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                                                                                  Springfield ^Co,lunbus   /
U.S. Environment?! Protection
Region 5. Library (PL-12J)
77 West Jackson Boulevard, 12th Ftoor
Chicago.lt  60604-3590
                 The Federal  Government's water  pollution control program is carried on by the Depart-
             ment  of Health,  Education,  and  Welfare under authority  of the  Federal Water Pollution
             Control Act,  (33 U.S.C. 466  et. seq.).  The program is administered in the Midwest by the
             Department's Region V office, which  is located  in  Chicago,  Illinois.  This office serves the
             States  of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
                 The Federal  water pollution control program  is a cooperative  one,  involving the closest
             coordination  with  interstate, state  and local agencies. It provides both technical and financial
             assistance to states  and  local  agencies,  develops comprehensive water  quality  management
             programs, supports  basic  and  operational research and employs enforcement measures in
             situations where these  are  needed.  A major activity of the Region V office at the present time
             is the administration of grants for water pollution abatement.

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I
 •i
tin

                 (Protecting
                 WATER QUALITY
                 in the  Midwest
       A Report on Water Pollution Control Activities in Region V, Division

        of Water Supply and Pollution Control, Public Health Service

f:. >>
?Ui5»  -PN* *» ~

                   June 1963
        U. S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
                 Public Health Service
                   Region V
            433 West VanBuren Street, Chicago 7, Illinois

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                               WATER RESOURCES IN  REGION  V

     The States  of  Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and  Wisconsin  encompass one of the richest  water
areas in the world.  On its borders are the greatest source of fresh water  anywhere, the Great Lakes, plus
the Ohio River and the upper Mississippi River.

     Even though these  five states  possess  these enormous fresh water  resources, the  Midwest is not
immune to the threat  of a water shortage.  If this comes,  it will not be a shortage of water itself,  but
of clean water.
NEED FOR  A  CLEAN WATER PROGRAM

  The  public  has  been prone to  assume  that  water,
the natural  resource most  taken for granted, will be
available for use forever.  This assumption is subject to
serious question when one  considers  that today water
has become the Nation's Number One natural  resource
concern.  Pollution,  resulting  from  the  ever-expanding
economy  and population,  demands  the development of
an effective program for water quality management.

  The danger signs in the Midwest are already evident —
The entire flow of a major river is used  and re-
used almost  four times before a large metropoli-
tan center takes its share for water supply.
Hundreds  of miles  of  another boundary water
have had serious taste and odor problems which
have tainted fish flesh  and  affected municipal
water supplies.
Diversion of lake water  is the  subject  of major
litigation among the various  Lake  States.
In the five states of Region V, $140 million is the
indicated need to build municipal waste  treatment
plants.

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CONTROLLING  POLLUTION  BY
BUILDING  TREATMENT PLANTS

  The building of municipal and industrial  waste treat-
ment works  is  one  of  the most important  elements in
the effective control of water quality. Congress, in pass-
ing the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, recognized
this fact by providing for Federal grants to assist muni-
cipalities in financing the construction  of local  sewage
treatment work. This act provides individual grants up to
309? of eligible project costs with a maximum grant of
$600.000 for any single project.  (The  recently  passed
Accelerated  Public  Works  Act provides grants up  to
50% of eligible costs  for projects in economically  de-
pressed areas.)

  Fiscal Year 1963 in  Region V was the most active
year since the sewage  treatment works construction pro-
gram was started in 1956. Grant offers, contract awards,
sewage treatment  plants placed in operation, and miles
of stream improvement all reached record high levels.

  A summary  of all grants made during the Fiscal Year
1963 up to April 4.  1963 is  given in the following table.

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         GRAISTS  TO MUNICIPALITIES DURING FISCAL YEAR  1963
             FOR SEWAGE TREATMENT  WORKS  IN REGION  V
STATES
PROJECTS
ELIGIBLE PROJECT
      COSTS
FEDERAL GRANT
     OFFER
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
MICHIGAN
OHIO
WISCONSIN
REGION V TOTALS
60
22
24
27
39
172
$14,255,110.09
11,338,620.18
24,058,669.82
15,138.782.66
5,922,815.11
$70,713,997.86
$ 4,759,602.28
2,380,929.65
9,124,534.63
3,817,343.80
1,695.301.83
$21,777,712.19
  Accelerated Public Works  supplemental funds appro-
priated by Congress for  Fiscal Year 1963, added to the
original appropriations,  probably  will  result in an esti-
mated total of 285 grants tendered.  These grants will
generate almost $96 million in eligible project construc-
tion costs.

  During the fiscal year, there have been an average of
300 active projects; 200 field payment inspections; 85
sewage plants placed in operation; and over 1200 miles
of stream improvement.  The growth of the program in
terms  of funds and sewage treatment works projects is
illustrated in the following graph.
       SEWAGE TREATMENT WORKS CONSTRUCTION  GRANTS PROGRAM IN REGION V
                FROM 1956-1963  SHOWING FISCAL YEAR  APPROPRIATIONS
                               AND NUMBER  OF PROJECTS
     1963
     1962
 Average
 for 5 years
 (1956-1961)
                            $31,000,000 Est.
                            285 Projects Est.
                                         Reflects increase
                                         under Public Works
                                         Acceleration Act
                                             of 1962
       $10,980,000 )
       98 Projects )
  $6,820.000
                                                Reflects 1961 amendment to Act
                  ,r  ,   i w f   D „ t-   p  t  i
                  federal Water  Pollution Control
  80 Projects (             Act of 1956

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BASIC DATA —
STUDIES — PLANS
  The best approach to any major problem is to learn
as much as possible about the subject.  Basic data collec-
tion is the fundamental operation for any water pollution
control program.  Studies  provide  specific  information
for a wide variety of needs in  enforcement  or planning
comprehensive  water quality programs. Such programs
serve as flexible tools to make the maximum use  of our
water resources.

  Basic  data programs in Region  V  include not only
inventories of water supplies and municipal  and indus-
trial \vaste treatment facilities  in each State, but  also
water quality data on a continuing basis  from 17 stra-
tegically located sampling stations in Region  V.  These
stations are part of the National Water Quality Network,
which provides  long-term quality trends for the Nation's
major  watersheds.

  Basic information on the effects  of recreational uses
on the water quality  of an  impounded water supply  is
the subject of  special studies on reservoirs  near Indi-
anapolis and Bloomington,  Indiana.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
  International treaty  obligations on  boundary  waters
are exercised  through  the  International  Joint Commis-
sion.  The Public Health Service mans a field unit located
at Detroit, Michigan, which is engaged in sampling and
monitoring the international  boundary  waters  in this
area.  Reports  are made twice yearly to the Commission's
Technical Advisory Board on  Control  of  Pollution of
Boundary Waters.

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1**

                          In  the  winter of 1962-1963. the  e\es  of  the Nation
                       were focused on the upper Mississippi River where major
                       soybean and petroleum  oil spills fouled over 130  miles
                       of stream, killing or disabling thousands  of ducks.  The
                       Governors of  the  States of  Minnesota and  Wisconsin
                       requested  and received  assistance from the Department
                       and  a technical team  surveyed the stretch  and  made
                       recommendations for immediate and long-term corrective
                       measures.
                                                                                  INDUSTRIAL  WASTES

                          A major pollution study now underway is the Detroit
                        River-Lake Erie Project which was established last year
                        as the result of a joint Federal-State Enforcement Con-
                        ference on  pollution  of  the  navigable  waters  of the
                        Detroit River, Lake Erie and their tributaries within the
                        State of Michigan.

                          As a measure of activity, some 12,000 samples of all
                        types have been collected and over 50,000 analyses have
                        been made since the Project's inception last summer. The
                        information  gathered  will  be used to  determine the
                        extent of  pollution, identify principal sources of  pollu-
                        tion, determine the effect of this pollution on water uses,
                        and to develop a program for improving water quality.
                                                                                  DETROIT RIVER-
                                                                                  LAKE  ERIE  PROJECT
H8S





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 GREAT  LAKES-ILLINOIS RIVER  BASINS  PROJECT
  Perhaps the most significant and widely known water
pollution  abatement  study  undertaken  by the Public
Health  Service  is the Great  Lakes and  Illinois River
Basins Project.  This is  a 7-year $13  million compre-
hensive water quality management  program specifically
authorized by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
for those  watersheds.

  Work  on the Illinois River  Basin  is  esentially  com-
plete. A total of over  12,000 samples have been collected
at the 65  stations on this watershed  and over 90,000
analyses have been made. Very specialized and sophis-
ticated techniques and equipment have  been used, such
as continuous dissolved oxygen recorders, carbon filters
to  gather  organic  materials,   and  intensive  industrial
waste sampling  programs.   Additionally,  many special
studies have been made and others are in progress now.
These studies include  a plankton  algae study and enter -
ovirus studies.

  This activity has produced a great mass of data which
is analyzed through the use of digital computers.   The
results are now being  evaluated by the various scientific
specialists on the Project staff.

  The work done thus far on  the  Illinois River Basin
has formed a base line for a  major study of Lake Michi-
gan  which is now underway.  During the past year,
 almost  15,000  samples from 474 stations in the Lake
 were collected.  Some 400,000 analyses were made on
 these samples by the end of Fiscal Year 1963.

   To study  the  Lake, a navy  of ten large specially-
 equipped  boats were used.  Four of these  boats, in  ad-
 dition to collecting  water  and  bottom samples, were
 used to set out and service meters, which are measuring
 the  currents  in the Lake in order to  determine waste
 dispersion patterns.  To  date, 12  stations  involving 40
current  meters  have been placed. Several meters have
 been retrieved and  data has been  obtained  from  the
 memory systems  in  the  individual meter capsules.

   Water quality management reports are being prepared
 for each basin, and in addition,  a series of special re-
ports have already been  published and submitted to  the
Justice Department for use in the Supreme Court Hear-
 ings on  Lake Michigan  Diversion at  Chicago.

   Although major emphasis is currently on Lake Michi-
gan, the  development of a water quality  management
program for  Lake  Erie  is already underway.  A field
office and laboratory has been established at Cleveland,
Ohio and sampling was begun on the  Lake this spring.
The other Great Lakes will each in turn be programmed.
The present plan  is to proceed from Lake Erie to Lake
Ontario to Lake  Huron, and finally to Lake  Superior.
                                                  Mm
                                               'JMtti

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APPLIED  RESEARCH FOR  WATER  POLLUTION CONTROL
  The Regional Program is making significant applied
research contributions.  Enterovirus studies on the Illinois
River, pesticides studies  in Michigan,  and field testing
of such sophisticated bacteriological indicators of  pollu-
tion  as fecal streptococcus and fecal coliforms are a few
examples of activities now being carried on.  This is in
addition to the basic  research program in water pollution
control underway at  the Public Health  Service's Robert
A. Taft Sanitary Engineering  Center  in Cincinnati and
on contract with various  universities,  colleges, and  re-
search establishments  throughout  the country.
  A  further indication  of  the  importance of  scientific
studies in this Region was emphasized with  the announce-
ment in January  by the Secretary of Health, Education
and Welfare that Ann  Arbor, Michigan had been selected
as the site  of a Regional Water Quality Laboratory.

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ENFORCING  POLLUTION CONTROL
  Although man\  pollution situations can  he lesolved
through  informal  means, in certain  instances a  formal
enforcement  action  is the  only  recourse.  Enforcement
activity in Region  V involves such major metropolitan
areas as  Detroit and St. Louis with water resources for a
total of almost 6 million people being directly affected.

  Some  20  actions  have  been taken  throughout  the
country under the provisions of Section 8 of the  Federal
Water Pollution Control Act,  as amended.  Both  in-
terstate and  navigable  waters are included  within  the
definition of this article. In  addition, Section 9 of  the
Act includes  specific reference to the Secretary's  respon-
sibility to cite Federal Agencies, having jurisdiction over
installations causing pollution, in any summary of a con-
ference pursuant to interstate or navigable stream  action.

  To date,  three enforcement actions—all in the con-
ference stage—have been called in this Region. Progress
in pollution abatement has  been significant where these
actions have been taken.
  • The Mississippi I!i\cr and the St. Louis metropolitan
    ana  in Mi^ouii and Illinois.

  • The Mississippi  River  and  the  Clinton. Iowa and
    Quad Cities area in Iowa and Illinois.

  • The  Detroit River-—Western Lake Erie  and  the
    Detroit metropolitan area in Michigan.

  In  both Mississippi  River  actions, progress may be
measured  in the millions of dollars earmarked for treat-
ment  plant construction—$95 million in St. Louis—$6
million  in  Clinton.  Iowa. While the  Detroit River-Lake
Erie action is under  intensive study,  it is becoming ap-
parent that the combined efforts  of the various agencies
involved are producing results with significant improve-
ment  noted' in water quality for critical areas.

  Of  2200 Federal installations  located in the Region,
211 discharge treated or untreated wastes into the surface
streams.  An evaluation  program is underway for all such
installations.

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 THE  CITIZENS  ROLE
   During the past year, there has been much evidence of
a growing public concern in the Mid-West with problems
of water quality.  Civic, women's, and conservation groups
in many communities  have shown their determination to
stand behind local and state  water pollution control pro-
grams and to  support  them.

   An outstanding example of citizen interest was  a TV
documentary.  "The  Majestic  Sea,"  a production of the
local CBS outlet in  Chicago.  This 30-minute film  high-
lighted  the  water  problems  in the Chicago area.  It
utilized to a significant  degree  on-camera comments by
Public  Health  Service representatives.  A similar  docu-
mentary for the Detroit Metropolitan Area is presently
being developed by  the  local CBS-TV  outlet  in  Detroit
and is  expected  to report in depth on the activities of
the Detroit River-Lake Erie Project.

   In like fashion, several articles have appeared on the
national scene one of them was  in the Saturday Evening
Post which published,  "The Great Chicago Water Steal."
A widely reprinted article. "Aerial Photos—New Weapon
Against  Pollution" appeared in Chemical  Engineering.
In each, the activities  of the Regional program were re-
viewed  at length.

  (Newspapers have also given much coverage to various
aspects  of water  pollution abatement, particularly  the
Great Lakes and Illinois River  Basins  Project. A note-
worthy  example was an article  by  Russell Lynch of  the
Milwaukee Journal  which  was  reprinted  and has  re-
ceived wide distribution.

  Personal contacts are made  through presentation  of
prepared talks  and films by various staff members to a
great variety of organizations interested in the cause of
clean water. These presentations have been made to  na-
tional conventions such as the American Society of Civil
Engineers and the National Conference of Plant Mainte-
nance Engineers and to State, Regional and local meetings
of such groups as the Illinois Public Health Association,
and  the Izaak  Walton League of America.  Regional staff
personnel have  participated in  sewage treatment works
dedications  and  appeared  before  local service  groups
like  Lions and Kiuanis Clubs to encourage the  citizens
interest in clean water.

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     Over 36,000,000 persons live  in  the  five midwestern States  of  Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,
Michigan, and  Wisconsin.  However, in 1962 it took 11-year old Lisa Funsten of Wilmington,
Illinois to make the most persuasive, most telling appeal for water  pollution abatement and for
the protection of Mid-Western  waters.

     In a letter written to President  Kennedy, which  was  widely reprinted by  news  services,
young Miss Funsten wrote about the Kankakee River:

               "I would like to tell you about our river.  We live on  it and it's a
            nice river, but it's pretty dirty. Nobody respects it.  They throw  their
            garbage in the river and everything.  I would like to know if you would
            talk to somebody to clean  it."

     Miss Funsten's letter received a quick reply  from H. W. Poston, Regional Program Direc-
tor of the Public Health  Service's water  pollution control program.  "The Federal  govern-
ment and the State of Illinois," Mr. Poston wrote, "shares Lisa's interest in the Kankakee and
in clean  water. The Kankakee  is included  in one  of  the  principal water quality  studies.  The
results of this study will assist the State of  Illinois in developing the best possible program for
users of  the Kankakee River.  Your  State has taken an  active interest in the quality of the Kan-
kakee River and is taking steps to enforce  the clean-up of the river."
GPO 802-432-2
y S. Environmental Protection Ager.c*
Region 5, Library (PL-12J)
77 West Jackson Boulevard, IZtn
         IL  60604-3590

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{[PORT  BITES  PROGRESS HERE5-S\
POLLUTION FOR  MSD u M** -^
                   i  Progress,' Federal Of-
 DEATH  OF FISH)  <-< ^ - >-T<-
                     ties  for Delay Are
                                                              Pioneer Press
                                                            Washington Bureau   \
                                                          WASHINGTON-A federal
                                                         inspection team will begin
                                                         work on the upper Mississippi
                                                         river today investigating the
                                                                 which has killed
                                                          museums ui ducks.
                                                          The team—composed of  a
                                                              health service  sci<>-
Health  Service Says

   7 Million Killed

 Washington, May 27 (UPD —
More than 7 million fish were
killed last year by factory and
city wastes and  agricultural
poisons dumped into the na-
tion's rivers and lakes, the pub-
lic health service reported to-
day.
 Based on reports from 36
states and the district of Co-
lumbia, the service said about
one-fourth of those killed were
game fish, two-thirds were for-
age fish,  and  one-tenth were
trash fish.
 Most of the 7,118,000 fish
were poisoned in rivers, the
service said. It blamed domes-
tic  sewage for the greatest
number of deaths. The service
said 53 per cent of the con-
tamination in lakes and rivers
came from factories, 45 per
cent from local communities.
    Chief Cause in 1961 _^"
 Agricultural po
a chemical "  '
into a
                      Cited.
 The Metropolitan S^
tnct is making satisfac]
gress in its Mississippi!
lution abatement pro"1
the Federal govn,,
watch the project clos
sure its  completion If
Public Health  Servi'.\V\e^>
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