MIO AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
     . >
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA

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!,**
 _^/his must be an age of restoration,  restoHfffl

resources of this country so that the younger  finer


not inherit a country in which the air is  filletfwith ij

the water is polluted, and our parks are desolate becaitsf

didVt do the right planning.

t •  '
 >  j
     Only through total mobilization can we  deal  with the


problems of water pollution, air pollution,  and  the other
            problems which affect our  environment.
                                                                       *:?;'
                                           February 6,  1970
                                           Chicago
                             CLEAN  WATER FOR MID-AMERICA
          I ;;Pj^duced by Public Information Office, Great Lakes Region, F\N(PCA, BMjft ^jMjrior,

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This booklet is about the major  fresh waters of mid-America—
the Great Lakes and the Upper Mississippi River.
  There  are two undeniable facts about mid-America's waters.
They are in great supply; and they are in great demand.
  For example, the  interconnected Great Lakes form the largest
body of fresh water  in the world. Over 30 million Americans live
within close reach  of them, and 80 percent of these people live in
metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas are supported by manu-
facturing activities  that account for a substantial share of America's
Gross National  Product. One-fourth of the nation's total manufac-
turing activity is located in this region. Soon after the turn of the
century the population of the Great Lakes area will exceed 50
million people and industrial activity will have increased four
to fivefold.
  These statistics simply mean that there is and will continue to
be a heavy demand for the waters of mid-America.
  Rarely, if ever, is water found anywhere as pure as  H2O. It is

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always "polluted" to use the narrow sense of this word. But
pollution, as we have come to  use the term in our daily speech,
means simply that a certain body of water is not able to be used
for its intended purpose.
  If you want to go swimming and the water is smelly or muddy,
then you might call it "polluted." If you want that same water for
cooling a power plant,  it might be just right for you, so you
wouldn't say it's polluted.
  However, there are what  are called the  "freedoms" or general
requirements which all waters  should have  to  be  considered
unpolluted. These "freedoms" include:
  * Freedom from materials that will settle or form objectionable
    deposits.
  * Freedom from floating debris, oil, scum, and  other  similar
    matter.
  * Freedom from substances producing objectionable color,
    odor, taste, or turbidity.
  * Freedom from materials which in concentration or combination
    are toxic or which produce undesirable physiological responses
    in humans, fish and other animal life and  plants.
  * Freedom from substances and conditions or combination that
    in concentration will produce undesirable aquatic life.
  Most pollution, or low water quality, has been caused by two
major sources: cities and industries. Cities are the  largest
polluters. They are responsible for about 60 percent of all water
pollution. This pollution is mostly in the form of untreated or
partially treated sewage that is dumped into  the water. Industry
is the second  largest polluter.  Besides  sometimes using municipal
treatment facilities, industries often empty wastes with inadequate
treatment from their own outfalls into streams, rivers and lakes.
  Because of the  different uses for  which people  require water,
the Federal government, through the Water Quality Act of 1965
required the states to set water quality standards or uses for
interstate waters.
  This meant the states had to:
     1) determine which use or uses,  future and present,
     interstate  waters would be protected for  (e.g., recreation,
     aquatic life, public water supplied, agriculture industry);
     2) designate  where on lakes and rivers each of these
     standards would be applied or  where they might be applied
     in the future;
     3) devise a plan, a timetable and a way of implementing
     these standards. This is the basis and the key to the Federal
     water quality standards program.
  The Federal Water Pollution Control program for "Clean Water"
is based to a large extent on making sure that the water quality
use designated  by states for each area is observed.
   When there are two  competing uses for that water, the use which
demands the cleanest water  prevails. For example,  if fish spawning

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                and industry were both on the same end of the river, the standards
                for fish spawning would prevail for the river's water quality
                standard.
                  FWPCA is using computers to check on progress by the states
                in implementing their water quality standards. The computer
                printout is helping FWPCA to set priorities for improvement  and
                to check to see if deadlines for better water quality are being
                observed nationally.
                 Another aspect of water quality is the non-degradation of
                waters. What this means is that waters, where  existing quality  is
                better than the established standards, should be maintained at
                present quality. This is to insure that no  matter  what water quality
                use is set for an area, that use will  not ever be interpreted as a
                license to pollute, or lower the existing quality of the  water.
                 This profile of mid-America's waters  attempts to show that
                there is a serious threat of pollution from  many  sources. Each of
                the waters has its own unique problem, yet they all have common
                troubles as well. The profile also shows what is being accomplished
                by the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration in helping
                clean up our waters.
                 There is a selection on new problems  in  the field of water
                pollution, a section on how pollution affects the quality of our
                lives and there  are suggestions or just what you can do,  as a
                private citizen, to bring clean water to mid-America.
TYPES OF POLLUTION


Bacteria

Turbidity (muddy water)

Lack of Dissolved Oxygen

Inorganic Materials
  (Iron and Manganese)
  (Copper and Lead)

Phenols (smelly, bad taste substance)

Organic materials (oil, pesticides, exotics)

Radioactivity

Heat

Nutrients (Phosphorus and  Nitrogen)

Dissolved Solids
  WATER QUALITY USES MOST AFFECTED
                  Municipal
           Aquatic    Water    Industrial
Recreation t   Life    Supply      Use
    X                  X
    X
    X

    X

    X

    X

    X

    X
X

X


X
X

X

X

X

X

X
X
X

X

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            URBAN RUNOFF
ANIMAL FEEDLOT WASTES
      COMPLEX CHEMICAL
               COMPOUNDS
            RADIOACTIVITY
                 PESTICIDES
      THERMAL POLLUTION
As American life becomes more technologically  complex, the
problems of the  environment become correspondingly more
sophisticated. These newly  recognized problems  have gathered
much public attention in mid-America:
  There are two considerations to urban runoff.  First, as more
and more land is covered by concrete and asphalt, there is less
ground available for absorbing water, which means that more
stormwater ends up in sewers.  Many of these same sewers also
carry wastes. The total begins to exceed the sewage treatment
capacity and much untreated waste is sent directly to  rivers and
lakes. Secondly,  the quality  of stormwater runoff is decreasing,
which means more pollution, especially when combined sewers
overflow during  storms. Increased pollution is corning from street
refuse (litter) and dirty catch basins in addition to air pollution,
roof discharges and chemicals used in the  urban  environment.
  Pollution from animal feedlots located in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri
and portions of Wisconsin and Minnesota  is a serious problem.
Feedlots are often located near rivers and streams where animals
can water easily. Animal waste discharges  has meant the addition
to the streams of untreated wastes in high amounts, thus adding
nutrients and bacteria.
  Our rapidly growing technology has produced significant numbers
of complex chemical compounds, the effects of which we are only
beginning to explore.  In plastics, drugs and other fields where
chemicals are combined to form new products, effluents are being
produced which  have  yet to  be investigated for their effects on the
aquatic environment.  It soon may be necessary to go beyond
conventional treatment of these wastes.
  It is not known how much of a problem this is going to be. Some
feel that before the many projected nuclear  plants  along the Great
Lakes are put into operation in the seventies,  the present criteria
for radioactivity levels may need to be strengthened.
  One-point-twenty-five billion  pounds  of pest control chemicals
are produced in  the United  States each year.  Seventy-five percent
is applied to less than 2 percent of the land. A five-state governor's
conference was held in Chicago in March of 1969 to consider a
course of action in the wake of rising levels  of pesticides in Lake
Michigan coho salmon.
  Out of that meeting came a monitoring program  which Department
of the Interior and state representatives  are now conducting.
Some states, like Michigan, banned the  sale of DDT in the wake
of seizures of contaminated fish. Most fish species are highly
susceptible to chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides  like DDT. There
is much new research  needed here.
  Hot water comes from both conventional and nuclear power
plants. The latter heat up twice as much water. The overall

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       OFFSHORE DRILLING
    SMALL LAKE POLLUTION
SHORELINE CONSTRUCTION
          COMBINED SEWERS
GROUNDWATER POLLUTION
effect of hot water on the lakes is not the concern. The localized
effect is the problem. FWPCA's National Water Quality Laboratory
is studying just what the local effects of this heat are at the
point where it is discharged. Will fish spawn too quickly, will
some aquatic imbalance result among organisms along the
shoreline? These questions have to be answered.
  There have been requests to drill offshore in Lake Erie for
oil and gas. FWPCA is in the process of developing a national
policy on offshore drilling. There are other types of drilling
in the Great Lakes. For example, there is manganese mining
in the Green Bay area and there are cross-country oil
pipelines  across many of our lakes and rivers.
  One of the American dreams is that of a  small summer
place on a little lake or river where you can spend the annual
vacation swimming,  boating and fishing. For many vacationers
on small lakes, this dream has vanished as lakes become
polluted and turn into  green fields of algae when septic tanks
leak from summer homes. Reversal of this process is slow—
sometimes it never happens.
  There is a delicate ecology along the shoreline of our waters.
When land and water meet special plant and animal systems
and relationships develop. The areas  provide part of the aquatic
and land  food chains. When these waters are filled in to make
more land, the "middle worlds" disappear and  the balance of
nature is  upset, often to the detriment of the plant and
animal ecology.
  All of our older and larger cities are partially or wholly
served by combined  sewers. These are large sewers designed
to carry both sewage and stormwater. When there is no
stormwafer, large amounts of putrid  sewage builds up on the
bottom of these sewers. Stormwater flushes the sewage out into
streams and lakes causing pollution. Many Great Lakes beaches
have been closed due to these combined sewer  discharges.
  Poor wastewater controls  and land management are a potential
source of pollution to aquifers that supply groundwater for
urban and agricultural needs.

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                             Ill  RIR WATER OMAIITY
                  The official name is five words long: Federal Water Pollution
                  Control Administration. You can describe its job in just two
                  words: STOP POLLUTION.
                    Under this two-word mandate the Federal "Clean Water"
                  program operates, reaching into hundreds of villages and cities
                  across the American landscape, from quiet river-front towns
                  with names like Keokuk and Quincy, to huge mega-cities like
                  Chicago,  Detroit and St. Louis.
                    Help in stopping pollution in Newfolden,  Minnesota is in the
                  form of a Federal grant for sewage plant construction. In Chicago
                  it is a research grant to find new ways to store heavy loads
                  of stormwater. In Gary, Indiana it is providing on-scene assist-
                  ance to industries that want less expensive ways to stop
                  pollution, in Cleveland it is the reconvening of a conference
                  to enforce timetables in cleaning up pollution of Lake Erie.
                  Basically, the Federal program acts in four ways: it gives
                  financial help, it gives  technical advice, it keeps tabs on
                  pollution and it acts to stop pollution.
LEGISLATION      The campaign to stop pollution is not a flew  one. The first
                  law was passed in 1899. Known as the Rivers and Harbors
                  Act, it prohibited discharge or deposit of any refuse into
                  navigable waters.
                    In 1924, the Oil Pollution Act was signed  into law. It
                  prohibited the discharge of oil into costal waters.
                    In 1948, the first Federal Water Pollution Control Act was
                  passed. In 1956, the first permanent full scale clean-up program
                  received Congressional approval.  With this new law came the
                  legal machinery to hold enforcement conferences throughout the
                  United States and to take polluters to court, if necessary.
                  Federal grants were also authorized for building sewage
                  treatment plants in communities across the country.
                    That Federal Water Pollution Control Act was amended in
                  1961 as the Congress attempted to strengthen the enforcement
                  authority and increase support for construction of waste
                  treatment works and research.
                    In 1965, the Water Quality Act was passed. This Act further
                  amended  the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and established
                  the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration in the
                  Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The Water Quality
                  Act also required establishment of water quality standards for
                  all interstate and costal waters in an effort to set up a new
                  way to prevent pollution before it begins.
                    A Presidential Reorganization Plan, issued in  1966, transferred
                  the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration to the
                  Department of the Interior.
                    In 1966, the Clean Water Restoration Act was passed. It

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   Federal Water Pollution Control Administration
               Regional Offices and Laboratories
ORGANIZATION
    OPERATION
greatly increased grant authorizations to help build sewage
treatment plants, for research and for grants to the state
water pollution control programs.
  The FWPCA headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia, just
outside Washington, D.C. It serves as an administrative home
base for nine regions located in the major drainage basins of
the United States.
  The Great Lakes Region, with its headquarters in Chicago,
administers the Federal clean-up programs for all five Great
Lakes and the Upper Mississippi River, as far south as the
junction with the Ohio River.
  To administer the Federal program, there is a Chicago
headquarters staff and  basin offices in five cities—Minneapolis;
Chicago; Detroit; Cleveland; and Rochester. In the Great Lakes
Region there is also the National Water Quality Laboratory in
Duluth, Minnesota. There, scientists develop water criteria
needed to further evaluate use standards.
  Each of the FWPCA regions is involved in the same type of
operations, though emphasis in each may differ. In the East
and South, there is great concern with preserving estuaries
and tidelands, on the West Coast the threat of oil pollution and
industrial wastes are of continuing concern, and in the Midwest,
the premature aging of the Great  Lakes is the  greatest worry.
  There are numerous FWPCA programs in the Great Lakes
Region. They include:

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  CONSTRUCTION GRANTS
      FEDERAL ACTIVITIES
       ENFORCEMENT AND
COOPERATIVE PROGRAMS
  The Great Lakes Regional Office administers a multi-million
dollar aid program of matching grants to cities and towns to
help them build sewage treatment facilities. These grants are
made directly to municipalities throughout the region after the
States set priorities. From the start of the grants program in
1956, 166.4 million dollars of Federal grants  have been offered
in the Great Lakes Region. Grants have been as small as
$2,129 or as large as $8.5 million.
  By Executive Order 11288, the President of the United States
ordered that Federal facilities throughout the country comply
with water pollution laws. The Federal Activities branch of the
Great Lakes Region  monitors Federal installations to make
sure compliance with these laws is observed.  The branch also
assists these facilities in coming up with pollution control
programs. A good percentage of the Federal Activities branch
work involves commenting on permits being  sought from other
governmental agencies, such as permits for dredgings sought
from the Corps of Engineers by various  industries.
  Since the 1956 Water Pollution Control Act was passed, the
FWPCA has held 46 enforcement actions throughout the United
States, 10 of them in the  Great Lakes Region. The enforcement
action is a three-step legal action to  stop pollution. The first
step is the convening of a conference, the second a formal
hearing and the third step is court action. Most actions end
at the conference stage, with conferees—made up of representa-
tives from the States concerned and the  Federal government—
agreeing on a time-table for ending pollution and establishment
of committees to consider specific pollution problems of the
conference area. The conference findings are submitted to the
Secretary of the Interior for approval, and from time to time,
the  conference is reconvened to check on progress.

  Enforcement  personnel of the Great Lakes Region, besides
preparing for conferences, also handle a number of other
related programs. The Water Quality Standards and Compliance
section, in cooperation with field offices, makes sure .that the
standards set by the States for their waters are followed. If a
recreation site on the Mississippi, for example, had to be
closed because a new factory began dumping wastes, then a
violation of water quality would exist and action might be taken.
Another instance might be where heat waste from a power
plant would intrude on a fish breeding area and disturb
reproduction. The water quality section also  acts as a liaison
between States which propose standards and the Secretary of
the  Interior, who either accepts or rejects them.

  Another section is  State Program  Grants. Under this program,
FWPCA makes grants to help State and interstate pollution
control  agencies meet their operating costs in pollution control
and in training personnel.
  The Manpower Training and Development section of the
Cooperative Program distributes funds  and assistance to help
train sewage plant operators through on-the-job training and
establishment of school training.

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            ADMINISTRATION
          AND INFORMATION
            NATIONAL WATER
      QUALITY LABORATORY
               BASIN OFFICES
There are grants also for demonstration projects, advanced
waste treatment plants, industrial demonstration projects and
for training and research study at the graduate level.
  The Great Lakes Region has its administrative section in the
Chicago office and its main duty is to support FWPCA personnel.
A Public Information Office is also maintained to keep the
staff and the public informed on what is being done to
"stop pollution."
  The mission of the National Water Quality Laboratory, located
on Lake Superior north of Duluth, Minnesota, is to produce
objective,  factual information upon which State-Federal standards
for water  quality can be based. The staff includes biologists,
chemists and engineers. The research program at NWQL serves
as a national focal point for university research ^financed by
the Laboratory.
  The Laboratory has modern and complex equipment for
chemical analysis, including an atomic absorption spectrometer,
a gas chromatograph  and an electron  microscope. Other
instruments can record the breathing movements of small fleas
no larger  than a pinhead.
  Unique test systems are used in which aquatic animals can
be exposed to any concentration of any pollutant so that the
effects can be measured and a non-harmful level determined.
  Basin office people (engineers, chemists, biologists, and other
resource experts)  help the regional programs by on-the-scene
action at oil spills, in  gathering of background date for
enforcement actions, in preparation of conference reports, in
close surveillance of their assigned basins and in preparing
water quality management plans for the basin.
  Detailed knowledge of the local water quality situation also
enables basin offices  to provide assistance to State and local
agencies.  By maintaining close contact with State and local
groups, a more representative regional program can be
developed. The basin  offices are  equipped with laboratories to
provide analytical support and scientific assistance to Federal
and State programs.
12

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THE HOLE OF THE STATES
The Great Lakes Region encompasses parts of 11 States—
Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin,
Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.
   These States—through their own pollution control agencies—are
the direct overseers of water pollution control programs. The
Federal programs support and assist State efforts to establish
standards, conduct surveillance, plan for the future, enforce laws,
build sewage treatment plants and train water pollution specialists.
   Federal grants for construction are administered through
State agencies. The Federal enforcement program and water
quality standards program also operate through State agencies.
In addition, Federal cooperation is extended to the States in
setting up monitoring programs and  in personnel training
programs.
   The need for strong pollution control programs on the State
level is important since the Federal program is geared
principally to interstate bodies of water.  The State is normally
responsible for intrastate waters. With a strong State program
of prevention and enforcement all the waters of a State can
then be maintained at a high level of quality.
   New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan have passed
multi-million dollar bond issues to combat water pollution, to
meet the dates set for ending pollution of the Great Lakes, of
the Upper Mississippi River and of even those lesser bodies
of water that may simply be known as "the old swimmin'
hole" or a "good spot to catch panfish."
                                                            13

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                                    It is estimated that between 60 and 70 percent of all water
                                    pollution is caused by sewage from cities and towns.  It used
                                    to be an old maxim that "dilution is the solution to pollution."
                                    Municipalities ran their sewage pipes to the nearest river,
                                    stream or lake and that was that. But as time went by and
                                    population mushroomed to produce mega-cities like Chicago,
                                    Detroit, and Cleveland, dilution no longer was  the solution,
                                    especially for towns further downstream.
                                      Sewage treatment was the answer, and it still is. When the
                                    Federal water pollution control program first began, the goal
                                    was that all urban areas should have mechanical or primary
                                    treatment. In this process, coarse particles are screened out
                                    of the water. Floating contaminants are removed by a skimming
                                    process, and solids that settle  are collected. They are then
                                    either stored in air-tight tanks to ferment by bacterial action
                                    or are separated and burned or buried.
                                      But as the deterioration of water quality continued, FWPCA
                                    found it necessary to set biological, or secondary, treatment as
                                    a goal for sewerage systems. In secondary treatment, bacteria
                                    —either aerobic or anaerobic types—are used to decompose the
                                    sewage under controlled conditions. This prevents oxygen
                                    depletion of the water in the streams and lakes.
                                      Construction grant funds for treatment plants now support
                                    this secondary method.  The Federal construction grants
                                    program was set up to construct treatment facilities in all
                                    municipalities by the early part of the 1970's.
                                      In many areas, biological treatment may not be enough.
                                    The FWPCA is  cooperating in a number of research and
                                    demonstration programs on the  use of a third additional step
                                    in treatment employing chemical means. Chemicals are added  to
                                    precipitate, float or coagulate solids so that they can be
                                    removed by mechanical processes. In some waters, like Lake
                                    Erie, this tertiary form of treatment is already considered to
                                    be a necessity, since it removes nutrients from the wastewater.
                                    An experimental physical-chemical process that removes the
                                    second, or biological step, is now being tested in Washington,  D.C.
                                     Another concern in municipal treatment is efficiency.  There
                                    has  been much emphasis on construction of sewage treatment
                                    facilities, but not on maintenance. This means that in some
                                    areas, a plant, because it is not being run correctly, might be
                                    working at 20 percent, 50 percent or 80 percent efficiency.
                                    This means that a percentage of the oxygen-demanding wastes
                                    are  still going into the water untreated. The FWPCA has
                                    emphasized that there must be adequate training of the men
                                    who operate these plants.
                                      The problems of the city, like all its other urban problems,
                                    are  on the increase, but technological solutions are available.
14

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The Great Lakes Region is the industrial heartland of America.
Manufacturing activity is over 45 billion dollars annually—one-
fourth of the nation's total. One reason for this concentration
of industry has been the availability of fresh water, lots of it.
That is a must for processing steel, making pulp, ore
processing and manufacturing chemicals, as are the waterways
for economical transporting of oil, grain, and coal.
  United States industry on the  Great  Lakes alone uses 4 trillion
gallons of water per year for processing and cooling. It takes
30,000 gallons of water to make just one ton of steel.
  Industrial pollution can mean the addition of oils to water,
phenols which bring taste and odor problems,  phosphorous or
nitrogen which overenriches the  waters, dissolved solids, etc.
There are other problems from industry also. Power plants add
heat to the waters, damaging aquatic life, and  hurrying the
growth of algae. Industries add huge quantities of chemical
substances to the water, including many compounds whose
effects are unknown.
  The philosophy of Federal water pollution control is simple:
The polluter is responsible for cleaning up his  own mess.
  In the case of municipalities, there is Federal money available
to pay for up to half of the cost of treatment plants. But
industry has to pay its own way for the most part. The
government does provide technical assistance to help with the
job, sometimes gives a demonstration or research grant to
industry, and some States provide tax  incentives.  But for the
most part, industry has to pay its own bill and must consider
pollution control part of the cost of doing business.
           INDUSTRIAL-MUNICIPAL USE OF WATER
  LAKE

  Erie
  Ontario
  Mi ch igan
  Superior
  Huron
              INDUSTRIAL

                1,200mgcf
                  300
                4,250
                  563
                  860
MUNICIPAL

  9,600mgd
  2,100
  I  ,470
      25
     140
   mi
ion gal Ions per day
                                                         15

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                                       HHHIBLEDWATERS: Lake Sipenoi
             )2,8
MINN/WIS
                       [PROBLEMS
                        SOLUTIONS
Lake Saperior, the "Gitche Gumee" of Longfellow's Hiawatha,
 ^              cleanest, most primitive of the Great Lakes.
Its^waters are ^pld. You can take a dipper and scoop a
drink almost anVwhere on it. It is the largest of the Great
Lakes with a surface area of 31,820 square miles.
  One of thej^pons for the clean water of Lake  Superior
         " popujztion density in its watershed. The average
density is onlyaoS^t 30 people per square mile. Nevertheless,
the United States population is expected to  increase in the
area by  100,000 in the next two decades.
  Lake Superior is called a very young or "oligotrophic lake,"
in contrast to Lake Erie which is considered "eutrophic" or
an old lake. Because it has been relatively free of  age-
adding pollution, Superior is very sensitive to any form of
pollution.
  When you see the algae piled up  on the shores'  of Lake
Ontario, or smell the industrial discharges on the  southern
end of Lake Michigan, or see  the closed beaches of Lake
Erie, you realize that Lake Superior's problems are small.
So, the Federal program for Lake Superior emphasizes
prevention: taking action  before pollution creeps in.
  Some problems:
  * The discharge of treated and untreated municipal and
industrial wastes has caused oxygen depletion in some of the
tributaries draining into Lake Superior. Those tributaries
include the St. Louis and Montreal Rivers and the Duluth-
Superior Harbor.
  * Poor land management on the Wisconsin side has resulted
in red clay runoff which discolors the water and damages
aquatic life.
  * Polluted dredgings contribute to the degrading of the Lake's
waters.
  * Commercial, recreational and Federal vessels contribute
toilet and cooking wastes.
  * Taconite ore tailings, damaging to aquatic life, are
dumped at the rate of 60,000 tons per day at Silver Bay,
Minnesota.
  FWPCA, after issuing a comprehensive report on the Lake
Superior basin the spring of 1969, met with representatives
of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan at an enforcement
conference in Duluth, Minnesota. The conference called for
a six-month study to find alternate ways of disposing of
tailings. Also to be studied were stricter water quality
standards for the region. Secondary treatment for all
municipalities and industries by 1973, reduction of phosphorous
discharges from  municipalities, continuous disinfection of any
wastes containing pathogenic  organisms and an end to the
dumping of polluted dredgings in the Lake were also agreed on.
  16

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                TROUBLED WATERS: Lake Michigan
Trovera
     i PROBLEMS
      SOLUTIONS
Lake Michigan is one of the most heavily used of the Great
Lakes. On-its southern shore is Chicago, Sandburg's "city
of the big shoulders." Just south  of Chicago is the Calumet
region, where America's largest steel producing complex has
risen on the prairie and dune shore.  Throughout Michigan,
Illinois, Indiana and  Wisconsin, there are thousands of
recreation areas on or near Lake Michigan.
  Chicago is the busiest inland seaport in the  world. Industrial
water use of Lake Michigan is an estimated 4.25 billion
gallons per day. By the mid-1970's, at least seven nuclear
power plants will be  on the shores of the Lake.
  Demand for municipal  waters is anticipated to increase
three times by the turn of the century.
  Varied activities make high quality water necessary. However,
at present, the condition of the Lake is deteriorating and,
after Lake Erie, Lake Michigan is the most dangerously ill
of the five inland waters.
  The main problems are:
  *  Eutrophication—accelerated aging from fertilizer-rich
waters that promote  algal growth and eventually lead to
depleted reserves of oxygen in the Lake.
  *  Thermal pollution—localized concentrations of heated water
near fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants.  This means
damage to the aquatic life and water ecology.
  *  Disposal of polluted dredgings  from Calumet area  harbors
into the Lake.
  *  Wastes from watercraft, from combined sewer overflow
and from agricultural runoff.
  *  Industrial wastes and oils and other industrial pollutants
from the  Calumet area, Milwaukee and the paper mills of
Green Bay.
  * Alewife die-offs.
  *  Pesticide levels in fish are higher than in any of the
other Great Lakes.
  The Lake cannot easily flush itself. This means that any
serious pollution may be irreversible.
  Timetables have been set up through the Calumet Enforcement
Conference and the Four-State Lake Michigan Enforcement
Conference, for abatement of pollution in the  early 1970's.
  Passage of bond issues  in some States has indicated the
general commitment  to save the Lake. A five-state governor's
conference on pesticides was called and is acting on
information being developed by a monitoring  system.
  Following its national policy, FWPCA has continued to
object to  the dumping of polluted dredgings into the Lake.
  The cost for cleaning up Lake Michigan has been estimated
to run anywhere from 2 to 10 billion dollars.
                                                                             17

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                                                WATERS: lake  fa
                       PROBLEMS
                       SOLUTIONS
Like Lake Ontario, Lake Huron touches on Canada and a
single U.S. State, in this case Michigan. Lake Huron's quality
is close to Lake Superior's, but the symptoms of misuse and
premature aging are clearly revealing themselves along shores,
bays and tributaries. Because Lake Huron has been assumed
to be in good condition, complacency could surely cause its
destruction. Lake Huron lies in the chain of the Great Lakes
at a point where it can receive pollutants from Lakes
Michigan and Superior.  These pollutants, in addition to those
received by Lake Huron from its tributaries, could possibly
have an adverse effect on downstream lakes, especially Lake
Erie. The United States population in the Lake Huron basin
was 1.2 million in 1960.  By the first part of the 21st
century that figure will double. Industry in the area is
expected to double also  in that time. Municipalities now draw
over 70 million gallons of water per day from the Lake.
Some 49 industries in the basin use 860 million gallons per
day of water, much of it from Lake Huron.

  * Phosphorous is being dumped in at the rate of 3.2
million pounds per year. This could increase to 8.8 million
pounds by century's end if treatment is not provided.
  * There is excessive algae found throughout Saginaw Bay.
  * Oxygen depletions are severe in the  Saginaw River
tributaries and parts of Saginaw Bay.
  * Water quality has been degraded in the northern areas
of Michigan where there has been heavy recreational use of
the streams. There has also been  a slip in water quality
on small size tributaries  where urbanized industrial areas
are located.
  * At present, the spoil from Corps of Engineers'and
private dredgings is disposed of in open water and can create
water quality problems as well as degrade bottom life.
  Estimates on the cost  of cleanup of Lake Huron range
upwards from 115 million dollars at the present time.

  The FWPCA—in cooperation with the State of Michigan—is
drawing up a comprehensive plan for cleaning up pollution
in Lake Huron. Recommendations for cleanup include:
removal of a minimum of 80 percent of the phosphorous in
sewage, disinfection of municipal wastes, deposit of dredgings
in diked shore areas and control  agricultural runoff. Minimum
stream flow control, control of vessel pollution and develop-
ment of a comprehensive plan for the Saginaw River basin
have also been suggested.
18

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             4   Buffalo
             GO
             4  n
   12
 »©
    Erie
For most Americans the words "Lake Erie" are synonymous
with the word "pollution." Lake Erie is the classic example
of technological man's lack of concern for his own environ-
ment. Lake Erie is the model of what happens when people
take a valuable resource for granted.
  The scientists' explanation of what has happened to Lake
Erie is accelerated "eutrophication" or aging. Lake Erie is
a textbook case on the effect of too much fertilizer being
dumped into water from municipal sewage, from industrial
and agricultural discharge. Erie, the smallest  of the Great
Lakes, has aged an estimated 15 thousand years in the last
half century because of what man has dumped into it.
  * Municipal sewage accounts for most of the  137,000 pounds
of phosphorous discharged into the lake each day.
  * Industries are dumping chemicals that are toxic to fish and
men.
  * The aging has resulted in a depletion of  oxygen, which
in  turn has meant the end  of more desirable fish and their
replacement with scavenger-types.
  * Most beaches are unsatisfactory or borderline.
  * Aging has meant shoreline littered with dead algae.
  A pollution enforcement conference was called for the Detroit
River in 1962 because of heavy pollution from the City of
Detroit, the auto makers and a paint company there.
  In 1965, all of Lake Erie and its interstate  tributaries
were brought under enforcement  action. At that conference
the machinery was set up for cleanup to be accomplished
by 1972. A reconvening of that conference in June of 1969
indicated that because of lack of  funds, among other things,
there  had  been slippage and the 1972 date would not be met
by many polluters, including the  City of Detroit, which  is
the lake's  largest contributor of pollutants.
   1973 has been set as the date for removal of phosphorus
going directly into the lake from municipal discharges.
   Industries have been told they  must meet a 1971 deadline
in cleanup and must have  facilities equivalent to secondary
treatment, especially if they have heavy oxygen demanding
wastes.
   In October of 1969, the enforcement provision of  the water
quality act was invoked to speed cleanup by  5 major polluters
on Lake Erie. Under this action,  polluters were given 180
days to come up with stronger cleanup programs or face
court action.
   Lake Erie is shallow and amenable to cleanup because of
the relatively clean water that flushes through it from Lake
Huron. There is hope, and many predict, that if strong
action is taken now, Lake Erie will live.
                                                        19

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                                                     /*v
                                                     U
                                                       6,12
                                     TROUBLED WA>
          NEW YORK
                        PROBLEMS
                       SOLUTIONS
 iecause of its location in relation to the other Great Lakes
—at the end of the chain—Lake Ontario is on the receiving
end of pollution flow.
  Lake Erie sends most  of its waters to Lake Ontario, by
way of the Niagara River and the world-famous falls. On the
banks of this connecting river is a heavy concentration of
industry that adds its pollutants to the already dirty waters
of Lake Erie flowing into Lake Ontario.
  The problem is not only the polluted water, coming  in from
Lake Erie and the City of Buffalo. Lake Ontario also has a
perplexing problem of algae. Cladophora,  a green alga, is
nurtured by the Lake's nutrient-rich waters and produces an
annual crop that has been known to grow to 15 or  more inches
long and attach itself to rocks.  Swimming at many beaches has
become unpleasant when this growth breaks loose and  washes
ashore to rot.
  Alewives by the millions die each summer and are blown
ashore, adding to the mess created by the decaying Cladophora.
  The  directed discharge of municipal and industrial wastes
into the Niagara River presents an unaesthetic and potentially
dangerous situation for  users of that  river's water,  and adds  to
the other pollution problems encountered on Lake Ontario.
  Bacterial pollution has closed beaches on parts of Lake
Ontario, in the Rochester area; and intermittantly has closed
beaches on Seneca Lake at Geneva and on Cayuga Lake at Ithaca.
  Oil pollution from various industries and vessels plus
occasional oil spills is a continuing problem on Lake Ontario
and its tributaries.
  The  Niagara River, connecting link between Lake Erie and
Lake Ontario, is the largest single source of pollution to Lake
Ontario. This pollution can be attributed to the large municipal
and industrial discharges in the area and the already polluted
water that comes from Lake Erie.
  The  Federal government is helping the State of New York
in its cleanup of Lake Ontario and its  watershed. Under
recommendations approved by the Secretary of Interior, a date
of December 1972 has been set for abatement of municipal
and industrial wastes in  the Lake Ontario basin.
  Advanced waste treatment has been recommended in areas
where secondary treatment has not solved the pollution problems.
Attempts are being made to cut down  nutrients that are
presently being dumped  into the basin's water. Research will
be needed to find more effective ways  of controlling algae.
20
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f-
,ids
                 It begins in Lake Itaska, flows northward to Bemidji, Minnesota,
                 passes through several large reservoirs on its eastward trek
                 towards Grand Rapids and then swings southward, picking up
                 steam at the Twin Cities along with power and size as it rolls
                 down past Dubuque to St. Louis and then, along where Huck Finn
                 rode his raft, towards Memphis and Natchez and then to the
                 sea below New Orleans.
                   The role in American history of "The Father of Waters"
                 is as long and wide as the dimensions of this great east-
                 west marker for the United States.
                   A pictorial history of paddle-wheel steamers, twain-marking
                 sailors and isolated American towns is still in the menory
                 of every young boy who has an urge to float down to New
                 Orleans on a raft, with a fishing pole in trawl.
                   Today the mighty river is as important as it ever was as a
                 commercial artery with barges hauling about 45 million tons of
                 commercial goods along it annually.
                   But the Mississippi still floods. In the spring of 1965, that
                 flooding cost the people of the Upper Mississippi about  140
                 million dollars, in 1969  it cost many million more.
                   Once little towns along its banks are now mostly big  cities
                 with big populations and industries now demanding more and
                 more clean water. Their demand will be tripling in the next
                 score of years.
                   Inadequate treatment of municipal and industrial wastes, are
                 the big problems on the Mississippi. Heavy amounts of
                 pollutants are coming from municipalities in the Twin Cities
                 area, along the Iowa side and St. Louis portions  of the river.
                 The agricultural problem is especially bad along the Iowa-
                 Illinois boundaries of the river.
                   The Army Corps of Engineers, in conjunction with the Depart-
                 ment of the Interior and other agencies, is preparing a
                 comprehensive plan for the Upper Mississippi River basin.
                   In the spring of 1969, the Department of Interior called a
                 conference to fix water quality standards  for the State of Iowa,
                 when that state failed to come up with standards acceptable
                 to the Federal government. The major point of issue was the
                 Federal insistence on secondary treatment for Iowa cities  and
                 industries which discharge  into the Mississippi and Missouri
                 rivers.
                   Three enforcement  conferences have been held along  the
                 Mississippi—in the St. Louis metropolitan area in 1958,  at
                 Clinton, Iowa in 1962, and in Minneapolis for  the Upper
                 Mississippi in 1964, 1967 and 1969.
                                                                         21

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In loving memory of lake erie
WATER 8 THE DUALITY OF LI FF
 America
 the what?
                       fight pototion
A certain philosophy should pervade any concept of
environment. John Donne said that when the bell tolls, it tolls
for you. We Americans are only now beginning to realize
that we are involved as human beings in our environment
just as much as a marsh hawk or whitefish or forest and
that when the death bell sounds for our waters or plants or
animals, it tolls for us as well.
  Water, even more than any of our other  natural resources,
save air, is so intertwined with  the existence of human beings,
animals and plants that its  quality  and availability  for us is of
utmost significance in maintaining  life on this thinly crusted
biosphere called Earth.
  The threat of pollution of our Great Lakes—the largest gift
of fresh water in the entire  world—is therefore of great
concern, for the millions of humans who need it for their life and
work and of untold value for those who will come after.
  For conservation, preservation, heritage—call it what you
like—water, like land and air, must be available not only for
those living  now, but for the generation who will  one day
soon follow us. If not, then there is no reason for man to
reproduce himself, because what follows will be a mutation
of man, not a man as we understand him to be.
  Rene Dubos has written  that men are adapting to a new
environment, an environment that  has been bent and twisted
by  technology, one that an earlier form of man might not
be  able to survive in, or at  least would not have tolerated.
  There is no justification for polluting  our streams and rivers
and lakes. We have the technology to clean them up, we know
the problems. We can do the job. What we  lack is time and
commitment.
  Our need for clean water is now, before it's too late.
                                                           DOT can't tell
                                                           the birds from
                                                           the beetles
                                      once upon a time
                                      it was nice
                                      everywhere
                                          Art work by R-Ladson, D. Sarmento, C. Sparafore, T. Peterson, C. Kurek and G.Patterson.
22

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* Get the facts —
  — Find out which of your governmental officials deal with pollution
     control.
  — Get acquainted with them, find out what their programs are.
  — Make a survey of the programs yourself and understand the
     opposition against water pollution control.
  — Get reports from State and Federal government.
* Choose a course of action —
  — by encouraging discussion.
  — by supporting or opposing specific pollution control proposals.
  — by encouraging officials to study and plan projects.
* Build public understanding and support —
  — Make findings of experts available to help other citizens choose
     the right course.
  — Try and get your national and state and local organization to
     talk about water pollution control.
* Express public support where it will count —
  — Write your local, State and Federal officials.
  — Attend meetings that deal with pollution problems and make
     carefully prepared  statements to these meetings.
* Report incidents of pollution to your local pollution control
  agency.
                                                            23

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                          Pollutioo Control Agencies
         v-;
                                                                     Secretary and Executive Officer
                                                                     Committee on Water Pollution
                                                                     State Department of Health
                                                                     Pierre, South Dakota 57501
                                                                     Technical Secretary
                                                                     State Sanitary Water Board
                                                                     616||if|e Office Building
                                                                     Springfield, Illinois
                                                                     Technical Secretary   ^
                                                                     Water Resources Co
                                                                     Stevens T. MlloB  Building
                                                                                         i\f
                                                                                             i
                                                  rol A
                                               outheast
     Secreta
           Dilution Board
           Me flflfittfT and Welfare
Office Box 154
         ^Missouri
           ^
                                                                    Administrator
                                                                    Divisio
                                                                    Departm
                                                                    Box 450
                                                                      adison.
24

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Films Available
 Too Thick to Navigate, Too Thin to Cultivate —  Water Pollution in the
 Great Lakes. CBS-Chicago documentary, runs 30 mins., color, 16mm.


 Tom Lehrer Sings Pollution  —  Humorous attack on air and  water pollu-
 tion. Runs 4 mins., color, 16mm.


 Clean  Waters — Stresses importance  of natural waters; dangers of pol-
 lution. Runs 30 mins., color, 16mm.


 The Water  Famine — CBS  Reports  documentary study  of world-wide
 water problems. Runs 30 mins.,  black and white, 16mm.


 Troubled Waters — Study  of  national water pollution problems. Pro-
 duced by U.S. Senate. Runs  30 mins., color, 16mm.


 Clean  Water TV  Spots — Series  of award-winning  TV  commercials
 which  emphasize the ugliness  of  water  pollution. Time:  varies, color,
 16mm.
A Pictorial Survey of Water and Some of Its Uses in the Detroit, Michigan
Area. Runs 30 mins., color, 16mm.
It's Your Decision—Clean  Water — Produced by the Soap, and Detergent
Association and the League of Women Voters of the U.S., defines  water
management problems produced by increase in population and production.
Runs 14'/2 mins., color, 16mm.
                      *  Federal Water Pollution Control Administration
                                         Office of Public Information
                                                 Great Lakes Region
                               33 East  Congress  Parkway—Room 410
                                               Chicago,  Illinois 60605
                                                                 25

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       What You Can Do About Water Pollution  CWA-8  June 1967 flyer.
       Full color leaflet on the theme that everybody can do something about water
       pollution; the builder,  the farmer,  the industrialist, the boat owner,
       citizens in all walks of life.

       Your Career and Clean Water for America CWA-9  Revised August 1968  12 pp.
       Recruitment leaflet lists twenty-one professional job titles of positions ,in
       water pollution control  agencies.   Describes briefly the main areas of
       activity within the Federal water  pollution control program, including
       enforcement, research and technical  assistance.   Tells how to apply for
       Federal employment.

       Showdown	for Water  CWA-11   October 1968  26 pp.
       Full color publication describes briefly the water quality crisis in America
       today, then in more detail explains  and illustrates the programs of the
       Federal Water Pollution  Control Administration.

       A Primer on Wastewater Treatment  CWA-12 October 1969  24 pp.
       Three color illustrated  publication with text and diagrams.  Gives basic
       information on sewage treatment practices and problems with emphasis on
       need for more advanced waste treatment techniques.  Addressed to non-technical
       audience.

       Water Quality Standards  Better  Water for America series  CWA-13  8 pp.
       Defines water quality standards, method of establishing standards and what
       results can be expected  in improving the quality of America's waters.
       Describes State and Federal responsibilities in setting, enforcing, and
       revising standards.

       Pollution Caused Fish Kills 1968  CWA-7  June 1969  16 pp.
       Annual report on fish kills in  the United States, listed by State.  Tables
       show summaries of fish kills by source of pollution, water type, month,
       severity of kill and other categories.  Highlights from State reports give
       specifics of selected kills.

       Federal Water Pollution  Control Act - Oil Pollution Act  1967  32 pp.
       Verbatim copy of Federal Water  Pollution Control Act, as amended by the
       Federal Water Pollution  Control Act Amendments of 1961, the Water Quality
       Act of 1965, and the Clean Water Restoration Act of 1966.  Reorganization
       Plan No. 2 of 1966, Executive Order 11288—Prevention, Control and Abatement
       of Water Pollution by Federal Activities.  Oil Pollution Act as amended by
       the Clean Water Restoration Act of 1966.

                                    *  Federal Water Pollution Control  Administration
                                                        Office of Public Information
                                                                  Great Lakes Region
                                                 33 East Congress Parkway - Room 410
                                                             Chicago,  Illinois 60605
26
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