MIO AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
MID AMERICA
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
GPO 8!5—708—3
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
GPO 815—7O8—2
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