Ct«v»iand-August 3-6,1966
In the matter of Pollution of
Lake Erie and Ms Tributaries
U. S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
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G.
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CONTENTS
PAGE:
OPENING STATEMENT
By Mr. Stein
STATEMENT OP;
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 NEPP 357
K. L. KOLLAR 366
FRED WAMPLER 371
CHARLES R. COLLIER 374
FRED WAMPLER 384
ERNEST D. PREMETZ 404
FRED WAMPLER 429
LORING P. OEMING 447
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CONTENTS
STATEMENT OP:
RALPH W. PURDY
FRANK P. HOOPER
LEONARD J. GOODSELL
GERALD GOSHORN
BLUCHER A. POOLE
PERRY E. MILLER
DR. EMMETT W. ARNOLD
GEORGE H. EAGLE
FRED E. MORR
DONALD J. YARK
ROBERT E. FA HEY
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
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506
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529
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765
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CONTENTS^
STATEMENT OF; PAGE;
HERBERT J. DUNSMORE 964
ANTHONY J. RUSSO 990
HARRY L. ALLEN 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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Emmett W. Arnold
STATEMENT OF
DR. EMMETT V. ARNOLD,
CONFEREE AND DIRECTOR OF THE
OHIO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
DR. ARNOLD: Mr. Chairman, Conferees, Parti-
cipants, Ladies and Gentlemen:
My name is Dr. Emmett W. Arnold. I am
Director of the Ohio Department of Health and Chairman
of the Ohio Water Pollution Control Board. I am
appearing before this conference in the matter of
Pollution of Lake Erie in behalf of the Ohio Depart-
ment of Health and the Water Pollution Control Board.
We are presenting a detailed report about
the current status of water pollution control programs
of municipalities and industries in that part of
Ohio which is located in the Lake Erie watershed,
roughly about one-third of the State. This includes
the municipalities and industries along the lakeshore
and also those on tributary streams.
The report is specific and includes a
large amount of tabular material. With consideration
for the time it would take, we have chosen not to
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Emmett W. Arnold
read this report. We are presenting it for the record
of the Conference. We also have brought along several
hundred copies of the report for Conferees, Participants
and others who are interested.
We should like to take Just a few minutes
for some very brief comments on the report.
Ohio's efforts to combat water pollution
were intensified by the passage of a new state water
pollution control law in 1951 which became fully effective
September 27, 1952.
During the 13 years since then, we believe
that impressive progress in pollution control has been
made by both municipalities and industries under pres-
sure from the Water Pollution Control Board which was
created by the 1951 law. Board pressure is exerted
primarily through the mechanism of conditions issued
with waste discharge permits. Board pressure can be
tightened by formal hearings and orders for permittees
not meeting the permit requirements. Finally the Board
may turn cases over to the Attorney General of Ohio
for prosecution.
By far the majority of municipalities and
industries of Ohio have met the time schedules for im-
provements set by the Board in its permits. And I
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might comment at this point that the biggest problem of
such a Board is the establishment of time schedules
which are realistic, taking into consideration engineering
time, construction time, financing time, and related
economic factors, as opposed to the great desire of
everybody concerned to end pollution as quickly as
possible.
As examples of the progress made in pollution
control by the pollution control law in Ohio, I might refer
to some of the sections of the report which we are pre-
senting. The Maumee Watershed is the largest in Ohio dis-
charging into Lake Erie. In 1951> only three per cent of
the Maumee Basin sewered population had satisfactory
sewage treatment facilities. In 1951, there were 54 in-
dustries discharging wastes into the Maumee, only five
of which had acceptable waste treatment. Today, 50 in-
dustries discharge wastes into the stream, 4l of which
have provided approved waste treatment measures.
In 1951, a large number of sizable munici-
palities on the lakeshore in Ohio had no sewage treatment
plants at all and were discharging raw, untreated sewage
directly into the lake. Among these were Conneaut,
Ashtabula, Painesville, Eastlake, Willoughby, Pairport
Harbor, Avon, Lorain, Sandusky and Port Clinton. Today
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all of these municipalities have sewage treatment plants.
Furthermore, other cities along the lakefront have en-
larged their sewage treatment plants or replaced them with
new and better facilities, including Toledo, Cleveland,
Rocky River, Lakewood and Euclid.
Questions have been raised about the degree
of sewage treatment. Of the approximate 3 million Ohioans
served by public sewerage systems in the Lake Erie drain-
age basin, 75 per cent now are served by secondary treat-
ment facilities - and 79 per cent will be served by
secondary treatment when current construction is completed.
In the Ouyahoga River Basin 99.8 per cent of
the population will be served by secondary sewage treat-
ment facilities when plants and improvements now under
construction are completed.
The majority of secondary treatment facilities
are of the activated sludge type which are claimed to be
most efficient in removal of the nutrient, phosphorous,
which has become of concern because it is believed respons-
ible for the fertilization and increased growth of algae
in the lake.
Municipal problems today are involved more
with sewer collecting systems than treatment facilities.
Combined storm and sanitary sewers which overload easily
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Emmett W. Arnold
and by-pass wastes directly to the lake or its tributaries
are a major problem in several of the larger cities, in-
cluding Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Defiance, Lakewood, Avon
Lake and Lorain. The Ohio Water Pollution Control Board
is calling for correction of these inadequate sewer
arrangements.
Another problem is the inadequate sewering
or total lack of sewers in some of the sprawling suburban
areas. These inadequacies also are in process of cor-
rection, but population expansion creates new problems
of this type almost continually and it is necessary to
keep issuing new orders for sewage facilities in such
areas almost constantly.
Among industries in Ohio in the Lake Erie
Basin are 56 which have organic wastes that are some-
what similar to municipal wastes. All but two of these
now have control facilities. The remaining two are
awaiting connection to municipal sewage plants. The
treatment and control facilities of these plants are
currently reducing the organic load by approximately
89 per cent.
Inorganic wastes of industries in the basin
are many and varied, making it difficult to group them in
any way for a brief comment. They are described in de-
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Emmett W. Arnold
tail in the technical report which we are submitting.
The majority of these industries have provided approved
waste treatment measures, and virtually all of them have
provided some correction to minimize pollution. Some in-
dividual industries, particularly in the steel and
chemical categories, already have spent millions of
dollars on pollution control. Our Ohio Water Pollution
Control Board has obtained commitments from most of the
larger industries on completion schedules for waste
treatment facilities that still are needed. We have in-
cluded in our report the statements made to our Board
recently by major steel companies on their pollution
abatement programs.
Before closing these comments, now I should
like to raise a few questions that are concerning us
in Ohio.
One of these questions involves the nutrients
that are said to be responsible for algae in the lake.
We are hoping that the United States Public Health Ser-
vice will be able to provide us through its surveys with
more specific information on this matter. Just what is
the quantity of these nutrients in the lake? Where are
they coming from?
We have in Ohio a published report of a
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Emmett W. Arnold
Maumee River survey made in 1.&99, which describes algae
as a major problem, and an excess of nitrogen in the
water as a probable cause for the algae. Reflecting that
the municipalities of the Maumee Basin were much smaller
66 years ago and industrial wastes virtually non-existent,
we are led to wonder whether run-off from farm land might
not be a much larger factor in this problem. We invite
the Public Health Service to assist us in developing a
better measuring device for this problem.
The Public Health Service has facilities and has
suggested attacking this nutrient problem by requiring
secondary sewage treatment by all municipalities. Since
we in Ohio shortly will have secondary treatment for 79
per cent of our sewered population in the Lake Erie
Basin, it would not be too much of a problem to require
this for the remaining 21 per cent. Is it possible for
the technicians to promise us that this will end the algae
problem? In the past it has been our policy not to require
more treatment 1han is necessary to achieve desired results.
If something else is causing the algae problem we should
like to know what it is.
We should like to know how much of the nitro-
gen used by algae comes from the air.
Can the Public Health Service through its vast
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Emmett ₯. Arnold
research facilities develop some proposals to prevent
algae growth in the lake or to remove the growth that is
there now? Is there any possibility of international
cooperation to destroy the algae? We believe the Federal
, overnment is in a better position to do something about
this than the states are.
On the subject of drinking water from Lake
Erie, some 2-1/2 million Ohioans obtain their domestic
water from Lake Erie municipal intakes. The Ohio Depart-
ment of Health has not found that these sources of supply
have been endangered. Pollution control steps taken in
recent years have even served to provide better protection
for them. Do Public Health Service findings disagree
with this?
Lake Erie is featured by some of this country's
finest beaches. With the exception of a few beaches in
the Cleveland metropolitan area, reports to us indicate
that these beaches are entirely safe from the sanitary view-
point. It is our belief that local area cleanup will re-
store the beaches that now are damagedthat Cleveland,
for example, can improve the bacterial quality at its
own beaches sufficiently for human safety and that the
present condition of Cleveland beaches is not attributable
to other communities or other states. We are anxious to
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know if the Public Health Service final survey report
will agree with this.
Because the waters of Lake Erie are inter-
state and international, we look to the Federal agency
involved in this conference to apportion responsibility
for pollution in this connection. We should like some
specific information with regard to water impairment at
statelines and at international boundaries. We should
like to know what kind of Interstate and international
programs are being recommended. We know what to do
about our internal and lakeshore problems in Ohio and are
doing it. We need help on the larger problems of pollu-
tion that reach beyond our jurisdiction, and hope that
the Federal Government will focus its attention on these
larger problems rather than duplicate the areas that are
already covered.
It is our hope that this Conference on
Lake Erie can have some valuable results. Frankly we
would like some answers. When we get them, we shall do
everything in our power to provide further improvements
for Lake Erie.
(Applause.)
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Emmett W. Arnold
MR. STEIN: Thank you, Dr. Arnold. You have
presented a very interesting paper, and raised some in-
teresting questions.
I have one question to ask. If your questions
are pertinent and this is true, why in the world did your
Governor ask us in?
DR. ARNOLD: I think you will find that in
my questions that I asked.
MR. STEIN: If you wanted a generalized
integral active study, you didn't need an enforcement con-
ference. There are other avenues to go through for a
long range operation.
Are there any other questions or comments?
MR. BOSTON: 1 have a question.
On Page 2, 1 think it is, you indicate that
you have adequate sewage treatment in the Maumee Basin,
and 1 wondered, is this considered as secondary treatment,
your adequate treatment? You call it "adequate sewage
treatment in the Maumee Basin." Is this secondary treat-
ment?
I know that in Toledo, for example, which is
in the Maumee Basin, you do have activated sludge, but I
wondered whether by the word "adequate," you meant second-
ary.
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Enanett W. Arnold
DR. ARNOLD: Mr. Poston, I think when Mr.
Eagle will continue with the Ohio report, and discusses
more in detail the technical aspects of this, that ques-
tion will be properly answered for you.
MR. POSTON: There were quite a few questions
in your statement, and I think there are probably too
many to answer here.
I think probably quite a number of them were
answered in the presentation of our report.
I did wonder, however, do you feel that the
nutrients that are added by Cleveland or the wastes that
come out of the Cuyahoga River, as we viewed them on
Monday of this week, contribute to the eutrophication
or degradation of Lake Erie?
DR. ARNOLD: Yes, 1 do.
MR. POSTON: Then this would be a part of
the eutrophication or --
DR. ARNOLD: It certainly would contribute
to it.
MR. POSTON: This is a part of the total
problem then, and we do have an interstate pollution
problem resulting from waters of the Cuyahoga River in
Ohio?
DR. ARNOLD: I think we agree to that.
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MR. POSTON: I have a further question.
It is indicated that you could provide
secondary treatment for municipalities within the Lake
Erie Basin.
Do you have any estimate of how much time
this night require if, for example, the conferees would
agree that this should be done and should be a require-
ment?
DR. ARNOLD: I cannot make any statement
about the time that this schedule could be met. I think
this would depend on the financing the municipalities
might be able to raise for themselves, and while we have
indicated 21 per cent, I cannot speak as to exactly which
ones they would be.
MR. POSTON: I don't think I have any further
particular questions. I think it would be repetitious
for me to try to answer all of these specific questions
at this particular time.
DR. ARNOLD: 1 realize, sir, that some of
the questions that I have posed have been discussed pre-
viously.
Now, whether you have answered the questions,
1 am not sure yet. 1 think this would require some further
deliberation as to whether you can assure us what the Lake
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Emmett W. Arnold
quality will be in this baain if all these plants have
secondary treatment.
Can you give us a schedule of improvement?
Will it be five years to accomplish this? These are
things that we don't know, and if we require secondary
treatment and expansion, some of these sewage treatment
plants are only recently finished, and if we require it
again, that these municipalities spend 5 or 10 million
dollars to accomplish this, we should be able to give
them some assurance that they are providing for a really
better water quality in the Lake.
Do -you agree to that?
MR. BOSTON: Well, I think that is right.
I think, however, there is something to
match this. We have heard no one here but who wants
better water in Lake Erie, and 1 think that starting
with Governor Rhodes, they want action.
Whether or not we have the total answer,
1 don't know that we will be able to give this, but 1
do think there are certain things that we know can be
done and should be done, and are being done in other
places.
For my part, I think secondary treatment
is one of these, and, from my viewpoint, 1 feel that
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this is one of the conclusions that the conferees must
come up with.
That is my comment at this time.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further questions
or comments?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: If not, Dr. Arnold, will you go
on?
DR. ARNOLD: Mr. Stein, if there are no
further questions of me, we would like to proceed and
call on Mr. George Eagle, the Chief Engineer of the
Ohio Department of Health, who will present the technical
report.
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George H. Eagle
STATEMENT OF
GEORGE H. EAGLE,
CONFEREE, AND CHIEF ENGINEER
THE OHIO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
DIVISION OF ENGINEERING
MR. EAGLE: Mr. Chairman, Gentlemen:
With the passage of the Ohio Water Pollution
Control Act in 1951, the State was given authority for
the control of waste discharges. The law provides the
means for the development of programs for industrial
wastes and sewage treatment on an individual and on an
area wide basis* Previous acceptance of polluted con-
ditions over many decades, such as those found in some
stretches of the Cuyahoga River, has resulted in an
apathy that is not easily overcome. Resistance of the
public to increased taxes and to increased costs of
consumer items has contributed to this apathy.
In establishing these programs, water quality
criteria has been developed for various water uses. In
turn, waste treatment requirements have been established
to maintain the desired water quality. To implement
these programs, the Ohio Water Pollution Control Act
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of 1951 provided the mechanism for requiring the corrective
measures necessary to obtain the desired condition by
the issuance of permits to discharge sewage, industrial
wastes, or other wastes into "waters of the state". Per-
mits are issued for relatively short periods of time.
Renewal is contingent upon compliance with specific re-
quirements.
This report tells what has been done, the
problems which remain as the State of Ohio sees them,
and what is being done to resolve them. When an aroused
and informed public has indicated its willingness to
assume the financial costs of the projects involved, the
day will be hastened when desired water quality objectives
are attained. This report is a factual summary. It is
a tribute to the municipalities, industries, conser-
vationists, civic groups and others who have expended
time and money to develop acceptable water quality in Lake
Erie and its tributaries.
LAKE ERIE WATER QUALITY
Water Quality Data
Data collected by or made available to the
Ohio Department of Health on water quality with respect
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to public water supplies and bathing beaches has been
available to the U. S. Public Health Service.
Public Water Supplies
Analysis of water intake data at the public
water supplies on Lake Erie has shown water to be accept-
able ftrom chemical, physical, and bacteriological standards
are recommended by U. S. Public Health Service. At two
water intakes (Avon Lake and Painesville) which are re-
latively close to shore the data shows the effect of
local pollution, at times. These occurences are limited
to periods of abnormal weather conditions, e.g., wind
director or heavy rainfall. Despite these influences
the intakes at no time indicated a quality which was not
well within acceptable standards of water supply. At no
time has the finished water been found unsafe for con-
sumption.
Bathing Beaches
Analysis of bathing beach waters is the
responsibility of the local health unit. However, the
State of Ohio has made surveys of bathing beaches in
conjunction with the local authorities. Of the 28
beaches in Ohio, some have been found to be consistently
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George H. Eagle
up to recommended standards, some periodically sub-
standard and some consistently below standard. The
surveys have shown that the beaches which do not meet
recommended levels of bacterial quality are affected by
storm, sanitary or combined sewer discharges in their
immediate vicinity. Several of the larger beaches
Cedar Point, East Harbor and Crane Creek have water of
excellent quality for swimming. The Cleveland beaches
are influenced by the sewer discharges.
Tributary Streams
The data collected from the monitoring
program of the rivers by the U. S. Geological Survey
under its cooperation program with the State of Ohio
show the poorer quality conditions which are receiving
the attention of the Ohio Water Pollution Control Board
in its abatement program. These are specific quality
problems that can be attributed to specific discharges.
The data have shown degrees of improvement where the
abatement program progress has exceeded growth and new
sources of discharge. The majority of the sewage treat-
ment plants are now in or nearing completion. The in-
dustrial waste programs are well underway and the Board
is now establishing final completion dates for specific
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companies. The goal year of 1969 should see most work
completed. New Industrial establishments have adequate
waste treatment facilities installed at time of start of
operation.
Debris
The obvious pollution of debris, oil and
scum which accumulate in harbors and along the shore is
receiving attention from the state agencies, local govern-
ments, and civic organizations. Debris washed down by
storms, whether from land or rubbish piled along banks,
required constant policing. The cities in Ohio have not
provided for such cleanup as they do for streets but the
public is now recognizing their responsibility.
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MAUMEE RIVER BASIN
Georgraphy
The Maumee River Basin covers 6,586 square
miles of which 4,856 lies within northwestern Ohio. The
major streams of the basin consist of the St. Joseph River
rising in Michigan and the St. Marys River which rises in
Shelby County, Ohio and flows northwesterly towards Fort
Wayne, Indiana. There it joins the St. Joseph River to
form the Maumee River, which flows northeasterly through
Defiance to Lake Erie. At Defiance, the Tiffin River
from Michigan and the Auglaize River which drains the
southeastern portion of the basin Join the Maumee River.
Major tributaries to the Auglaize are the Blanchard and
Ottawa Rivers.
The area of the basin is roughly circular in
shape, having a diameter of about 100 miles and resembles
a huge saucer in that it is steep at its extremes and flat
in the middle. This topography, along with permeable
soil, lower rainfall and limited underground storage
results in low stream flows in this area. In general,
yields per square mile are the lowest of any basin in
Ohio.
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George H. Eagle
Population
As of 1960, approximately 877*000 persons
resided in the Ohio portion of the Maumee basin and the
Ten Mile Creek area. Approximately 70$ of the population
(617,900 persons) live in cities and villages. Of this
number slightly more than 50$ reside within the city limits
of Toledo.
Population growth for the basin as a whole
has been considerably less than that for the state.
However, since 1950, the rate of growth of Lucas County
has exceeded that of the state. The high rate of growth
of Lucas County is expected to continue and in time it is
expected that this growth rate will extend to other areas
of the basin.
Economy
Approximately 90$ of the area is in agri-
cultural use on 22,700 farms. Crops include corn, wheat,
soy beans, sugar beets, and tomatoes as well as hogs, dairy
cattle, and poultry. In 195^, the gross farm income from
this area was estimated to be $35^,000,000 or 23$ of
the total farm income for the state. Recent trends
towards high-income crops for the expanding canning
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George H. Eagle
industry in the basin has stimulated the use of stream
waters for supplemental irrigation. Lack of water during
the growing season has limited growth.
Nearly 117,000 persons are employed in some
1,500 manufacturing plants. The principal industries are
automotive, glass, metal fabrication, petroleum, chemical,
paper, rubber and, of course, food and beverages. All
these manufacturing plants, as well as several electric
power generating stations, rely heavily on an adequate
supply of good quality water. Many of these establishments,
as well as farming practices, contribute to the water
quality problems of the basin.
Water Uses
It is estimated that approximately one billion
gallons per day of water is used by the citizens and In-
dustries of the basin. Of the daily use, 65$ is for
electric power production. Nearly 20$ of the daily use
is for manufacturing and 10$ for municipal uses.
Of the water used for municipal water supplies,
nearly 70$ is obtained from Lake Erie, 21$ from inland
surface supplies (such as the Maumee, Ottawa and Blanchard
Rivers), and 9$ is obtained from underground sources. There
are 62 communities in the basin served with public water
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supplies.
Approximately 90$ of the water used for power
production and by manufacturing companies with separate
supplies, is obtained directly from Lake Erie or the
lower Maumee River, which is augmented by back waters from
Lake Erie. Inland, the major portion of the water used
for manufacturing is obtained from wells. One major food
processing industry obtains its water supply from the
Maumee River.
Due to limited size, fluctuation in flow,
soil erosion, and waste discharges, many of the streams
are not suitable for good fishing.- Only a limited portion
of the streams are readily accessible to the public due to
Ohio law with respect to rights of adjacent property
owners. In spite of the limitations, however, a few
streams provide good fishing -- sections of the Maumee
River near Defiance, the Blanchard River above Pindlay,
the Auglaize River, little Ottawa River, Riley Creek and
the main stem of the St. Joseph River.
None of the state properties operated for
recreation have state park status at present. However,
a number of areas involving water based recreation is
being planned. Boating and water skiing is carried out
in a few of the stretches of the Maumee River. Due to
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George H. Eagle
low flow, irregular depths and other physical limitations,
there are very few stream stretches suitable for swimming.
Municipal Sewage Treatment
In 1950-51 "i« Division of Engineering,
Ohio Department of Health, conducted an intensive survey
of water pollution of the Maumee River. The findings of
that survey revealed that only 14 communities with
471,000 persons had sewage treatment facilities. However,
only 6 of these facilities, serving a population of only
22,760 persons, were considered as currently acceptable
at that time. In other words, 3$ of the basin population
was served by adequate sewage treatment plants, and by
"adequate", Mr. Poston, I mean currently acceptable to the
Ohio Department of Health at this time. In contrast,
there are now 33 communities having sewage treatment
facilities for 521,000 persons residing in 37 communities.
The facilities of one city - Sylvania, population 5,187;
and one village - Columbus Grove, of 2,100 persons are
considered as currently inadequate. Thus, nearly 97$ P_f
the basin's population living in communities with public
water supplies are served by adequate sewage treatment
facilities. Details of the sewage treatment facilities
provided by each municipality is .given in Table 1A.
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By referring to this Table it will be noted that 10
of the 12 cities and 18 of the 21 villages provide
secondary treatment. Treatment facilities other than
those capable of secondary treatment have been permitted
in those areas where stream dilution in relation to waste
loads and downstream water uses are such that a higher
degree of treatment is not considered necessary, or was
not considered necessary at the time this report was
printed.
No treatment facilities are provided by 17
villages having a combined population of 15,903 persons.
(See Table IA)
Municipal Sewage Collection
Of the twelve cities in the basin that pro.-
vide sewage treatment services, two have separate sewage
collection systems, 7 have both separate and combined
systems, and 2 small cities have only combined systems.
Better control of sewage overflows from combined sewers
is required in Defiance and Toledo. Extension of
sanitary sewers is required in the areas of Lima, Defiance
and Toledo.
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Industrial Wastes
Of the 54 industries studied during our
1950-51 survey, only 5 were considered as providing ade-
quate industrial waste treatment facilities. At present,
there are 50 industries which discharge their wastes
directly to the streams of this basin, of 50 industries
which discharge their wastes directly to the streams of
this basin, of which 4l have currently acceptable treat-
ment facilities. One of the new industries with inadequate
facilities has improvements under construction; two require
further in-plant controls; 4 need improvements; and, 1
has the problem under study. Details of the waste treat-
ment facilities provided by each of the industries in this
basin is given in Table IB.
Now, the remaining problems as we see them:
The most widespread problem in the Maumee
basin is low dissolved oxygen which occurs in many stream
stretches. This has occurred in spite of the fact that
well operated secondary sewage treatment plants, removing
in some instances 90 to 95$ of the tributary B.O.D. loads,
have been provided. The extremely low flow in many of the
receiving streams, ranging from 0.15 59 .33 cfs per 1000
P.E. of tributary load is a significant factor. Other
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factors are stagnant pool areas, some of which rece.ive
significant discharges of heated water, oils, ammonia,
and other forms of nitrogen, and algae. Just what treat-
ment devices should be provided in some of these areas
is of real concern to the Ohio Department of Health.
Algae not only contributes to the low P.O.
problem, but it is thought to be one of the factors which
gives rise to the taste and odor problems in drinking
water obtained from the Maumee River. Other related factors
are agricultural drainage, ammonia, and persistent organics,
such as used in pesticides. Nutrients, such as nitrates
and phosphates, contribute significantly to the growth of
algae.
Tastes and odors, algae and low D.O. problems
are not new to this basin. In a survey for public water
supplies in 1899, by the Ohio State Board of Health, all
three of the above conditions were found in the stream
waters around Findlay, Lima, Defiance, Napoleon, and
Toledo. Nitrates were particularly high after the first
late summer rainfall indicating that agricultural runoff
contributes to this condition.
High coliforms in stream stretches below some
of the cities in this basin remain a significant problem.
Better sewage collection and disinfection will be required
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to improve those areas suitable for water based recreation.
The extremely large quantities of sediment
carried by the Maumee River as theresult of soil erosion
is a very serious problem. Aggressive State and Federal
programs in soil conservation are badly needed in this
basin. In addition, further efforts are needed to minimize
the loss of rich soils by excessive floods.
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CUYAHOGA RIVER BASIN
Geography
The Cuyahoga River drains a 813 square mile
area located in the northeastern part of Ohio. It is the
second largest stream flowing into Lake Erie from Ohio.
From its headwaters, which are nearly 16 miles south of
Lake Erie, the river flows south towards and through the
City of Akron. From there it turns sharply and flows in
a northwesterly direction through Cleveland into Lake
Erie. The upper reaches of the river is a shallow channel
cut through glacial drift with a fall of about 9 feet
per mile. At Cuyahoga Falls, where the river cuts through
sandstone, the fall is 220 feet in 1.5 miles. In the lower
northward course, the river flow is a wide pre-glacial
valley with a fall of 6 feet per mile. The last six
miles of the river is essentially an estuary which is
significantly affected by lake levels.
Population
The population of the Cuyahoga River basin
is estimated to be approximately 1,328,000 persons of which
nearly 800,000 live in the metropolitan areas of Akron
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and Cleveland. The rate of growth of these areas has
far exceeded that of the state as a whole. It is esti-
mated by the year 2000 that more than 2,000,000 persons
will live in the basin.
Industry
Cleveland is a, major center for the production
of primary metals and fabricated metal parts. Akron is
known as a major rubber center. Other important in-
dustries include chemical, electrical equipment and oil
refinery. In 1953 it was estimated that value added to
all manufactured products was 2.1 billion dollars. Many
of the industries depend on large quantities of water for
cooling and processing.
Approximately 16,000 persons are employed
in steel production, 125,000 in metal fabrication, 60,000
in the production of rubber goods and 5>500 persons are
employed by the chemical industries.
Water Use
Seven communities obtain their water supply
from surface or underground supplies within the basin.
Akron and Ravenna, which obtain their water from surface
supplies, consume nearly 42.0 mgd. The five other
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communities which obtain their water from wells consume
about 4.0 mgd. Cleveland and its suburbs obtain their
water supply from Lake Erie.
It has been estimated that the average daily
use of water in the basin by manufacturing plants with
separate supplies is nearly 530 mgd of which all but about
10 mgd is obtained from surface supplies. Approximately
65 mgd is obtained from lakes in the Akron area and the
remainder is obtained from the lower river. In addition
to the above, approximately 730 mgd of surface water is
used for cooling water in the production of electric
power. Since the average annual flow of the Cuyahoga
River is approximately 500 mgd at Independence, it can
readily be seen that the river water is reused several
times during periods of low flow. It should be realized,
however, that some of this water is made up of backwater
from Lake Erie.
Municipal Sewage Treatment
There are 19 cities in the basin which dis-
charge their sewage to the streams of this basin. Nine
of these provide their own sewage treatment facilities
whereas seven are tributary to the facilities of Cleveland,
and two cities are tributary to the facilities of Akron.
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One of the cities tributary to Cleveland provides treat-
ment for a part of its sewage. One small city in the
Cleveland area provides no treatment of its sewage.
Of the 14 villages in the basin, three are
tributary to the facilities of Akron, four are tributary
to the facilities of Cleveland, six provide their own
sewage treatment facilities. Only one currently has no
organized sewage treatment facilities. Details of these
treatment facilities and the programs underway are
summarized in Table 2A. As noted in the table, five of
the facilities provided by the nine cities with sewage
treatment plants and the one with no facilities are con-
sidered as currently inadequate. The others are adequate.
Municipal Sewage Collection
Separate sanitary sewage collection systems
have been provided by all but two cities and one small
village. The cities with significant combined storm and
sanitary sewer systems are Cleveland and Akron. In both
of these municipalities significant quantities of sewage
overflow to adjacent streams even during relatively light
rain falls. The Ohio Water Pollution Control Board has
directed these cities to improve the maintenance of their
systems, and to obtain data on occurrences of overflows
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for the preparation of plans for suitable corrective
measures.
Plans for a major interceptor to make the
rapidly growing area north of Akron tributary to enlarged
facilities of the city of Akron have been completed and
should be placed under construction soon.
Likewise, additional sewage collection
facilities are needed in the Cleveland low level area.
Although major intercepting sewers have been planned in
i
this area for many years, the construction of these sewers
has progressed very slowly. Such sewers would collect
sanitary sewage and some industrial wastes which are now
discharged untreated to the lower Cuyahoga River.
Industrial Wastes
The industrial complex on the Cuyahoga River
will be considered in terms of types of industries. Each
company operates under an Ohio Water Pollution Control
Board permit requiring continuing improvement until ade-
quate treatment is provided.
Steel Plants
There are three major steel plants on the
Cuyahoga River. Located in the navigation section of the
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river these companies use the river for navigation, water
supply and ultimate disposal of wastewaters. The plants
have been located in Cleveland for many years. A major
problem has been the separation and collection of sewage
for connection to the municipal sewers. The steel companies
have been undergoing large scale modernization and in such
construction adequate waste treatment facilities are being
provided. The revamping of waste control operations in
the older parts of the plants present more difficult
problems.
Following the Ohio Water Pollution Control
Board policy of periodically reviewing progress of the
programs in river basins, the Board invited the three
steel companies to present a summary of accomplishment
and plans with expected completion date for the remaining
waste controls required. The steel companies met with
the Board on June 8, 1965. Their reports are given in
Appendix A of this report.
It should be noted in these reports that the
steel companies have made definite commitments to complete
their pollution abatement programs. These schedules are
being included in their future Board permit requirements.
Chemical Plants
The chemical plants are scheduled to meet with
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George H. Eagle
the Water Pollution Control Board on September 14, 19&5,
to report progress and provide schedules for completion
of programs as the steel companies did in June.
The chemical industry provides wastewaters
containing a great variety of compounds some which have
been produced over a century and others of recent develop-
ment. The wastes must be classified according to their
effects: some cause taste and odors in water supplies; some
are toxic if the concentration is high enough; some change
the physical characteristics of the stream - this may be
color, deposit of solids, or acid or strongly alkaline
water.
The State of Ohio has not attempted to develop
a limit on each compound which may be in a chemical plant
discharge but has established water quality objectives
related to water usage and a discharge interfering with
that usage is designated as inadequately treated. The
effects of the wastewater discharges are thus the important
control. This is not the easy way to administer the
program but it is the effective way. The company thus
has the responsibility for determining which substance or
compound is responsible for interfering with the desired
quality.
This approach has caused the companies to
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carefully appraise their operations in an effort to re-
duce or eliminate losses. Changes in process have been
effective in many instances. In other instances, it has
been found effective to treat wastes at individual sources
rather than attempt a treatment of all wastewaters at the
same time.
The chemical industry plants have provided
separation and collection of sewage and connection to
public sewers. In jsome instances^ the change in process
or pretreatment of the industrial waste waters has per-
mitted discharge of the industrial waters to the public
sewer and eliminate a discharge to theriver. These are
E. I. duPont deNemours and Company, Harshaw Chemical
Company, Sherwin Williams Company, Reilly Tar and Chemical
Company, and General Chemical Division of Allied Chemical
Corporation.
The duPont Company has produced industrial
chemicals at the same site in Cleveland since 1867. The
principal products are acids and zinc and ammonium salts.
The company has spent over $300,000 in the past 10 years
to reduce the losses of these products from their pro-
duction processes. The result is that the loss of zinc
salts is one-half what it was in 195^ and ammonium salts
lost are only one-fifth as much. In addition, a new
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sanitary sewer system separated sewage from industrial
process water. The sewage is now discharged to the city
of Cleveland sewers. A neutralizing plant has been con-
structed to treat the acids in the miscellaneous process
waters before they are allowed to return to the river
with the cooling water.
The Harshaw Chemical Company produces many
compounds for use in the chemical industries. Major
production is in metallic salt and solutions of nickel,
copper, zinc, and cobolt. The principal characteristics
of these wastes are the metallic ions and calcium sulphate.
The approach of the company had been to install control
measures in each process operation to prevent losses.
Rearrangement of sewers with the installation of sumps with
flow measuring and sampling devices has permitted very close
surveillance and-control. Appreciable reductions have
been made in the loss of metallic ions. Calcium sulphate
is slightly soluble so some is lost in the discharge to the
river. Generally the concentration of these materials in
the river are not sufficient to cause any problem. This
company has segregated its sanitary sewage for discharge
to the Cleveland sewerage system at a cost of $50,000.
The Sherwin Williams Company has two plants
on the Cuyahoga River which originally discharged sanitary
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and industrial wastes into the river. These are the
Paint and Varnish Plant and the Linseed Oil Plant. At
the Paint and Varnish Plant the industrial wastes and
sanitary sewage have been segregated, pretreatment
facilities provided for the industrial wastes and both
sewage and industrial wastes are now discharged to Cleve-
land intercepter sewers. At the Linseed Oil Plant in-
dustrial wastes consist principally of sludges from the
refining processes. The sanitary sewage, cooling waters,
and industrial wastes have been segregated and the sani-
tary sewage will be discharged to the Cleveland intercepter
when available. The company in cooperation with the City
of Cleveland investigated the possibility of hauling the
sludges to the Westerly Treatment Plant for treatment in
the digesters. This did not prove feasible. Plans are
in preparation for treatment and filtration of the sludges
by the company with disposal of sludge cake at municipal
sanitary fills. The filtrate probably will be discharged
to the Cleveland sewers.
The Reilly Tar and Chemical Company, a tar
refining operation, originally discharged sanitary sewage
and industrial wastes (oils and phenolic compounds) to the
Cuyahoga River. This company has since installed pre-
treatment facilities (oil recovery) and now discharge all
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wastes to the Cleveland sewers for treatment by the city.
The General Chemical Division's (of Allied
Chemical Corporation) principal product is sulphuric
acid. Normally cooling water is the only discharge from
this operation. The water can entrain some contamination
from the process. By careful in-plant controls and analysis
the company maintains a satisfactory effluent. Sanitary
sewage has "been segregated and is now discharged to a
county sanitary sewer at a cost of $30,000.
Oil Refineries
The oil refinery story parallels other in-
dustrial programs in that there was a collection of sewage
from sanitary facilities for discharge to the city sewers
and a series of controls instituted to prevent loss of
oils to the river. The program of the only refining com-
pany in the Cleveland - Cuyahoga Basin area - the
Standard Oil Company - has been extensive. Plant No. 1
is moving from the Cleveland area so most of the following
summary of accomplishments will be limited to Plant No. 2.
1. Constructed culverts in Kingsbury Run to
improve refinery sewer system ($250,000), provided diversion
tunnel for Kingsbury Run ($320,000) and provided other
sewers for separation of sewage and collection of in-
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George H. Eagle
dustrial waters ($55,000).
2. A new separator with air flotation unit
was constructed in 1957 at the No. 2 refinery as part of
a $475,000 program.
3. Construction of a chemical emulsion
treatment plant in 1951 (at cost of $140,000) to break
emulsions skimmed from the separator.
4. Provided facilities to skim oil from river
at Kingsbury Run slip regardless of original source (at
cost of $35,000).
5. Provided facilities to collect and convey
ship ballast to oily water separators ($30,000).
6. Provided recycle system for water
normally discharged to the river ($80,000) - (Difficulties
in developing proper fire foam has prevented continuous
operation.)
7. Provided vacuum filter for solids removal
and disposal ($l80,000).
8. Change in processes (for example, eli-
minating acid treatment which in turn eliminated acid
wastes).
9. Positive and continuing program of good
housekeeping to prevent spills or other losses.
There has been a decrease in the volume of
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waste water discharged to the river and a reduction in
oil lost to the river.
At the No. 2 refinery the oil loss in 1951
average 23 barrels a day but was down to 0.1 barrel a
day by 1964.
This total program has produced much im-
proved waste control at a total cost of approximately
$2,000,000.
Paper Products
There are two companies in the Cuyahoga River
basin producing paper products. The waste waters from
paper mills carry solids fiber from wood or paper
which settle in the stream and decompose. The deposits
below a paper mill are unsightly and use up the oxygen
in the stream.
In order to reduce loss of fiber, paper
companies install fiber recovery equipment called savealls.
The recovered fiber is used in paper production. However,
savealls are not sufficient to remove all fibers and thus
additional treatment facilities must be provided.
In some instances paper mills use chemical
solutions for coating or sizing which, if discharged to
the river, use up much oxygen. Special controls and
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George H. Eagle
treatment are needed for such material.
Forrest Products Division of Owens-Illinois
located in Northfield Township, Summit County, has in-
stalled inplant recovery of paper fiber and clarification
of the wastewaters before discharge to the river. During
the summer further treatment is provided by land spray
disposal.
Sonoco Products Company took over the Munroe
Palls Paper Company in 1960. Since then the company has
installed saveall equipment for recovery of fiber. Sub-
sequently, the company provided a lagoon for removal of
the remaining settleable materials. Aeration equipment
also has been added to the lagoon. The company has re-
cently determined to discharge their wastes to the new
Mud Brook interceptor sewer. Lagoon facilities will be
provided for solids removal until this sewer is completed.
In summary there are 42 waste permits in. the
32 companies which discharge wastes to the streams of the
Cuyahoga River basin. Twenty-one of these permits are
considered as having currently acceptable facilities.
Of the 21 with inadequate facilities, 2 have facilities
under construction, 5 plan to connect to municipal sewers,
one is preparing plans, and the remaining 13 (including 4
discharges of pickle liquor) have studies under way.
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George H. Eagle
Remaining Problems
The waste treatment construction program
in the industrial and urbanized complex of the Guyahoga
basin is making significant strides in reducing wastes
discharged to the river. Until the program is completed
there remains problems of low dissolved oxygen, oil,
color, sediment, debris and in some areas bacterial
pollution. I don't think we have to expand further on
that, for those who took the boat ride the other day.
The rapid population growth of the Summit
County area has increased the usage of waters of the upper
Cuyahoga basin for public water supply. Not only does this
further reduce the low flow in the river during critical
periods, it also increases the proportion of flow in the
river below Akron as treated wastewater. Under these
conditions even the best available secondary treatment
processes will result in low dissolved oxygen downstream
from the City of Akron as well as the City of Kent. Some
means of low flow augmentation or further treatment will
be required for solution of this problem.
Downstream from Kent there are excessive
algal blooms triggered by the Nutrient from the sewage
treatment plants.
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Oil not only comes from refineries and steel
rolling mills but is discharged by gasoline stations and
private citizens via storm sewers. Another source of the
oil is the unauthorized pumping of bilge water from cargo
ships. All possible means should be utilized to prevent
oil from being discharged to the river. Even so some
oil will get to the river. Industrial and city officials
have been studying this matter and are presently in the
process of obtaining facilities for periodical removal of
the oil from the water.
Debris, mainly from unauthorized dumps along
the banks of the river, is a problem which local authorities
must recognize and control. In some instances debris
removal from the water surface of the river could be
accomplished with the removal of oil.
Sediment load, solids in waste discharges
and the run-off from the Cleveland area contribute to the
850,000 tons dredged per year from the navigation channel
and Harbor. It has been indicated that soil conservation
practices would have only a minor effect in reducing the
sediment load originating above Independence. It appears
pertinent to bring up the question at this time as to the
advisability of dumping the materials dredged from this
area into the lake just beyond the breakwater, and this
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George H. Eagle
has already been discussed.
In spite of all efforts so far, some color
remains in the waste discharged from steel mills and other
industrial processes. Further work is needed to solve
these problems.
For the protection of areas of the stream
suitable for recreation and readily accessible to the
public, adequate disinfection of all sources of sewage
discharges must be provided.
Water Quality Analysis
The State of Ohio has been working with cities
and industries on the Cuyahoga River in a joint develop-
ment of needs and remedies to provide water quality in the
Cuyahoga adequate for the area needs. The committee (The
Cuyahoga River Basin Water Quality Committee) which was
established and has been meeting regularly, set up sub-
committees on water quality analysis, debris collection
and other specific problems.
The committee has made preliminary surveys on
the river and after evaluation of the data, scheduled detailed
surveys on the river to determine water quality and evaluate
sources of influence,natural and man made.
The committee expects to offer recommendations
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on water quality controls. The data collected by the
committee is shared with the State and has been offered
to the U. S. Public Health Service for use in their
model studies with the stipulation that all of the data
deemed pertinent by the State is included in the study.
The objectives were to make certain that adequate data
are used and that the model would be available to the
State for review of changing conditions.
The PHS survey data has been limited to
once a week samples. The committee data is collected
by intensive sampling over a period of time and at
scheduled flow and temperature conditions. Also, at
the time of sampling the river, the individual plant
discharges are determined. The PHS agreement to this
cooperative effort has not yet been given.
The companies have been reluctant to re-
lease waste load data for public review because of
possible misinterpretation. When offered to the State
or to the committee the data are correlated with effects
on the stream to determine responsibility and importance.
The waste load data reporting at any time is
a part of a continuing program of waste control. The
magnitude of the load in itself does not describe effect,
possibilities of control or plans for control.
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George H. Eagle
For example, the three steel companies in
the Cleveland area discharge about 48,000 pounds of
ferrous iron a day in spent acid. The iron causes a
color problem as it oxidizes. The iron also coagulates
in the stream and precipitates, forming sludge deposits
when the ferrous iron concentration is sufficiently high.
The effects thus vary with flow conditions.
As part of the program reported to the State,
these companies will have converted their pickling oper-
ations to hydrochloric acid with recovery of the spent
acid by 1969. This will be done in stages so partial re-
moval will be effected by 1967. (See Appendix A)
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MINOR TRIBUTARIES
General
The drainage areas covered by this section
of the report includes those drained by the Portage,
Sandusky, Huron, Vermilion, Black and Rocky Rivers which
are located between the Maumee and Cuyahoga River Drainage
Basins and Chagrin, Grand, and Ashtabula Rivers, which
are located in northeastern Ohio. The basins in general
have steep slopes in the headwater areas and very flat
slopes in the Lake Plain areas. In general, stream flows
during the late summer are extremely low.
Population
The population of the drainage area of the
minor tributaries is approximately 500,000 persons of
which 90$ live in communities with public water supplies.
The two largest cities in the area are Lorain and Elyria
accounting for 20# of the total area population. Thirteen
other cities have populations ranging from 10,000 to
20,000 persons.
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George H. Eagle
Economy
Approximately 80$ of the land area of the
drainage basins west of the Cuyahoga basin is farm area
whereas less than 60$ of the land area in the north-
eastern basins is in such use. A major portion of the
industries in the western basins are in food processing,
however, there are major manufacturing plants in the
areas of Toledo, Sandusky, Elyria, Lorain,Brook Park and
Parma Heights. In contrast, there is a predominance of
chemical industries in the northeastern minor tributaries.
The industrial growth in this area has been very rapid
in the last ten years and will likely continue.
Water Uses
The municipal use of water in the western
group of the minor tributaries amounts to 4? m.g.d.
of which 27 m.g.d. is obtained from Lake Erie, 16 m.g.d.
from inland surface sources and the remainder from under-
ground sources. The major inland surface supplies
are obtained from the waters of the Sandusky, Huron,
Black and Rocky Rivers. Municipal use of water in the
eastern group of minor tributaries is nearly 18 m.g.d. of
which 14 m.g.d. is obtained from Lake Erie, 1.2 m.g.d.
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from inland surface sources and 3 m.g.d. from underground
sources. The major inland surface supply is obtained from
Conneaut Creek.
Use of water in the area of the western minor
tributaries for manufacturing amounts to 212 m.g.d. of
which 202 m.g.d. is obtained from inland surface sources,
2 m.g.d. from Lake Erie and 8 m.g.d. from underground
sources. The major inland surface source is the Black
River in the area of Lorain. The use of this water is
primarily for cooling water. In the eastern tributaries
288 m.g.d. of water is used of which 285 m.g.d. is ob-
tained from Lake Erie, and 3 m.g.d. from inland surface
supplies. Over 93$ of the industrial use of water is
for cooling purposes.
Sport fishing is carried on in some reaches
of the Sandusky, Huron, Vermilion, Black, Rocky and
Chagrin Rivers.
Municipal Sewage Treatment
There are 25 cities in the drainage of the
western minor tributaries of which 16 provide secondary
treatment, 2 intermediate treatment, 4 primary treatment,
and 3 provide no treatment of their sewage. Twelve (12)
of the 16 secondary treatment, the 2 intermediate facilities,
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and 3 primary f acilj.ties are classed as currently accept-
able, at this time to the Ohio Water Pollution Control
Board. Of the inadequate facilities enlargements are under
construction for 2 secondary plants and plans of enlarge-
ment to the other two are in preparation. Plans for adding
secondary facilities to one inland city with primary
facilities are in preparation. Of the 3 cities with no
treatment, one has facilities under construction, detail
plans for another have been approved, and plans for the
third city are under preparation.
Only three cities discharge their waste to the
streams of the eastern minor tributaries. One provides
secondary treatment and the other two provide intermediate
facilities. The intermediate facilities are currently
acceptable whereas the secondary plant currently is
overloaded. Enlargement of this plant is now under con-
struction. Pertinent information with respect to the
facilities provided by each municipality is given in Table
3A. A review of this table will show that 18 of the 32
villages provide treatment facilities. Of the 14 without
treatment one has facilities under construction, and 7
are preparing plans of facilities. The remaining villages
have minor pollution problems and/or lack the necessary
finances to construct facilities.
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Municipal Sewage Collection
Thirteen cities provide separate sewage
collection systems, 8 others have both separate and combined
systems, and four have only combined systems. Further
study is needed to determine the sewerage needs of those
cities with extensive combined systems.
Industrial Wastes
Of the 35 industrial waste discharges to the
western minor tributaries, 31 are provided with currently
acceptable treatment facilities. Of the four with in-
adequate facilities, one has plans in preparation, one is
carrying out studies, one needs improved operation, and the
fourth plans to connect to municipal sanitary sewers. Of
the 46 industries that discharge waste to the eastern
minor tributaries, 35 have currently acceptable facilities,
9 are inadequate and the status of the others needs to be
studied. Of the 9 inadequate facilities, 4 are planning
to connect to municipal facilities, one has facilities
under construction, 3 have prepared plans of treatment
facilities and one is carrying out studies.
Although a number of the industrial plants
in Ashtabula County have provided facilities which pro-
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vide adequate treatment of their individual wastes, the
interaction of the wastes from the various companies still
produce unsatisfactory conditions in the receiving streams.
In order to solve this problem the Ohio Department of Health
has directed these companies to jointly study their
problem and prepare a joint program of correction measures.
Pertinent information with respect to the industrial waste
problem of each of the industries is given in Table 3B.
Remaining Problems
As in the Maumee River basin the low stream
flows during the late summer period in many of these
tributaries do not provide sufficient dilution for the
assimilation of the waste loads from well operated
secondary treatment plants. At times no flow for an en-
tire month has been observed in the Ashtabula and
Vermilion Rivers. Other low flow areas are Bowling Green,
Postoria, Bucyrus, Fremont, Norwalk, Elyria, and Oberlin.
In the previously cited 1899 report of the Ohio State
Board of Health low D.O.'s and algae problems were ob-
served in most of these same areas. Then, as now, the
control of nutrients from agricultural runoff is still a
problem in some of the western tributaries. Additional
needed improvement is disinfection of those discharges
which affect waters suitable for recreation.
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OHIO'S LAKE ERIE SHORELINE
This section of th* report deals only
with those areas along the shoreline that are not
part of any recognized tributary drainage area.
Water Uses
Some 2,000,000 persons or about two-thirds
of the population of the Lake Erie watershed in Ohio
obtain their water supply from Lake Erie. The municipal
water works which obtain their supply from Lake Erie
pump on an average of 430 m.g.d. Manufacturing plants
which obtain their water supply directly from Lake Erie
use nearly 29^ m.g.d. In addition, approximately 1920
m.g.d. of the water obtained from Lake Erie and its
back waters is tfg«dfor electric power production.
In addition to these major water supply uses
the waters of Lake Erie are used extensively for bathing,
boating, and fishing. There are 28 public bathing beaches
along the Ohio shoreline.
Municipal Sewage Treatment
The sewage from six cities, four villages
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and one county sewer district is discharged directly
to Lake Erie. Of the facilities provided by the cities,
four are considered currently acceptable and two - the
Cleveland Westerly plant and the facilities of Lakewood -
are currently inadequate. A new plant to serve the city
of Lakewood has Just been constructed and will be placed
in operation in the near future. The new Lakewood plant
plus the Easterly plant of the city of Cleveland provide
secondary treatment. The other municipal plants pro-
vide intermediate chemical treatment during the summer
season. Disinfection of the effluents of these plants
is provided during the bathing season.
Two villages provide primary treatment
with disinfection of their effluents during the bathing
season; these are considered as currently acceptable.
There are only two villages (630 persons) without treat-
ment. Plans are being developed for treatment plants.
One large county sewer district plant serves the cities
of Rocky River, Bay, and Pairview Park. This plant pro-
vides intermediate treatment with disinfection of the
effluent.
Municipal Sewage Collection
The cities of Ashtabula and Euclid, as well
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as the villages of Geneva-on-the-Lake and Vermllion-on-
the -Lake, have separate sanitary sewer systems. However,
significant areas of the cities of Cleveland, Lakewood
and Avon Lake are served by combined sewer systems. The
combined sewer system of the City of Cleveland has over
300 relief overflows which discharge at the shoreline of
Lake Erie. The sewage flow in a number of the combined
sewers in Cleveland exceed that for which they were de-
signed. This factor, plus increased storm run-off as the
result of built up areas, has increased the amount of un-
treated sewage discharged to the Lake. Unfortunately,
some of these discharges take place at or near the beaches
in the Cleveland area and thus render them unsuitable for
swimming. As a step towards correcting this problem, the
Ohio Water Pollution Control Board in February 1965,
directed the city to prepare a program by August 15,
1965, for the elimination of pollution of Lake Erie
shore waters in the Cleveland area.
Industrial Wastes
There are ten industrial establishments which
discharge industrial wastes directly to Lake Erie. All
provide waste treatment facilities. The facilities of
seven of these establishments are currently acceptable.
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George H. Eagle
Those with inadequate facilities include a metal finishing
plant, an electric generating station, and a synthetic
fiber producer. The Ohio Water Pollution Control Board
has directed that additional facilities be provided.
Problems
The effect of individual sewers, storm and
combined, which discharge onto or adjacent to beaches
has been well defined. Diversion of such discharges by
connection to the sewage treatment plants would permit
utilization of these beaches.
The discharge of chlorides from chemical
plants in the Grand River area remain a problem for
which no solution has been devised.
other industrial problem now receiving
attention is the control on the loss of zinc from the
fiber company.
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George H. Eagle
APPENDIX A
STATEMENT OP
REPUBLIC STEEL CORPORATION
RE: CLEVELAND DISTRICT STEEL PLANT
AND BOLT AND NUT DIVISION PLANT
PRESENTED TO THE
OHIO WATER POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
JUNE 8, 1965
COLUMBUS, OHIO
Mr. Chairman and members of the Ohio Water
Pollution Control Board:
I am Louis F. Birkel, a professional sanitary
engineer, and have worked in the field of industrial
waste control for the past twenty years. I am presently
employed by Republic Steel Corporation.
In response to the Board's invitation of
May 6th, it is my pleasure today to outline for you
Republic's waste control programs as they apply to the
Cleveland District steel plant and the Bolt and Nut
Division plant. Both are located in the City of Cleve-
land, except^for a portion of the steel plant's strip
mill facilities, and both occupy land adjacent to the
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George H. Eagle
Cuyahoga River.
As many of you know, Republic has long been
active in the field of industrial waste control. Waste
control laboratories are maintained at the company's
Research Center in Independence^ Ohio, and all basic
steelmaking plants. These plants also have monitoring
equipment and sampling stations which provide continuous
data for use in the development of waste control objectives.
Today, I am pleased to be able to report that
many of these objectives have been met. Work now in
progress and our plans for implementing our waste control
goals will be covered later in this report. We are well
aware that much remains to be done and assure this board
that we will continue to search diligently for workable
and economically feasible solutions to the problems that
remain.
Now, in keeping with the purpose of this
report, let me begin by briefly reviewing our past
accomplishments at the Cleveland District and Bolt and
Nut Plant in order that you may see our present work and
future plans in their proper perspective.
A five-year program to intercept and collect
all sanitary sewage from the Cleveland District plant so
that it is discharged to the City of Cleveland sewer
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George H. Eagle
system was completed in May of this year.
Sewers have been constructed and connected to
the City sewer system in the Westside Blast Furnace area,
the Shop area, Steel Plant, No. 1 Coke Plant and Car
Repair Yard.
The sewers for the Strip Mill area, Eastside
Blast Furnace, and the No. 2 Coke Plant have been con-
structed this year and were completed last month.
This has eliminated the discharge of untreated
sanitary sewage from Republic plants that employ approxi-
mately 9,500 people.
Coke Plant
There are two coke plants in the Republic
plant. All ammonia still wastes from both coke plants are
collected and treated in a new dephenolizer which removes
the phenols from the coke plant wastes and recovers the
phenol.
A new napthalene recovery unit has also been
placed in operation and the benzol plant water is disposed
of by using it for quench water on the hot coke. This
eliminates any discharge from this operation.
With the controls on sanitary sewage and coke
plant wastes, we have removed or treated those wastes which
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George H. Eagle
could have the most detrimental effect on the lake,
particularly as a drinking water source. Priority was
given to these programs with the knowledge and agreement
of your staff.
Acid
The next constituent in the waste from this
steelmaking and finishing complex is the spent acid used
for pickling. Some steps have been taken to minimize
the effect of the acid discharged. Dry cleaning methods
have been substituted for sulfuric acid in two operations
in the Steel Plant, thus eliminating batch discharges.
Also, controls have been installed on the discharge of
acid from the continuous picklers so that the effects are
minimized. Batch dumps were eliminated. The acid is
now discharged at & controlled rate. Data collected in-
dicate that the alkalinity and pH of the water is
affected very little by the discharge of the continuous
picklers. However, the problem of iron salts, color and
flocculation in the stream remains. We feel the elimin-
ation of the pickling acid will be the major step towards
solving the color problem in the Cuyahoga River,
You, of course, are all familiar with the
history of the pickle liquor problem in the steel in-
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George H. Eagle
dustry and there is no reason to dwell on the investi-
gations* pilot plant work and research for a feasible
method for treatment or elimination of sulfuric acid
from continuous strip picklers.
Some companies have drilled deep disposal
wells and are discharging their spent acid to formations
deep under ground. In some areas, this is a feasible
method, and until the advent of hydrochloric acid, was the
only possible solution to this problem in old plants with
limited space. It is my understanding that this method
has not been approved in Ohio.
With the construction of Republic's new
pickle line with recovery of hydrochloric acid (HC1)
at our Southern plant in Gadsden, Alabama, a new approach
was shown to be possible. At our Southern acid recovery
plant, there have been operating problems and costs
have been high. Nevertheless, we plan to move ahead with
a similar recovery program at Cleveland. This step is a
costly one and not without some risk of failure.
Subject to possible delays beyond our control,
the schedule for this program is as follows:
1. One continuous line is currently being
rebuilt so that the hydrochloric acid can be used. This
modification is to be completed during early 1966. Oper-
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George H. Eagle
ation of this unit will further implement testing of HC1
pickling in horizontal lines which has been done at our
Warren District plant.
2. A new hydrochloric acid reclamation
plant with sufficient capacity to recover the acid from
this line as well as the new pickling line to be built
in connection with our announced expansion and construction
of the new 84" Tandem Mill. The acid reclamation plant
is scheduled for completion during the last quarter of
1967. This will provide time to operate and modify the
unit so that operating problems will be worked out before
It become necessary to recover the larger amounts of
acid anticipated from the new pickling facilities.
3. The new pickling facilities will be in
operation in 1968 and the acid recovered.
4. Our No. 3 line will be rebuilt and con-
verted to HC1 and the acid recovered. This is scheduled
for completion in 1969. At that time, our Ho. 2 line
will be phased out. In 1969, all pickling will be by
hydrochloric acid and no pickling acid will be discharged
into the Cuyahoga River.
Flue Dust
The heated air which reduces ore, coke, and
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George H. Eagle
limestone to molten iron in the blast furnace swirls
up to the top of the stack carrying with it fine particles
of raw material, mostly iron oxide. As the dust laden
gas travels through the "down comers", the flue dust is
deposited by gravity in a dry dust catcher.
However, some of the finer iron oxide
particles are not removed in the dust catcher and require
further treatment. The fine particles are washed out of
the gas by water scrubbers and the dust laden liquid flows
to large settling basins called thickeners where the
particles settle to the bottom in a thick sludge, per-
mitting the cleaned water to flow back into the river.
The accumulated flue dust is removed from the
thickener and eventually is recharged back to the blast
furnace.
The six blast furnaces located in two separate
areas are served by the three thickeners and other necessary
appurtenances such as vacuum pumps, vacuum filters, and
conveyors. Four furnaces on the west side of the river
are served by two thickeners, 70 feet in diameter. The
two furnaces on the east side of the river are served by
one thickener, 120 feet in diameter.
The operation of these facilities is diffi-
cult because of the large volume of flow and the large
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George H. Eagle
tonnage of solids which must be handled each day. Oper-
ation is a continuous problem, and in an old plant with
interconnecting sewers, it is extremely difficult to
bottle up all solids at all times. These facilities are
being policed constantly by our own organization and,
while there are operating problems, improvement has been
made. In the foreseeable future, additional sintering
capacity will be built which will eliminate one of the
problems facing us now in that we do not have the capability
to reuse all the solids recovered and thus they must be
hauled away and disposed of on land. In construction
of new sintering facilities, it is anticipated that the
removal and handling of flue dust from gas washer water
will be refined, although plans are not yet definite.
The thickeners remove a large percentage of
the solids. In terms of concentration, there is no
problem. However, the finely divided solids of small
particle size, which remain after plain sedimentation
in the thickeners, do pose a problem in that they add
color to the water in the vicinity of the discharge.
While this is a problem, the Cuyahoga River is naturally
turbid by virtue of carrying a heavy silt load and thus
we feel the problem should be more clearly defined be-
fore ultimate requirements are set.
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George H. Eagle
Continuous flow measurement and sampling
equipment has been Installed on the outfalls of both
thickener installations. These provide continuous
monitoring of the effluent concentration and flow from
these facilities and are part of the overall policing
of the operation. Any discharge of unusual amounts of
solids is quickly apparent. The results of the sampling
are reviewed, not only in the District, but by the Waste
Control Division.
Mill Scale
The manufacture of various steel products
entails rolling hot metal into desired shapes. Hot
steel oxidizes rapidly in air and this scale of iron
oxide is removed and drops off in the rolling process.
Water is also used on the rolls for cooling and scale
removal, resulting in waste water containing scale and
any oil which may have leaked from the lubrication and
hydraulic systems of the mill. The scale bearing water
drops into a flume and flows to a settling tank commonly
called a scale pit.
There has been a continuing program to im-
prove the recovery of scale bearing wastes from all mill
areas.
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George H. Eagle
A new scale recovery system,as well as a
system for the reuse of treated wastes was placed in
operation for the new 10" mill which was constructed in
1962. This system was constructed so that most of the
waste from the mill can be reused. This is an additional
operating cost, but was instituted with the construction
of new facilities so that the volume of waste would be
reduced. Simultaneously with the construction of this
system, the volume of waste from the adjoining 12" mill
was further reduced as the cooling water from the reheat
furnaces was removed from the scale pit serving the 12"
mill, thereby increasing its efficiency.
A recycle system for the cooling water from
the 98" strip mill runout tables was placed into operation
in 1964. This recirculation system was designed to in-
crease the efficiency of scale recovery in the existing
98" scale pit by eliminating approximately 10,000 gallons
per minute which formerly was discharged throughtfr* pits
serving the mill.
Previously a dry drag, which is a unit that
periodically pulls a bucket under the roughing stands of
the 98" mill to remove the scale from under the mill with-
out the use of sluice water, was installed. This, again,
reduces the flow and the volume of solids which must be
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George H. Eagle
removed In the scale pit.
New baffling and oil facilities have "been
installed in the 44" mill scale pit to recover oil and
improve the sedimentation efficiency for the recovery of
scale. By installation of proper baffling so that the
flow characteristics through existing pits is improved,
considerable additional scale can be recovered. Baffles
have also been installed in the 12" mill scale pit and
oil removal equipment will be installed.
An improvement program for the 18" mill is
now under construction and will consist of baffling and
oil recovery facilities. Formerly, these units had no
baffling and any oil which escaped from the lubrication
or hydraulic systems into the water went to the river.
Even though these pits are small by comparison with units
which would be constructed today, large amounts of oil
can be trapped and removed by proper baffling and oil
removal equipment.
The removal of scale from these existing
pits, which are usually deep in the ground and surrounded
by mill buildings and equipment, is most difficult. The
scale must be removed by clam shell which is a continuous
operational problem. As a possible remedy, we have
developed, with one of the equipment companies, a con-
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George H. Eagle
tinuous drag unit which can be put into an existing pit
and removed for maintenance when necessary. By virtue
of the fact the pits will be cleaned continuously, this
automatic system will further increase the efficiency
of both oil and scale removal.
Engineering is in progress for the in-
stallation of this equipment on the 44" mill which pro-
duces considerable volume of scale per day, and is
scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 1966.
If the unit proves satisfactory, it will be installed on
other mills as rapidly as possible. This program com-
pletes what one might call the primary treatment program.
It should be understood that these pits, by comparison
with what would be built today for new facilities, are
relatively small. However,we are dealing with a material
which has specific gravity of 3.5, is inert, and settles
very rapidly. By extending the pit, if space is avail-
able, the increase in efficiency, in terms of reduction
of concentration of suspended solids, is relatively minor.
In an old plant, such as the Cleveland plant, we cannot
go to the end of a sewer which discharges to the river
and build a final treatment facility because at that
point we have not only the waste from the individual
scale pit but also all cooling water and all storm water
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George H. Eagle
from the entire area. Thus the volumes involved are
such that treatment plant space simply is not available.
One might compare this to the problems facing cities,
such as Cleveland, with combined sewer systems. If the
systems were to be constructed over again, they would be
entirely separated so that all wastes would be treated.
If we are going to make any improvement,we must go back
to the source of the waste where, again, we have space
problems. In the construction of new facilities, however,
this has been taken into consideration. In addition,
many of the primary mills blooming mills, billet
mills which are now old, will be replaced in the
foreseeable future by continuous casting units which
will change the picture completely.
With the elimination of the acid, the
effects on the stream of the discharge of these inert
solids and residual oil can be further evaluated. It
should be recognized that the discharge of solids does
not adversely affect the Lake. They do not affect
the soluble iron concentration as they exist as iron
oxide, an inert solid. We cannot, at this time, pro-
vide a schedule of construction which will eliminate
the discharge of all solids of this nature. In fact,
under present conditions, it is not technically feasible
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George H. Eagle
to meet a requirement calling for the total elimination
of inert solids. Also, with the Cuyahoga River carrying
a large silt load, the discharge of these solids can
be compared to the sand and fine particles of clay
carried from natural drainage. However, new methods
are continually being evaluated and as developed, will
be incorporated with new facilities.
Oil
In hot roll operations, oil is not a planned
part of production. It is lost to the waste stream as
a result of inevitable leaks in the hydraulic and lubri-
cation systems. In cold rolling, oil is used for a
lubricant and coolant in the production of cold reduced
strip.
With the completion of the program outlined
with respect to mill scale, the Steel Plant and the 98"
Strip Mill will have in operation what could be termed
primary oil removal. Also, we have in operation a con-
tinuous program of maintenance to detect and eliminate
leaks of oil from each of the mills.
There remains the question of oil from the
cold reduction mills. In these mills a soluble oil is
used which is recycled. We have equipment on order for
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George H. Eagle
handling soluble oil at the 72" mill. Construction is
expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 1965.
This system will provide for continuous cleanup and recycle
back to the mill. This should eliminate any overflow
or discharge of soluble oil.
The latest and best equipment for oH re-
covery and treatment will be incorporated in the con-
struction of our new 84-inch tandem mill.
This leaves the 54" and 98" Tandem Mills.
It is expected that with the construction of the new mill,
the 98" mills's operation will be phased out, thus elimin-
ating this problem. If the system under construction for
the 72" mill proves feasible in operation, a similar unit
will be constructed immediately for the 54" mill. It
should be recognized that the treatment of soluble oil
is extremely difficult. With the construction of our
announced expansion, substantial progress will be made
toward solving this problem of soluble oil.
General
We feel that the removal of debris and oil
recovery from the river is practical and are willing
to lend our support in the institution of such a pro-
gram. It should be recognized that there are many sources
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George H. Eagle
of oil in the Cuyahoga River including bilge water from
many boats. Therefore, we feel that additional measures
should be instituted to recover oil directly from the
river. We do recognize the best program is elimination
at the various sources and we will continue to work to
this end.
BOLT AND NUT DIVISION
Republic also operates the Bolt & Nut
Division on the Cuyahoga River. Water from the Cuyahoga
is used and effluents are returned to the Cuyahoga River.
Following is a brief summary of the status, accomplishments,
and future plans for this plant:
Sanitary
All sanitary wastes have been collected and
are being discharged to the City system.
Mill Scale
The scale pits serving the bar mill at this
plant have been effectively modified for increased scale
recovery and oil separation.
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George H. Eagle
Acid
Pickle liquor wastes originating at this
plant are virtually neutralized t>y aspirating the acid
from the vats with City water and diluting it about 3 to
1 before discharge to the river. Normally, a very small
quantity of acid is discharged per day. Also, dry
cleaning methods have been substituted for cleaning
about 20$ of the product, thus reducing the amount of
acid used.
Plating Wastes
In response to questions raised by your staff
relative to the discharge of rinse waters from our plating
operations at this plant, we are currently re-evaluating
this problem. On the basis of our preliminary findings,
we are developing a program calling for discharge of these
rinse waters to the City system or treatment in an
appropriate manner.
Sampling and Measuring Equipment
All intakes and important outfalls are
monitored regularly. The most important ones are equipped
with automatic sampling and flow measuring equipment.
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George H, Eagle
We are cooperating with your staff through the Cuyahoga
Water Quality Committee in the determination of existing
quality and what future quality will be required.
The quality of the Cuyahoga River as it is
now, with a few exceptions, meets recognized quality
standards for present uses. With the elimination of
pickle liquor and completion of the other programs out-
lined above, considerable improvement can be expected.
At low flow conditions, the Cuyahoga is subject to re-
versal of flows as well as impoundment due to seiches
on the lake. These factors make evaluation of the cause
and effect of discharge of waste on the stream and on the
lake extremely complex. It receives sewage effluent from
a large number of communities and is heavily used before
it reaches the industrial section. We believe that the
orderly progressive program, as conceived by this Board,
is achieving substantial success in reducing or con-
trolling pollution of the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie.
Republic -has spent more than 9 million
dollars on waste control programs and looks forward to
continued cooperation in arriving at realistic and
workable solutions to our remaining problems.
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George H. Eagle
STATEMENT OF
JONES & LAUGHLIN STEEL CORPORATION
RE: CLEVELAND WORKS
PRESENTED TO THE
OHIO WATER POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
JUNE 8, 1965
COLUMBUS, OHIO
Gentlemen:
My name is Laird P. Lias. I am Works
Manager of the Cleveland Works of Jones & Laughlin
Steel Corporation.
I want to express to the Board my appreci-
ation for its invitation to take part in this informal
discussion.
I am sure that meetings such as this will
contribute significantly to public understanding of the
problems and progress involved in water pollution control,
As you gentlemen know, Jones & Laughlin
has been working toward elimination of water pollution
sources from our Cleveland Works for several years
and we have made considerable progress. We have now
reached the point at which only two water pollution
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George H. Eagle
problems still confront us. We are actively working to
solve these problems,in cooperation with the State of
Ohio.
Since 1957, Jones & Laughlin has spent
approximately four million dollars on facilities to elim-
inate the discharge of pollutants into the Cuyahoga
River. Additional millions will be required to complete
the task.
In response to the request of your Secretary,
Mr. G. A; Hall, I have prepared a brief resume of our
accomplishments in the water pollution control field and
the status of our uncompleted projects. I will review
these briefly in chronological order, with your permission.
In December 1957, we put into operation a
flue dust thickener, whicn separates solids from the water
used in the blast furnace gas scrubbing system and the
sinter plant, reducing these solids from the waste water
discharged into the river to a rating point well below
your required limits. In the near future this water
will be recirculated. The solids are returned to the
sintering plant for reprocessing into sinter for use in
the blast furnace burden.
In the same year, we put into operation an
oil recirculating system in our tancfem mill, eliminating
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George H. Eagle
the discharge of oil from that mill into the river.
In May 1958, we installed scale pits at the
blooming mill and reversing rougher, eliminating the
pollution problem caused by the discharge of scale
into the river. Scale which settles out in the pits
is reprocessed through the sinter plant or the blast
furnaces. These pits are equipped with oil skimmers.
In June L959* we closed down our coke oven
and by-product facilities, thus eliminating all potential
waste discharges from the coke plant.
In December I960, we completed the relocation
of our plant sanitary sewer lines to connect with the
Cleveland Sewage Disposal System.
In December 19°^-, with the construction of
our new high-speed 80-inch hot strip mill, new water
pollution problems presented themselves, which we
solved by installing the most elaborate scale disposal
facility on any operating hot strip mill in the industry.
Traveling at twice the speed of older mills, the new mills
generate a much finer scale.
This necessitated the construction of a. new
and larger primary scale pit to collect the regular scale,
and two clarifiers, which by a process of secondary
thickening and chemical additions, help collect the fine
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George H. Eagle
scale. Over three-quarters of this water Is recirculated.
This scale pit is also equipped with an oil skimmer.
This brings us to our two remaining problems
waste pickle liquor and the discharge of a very small amount
of dark red waste water from the cooling chambers of our
basic oxygen furnaces and electric furnaces.
In each case we have been pressing toward a
solution as fast as technological progress would permit.
In the case of waste pickle liquor, as an
interim measure, and in compliance with a request by the
Board, we have cooperated with the Board by controlling
our discharge of spent sulfuric acid to avoid the dumping
of large slugs of acid into the river at any one time.
This takes advantage of the natural diluting action of
the river to help neutralize the acid.
It may appear that progress has been slow,
but we want to assure you 'that the search for a permanent
solution to the problem of waste pickle liquor has had
our constant attention. So far, there is no proved,
working method of regeneration of spent sulfuric acid
for use in steel plant pickling systems. This has
caused us to look elsewhere for a solution. Within
the past year, there has been a technological break-
through which holds promise of eliminating the problem.
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George H. Eagle
This involves the substitution of hydrochloric acid
for sulfuric acid. Hydrochloric acid can be re-
generated and used in a "closed" system.
Our evalutation and planning for the conversion
to the hydrochloric acid process are nearly completed.
Preliminary results to date indicate that we will be
moving in this direction. If we do so, this will re-
quire new material and new equipment. We expect to
eliminate the discharge of the spent acid by the end
of next year.
The cooling chamber pollution problem
has proven to be an especially difficult one to solve
since two types of solids are involved. One is a heavy
particle,similar to the scale which we collect in the
scale pits. The other is a fine powder which is impossible
to separate from the water in ordinary settling basins.
This condensed £une, although very small in quantity, colors
the water. It is a by-product of our giant percipitator
air cleaning system installed as a part of a $10,000,000
program to control air pollution. Thus having solved the
air pollution problem, we have backed ourselves into a
water pollution problem.
We are investigating several pieces of equip-
ment which show promise of being able to separate these
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George H. Eagle
fine particles from the waste water, and we expect to
install one type or another.
At the same time, we plan to install a closed
system so that the cooling chamber sprays, used to coll
the hot gases emerging from the furnaces, will be using
recirculated water.
Our hope is to place these facilities in
operation next spring.
Thus, by the end of 1966 we expect to com-
plete the elimination of all water pollution discharge
from our Cleveland Works.
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George H-. Eagle
STATEMENT OF
U. S. STEEL CORPORATION
RE: TWO CLEVELAND PLANTS
PRESENTED TO THE
OHIO WATER POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
JUNE 8, 1965
COLUMBUS, OHIO
My name is G. A. Howell. I am Assistant to
the Administrative Vice President - Engineering, U. S.
Steel Corporation. I am pleased to appear here in re-
sponse to the Board's invitation for the purpose of dis-
cussing the pollution abatement progress and program of
our two plants in the Cleveland area.
At the outset I would like to remind the
Board that the steel industry was the first industry
in Ohio to have all of its plants submit voluntarily to
the Board's permit program pursuant to its policy
statement of February 24,1953. Furthermore, the two
Cleveland plants of U. S. Steel were among the first
participating plants. This eliminated the necessity
of expensive and prolonged hearings on each type of
steel waste.
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George H. Eagle
The products we produce in the Cleveland
plants are primarily wire, rods, cold rolled strip, and
merchant iron. In the production of these products the
wastes generated are relatively small and consist of
spent pickle liquor, mill scale, flue dust and oil.
Most of these wastes are collected and thereby prevented
from entering the Cuyahoga River.
t
U. S. Steel's efforts to alleviate this
water pollution problem in this area have led to the
installation of special equipment. For example, a scale
settling pit was installed in conjunction with the con-
struction of the new Rod Mill at Cuyahoga Works to
minimize the amount of mill scale discharged. Short
blasting units were installed on the Heavy Duty Strapping
lines for mechanical scale removal which eliminates the
necessity of removing scale with acid.
Also at Cuyahoga Works, scale breaking
sheaves have been installed on three wire drawing
machines. This has reduced acid cleaning substantially.
Further, at Cuyahoga Works, a receiving
tank with pumps and controls was installed to provide
controlled neutralized discharge of the remaining waste
pickle liquor.
At Central Furnaces, a clarifier for each
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George H. Eagle
of the two furnaces was Installed to collect flue dust.
Recently, we also installed an orifice washer which re-
duced the amount of water used, and consequently the
effluent discharged into the river by about 30 per cent.
About three years ago we closed our Cleveland
Coke Plant and its by-product facilities eliminating
all coke plant wastes.
At Central Furnaces we discharge sanitary
wastes into the Cuyahoga River. We have done this under
a permit which would have subsequently required us to tie
into a proposed interceptor sewer planned for this area by
the City. We were in regular contact with the city and
had developed plans to segregate and discharge sanitary
wastes into the city system as originally planned. However,
on November 13, 1964, the city advised us that their
original plans had been abandoned and they recommended
that our sewage be routed to the existing Broadway sewer.
Our engineering is progressing in accordance with the
city's new plan and we expect to make this connection
by mid - 1966.
We have made substantial progress in elimin-
ating and reducing mill scale and oil wastes and, we are
presently designing baffles and oil skimmers for the
scale pits which will further reduce the escape of mill
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George H. Eagle
scale and oil. These additional facilities will be in-
stalled by the end of 1965.
As the Board knows, the most difficult
problem of waste disposal for the steel industry is acid
waste. However, by reason of the smaller size of our
operation in Cleveland, the nature of the products produced
here and the facilities already installed, the quantity
of acid used is relatively small.
We are continuing to study several methods for
solving our remaining waste acid problem and we are con-
fident that by mid-1967 we shall have that problem
solved to the Board's satisfaction.
(Appendix B Co the above report is as
follows:)
-------
691
APPENDIX B
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725
George H. Eagle
I would like to call attention, in conclusion,
that some of the tables appended to this report are not
strictly 100 per cent up to date, and if there are some
errors noted, we would appreciate your calling them to
our attention, but we don't feel that there are any large
errors of such magnitude to cause too much concern.
Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
MR. STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Eagle.
Are there any comments or questions?
MR. POSTON: I have some, Mr. Chairman.
MR. STEIN: Go right ahead.
MR. POSTON: Mr. Eagle, I noticed a couple
of statements from industries in the back of your re-
port here. Will we hear from some of the industries
themselves?
MR. EAGLE: Yes, I believe so.
MR. POSTON: For example, I see Appendix A,
Republic Steel Corporation. Will they be heard from?
MR. EAGLE: I believe they have so requested,
yes, sir.«
MR. POSTON: All right. I was particularly
interested to determine whether or not they will have
information on their effluent that they would be willing
-------
726
George H. Eagle
to divulge to the conferees.
I suppose it would be appropriate to ask them?
MR. EAGLE: I would think so.
MR. POSTON: I would like to explore a little
bit into your feelings relative to the adequacy of your
program to cope with the problems at Racine and the Cuya-
hoga River, and the problems as you have outlined them
with industrial pollution and municipal pollution in
this Lake Erie Basin, and I wonder whether you feel that
you have an adequate program and ample funds to carry
out the type of a program you think is required to handle
these situations?
MR. EAGLE: Well, could you be a little more
explicit as to what you particularly saw that should be
corrected?
MR. POSTON: I am thinking in terms of a
water pollution program that would check up on municipal
plants - maybe that you deem necessary -- so that you
will get good operation, and so that you will know when
the capacities of these plants are being exceeded.
I don't know exactly in your particular
case, but, in general, State agencies have a plan in
which they carry out inspection activities, they carry
out plan reviews, they carry out enforcement actions,
-------
727
George H. Eagle
technical assistance, and this comprises a total water
pollution program for an area, so that you keep up
with the needs in this water quality.
I wonder whether or not you feel you have
money and personnel enough to carry out an adequate
program?
MR. EAGLE: Well, this would be a relative
question, 1 would say.
We are doing all those things that you have
mentioned making inspections, approving plans, carry-
ing out enforcement actions, and all that sort of thing.
Of course, with the magnitude of this prob-
lem, we never have enough people to do all the things
we would like to do.
I would say that we are doing a reasonably
adequate program. This is not to say that we couldn't
do more, but by comparison with other states -- and
certainly not in comparison with the Public Health
Service, because we can't compare with them in staff
and facilities but I would say that we had a reason-
ably adequate program.
MR. STEIN: Compared to what state do you
have a reasonably adequate program? Would you care to
mention it?
-------
728
George H. Eagle
MR. EAGLE: All of our sister states.
MR. STEIN: Comparable to what? Do you
think your program is comparable to Indiana and Michigan?
i*
MR. EAGLE: He asked me as to staff adequacy,
which I think is the question. At least, that is the way
I interpreted his question, the adequacy of our staff.
That is the way I understood the question.
MR. POSTON: No. I think you have some very
capable people in your staff.
My concern is, do you have enough to do the
job that is required, and you feel is required to keep
pollution minimized in this area?
MR. EAGLE: Well, I will go back and qualify
my answer again, like I did before.
Very rarely in any program do we have enough
staff to do all of the things that we would like to do.
Certainly, we could use more staff and we could perhaps
generate some more activity in the way of corrective de-
vices in installations.
I don't think that there is a state adminis-
trator in the United States who wouldn't agree to this.
MR. POSTON: Well, it is my general feeling,
and I just wanted to bring out that you can't get blood
out of a turnip, that what is required is people to do
-------
729
George H. Eagle
this job. The people want it done.
I wondered if, in your budget preparations,
if you didn't ask for more money, if you get turned down,
what is this situation?
I realize this is a touchy matter with you,
but I think that it has a very important bearing on this
overall problem, in that you can't be expected to do
this thing unless you have funds for it.
MR. EAGLE: Well, you are getting out of
the realm of things over which I have control.
MR. POSTON: Yes.
MR. EAGLE: 1 hope you didn't mean to infer
that we were turnips.
(Laughter.)
MR. STEIN: We didn't mean to infer that
this was going to be bloody, either.
(Laughter.)
MR, POSTON: 1 noted over in the Maumee
Basin that we have 90 to 95 per cent treatment, and that
we still have low dissolved oxygen.
It is my understanding that industrial wastes
have caused fish kills over in that area, and I wondered
if this couldn't have been part of the reason for the
low dissolved oxygen content?
-------
730
George H. Eagle
MR. EAGLE: Yes, sir. In a part of the
basin, this was a part of the problem, from industrial
waste discharges.
Extensive facilities are now under construc-
tion. We hope that this will be alleviated to a con-
siderable extent.
But I would like to point out that because
of the extremely low flows in this area, flat topography
and terrain, and the fertile runoff that we get during
the summer months, this all adds to this problem con-
siderably.
As pointed out in your report, Mr. Poston,
I think that this is going to be a combined matter of
more treatment, better operated treatment plants, and
some low flow augmentation. This seems to me like it
is going to be a necessity in this area.
MR. POSTON: I noted on Page 16 of your
report something to the effect that the Public Health
Service hadn't agreed to a cooperative effort, that we
haven't given approval of this.
I wondered if this matter were not still
under negotiation with you.
MR. EAGLE: No. This program I didn't
read that part of the report, but it is in the report.
-------
731
George H. Eagle
MR. POSTON: Yes.
MR. EAGLE: No. This program is under way,
and will be in full force the latter part of this month.
Some very extensive sampling will be undertaken. We
are attempting to work this out with your staff here in
Lake Erie.
MR. POSTON: Yes.
MR. EAGLE: But if this can't be worked out,
it will still go ahead.
MR. POSTON: Well, it is under negotiation?
MR. EAGLE: Yes, sir.
MR. POSTON: That was the point.
Do you have any idea of the time required
to provide secondary treatment for the Lake Erie Basin?
Would this be a year or two years, or what would be a
reasonable time?
MR. EAGLE: Well, I certainly wouldn't think
a year would be a reasonable time, and two years would
be cutting it awfully fine, 1 think to complete this
job, it would be something more in the neighborhood of
five years.
MR. POSTON: I think that is all 1 have
right now.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further questions?
-------
732
George H. Eagle
MR. POOLE: In your discussion of the Maumee,
Mr. Eagle, on Page 5 you make the statement that boating
and water skiing is carried out in a few stretches of
the Maumee.
Can you give me an indication of where those
are, as to location?
MR. EAGLE: In the lower stretches of the
river, near Toledo, and I will have to check this
I believe some stretches below Defiance. In Defiance
and Napoleon, and downstream from Napoleon towards
Toledo.
MR. POOLE: Thank you.
MR. STEIN: You know, this is the amazing
part of this. In reading the Public Health Service re-
port and reading this report, describing the same rivers,
I am reminded of a wake. You look in the coffin to see
if that is the man that you are describing.
You talk about Napoleon, Ohio, where the
Public Health Service report indicates that the discharge
in Napoleon, Ohio originates from two major sources,
with the Campbell Soup Company discharging 4,620 pounds
of BOD and 268 pounds of oil a day.
Now, they do do the swimming there, or the
boating. The point is again, and this applies throughout
-------
733
George H. Eagle
the report, in spite of limitations, you are always speak-
ing about the bright side. You say that the streams pro-
vide good fishing.
You talk about the Auglaize River without
any qualification. Then, lo and behold, on Page 60 of
the Public Health Service report, it says:
"The Auglaize River above Vapakoneta
supports a well-balanced biological popula-
tion at all seasons of the year. Pollution-
sensitive species of mayflies, caddis flies,
and scuds were common. Below the town, the
water quality is severely degraded. Although
bottom fauna of pollution-sensitive mayflies,
caddis flies, and dragon flies were found
to be fairly numerous in the spring of 1964,
by July all pollution-sensitive organisms
had been eliminated and only sludgeworms
and midge larvae remained. The stream bottom
which had been scoured clean of silt and
organic deposits during the spring was
covered with black, septic, malodorous sludge
by July."
Now, we had these aquatic biologists here.
1 would suggest that we do not, on the basis of the report,
-------
734
George H. Eagle
say that the Auglaize River provides good fishing. I
wouldn1t go indiscriminately up and down the Auglaize
at any time of the year and attempt to drop my hook in
the water and expect to have much action.
In the same way, you say sport fishing is
carried on in some reaches of the Sandusky River, the
Rocky River, and the Black River. That may be true,
but it is a question of what you emphasize.
The Public Health Report says that sewage
pollution, as indicated by the total coliform count,
is prevalent throughout the basin. It says:
"The Sandusky River had a median coli-
form density of 190,000 organisms per 100
ml below Fremont for the months of October
and November, 1964. In Sandusky Bay at
the mouth of the river, the median coliform
density was less than 1,000 organisms per
100 ml, with a high of 1,300 organisms per
100 ml.
"Median coliform density in the Black
River below the Elyria treatment plant was
300,000 organisms per 100 ml during the
first three months of the year. During
April and May, the median density was
-------
735
George H. Eagle
140,000 organisms per 100 ml and the median
fecal coliform density was 57,000 organisms
per 100 ml."
In the description of the Rocky River in the Federal re-
port, they state:
"Debris and floating fecal solids have
been observed at numerous locations. During
the summer, the water is a deep green color
due to algal blooms* The lower 15 miles of
the strefim often reek with a characteristic
septic sewage odor, during periods of low
flow."
Now, I assume that both reports describe
different aspects of the situation, but I guess we are
dealing with the pollution situation.
MR. EAGLE: 1 think we are describing dif-
ferent stretches of the stream.
MR. STEIN: I guess.
(Laughter.)
MR. STEIN: But how come those stretches
weren't really described in your report? The good fish-
ing ones seem to have been recognized.
MR. EAGLE: Well, I think it is very defi-
nitely pointed out here the remaining problems in many
-------
736
George H. Eagle
of these areas, where we have low DO, we have algal prob-
lems, and we have gross pollution problems.
MR. STEIN: There was one thing that I found
missing. You enumerated several industries. I wonder
maybe your tables do it in the back of the report.
MR. EAGLE: They are 100 per cent in the
tables. Every one is in there.
MR. STEIN: All the industries are in the
tables?
MR. EAGLE: Yes.
MR. STEIN: When you say 4 industries or
9 industries, we will be able to find those names in
the table?
MR. EAGLE: Yes, sir.
MR. STEIN: We will be able to find out
what they are putting in now that you consider inadequate,
so a judgment can be made with reference to that?
MR. EAGLE: Yes, sir.
MR. STEIN: In other words, we will get
the effluent data to figure out what you consider inade-
quate?
MR. EAGLE: I didn't say that.
MR. STEIN: Well, that is the question.
MR. EAGLE: I said that is the industrial
-------
737
George H. Eagle
wastes that are being discharged.
MR. STEIN: How can we know?
Again, the Governor asked us in again for
full cooperation. If you term they are not putting in
adequate treatment, how will we be able to make a judg-
ment as to whether they are putting in adequate treatment,
other than by examining your tables, unless we have the
specifics of the amounts, so that we and the other states,
the public and the newspapers can get together, see how
they have corrected it, and see if the job is done?
You are asking us to do these fancy studies.
Maybe we can figure out a method on how to do that too.
MR. EAGLE: Mr. Stein, as I told Mr. Poston
two or three weeks ago, if you tell us exactly what it
is that you want, we will certainly do everything in
our power to try to get it for you.
MR. STEIN: We have heard this talk about
the comparable programs that you had with your sister
states. We have heard Perry Miller froia Indiana, we
have heard Mr. Purdy from Michigan, and you heard what
they said about their industries. You can read the
transcripts of the other conferences that we have had
with them.
I would imagine that precisely the kind of
-------
738
George H. Eagle
information on each industry that Perry Miller gave us
earlier today is what we want.
We have all been in this field for a long
time, and there is no mystery as to what the professional
people in the field require of each other in order to
make a judgment.
I don't want to praise Mr. Miller too much.
In my opinion, he is one of the best industrial waste
experts in the country. But I think in this area of
professional communication, Mr. Miller and Mr. Poole
knew exactly what the other conferees wanted, in my opin-
ion, and they came up with it.
I know Mr. Poston, and I suspect he is not
bashful. I have been in touch with Mr. Poston. He told
me he has asked you that repeatedly, and hasn't been
able to get it.
MR. EAGLE: Well, that's a long story. I
don't know whether you want to go into it here or not,
but we have had considerable correspondence and discussion,
back and forth.
MR. STEIN: In other words, if Mr. Poston
asks for it now, he can get this information?
MR. EAGLE: I said I would do everything
that I could to get it for him. You realize what our
-------
739
George H. Eagle
problem is.
MR. STEIN: I recognize this.
You know, I work with Peter Kuh, who grew
up in Chicago, and Peter Kuh says that whenever you went
to one of the local politicians -- and I say this with
the greatest respect for the Chicago man, because I know
him and you asked him a question, the stock answer
when they didn't want to do anything was, "Son, I'll do
everything I can to help you."
I hope we will get this information so we
can all make this judgment.
Now, again, I would like to refer to this,
and you or Dr. Arnold perhaps want to answer this. At
the Detroit meeting of the governors, our notes indicate
that your Governor indicated that this problem was too
large for one state, and he wanted the Federal Government
to come in. He said, "Lake Erie and the problems of Lake
Erie have been studied more than any other subject but
the Bible." He said, "What we don't need is more meet-
ings, more symposiums, and more studies, and we must do
everything possible toward accelerated action."
It seems to me that I didn't see this in
your report. You have urged us to take on the broader
problems, and this is in Dr. Arnold's statement, and
-------
740
George H. Eagle
you say, "We know what to do about our internal or lake-
shore problems in Ohio, and are doing it."
Now, your Governor asked us in here on an
intrastate problem, as well as an interstate problem.
1 assume your statement is correct, because otherwise
you wouldn't have taken us up to the Cuyahoga River and
showed us that you know what to do about your problems
and you are really doing it.
The floor is open.
MR. EAGLE: Dr. Arnold, do you want to speak
to that or not?
DR. ARNOLD: Well, Mr. Stein, I think you
are pursuing this questioning a little vigorously.
As you know, the problem in Ohio and under
the Ohio law, on some of the information that you wish
to have, we cannot make it available to you even if we
had it.
MR. STEIN: Let's get to a resolution of
this, because I recognize what the Ohio law is, and I
am fully sympathetic with your problems.
As I understand the Ohio law, that informa-
tion can be made available to us, without any question,
if the industries give us permission.
Now, I don't know that industry has been
-------
741
George H. Eagle
asked to give its permission, or that correspondence has
gone back and forth without industry being asked.
Obviously, as you know, in a Federal-State
relations operation, we try -- and goodness knows we
try, and we have people from the other states here who
can testify to this we try not to go directly to
your industries from the Federal Government, if we can
possibly help it. We try to maintain Federal-industrial
relationships.
But if the question arises here that you
have to ask industry's permission, and you don't ask it,
then we have this problem of Federal-State relations,
of our dealing directly with the industries.
I really do think, Doctor, that this is an
awkward situation and that some resolution should be
attempted to resolve it.
DR. ARNOLD: I don't know the answer to it
right now, Mr. Stein.
MR. STEIN: All right, but I think we do
recognize the problem.
DR. ARNOLD: There is some indication that
this policy by industries may be relaxed somewhat. I
think that there is a definite indication that this in-
formation probably will be made available.
-------
742
George H. Eagle
I can't promise you 100 per cent of the
industries in Ohio, but I think a large number of them
will make this information available to you.
MR. STEIN: Well, thank you. That is very
encouraging, Doctor.
Are there any further comments?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: If not, do you want to proceed
further, Doctor, or do you want to adjourn?
DR. ARNOLD: I think, if you will allow us
to please proceed with the reports
MR. STEIN: Yes, of course.
DR. ARNOLD: Next, we would like to introduce
Mr. Morr, Director of the Department of Natural Resources,
and a member of the Ohio Water Pollution Control Board.
Mr. Morr.
-------
743
Fred £. Morr
STATEMENT OF
FRED E. MORR, CONFEREE
AND DIRECTOR OF NATURAL RESOURCES,
STATE OF OHIO
MR. MORR: Mr. Chairman, to avoid repetition
and to conserve time, I shall brief my prepared statement
and request inclusion in the record of all the material.
My name is Fred E. Morr. I am Director of
Natural Resources for the State of Ohio. My concern is
the protection and wise use of Lake Erie water as a re-
source.
Human wastes are the toll of advancing
civilization. Every item and substance of human and
machine discard litter our beaches, fill our rivers and
enrich the depths of Lake Erie. Unsightly objects that
resist degradation drift aimlessly and are brought to
rest on our beaches by each wave. The "untreated per-
centage" of our sewage daily finds its way into the
Lake.
Yes, Lake Erie is polluted! Some beaches
have been closed. Certain species of fish are gone.
The water in many areas is unsightly as masses of dead
-------
744
Fred £. Morr
algae float ashore.
There are exceptions: The beaches at East
Harbor and Cedar Point are among the finest, and cleanest,
in the world. Snallmouth and white bass fishing is
superb in the island area. The water quality at municipal
intakes is good.
Why are we concerned about Lake Erie? Lake
Erie is the most valuable resource in Ohio's water estate.
It is situated where coal and iron ore meet to form the
nucleus of America's steel industry. Other industries
have located here because of transportation, raw materials,
labor and technology. The nation's most productive agri-
cultural region is situated in the basin of this water
wonderland. Railroads, highways and international ports
unite at her shores to form the transportation hub of
America.
Let us explore this valuable area in more
detail. The land surface of Ohio draining into Lake
Erie is only 30 per cent of the State's area, yet it
contains over 40 per cent of the State's population.
The Ohio drainage area of 11,780 square miles contri-
butes an average annual flow of 10,800 cubic feet per
second into Lake Erie. Canada contributes an annual
average flow of 5,020 cubic feet per second directly
-------
745
Fred £. Morr
into Lake Erie. The inflow from the Detroit River,
representing the outflow of the upper Great Lakes, con-
tributes a huge 173,000 cubic feet per second into Lake
Erie, or eleven times the combined flow from the United
States and Canada.
The water surface area of Lake Erie is 9,940
square miles of which 4,990 square miles are in the United
States. The major part of the United States area, 3,540
square miles, or 71 per cent, is part of Ohio and the
ownership of the land underneath the water belongs to
the State.
Lake Erie has an amazing storage of water.
If the Lake were drained it would require two and a half
years to refill from stream flow and the inflow from
the upper Great Lakes.
Throughout history, dating from early ex-
ploration and settlement of America, Lake Erie has
formed a part of a navigable water system of tremendous
social and economic importance. More shipping traverses
the Lake than passes through the Panama Canal. Ships
from all parts of the world call at Lake Erie ports by
way of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The waters of Lake Erie are an indispensable
part of Ohio's economy. Nearly 25 per cent of Ohio's
-------
746
Fred £. Morr
huge industrial and domestic use of water is from Lake
Erie. It will play an increasingly important part in
Ohio's future.
The shores of Lake Erie are the greatest
water recreational asset of the State. Ohio has a large
investment in recreation on Lake Erie now» Governor
Rhode's $100 million, six-year capital plan, will bring
additional major recreational facilities along her shores.
Yes, Lake Erie is a valuable resource. Its
water must serve all legitimate uses. One use should
not negate, nor significantly detract from the others.
WHEREVER POLLUTION EXISTS IT MUST BE CORRECTED.
This first conference on pollution of Lake
Erie can be a milestone to unified action. States are
making progress through their pollution control agencies,
but the problem has interstate and international dimen-
sions. This conference can serve to unite the vast
research, study and financing capabilities of the Federal
Government, the collective efforts of the States through
the Great Lakes Commission, renewed local efforts, and
informed public support.
It is obvious that additional questions
must be answered. Water quality standards and criteria
Should be more clearly defined. Meanwhile, the obvious
-------
747
Fred E. Morr
sources of pollution must be corrected. Who is to blame?
Municipalities, agriculture, industry, household septic
tanks, and individual litterbugs all contribute in some
part. It is a collective problem.
We must exercise great care to not mislead
people as to the COST of pollution abatement measures.
To clean up Lake Erie alone, in terms of measures dis-
cussed at this conference, could easily cost some THREE
TO FOUR BILLION DOLLARS. This includes separation of
storm and sanitary sewers, secondary treatment plants,
and industrial improvements. It does not include yet
undescribed measures to curtail nutrient, silt and
pesticide pollution from agricultural lands.
Disposal of waste is a COST OF LIVING, A
COST OF EXISTING HEALTHFULLY AND ENJOYABLY which all
citizens must bear in some form sewer rates, taxes,
consumer prices.
The time for nose holding and finger pointing
is past. From this conference we must describe our ob-
jectives and move jointly with solutions, each agency
and each person assuming their appropriate responsibility.
Thank you.
(Applause.)
MR. STEIN: Thank you. Are there any comments
-------
748
Fred E. Morr
or questions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: If not, would you go on, Dr.
Arnold?
DR. ARNOLD: Mr. Stein, I would like now to
allow Toledo the privilege of making their presentation,
and this will be made by Mr. Donald J. Yark, Director
of the Department of Public Utilities.
-------
749
Donald J. Yark
STATEMENT OF
DONALD J. YARK, DIRECTOR,
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES,
TOLEDO, OHIO
MR. YARK: I am Donald J. Yark, Director,
Department of Public Utilities, City of Toledo.
Mr. Chairman, Conferees, Ladies and Gentle-
men:
I would like to insert as a matter of record
a tabulation of the past 20 years of the City of Toledo
Water Department, relative to some parameters of pollu-
tion. With your permission, gentlemen, I should like to
submit this.
This covers chlorides, coliform, raw plate
count, nitrates, and phosphorus chemicals.
MR. STEIN: Are you going to read that into
the record, or just submit it?
MR. YARK: No. I would like to submit this,
if it is permissible.
MR. STEIN: Without objection, this will be
done.
Is this raw or finished water?
-------
750
Donald J. Yark
MR. YARK: This is raw water that we start
out with, and finished water when we get it into our
sewer system.
MR. STEIN: I hope so. That issue was raised
by Mr. Oeming.
Do your figures pertain to raw or finished
water, or both?
MR. YARK: Gentlemen, these figures are re-
lated to raw water. These are parameters of pollution.
Therefore, we felt that this might be of value for this
conference*
MR. STEIN: Yes.
(The tables above referred to are as
follows:)
-------
751
August 1, 1965
Some Parameters of Pollution
Toledo, Ohio
Year
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
I960
1961
1962
1963
1964
Chlorides Coliforms
(Cl) per 100 ml
19.2
19.0
16.9
18.6
16.8
15.4
22.3
19.3
20.5
20.4
18.8
19.2
20.3
19.6
21.1
20.4
21.7
23.8
26.7
23.9
#
315
489
347
356
787
1,122
1,947
557
3,786
262
22?
322
179
218
178
318
226
253
304
229**
-
Started Softening
Raw Plate
Count 37 C
174
176
83
318
477
483
936
390
578
189
178
213
377
435
300
659
333
234
242
154
163
- Oct. 1956"
#* First 6-month average - changed
***
Last 6-month aver;
ige - «
Nitrates
(N)
0.41
0.23
0.35
1.30
0.58
0.77
0.59
0.50
0.21
0.44
0.30
0.40
0.46
0.44
0.78
0.28
0.46
0.25
0.19
1.04
to MFN on
» it n
Cost of
Chemicals/MG
Treated
$3.35
2.85
2.34
3.22
3.89
3.77
5.18
4.59
4.63
3.09
4.65
7.30
10.19*
11.93
11.49
13.75
11.70
11.50
11.39
10.78
10.73
July 1, 1963
n n n
MPS
per 100 ml
Raw Water
_
.
.
_
.
_
_
__
«,
~_
_
40***
80
R. R. Henderson
Superintendent of Water Treatment
-------
(C/)
752
-------
COST 0^
753
I
-------
-------
(tf)
755
-------
COLI FORKS
SOO
756
-------
757
Donald J. Yark
MR. YARK: Relative to water pollution in
general, the celebrated American humorist, Will Rogers,
is purported to have said, "Among the duties of poli-
ticians were those who point with pride and who view
with alarm."
This statement might well be applied in
water pollution control as the object, for there is much
that has been done and much that should be done.
It is with pride that the City of Toledo
calls attention to the fact that in 1959, its secondary
treatment plant was placed in operation to supplement
the primary treatment facilities, at a cost of over
9 million dollars.
Since that time, the city has embarked upon
an ambitious annexation program, and is following with
a sewer extension program, at the present only partially
completed, but which will total in cost, by the end of
the year, the sum of $7,456,000.
The majority of this expense has been
borne by the service users of the community and its
environs, with $725,490 of expected Federal assistance.
As a member of a family of communities,
Toledo's collection and treatment facilities also pro-
vide service to the Cities of Maumee, Oregon and Rockford,
-------
758
Donald J. Yark
as well as Che Village of Ottawa Hills. Service contracts
have been negotiated with the communities of Wallbridge,
Ohio and Sylvania, Ohio, as well.
A painstaking reworking of the Planning Con-
mission's subdivision regulation has been made. This
will discourage the use of septic tanks in forthcoming
residential developments.
A long standing policy of separation of storm
and sanitary sewers in new construction is cited, as well
as a provision for separation of existing combination
sewers, at the earliest feasible date.
On May 1st, 1965, sewer maintenance and re-
pair was transferred to the Department of Sewage Treat*
ment. This provides for much closer control and inspection
of sewage regulators and overflows.
The Division of Air and Water Pollution Con-
trol, which the City of Toledo has had in effect for
approximately three and a half years, has been making a
monthly check on streams and ditches as to pollution,
and we are maintaining a record of that to determine
whether or not pollution is on the increase or decrease.
As to the other side of the coin, rather than
Just a view with alarm, one might well urge some correc-
tive measures. Therefore, a series of recommendations
-------
759
Donald J. Yark
are offered, some of which are in common with the thinking
of other communities.
It is recommended and suggested that continu-
ing attention be given by the Federal Government to the
problem of contaminating sewers, with a plan, a long range
program of assistance, to the end purpose of eventual
elimination of such systems;
That improved agricultural and soil conser-
vation methods be promoted and encouraged. This should
provide for the most careful and productive use of fer-
tilizers, herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, with
the result that as little as possible of these materials
will enter the watercourses of the country.
A related problem, also very serious, in the
Maumee River is siltation with its deleterious effect
upon marine life, as well as economic burden of maintenance
of dredged channels so vital to the area.
That increased attention be given to the
algae growth characteristics of treated sewage due to the
presence of phosphates, which themselves are, to a large
extent, due to detergents, and upon which the present
approved methods of treatment have only partial effect.
That increased attention be given to the
problem of underwater discharges from watercraft use,
-------
760
Donald J. Yark
including sewage, garbage and debris*
That increased attention be given to the ex-
tent and effect of thermal pollution*
That a compact for pollution abatement be
formed among the Lake Erie watershed states, possibly
similar to others existing among various states through-
out the country,
That less formal groups of a citizen-action
nature be encouraged to be formed within the major river-
sheds contributing to Lake Erie.
Thank you.
(Applause.)
MR. STEIN: Thank you very much, Mr. Yark.
Are there any comments or questions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: I have a question, or a comment.
I don't know -- maybe it falls inbetween, but I do think
we run through popular phases here
MR. YARK: Sir?
MR. STEIN: We run through popular phases
in water pollution control. A little while ago, we were
on the detergent kick, and now I see one of the popular
phases is the pesticide operation.
Now, as far as I can determine from at least
-------
761
Donald J. Yark
our report, and I don't see this in the State report,
we see no significant evidences yet of pesticides, or
a pesticide problem here. There may be, if we checked,
but we have no significant information on that yet.
MR. YARK: We do not have this problem in
our sewage treatment plant at the present time either.
MR. STEIN: The point is, I do think, and
people who have been involved with this know that, in
order to get at a pesticide problem, while it is very,
very popular now, we have to use very refined techniques,
carbon filter techniques and then gas chromotography,
looking for substances sometimes in parts per billion
and in parts per trillion, and it is very successful.
I think again, in examining the problem here,
that we shouldn't seek any special ones or look under
the bed for ghosts, but if there is a pesticide problem,
I am sure the State, and I am sure that Dr. Arnold as
the health officer, will be the first to recognize that
we have to go into that.
However, as far as all the reports indicate,
I don't know that that is a significant problem here yet,
and I hope it never will be.
MR. YARK: Well, this was merely a suggestion
as to a possible future contaminant.
-------
762
Donald J. Yark
MR. POSTON: I would like to ask a question.
MR. STEIN: Yes, Mr. Boston.
MR. POSTON: I noted in your data concerning
raw water quality, that you have a record of over quite
a long period of time, and I wondered whether or not all
of the samples that were analyzed were taken from the
same intake?
MR. YARK: Yes. These were all taken from
our same intakes.
MR. POSTON: Over this more than 20-year
period?
MR. YARK: Yes, sir.
MR. POSTON: Then I noted your comments and
suggestions relative to combined sewers, and I wondered,
what is Toledo doing in this respect?
MR. YARK: We have embarked upon a very
extensive sewer cleaning program, and also we are in
the process of maintaining and repairing some of the
sewage regulators that have failed, due to old age and
so on, but we are actively engaged in this at the pre-
sent time.
MR. POSTON: I was concerned more about
the separation of sewers, so that you would have a storm
sewer system and a sanitary sewer system, and whether
-------
763
Donald J. Yark
or not new additions would be separated, or what is your
policy?
MR. YARK: The policy of the City of Toledo
has been, for thirty years, separate systems.
The older section of town is on the combined
sewer system, and this poses a very large financial prob-
lem, to try to divert these.
We are hopeful that through part of our urban
renewal, we might effect separation of these sewers in
this area.
MR. STEIN: In your active annexation program
you have separate systems, don't you, when you take them
in?
MR. YARK: In most of our recently annexed
areas, we have no sewers. We are in the process of con-
structing sanitary sewers and separate storm sewers..
MR. STEIN: But you are not constructing
combined sewers?
MR. YARK: No. These will be separate sewers.
MR. STEIN: Mr. Oeming.
MR. OEMING: Mr. Yark, when did Toledo com-
plete the plant, the sewage plant?
MR. YARK: The sewage plant?
MR. OEMING: Yes. What year was that?
-------
764
Donald J. Yark
MR. YARK: 1959, sir, the secondary treatment
facilities.
MR. OEMING: 1959?
MR. YARK: Yes, sir.
MR. OEMING: Did you have treatment before
that?
MR. YARK: Yes, sir, primary.
MR. OEMING: And when was that constructed?
MR. YARK: I'm afraid I will have to dig out
my record book on that. It has been quite some time.
MR. OEMING: All right. Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further questions?
MR. OEMING: No, sir.
MR. STEIN: Are there any further questions
or comments?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: Thank you very much, Mr. Yark,
for a very illuminating statement.
Dr. Arnold?
DR. ARNOLD: We would like to proceed, and
allow the City of Akron to make their presentation.
Mr. Robert Fahey.
-------
765
Robert £. Fahey
STATEMENT OF
ROBERT E. FAHEY,
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICE,
CITY OF AKRON, OHIO
MR. FAHEY: My name is Robert E. Fahey,
Director of Public Service of the City of Akron.
I have a prepared statement which I have
changed, because of some statements that have been made.
It would be repetitious to recite the rea-
sons for Akron's participation in this conference because
the problems of water are well known to all of us who
are present.
The main point is that immediate and con-
certed action must be taken by all responsible regulatory
authorities and governmental agencies.
Above all, the contributors of waste waters
must be forcefully impressed with the urgent demand for
the protection of our water resources which are so badly
needed for the health, welfare and economic well-being
of the entire Lake Erie area, including its tributaries.
The City of Akron, recognizing these re-
sponsibilities, has taken action in its entire community
-------
766
Robert £. Fahey
of interest toward all aspects of water quality manage*
ment.
For several years now, the City of Akron
has been accepting and treating waste waters contributed
by several communities in our metropolitan area.
Currently, Summit County is contemplating
the construction of the large Mud Brook Waste Water
Interceptor Sewer which will serve many communities to
the north of Akron.
The City of Akron proposes to accept and
treat these waste waters which should substantially re-
duce Cuyahoga River pollution.
To this end, our city will greatly expand
our Water Pollution Control Station to not only accommo-
date this additional waste water, but also to meet the
future needs of the City of Akron.
The City of Akron has recently expended over
$300,000 for facilities to eliminate water treatment
residues from the Cuyahoga River. We can now proudly
state that the water now returned to the river is of
better quality than that of the receiving stream.
In cooperation with our State Health Depart-
ment, through Dr. Arnold and Chief Engineer Eagle and
others, Messrs. Yark and the Chamber of Commerce, the
-------
767
Robert E. Fahey
industries and the newly created Citizens Advisory Com-
mittee on Water and Land Use, our industrial pollution
control activities have been recently reestablished and
broadened to include quality management of all waters
received by the City of Akron and returned to the Cuyahoga
River.
This newly created division will be respon-
sible for monitoring and pollution control in the following
activities:
1. Water Works Raw Water Reservoir pollution
relating to brine and oil arising from
improper drilling operations; sewage
from industrial growth and new residen-
tial areas in this some 200-mile shore
area of activity.
2. Industrial Pollution in the Akron Sewer
System. This program has been authorized
by City of Akron Ordinance No. 499-1963.
3. Combination Storm and Sanitary Sewers.
In the third area of combined storm and
sanitary sewers, we will have statistics
which will provide us with information
as to the degree of maintenance and
inadequacy of our existing combined sewers,
-------
768
Robert E. Fahey
particularly as they relate to bypass
sewage and stream pollution, this as
recommended by the State Board of Health.
4. Cuvaho&a River pollution immediately
above and below the Water Pollution
Control Station at Botzum.
5. Water Pollution Control Station effluent
to the Cuvahoga River as discharged*
It is estimated that the ultimate annual
budget of this newly created division will be $100,000.
In furtherance of the above, the city con*
templates a comprehensive 3-year research program to
demonstrate the feasibility and economy of obtaining
analytical data on water quality by the use of instruments
and mobile laboratories.
Recreational activities, fishing, boating,
hunting, and camping, are being expanded and governed in
keeping with our program for maximum benefit to the pub-
lic with full regard to water quality.
In conclusion, we will quickly meet our
waste water quality objectives if we realize and discharge
our responsibilities in this all important matter affect-
ing our economic well-being and health and welfare as
they relate to pure water.
-------
769
Robert £. Fahey
Thank you.
(Applause.)
MR. STEIN: Thank you, sir.
Are there any comments or questions?
Mr. Poston.
MR. POSTON: I would just like to comment
to the effect that I think municipal water utilities
which provide water are an important water user requir-
ing highest water quality, and I am very happy to see
you, as a waterworks official, attending this and making
known your desires for clean water for your source of
supply.
I think it is only of recent vintage that
the waterworks people have stood up to be counted in
this matter.
Having been in the operation of waterworks
myself in years past, the general procedure had been
to provide another treatment so that you could handle
the water of decreasing quality.
This to me is a very encouraging sign,
that waterworks management is looking to a better water
quality, and they are recognizing that this must be
brought to the attention of others, if they are to
get this*
-------
770
Robert E. Fahey
MR. FAHEY: Thank you very much, but I am not
a waterworks official.
(Laughter.)
The reason that we have been able to do as
much as we have is because we have gotten much coopera-
tion from the State authorities.
MR. STEIN: That is indeed a compliment to
Mr. Poston. You see, you're so clean-cut, he feels you
must be a waterworks official.
(Laughter.)
MR. POOLE: 1 am curious, as a matter for
my own information, as to what kind of schedule the
City of Akron maintains for the checking of its combined
sewer overflows or its regulator changes.
Do you do that daily, weekly, twice a week,
or what?
MR. FAHEY: It took us about six to nine
months to have the council separate this program. They
permitted us to proceed with this by including the job
necessary for this pollution control or water quality
control a few months ago.
We have had a few people involved in this
area. This will permit us to expand this. We are Just
getting into this program. I could say that it is a few
-------
771
Robert E. Fahey
months old.
MR. POOLE: Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Are there any other questions or
comments?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: If not, thank you very much.
MR. FAHEY: Thank you.
MR. STEIN: Dr. Arnold?
DR. ARNOLD: Mr. Stein, I have here a report
from the City Manager of Ashtabula, Ohio. I would like
to have it presented into the record without reading it.
MR. STEIN: Without objection, this will
be done.
(The statement of the Office of the City
Manager of Ashtabula, Ohio, is as follows:)
-------
772
CITY OF ASHTABULA
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
ASHTABULA, OHIO
August 3, 1965
CONFERENCE ON
LAKE ERIE POLLUTION - CLEVELAND
Lake Erie pollution in the Ashtabula,
Ohio area may be a typical example of the over-all
pollution problem. We are deeply concerned about the
problem, and we are not satisfied with the progress that
has been made.
We have witnessed our local watercourses
deteriorate. A stream fields brook used to be a source
of game-fish and the location of the 'ole swimming hole",
is now an industrial sewer. Odor conditions for the
past ten years, have been so bad that residents within
half a mile of the stream must frequently keep their
doors and windows closed for extended periods.
The Ashtabula problems are not uniquej they
consist of sanitary wastes from unincorporated residential
areas, and industrial wastes which eminate from outside
-------
773
the City - but which flow through a residential area of
the City.
We have been aware of the water pollution
problem for the past ten years - ten years of problems
but no progress. We have had meetings and conferences
with local, industrial officials, and with State arid
Federal Health Department representatives. Conditions
of today are no better then they were ten years ago.
By comparison, conditions are worse as a result of the
report by the Ohio Department on Water Pollution Control
in Lake Erie and its Tributaries in Ohio. This report,
dated July 1965, indicates the industrial waste treat-
ment by local industries is "currently acceptable" by
the State, (but not acceptable by the people).
This current acceptance of present pollution
reflects a serious problem to our local community. Ten
years of efforts by local officials have been of some
help but will be in vain unless drastic action is taken
by the State and Federal Government.
Our concern is compounded by the report on
pollution of Lake Erie by the U. S. Department of Health,
Education and Welfare which is also dated July 1965.
This Public Health Service Report makes positive recommend-
ations for pollution abatement which should be followed
-------
774
with action.
We would like to offer the following for
your consideration:
A. Establish direct contact between City
and State, and between City and Federal authority for
pollution abatement with a minimum of "red tape".
B. Initiate local seminars in each city
on Lake Erie to inform all responsible officials both
industrial and political, of area requirements.
C. Establish criteria for all discharges
in the area which conforms with USPH.
D. Establish time table for action, with
starting date of January 1, 1966.
E. State and/or City monitor each river
and major tributary in area.
F. Publicize to the participants, the
availability of Federal financing assistance, and strive
for an accelerated tax write-off for industrial con-
struction of pollution abatement facilities.
If just one problem can be solved at this
meeting then I believe we have accomplished something;
but until action is implemented then meetings are to
no avail.
-------
775
Thank you for your indulgence.
DAVID DE LUCA
CITY MANAGER.
DR. ARNOLD: I also have a report from the
City of Solon, which the officials there have requested
that Mr. Eagle read and present it into the record.
MR. STEIN: I will be happy to have him do
so.
Mr. Eagle.
MR. EAGLE: This letter is addressed to me
from William E. Price, Mayor, City of Solon, in Cuyahoga
County, which is a suburb of the City of Cleveland here.
He was here during the first part of the
meeting and had to leave, and he asked me to read the
following statement into the record.
(The statement of the City of Solon is as
follows:)
-------
776
CITY OF SOLON
6315 S.O.M. CENTER ROAD
CUYAHOGA COUNTY, OHIO 44139
248-1155
August 3, 1965
Mr. George H. Eagle
Chief Engineer
Ohio Department of Health
c/o Cleveland Sheraton Hotel
Ohio Pollution Conference
Cleveland, Ohio
Dear Mr. Eagle:
I attended the Lake Erie Pollution Conference this
morning, and was unable to stay any longer. I had not
been called on to make my statement, and would like the
following statement to go on record:
"The City of Solon, with a population of 8,000 has com-
pleted a 2.0 million dollar sewage treatment works and
collection system and anticipates the start of con-
struction of a second system within ninety (90) days.
-------
777
Project cost is estimated to be 2.1 million dollars.
All 50 industries located in Solon have either pre-
treatment systems which drain into the municipal system
or complete treatment which renders their wastes accept-
able to state standards.
We feel that if a municipality the size of Solon can
go forth with sewerage projects of the magnitude which
they have, larger cities and industries with much greater
financing capabilities can certainly go forward and rid
themselves of the same problems."
Yours very truly,
WEPtak WILLIAM E. PRICE,
Mayor, City of Solon
Cuyahoga County
Solon, Ohio
-------
778
MR. STEIN: As to that secondary treatment
they have, I think you and I, years ago, were in the sane
business.
You know, this reminds me of th« restaurant
sanitation business. Once a man cleaned up his kitchen.
He put a sign in his glass window and invited the public
in, and he wanted every other restaurant to do likewise.
(Laughter.)
Dr. Arnold?
DR. ARNOLD: Mr. Stein, we are nearing the
time that you asked that we adjourn. We will have three
remaining municipalities to be heard from, one of which
is Cleveland, which will be put on the agenda tomorrow,
and we have Lorain and Cuyahoga Falls.
Do you wish to hear those now this afternoon?
What is your pleasure?
MR. STEIN: Would it be too much trouble for
them to wait, or do you want them to go on?
DR. ARNOLD: I don't know what their pleasure
is.
MR. STEIN: I wonder if they could stay* I
think our reporter has about reached the end of his rope,
but if they cannot be here tomorrow we will take them.
Off the record.
(Discussion off the record.)
DR. ARNOLD: I think the City of Lorain
-------
779
A. V. Agnew
would like to be heard tonight.
MR. STEIN: All right.
DR. ARNOLD: This is Mr. A. V. Agnew,
Superintendent of the Water & Sewer Department of the
City of Lorain.
STATEMENT OF
A. V. AGNEW, SUPERINTENDENT,
WATER & SEWER DEPARTMENT
LORAIN, OHIO
MR* AGNEW: Mr. Chairman, Conferees, dis-
tinguished guests, and my peers:
As I have sat here for two days and listened
to the talks, I have become more confused by the moment.
One thing that bothers me is this continual
use of the word "pollution." Now, let us get one thing
straight. All surface waters are polluted, and they
will remain so. It is the degree of pollution with which
we are concerned.
I'm so confused in fact, I feel like the
farmer who was standing on a country road on a Sunday
afternoon holding a rope, and his neighbor came up to
him and said, "Jake, what are you doing, standing out
-------
780
A. V. Agnew
here holding a rope?"
He said, "Dang new preacher1 I'm so confused,
I don't know whether I lost a horse or found a rope."
(Laughter.)
I have heard Lake Erie called a septic tank.
I have heard it called grossly polluted. I have heard
it said and read that it is not fit to be used as a pub-
lic water supply, that it was the dirtiest fresh water
lake in the world. Obviously, these people didn't hear
of the Rhein River in Germany.
But this is what we have, ladies and gentle*
men: We have a river.
I will now proceed with my official talk.
We in Lorain have been conducting a sanitary
survey of Lake Erie for the past ten years. We have six-
teen sampling points on the ten mile shore line of Lorain.
The samples are taken by boat, by approved methods in
approximately six feet of water during the months of
June, July and August. There has been a constant and
steady improvement of this water.
-------
781
A. V. Agnew
Average Per 1960 - Thru 1964
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964
Bact.Ct. 600 190 360 227 112
DO 8.40 7.11 7.60 7.80 8.9
BOD 2.20 1.68 2.80 2.40 3.2
the dissolved oxygen concent of Lake intake
water has been just about at the saturation point -
winter and summer. The bacteria counts on the raw water
intake for July 1964, for example, averaged below 100
per 100 ml.
The dry weather flow of storm sewers enter-
ing onto our beaches had a coliform count of less than
100 per 100 ml, which certainly did not indicate sanitary
pollution. Samples were taken of gutter waters during
heavy rainstorms - which waters discharged into the same
storm sewers and onto the same beaches. We have gotten
counts as high as 240,000 per 100 ml, and as low as
70,000 per 100 ml from these street gutter waters.
On a nice big rainfall last Sunday, I got
samples right out of the gutter in front of my home.
We have had inside plumbing on this street for 50 years.
The average coliform count was 140,000 per 100 ml.
-------
782
A. V. Agnew
To attribute the so called "Lake Pollution"
to lack of sanitary sewage facilities and to industrial
pollution, in my opinion, is an absolute false premise.
As stated before, rainfall runoff from the fields and
the city streets is, in my opinion, the principal con-
tributor.
This was recently acknowledged in an article
in The Plain Dealer by the United States Public Health
Service Taft Research Center in Cincinnati, and a state-
ment by an official was reported as saying, "Maybe we
had better start thinking of treating the storm water?"
If you think we have spent money on foreign
aid programs, that would be chicken feed compared to a
storm water collection and treatment program* No city
or state could possibly finance such a program*
Now, we have never denied that there may
be pockets of pollution along the shores of Lake Erie
and we do not know how polluted the Cuyahoga River is,
because we have never checked it. We do know that
such conditions should not reflect on the condition of
the Lake as a whole.
Much to do is made by the news media that
the United States Public Health Service Survey of 1963-
1964 of Lake Erie found a 2,600 square mile area of
-------
783
A. V. Agnew
bottom in the central basin of the Lake devoid of oxygen
and that this in short was an indication of a "dying"
lake.
For as long as I have been in Lorain, the
U. S. Corps of Engineers have vacuum swept the bottom
of Black River each year, and deposited this material,
which was bound to have a high BOD, several miles out
in the Lake, and 1 understand that they follow this
routine every year on every navigable river flowing into
the Lake, and this would of course include the Cuyahoga
River.
In addition to this, in 1963, while the
United States Public Health Service Survey was being
made, the U. S. Corps of Engineers were directing the
deepening of Black River by some several feet and also
excavating a larger turning basin upstream. This work
entailed the excavation of and disposal of millions of
tons of river bottom and earth - containing a very high
BOD - also several miles out into the Lake.
It is therefore no wonder that the United
States Public Health Service have found the bottom con-
ditions that they claim. The wonder is that they never
saw or never took note - at least up to now they have
never mentioned it as a possible contributing factor to
-------
784
A. V. Agnew
their results - scows loaded with muck being towed out
into the Lake and dumped.
They make much of the fact that Black River
is "very polluted," but they did not bother to contact
us to find out where the pollution was coming from.
During the late summer and fall of 1963,
we were replacing the 1st Street Oberlin Avenue trunk
sanitary sewer that was in imminent danger of collapsing,
and there were times when sanitary sewage had to be by-
passed into storm sewers emptying into Black River.
In addition to these two local conditions
was the severe drought in the summer of 1963, where stream
flows, particularly in the upper reaches of the Black
River and its tributaries were undiluted flows from
septic tanks*
To deviate from my talk for a moment, some
of the United States Public Health Service boys were
comparing these results with the results of the State
survey of Black River which was made in 1956, when we
had one of the wettest summers we ever had, to the
figures that they collected in 1963.
I maintain these factors must be considered
when judgment is made of the condition of the streams
and the Lake itself. It is pure folly to make such
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785
A. V. Agnew
wild statements as have been made by the news media on
the basis of one survey. Several such extensive surveys
over a period of several years would have to be made
before a pattern of behavior could be established.
David G. Frey, in his book, "Limnology of
North America," Chapter 19 - the St. Lawrence and Great
Lakes - states, "A major weakness in Great Lakes research
is the lack of long term studies. Most of the past
studies have the common fault of showing the conditions
existing during a short time in a particular area."
Lake Erie water quality can also be shown
by raw water analyses of the water treatment plant in-
takes along its shores. The analyses were performed
by the Ohio Department of Health at each of the cities
listed. Results were compiled for the past twenty
years:
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786
A. V. Agnew
TABLE 1
CHEMICAL ANALYSES RAW WATER
CITY TOTAL ALKALINITY TOTAL HARDNESS CHLORIDES SODIUM
Toledo
Port Clinton
Sanduaky
Huron
Elyria
Lorain
Avon Lake
Cleveland
Mentor
Painsville
Ashtabula
Conneaut
Av. 97 131 22 11
USPH
Buffalo 89 129 22 10
PPM
100
104
98
96
98
95
94
98
101
96
93
94
PPM
137
139
131
127
121
122
127
126
129
144
134
130
PPM
16
18
17
19
18
18
18
19
31
40
28
27
PPM
10
14
10
9
9
10
10
10
13
16
12
10
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787
A. V. Agnev
I think it may be safely said that we along
the Lake wish to be treated the same as an inland city.
In other words, if we can maintain high dissolved oxygen
in the Lake with primary treatment, that should suffice -
inland cities have a difficult time now with secondary
treatment in maintaining a minimum of 4.0 PPM of dis-
solved oxygen in the summer season, when stream flows are
low.
Nothin is all good or all bad. No doubt
improvement can be made on the tributaries to Lake Erie -
but as for the Lake waters they are, by comparison with
other streams, very good indeed.
In conclusion I want it known also that there
has been a steady improvement in the quality of the raw
water at the water treatment plant - turbidities are
low - algae low - bacteria low - dissolved oxygen high
the year round, at the saturation point. This water is
taken from 18 foot depth in 35 foot of water, approxi-
mately 3,000 feet from shore. The water is fairly soft,
cool and easy to treat. Chemical costs averaged about
$12.00 per million gallons in 1964 - which we do not
consider excessive.
That about does it, gentlemen.
Thank you.
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788
A. V. Agnew
MR. STEIN: Are there any contents or ques-
tions?
(No response.)
MR. STEIN: Thank you very much for your
presentation*
MR. AGNEW: I have a lot of comments to make
about some of the other presentations. I didn't know you
were allowed to speak from the floor.
MR. STEIN: You are not allowed to speak
from the floor --
MR. AGNEW: Well, now that I have the
rostrum
(Laughter.)
MR. STEIN: I know now that you have the
rostrum, but, you know, we are going to adjourn and come
back tomorrow. Would you like to resume it then?
MR. AGNEW: No, thank you.
MR. STEIN: All right. Dr. Arnold?
DR. ARNOLD: We will continue tomorrow
then, Mr. Stein.
MR. STEIN: We will meet tomorrow on this
floor in the ballroom across the lobby at 9:30. We
stand recessed.
(Whereupon, an adjournment was taken until
Thursday, August 5, 1965, at 9:30 a.m.)
CPO
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