfs near the Ohio state line to 573 cfs
near its junction with the St. Joseph River in Fort
Wayne. The seven-day minimum flow of 10.9 cfs at the
state line is based on 13 years of record and the flow
of 4.9 cfs at Fort Wayne is based on 29 years of re-
cord.
Maumee River
The Maumee River begins within the City of
Fort Wayne at the junction of the St. Marys and St.
Joseph Rivers. The quality of the water entering the
city has been discussed in the previous paragraphs.
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563
Perry E. Miller
This point is 136.2 miles from the mouth of the river
at Toledo, Ohio. About 25 miles of the river is within
the State of Indiana. The City of Fort Wayne, the
third largest city in Indiana, uses the Maumee to dis-
pose of its waste waters.
I might mention here that Fort Wayne has
had a river improvement program, whereby they have been
clearing the debris from the river. They have been
clearing the banks of the river, and providing picnic
areas for the people, and they are trying to beautify
it so that it can be fflore readily used by the public.
The present population of Fort Wayne is
about 175,000. Table 1 lists the population figures
of Fort Wayne and the Maumee River Basin in Indiana.
(Table 1 is as follows:)
-------
564
TABLE 1
POPULATION DATA
Maumee Basin in Indiana
Total
Population
Population
in Basin
County
S teuben
DeKalb
Allen
Wells
Adams
Noble
1960 1960
17,
28,
232,
21,
24,
28,
Fort Wayne
Ifiar
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
184 4
271 27
196 211
220
643 22
162 3
Total 269
. Indiana
,146
,771
,443
500
,893
tOQO
,753
Population*
4,282
9,121
17,718
26,880
35,393
45,115
63,933
86,549
114,946
-------
565
TABLE 1 (Cont'd.)
Fort Wavne. Indiana
Year Population*
1940 118,410
1950 133,607
1960 161,776
1964 (Estimate by 174,800
Indiana State
Board of
Health)
* U. S. Bureau of Census Decennial Census
The City of Fort Wayne is served by a
combined sewerage system. Here the City of Fort Wayne
has a routine program of checking all the storm over-
flows within the city three times each week. While
this is not a continuous checking, it does provide a
reasonable degree of control of the overflow points
in the City of Fort Wayne.
The average daily sewage flow is about
22,000,000 gallons per day and all the sewage is given
activated sludge-type treatment. The plant produces
a high quality effluent. The city at present is
planning sewer extensions in the Harvester Ditch area.
An application for PL-660 funds for this project is
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566
Perry E. Miller
pending. The present plant at Fort Wayne is designed
for a flow of 32,000,000 gallons and has capacity to
treat the additional load. Allen County is experiencing
rapid development and several small plants owned by
private utilities are now serving the suburban area.
There is one plant of 500,000 gallons daily capacity
which was constructed by a private utility in the Fort
Wayne area to treat the sewage from large areas of
this suburban fringe. Table 2 gives a summary of the
sewage treatment plant operational reports for the past
two years.
With the exception of December, 1964, here
1 will only point out that the yearly average for BOD
in the primary effluent was 15.33 mg/1, and suspended
solids was 11.66 mg/1, and for eleven months of 1964,
the average BOD was 15.45 mg/1, and the suspended solids
was 9.8 mg/1.
(Table 2 is as follows:)
-------
Table 2
Summary of Fort Wayne Sewage Treatment Plant Operational Reports
City of Fort Wayne - Board of Public Works
567
1963
Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
Apr.
May
June
July
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Average
196U
Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
Apr.
May
June
July
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Raw
275
261
192
225
216
232
228
251
250
297
260
280
2U7.25
2U7
282
197
169
261
165
236
257
2U5
300
277
B.O.D.
Final
21
15
13
26
15
1U
9
11
Hi
16
13
17
15.33
22
15
15
16
1U
15
15
18
lit
13
13
%
Removal
92. U
914.2
93.2
88. U
93.1
93.9
96.0
95.6
9h.k
9U.7
95.0
9U.O
93.7U
91.1
9U.7
92. U
91.5
9U.6
90.9
93.6
93.0
9U.3
95.7
95.3
Suspended Solids
Raw Final Removal
286
310
352
185
538
U62
ho?
U5
U26
1*87
38U
39U
391.58
299
285
2U1
313
298
151
1VU
162
265
U60
5U6
15
10
16
32
1U
9
6
6
8
7
6
11
11.66
16
10
11
111
10
7
10
12
7
6
5
9U.7
97.0
95.5
82.7
97. U
98.1
96.5
98.5
98.1
98.6
96.U
97.2
96.2
9U.6
96.5
95.li
95.5
96.6
95.5
9U.2
93.U
97.3
98.7
99.1
Flow
Plent
M.G.D.
17.1
20.9
25.5
21.7
21.6
23.8
21.7
19. k
18.5
18.0
17. k
17.8
River
M.G.D.
50
102
2,292
682
228
283
168
99
21
11
36
39
20.28 3314.25
18.5
19.2
23.7
30.0
2U.I»
2U.5
22.5
21.6
20.9
19.5
20.1
112
7U
I,li95
2,722
527
2U3
127
72
62
38
U6
Average 2lil.U5 15.U5 93.37
292.63 9.8
96.07
22.29 501.63
* 196U average of 11 months.
-------
568
Perry E. Miller
The municipal water plant of Fort Wayne
disposes of lime sludge from water softening operations
by discharging it into the St. Joseph River below the
water plant. An engineering firm has been employed to
study alternate methods of disposal of this waste.
With the large flow from the Fort Wayne
plant and contributions by industries in the area,
and the low natural flows in the river, there is a
definite depletion of oxygen in the river immediately
below Fort Wayne.
The Franke Plating Works, Inc. of Fort Wayne
discharges rinse waters from its electroplating opera-
tions to a Fort Wayne storm sewer which goes directly
to the Maumee River. Its wastes amount to 117,000 gallons
per day. The plant's sanitary wastes go to the Fort
Wayne sewer system.
I might say here that this is the plant that
is responsible for the cyanide that was mentioned yes-
terday.
We in Indiana, through the Stream Pollution
Control Board of Indiana, have what we call a cyanide
control regulation which was adopted in 1953. This
regulation requires that all concentrated cyanide solu-
tions and compounds be isolated so that there can be no
-------
569
Perry E. Miller
accidental or intentional discharge of these compounds
into a sewer system or watercourse.
These plants in Fort Wayne do have these
facilities, and this program has been most effective in
preventing the discharge of cyanides to streams from
other than the normal spent waters.
The International Harvester Company dis-
charges its sanitary sewage and soluble oils to the Fort
Wayne city sewers. Most of its other industrial wastes
are drained into Harvester Ditch.
I might say here that these other industrial
wastes are cooling waters. There are some waters from
a paint spray company, and also the truck bodies before
they are painted.
Recent analysis of the waste revealed that
it is relatively weak. The flow is about 300,000 gallons
per day. This waste will go to the City of Fort Wayne's
sewage treatment plant when the planned interceptor
sewer is completed.
Zoliner Corporation and Magnavox Company
also contribute small amounts of waste to Harvester
Ditch. About 30,000 gallons of wash water is drained
into the ditch. These wastes will go also into the new
interceptor.
-------
570
Perry E. Miller
The Gladieux Oil Company also discharges
wastes into Harvester Ditch. About 154,000 gallons per
day of cooling water drain into the ditch after being
given oil removal treatment. The sanitary sewage is
disposed of through a septic tank and leaching field.
The Phelps Dodge Corporation manufactures
copper wire and associated products. Process wastes
are treated in a neutralization pond; however, the
effluent from this lagoon is very poor. Analysis of
this effluent has shown pH values as low as 2.5 and a
copper content as high as 250 mg/1.
Flows of this waste have been gauged at
28,000 gallons per day. The company has retained an
engineer to design a new waste treatment system to
alleviate this pollution. The company discharges
about 324,000 gallons per day of cooling water to Har-
vester Ditch. The plant's sanitary wastes are treated
at the Fort Wayne municipal sewage treatment plant.
The General Plating and Engineering, Inc.,
Fort Wayne, disposes of 38,000 gallons per day of
electroplating wastes into Meyer Road Ditch which is
a small tributary of the Maumee River near Fort Wayne.
Concentrated cyanide wastes are handled by a chemical
disposal firm. The company has been requested to ini-
tiate remedial action to remove more contaminants from
-------
571
Perry E. Miller
its wastes. The new interceptor on the Fort Wayne muni-
cipal sewerage system will service this plant.
The Parrot Packing Company, Fort Wayne, dis-
poses of its packing house wastes into the Maumee River.
At present housekeeping practices such as blood collec-
tion, paunch manure recovery and meat scrap recovery are
used. Sanitary wastes are treated in a septic tank. The
Stream Pollution Control Board held a hearing on February
11, 1964, regarding the pollution caused by this firm.
The hearing was continued indefinitely when the company
volunteered to connect to the Fort Wayne sewers. The
City of Fort Wayne's new interceptor sewer will collect
the wastes from this plant and they will be treated in
the Fort Wayne sewage treatment plant. The waste flow
is about 96,000 gallons per day and the BOD ranges from
530 to 2,000 mg/1. The present quality of the river in
this area is shown in Appendix VIII.
I might say here, in summary of that, that
of these plants I have enumerated, International Harves-
ter, Zollner, Magnavox, General Plating and Engineering,
and Parrot Packing Company will connect to the new Fort
Wayne interceptor. The Phelps Dodge Company is designing
additional treatment facilities to abate pollution.
The Town of New Haven, population 3,396 (1960),
-------
572
Perry E. Miller
is served by a combined sewerage system and the sewage
is given treatment in a trickling filter-type sewage
treatment plant. About 343,000 gallons per day are
treated. Plant operation is good. The plant was de-
signed for a flow of 750,000 gallons per day.
The B. F. Goodrich Company has a tire plant
below New Haven on the Maumee River. Sanitary wastes are
treated in an extended aeration-type activated sludge
plant and the flow is about 15,000 gallons per day of
good effluent. The industrial wastes which amount to
250,000 gallons per day are given treatment in a settling
basin with oil skimming equipment. Solids are disposed
of by a commercial scavenger. The discharge to stream
has a BOD of 13.0 mg/1 and an oil content of 8.8 rag/1.
The water quality of the Maumee River as it
leaves Indiana and enters Ohio is shown by the following
summary of the data collected for the year 1964 at a
station 5.5 miles west of the state line. Since there
are no known sources of pollution in this reach the water
at the state line should be better than shown in the
table.
-------
573
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-------
574
Perry E. Miller
The complete data are shown in Appendix IX.
These data indicate that the river has recovered from
an oxygen deficiency below Fort Wayne by the time it
reaches the state line. The bacterial content, however,
remains rather high. To document the oxygen recovery
below Fort Wayne, the following summary of data collected
during the past nine months is presented:
-------
575
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-------
576
Perry E. Miller
These data indicate that oxygen levels have
recovered from the depression caused by the Fort Wayne
loadings and that the BOD is stabilized. Except for the
nutrient load, it would appear that the water quality of
the waters of the Mauraee Basin is equal to or better than
those entering the state.
Now to go back to the first page of the re-
port, which is the Summary and Conclusions.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
1. The waters of the Maumee River when they
leave the State of Indiana are of about as good quality
as presently known economic sewage treatment technology
can provide, but there will be further improvement when
the Parrot Packing Company and several industries in
the Harvester Ditch area are connected to the Fort Wayne
sewage treatment plant.
2. All municipalities with sewerage systems
are providing secondary treatment with the exception of
Avilla which has such facilities under construction.
3. Sanitary sewage from industrial plants
in the basin is discharged to municipal plants or is
treated at the plant site. Untreated industrial wastes
which are significant will be connected to the Fort Wayne
-------
577
Perry E. Miller
sewage treatment plant or treated in separate facilities
now being planned.
4. The Board's water quality monitoring
program has a sufficient number of stations to determine
the quality of the waters in the Indiana portion of the
basin. The Board has conducted extensive surveys in
the past three years to augment the regular water quality
monitoring program in the Maumee River Basin.
5. The Indiana Stream Pollution Control
Law is adequate to achieve the desired water quality.
Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Thank you.
(Applause.)
(The following are the appendices to the
above report:)
-------
578
LOCATION MAE
SAMPLING STATIONS '
INDIANA WATER QUAIITT 1957-1965
PHS SURVEYS 1964-1965
MM ISBH INTENSIVE
SURVEYS 1963-64-65
STREAM POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
STATE OF INDIANA
MAUMEE RIVER BASIN
IN INDIANA
GENERAL MAP
SCALC W MU.ES
-------
579
1-1
Appendix I
Low-Flow Characteristics of Indiana Streams
In the Maunee Basin
Taken from the "Low-Flow Characteristics of Indiana Streams,"
published jointly by the United States Geological Survey and the Indiana
Stream Pollution Control Board in 1962.
-------
Appendix I - continued
580
1-2
STREAMS TRIBUTARY TO LAKE ERIE
4-1780. St. Joseph River near Newville, Ind.
Location.—Lat 4r23'lO", Jong 84°48'05", in Ohio, in SW£ sec. 18, T. 5 N., R. 1 E., on left
bank 20 ft downstream from bridge on Ohio State Highway 249 and 3i miles northeast of
Newville.
Drainage area.—614 sq mi.
Records used.—Frequency, 1947-58. Duration, (948-59.
Average discharqe.—13 years, 548 cfs.
Extremes in daily discharge.—1946-59: Maximum, 9,450 cfs Apr. 6, 1950; minimum, 18 cfs
Sept. 30, Oct. 1-3, 11, 14, 15, 18, 1953; minimum 7-day average, 18.6 cfs Sept^ 28 to
Oct. 4, 1953.
Magnitude and frequency of annual low flow
Period
[Consecu-
tive
days)
3
7
15
30
60
120
»83
Lowest average flow, in cubic feet per second, for indicated recurrence
intervals, in years
1.05
1.1
64
67
75
95
158
260
435
1.5
38
40
44
52
74
125
200
2
30
32
35
39
54
88
140
5
21
22
23
25
30
46
74
10
18
19
20
21
23
34
56
20
30
40
50
Pays of duration of discharge
Cfs
18
25
35
48
67
93
130
180
250
Days equaled or
exceeded
Total
99
179
306
327
407
375
301
388
398
350 , 3^5
Accumulated
4,383
4,284
4,105
3,799
3,472
3,065
2,690
2,389
2,001
1,603
Percent
of
Time
100.0
97.7
93.7
86.7
79.2
69.9
61.4
54.5
45,7
36.6
Cfs
490
680
940
1,300
1,800
2,500
3,500
4,900
6,800
9,500
Days equaled or
exceeded
Total
294
225
184
176
175
143
42
14
5
Accumulated
1,258
964
739
555
379
204
61
19
5
Percent
of
Time
28.7
22.0
16.9
12.7
8.6
4.7
1.4
.4
.1
.0
-------
Appendix I - continued
581
1-3
STREAMS TRIBUTARY TO LAKE ERIE
4-1820. St. Mary's River near Fort Wayne, Ind.
Location.—Lat 41*00', long 85°07', in NEi sec. 12, T. 29 N., R. 12 E., on left bank 130 ft
downstream from highway bridge, 4 miles south of Fort Wayne, and 12 miles upstream from
confluence with St. Joseph River.
Drainage area.--753 sq r
-------
Appendix I - continued
582
I-U
STREAMS TRIBUTARY TO LAKE ERIE
4-1830. Maumee River at New Haven, Ind.
Location.—Lat 4l°05', long 85°OP, in SW£ sec. 1, T. 30 N., R. 13 E., in center of span on
downstream side of county road bridge, a quarter of a mile upstream from Wabash Railroad
bridge, half a mile north of New Haven, and 6 miles downstream from confluence of
St. Marys and St. Joseph Rivers.
Drainage area. —1,940 sq mi.
Records used.—Duration, 1957-59.
Average discharge.--3 years, 1,799 cfs.
Extremes in daily discharge.—1946-59: Maximum, 18,900 cfs Feb. 16, 1950.
1956-59: Minimum, 92 cfs Sept. 20, 1959; minimum 7-day average, 100 cfs Oct. 9-15,
1956. *
Remarks.--Flow regulated by powerplant above station and slightly regulated by upstream
reservoirs. Discharge was not computed prior to Sept. 1, 1956, when gage height was
below 5.0 ft.
Days of duration of discharge
Cfs
80
100
120
140
170
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
600
700
800
1,000
1,200
Days equaled or
exceeded
Total
9
26
38
60
50
36
69
57
37
26
32
40
42
44
57
56
47
Accumulated
1,095
1,086
1,060
1,022
962
912
876
807
750
713
687
655
615
573
529
472
416
Percent
of
Time
100.0
99.2
96.8
93.3
87.9
83.3
80.0
73.7
68.5
65.1
62.7
59.8
56.2
52.3
48.3
43.1
38.0
Cfs
1,400
1,700
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
4,500
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
17,000
19,000
Days equaled or
exceeded
Total
39
30
44
37
32
39
25
25
30
21
11
11
7
5
10
3
Accumulated
369
330
300
256
219
187
148
123
98
68
47
36
25
18
13
3
Percent
of
Time
33.7
30.1
27.4
23.4
20. .0
17.1
13.5
11, .2
8.9
6.2
4.3
3.3
2.3
1.6
1.2
.3
.0
* The minimum daily discharge of Ij8 cfs occurred on two days, October 6 and October 13, 196ij,
-------
583
Appendix I - continued
1-5
STREAMS TRIBUTARY TO LAKE ERIE
4-1805. St. Joseph River near Fort Wayne, Ind. (Discontinued)
Location.—Lat 41e10', long 85*04', in SW£ NW£ SEi sec. 4, T. 31 N., R. 13 E., on right bank
at upstream side of bridge on Mayhew Road, 3? miles downstream from Cedar Creek, and
8 miles northeast of Fort Wayne.
Drainage area.—1,060 sq mi.
Records used.—Frequency, 1941-54. Duration, 1942-55.
Average discharge. —14 years, 96? cfs.
Extremes in daily discharge.—1941-54; Maximum, 11,900 cfs Apr. 7, 1950; minimum, 27 cfs
Aug. 21, 1941; minimum 7-day average, 33.9 cfs Aug. 18-24, 1941.
Remarks.—Flow regulated by Cedarville Reservoir beginning Sept. 2, 1954. This station was
discontinued Sept. 30, 1955.
Magnitude and frequency of annual low flow
Period
(Consecu-
t ive
days)
3
7
15
30
60
120
183
Lowest average flow, in cubic feet per second, for indicated recurrence
intervals, in years
1.05
1.1
123
138
152
200
375
580
860
1.5
86
94
103
118
174
243
360
2
71
77
84
92
128
175
245
5
46
50
55
61
77
100
131
10
36
40
43
50
61
80
104
20
30
40
50
Days of duration of discharge
Cfs
36
48
66
86
120
160
220
300
410
560
Days equaled or
exceeded
Total
18
101
245
513
470
540
385
371
410
377
Accumulated
5,113
5,095
4,994
4,749
4,236
3,766
3,226
2,841
2,470
2,060
Percent
of
Time
100.0
99.6
97.7
92.9
82.8
73.7
63.1
55.6
48.3
40.3
Cfs
760
1,000
1,400
1,900
2,600
3,500
4,800
6,500
8,800
12,000
Days equaled or
exceeded
Total
325
344
228
243
192
173
112
50
16
Accumulated
1,683
1,358
1,014
786
543
351
178
66
16
Percent
of
Time
32.9
26.6
19.8
15.4
10.6
6.9
3.5
1.3
.3
.0
-------
584
Appendix I - continued
1-6
STREAMS TRIBUTARY TO LAKE ERIE
4-1815. St. Mary's River at Decatur, Ind.
Location.— Lat 40°51', long 84°56', in SV/i sec. 27, T. 28 N., R. 14 I., on right bank 10 ft
downstream from bridge on U. S. Highway 27, half a mile north of city limits of Decatur,
and half a mile upstream from Holthouse ditch.
Drainage area.--615 sq mi.
Records used.—Frequency, 1947-58 and extended to 1931-58 on basis of relation with
St. Marys River near Fort Wayne. Duration, 1948-59.
Average discharge.—13 years, 557 cfs.
Extremes in daily discharge.—1946-59: Maximum, 10,600 cfs Feb. 15, 1950; minimum, 9.2 cfs
Sept. 12, 1955; minimum 7-day average 10.9 cfs Sept. 8-14, 1955.
Remarks.—Flow regulated by Grand Lake Reservoir. Slight diversion from or into Wabash
River and into Miami 6- Erie Canal.
Magnitude and frequency of annual low flow
Period
[Consecu-
tive
days)
3
7
15
30
60
120
183
Lowest average flow, in cubic feet per second, for indicated recurrence
intervals, in years
1.05
33
36
42
48
91
240
460
1.1
27
30
3k
39
69
150
290
1.5
17
19
21
23
36
6k
no
2
\k
15
17
19
27
46
72
5
9.2
9.9
11
13
17
26
40
10
7.4
7.9
9.0
11
14
20
31
20
6.2
6.6
7.5
9.5
13
17
25
30
40
50
Days of duration of discharge
Cfs
9.2
13
20
31
47
73
no
170
270
Days equaled or
exceeded
Total
20
195
512
431
372
377
403
407
310
Accumu lated
4,383
4,363
4,168
3,656
3,225
2,853
2,476
2,073
1,666
Percent
of
Time
100.0
99.5
95.1
83.4
73.6
faS.l
56.5
47.3
38.0
Cfs
410
630
970
1,500
2,300
3,600
5,500
8,400
13,000
Days equaled or
exceeded
Total
300
263
290
245
159
71
24
4
Accumulated
1,356
1,056
793
503
258
99
28
4
Percent
of
,_ Time
30.9
24.1
18.1
11.5
5.9
2.3
.6
.1
.0
-------
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604
Perry E. Miller
MR. STEIN: Are there any comments or ques-
tions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: You know, Mr. Miller, I agree
with you on the last conclusion, for the purposes of
the conference that the Indiana Stream Pollution Control
Law is adequate to achieve the desired water quality,
but I would not want to leave the impression that it can't
be improved.
MR. POOLE: You mean the law or the quality?
MR. STEIN: Both.
MR. POOLE: Thank you. Both.
MR. STEIN: Are there any questions or com-
ments?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: If not, Mr. Miller, I want to
compliment you on certainly a complete and precise report.
Particularly, I would like to express my appreciation,
and I am sure the appreciation of the Federal Government
conferee, for your giving a full and detailed description,
name by name, of municipal and industrial plants and
their effluents, described in terms of quantity and
quality. I think that that helps very much, Mr. Miller.
MR. MILLER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
-------
605
MR. STEIN: If there are no further comments
or questions, our present plans are to proceed, after a
short recess, with Ohio's presentation until 5:30.
At this time, we will stand recessed for
ten minutes.
(After a short recess.)
MR. STEIN: May we reconvene?
It is now about 3:30. We expect to run until
5:30. Ohio will manage its own time, and call the people
who desire to participate. We would recommend that if,
at any time, you want to finish at or before 5:30, we
would be agreeable. Just give us the signal. We are
asking you to try to stay as close to that adjournment
time as possible, because our critical man is the reporter,
and there comes a time when it gets a little difficult for
him to take the transcript.
With that, Dr. Arnold, would you take over
for Ohio, please?
GPO 900 • 5» 3
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