PROCEEDINGS
VOLUME 1
Conference
In the matter of Pollution of
the Interstate Waters of the
Grand Calumet River, Little
Calumet River, Calumet River,
Wolf Lake, Lake Michigan
and theirTributaries
MARCH 2-9,1965
HEALTH. EDUCATION. AND WELFARE
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9O5R6511OA
1 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT
2 OF
3 HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
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7 Conference in the matter of pollution of
8 the Interstate waters of the Grand Calumet
9 River, Little Calumet River, Calumet River,
10 Lake Michigan, Wolf Lake and their tribu-
11 - taries (Indiana-Illinois).
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MR. MURRAY STEIN, Chairman
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18 McCormick Place
Banquet Room
19 9:^5 o'clock a.m.
March 2,
20 Chicago, Illinois
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CONFEREES:
MR. H. W. BOSTON,
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,
U. S. Public Health Service, Division of
Water Supply & Pollution Control,
Regional Program Director, Illinois
MR. BLUCHER A. POOLE, Technical Secretary, and
MR. PERRY MILLER,
Stream Pollution Control Board,
State Board of Health, Indiana.
MR. CLARENCE W. KLASSEN, Technical Secretary, and
MR. RICHARD NELLE,
State Sanitary Water Board, Department
of Public Health, Illinois.
MR. FRANK W. CHESROW, President, and
MR. GEORGE A. LANE,
The Metropolitan Sanitary District
of Greater Chicago, Illinois.
Any slides and charts referred to, but not inserted in the
record, are on file at the United States Public Health Service,
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D.C.
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INDEX
STATEMENTS;
MR. MURRAY STEIN, Chairman 4
HON. RICHARD J. DALEY, Mayor, City of Chicago 10
HON. PAUL DOUGLAS, U. S. Senator, State of 16
Illinois, presented by Mr. Kyran McOrath
HON. DANIEL ROSTENKOWSKI, U. S. House of
Representatives, presented by Mr. Kyran
McGrath . 27
DR. FRANKLIN YODER, Health Officer, State of
Illinois 33
MR. H. W. POSTON, Regional Program Director,
Division of Water Supply and Pollution Control,
U. S. Public Health Service, Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare 38
MR. MAURICE LE BOSQUET, Special Assistant to
the Chief, Division of Water Supply and
Pollution Control, U.S. Public Health Service,
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 43
MR. A. J. WAKEFIELD, representing HON. CHARLES
A. MOSHER, U. S. House of Representatives,
State of Ohio 191
MR. MAURICE LE BOSQUET (continuing) 194
MR. WILLIAM Q. KEHR, Project Director, Great
Lakes-Illinois River Basin Project, U. S.
Public Health Service, Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare 278
MR. H. W. POSTON, Summaries and Conclusions 281
COL. JOHN C. MATTINA, District Engineer, U..S.
Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago, Illinois 289
MR. K. L. KOLLAR, Director, Water Industries
and Engineering Service Division, U. S.
Department of Commerce 308
MR. CLARENCE W. KLASSEN, Technical Secretary,
State Sanitary Water Board, Department of
Public Health, Illinois 313
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STATEMENTS: (Continued)
DR. GERALD ATLAS, Director, Medical Services,
Chicago Park District
MR. GLEN W. METCALFE, Supervisor of Sanitation,
Chicago Park District, Chicago, Illinois
LETTERS, COMMUNICATIONS, REPORTS, ETC.
TELEGRAM from HON. SIDNEY R. YATES, U. S.
House of Representatives
LETTER from HON. ROBERT MC CLORY, U. S.
House of Representatives
REPORT ON POLLUTION OF THE WATERS OF THE GRAND
CALUMET RIVER, LITTLE CALUMET RIVER, CALUMET
RIVER, LAKE MICHIGAN, WOLF LAKE AND THEIR
TRIBUTARIES, presented by MR. LE BOSQUET
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! CHAIRMAN STEIN: The conference is open.
2 This conference in the matter of pollution
3 of the interstate waters of the Grand Calumet River, Little
4 Calumet River, Calumet River, Lake Michigan, Wolf Lake
5 and their tributaries, involving the States of Indiana
6 and Illinois, and the Department of Health, Education, and
7 Welfare, is being held under the provisions of Section
8 8 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
g The purpose of the conference is to
10 bring together the State water pollution control agencies,
u representatives of the Department of Healtn, Education,
12 and Welfare, and other interested parties to review the
13 existing situation, to appraise what progress has been
14 made, to lay a basis for future action, and to give the
15 States, localities, and industries an opportunity to
16 take any remedial action which may be indicated under
17 State and local law.
18 The conference technique is rather an
19 old one. It is used informally by many State agencies
2Q in the normal conduct of their busmeaa in the field of
21 water pollution control. The conference system was pro-
22 posed by the United States Supreme Court as long ago
23 as 1921 in the famous case of New York versus New Jersey
involving interstate pollution. I would like to quote
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from this decision:
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! "We cannot withhold the suggestion,
2 inspired by the consideration of this case, that the
3 grave problem of sewage disposal by the large and
4 growing population living on the shores or New
5 York Bay is one more readily to be most wisely
6 solved by cooperative study and by conference and
7 mutual concession on the part or representatives
8 of the States so vitally interested in it than by
g proceedings in any court however constituted."
10 And I don't think we have to emphasize
n for the people of Chicago and Indiana and the lake states
2 the aptness of that quote from the Supreme Court.
13 We strongly support the conference
.. technique and we consider as successes those problems
15 which are solved at the conference table, rather than
16 in court.
17 As specified in Section 8 of the Federal
lg Water Pollution Control Act, the Secretary of Health,
Education, and Welfare has notified the official State
*y
20 water pollution control agencies of this conference.
21 These agencies are the Indiana Stream Pollution Control
22 Board and the Illinois State Sanitary Water Board.
Indiana will be represented by Mr.
24 Blucher Poole, accompanied by Mr. Perry Miller. Illinois
_c will be represented by Mr. Clarence Klassen, accompanied
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by Mr. Richard Nelle of the State Sanitary Water Board;
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and Colonel Frank Chesrow, accompanied by Mr. Lane of
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the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago.
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Mr. Lane, I'm happy to see that we have
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another lawyer up here; we're surrounded by engineers
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and others.
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Mr. H. W. Poston of the Chicago
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regional office of the Department of Health, Education, and
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Welfare, the Regional Program Director for the water
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pollution control program, has been designates as
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conferee for the Federal Government.
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My name is Murray Stein. I am from
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Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Department of
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Healou, Education, and Welfare, and am the representative
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of Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Anthony J.
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Celebrezze.
The conferees are privilege^ to invite
whomever they wish to participate in these proceedings.
Both the States andthe Federal Government
have responsibilities in dealing with interstate water
pollution control problems. The Federal Water
Pollution Control Act declares that the States have
primary rights and responsibilities ior taking action
to abate and control Interstate pollution, and
it has always been the policy of the Department of
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Health, Education, and Welfare to give full recognition to
this traditional role of the States, and to encourage them
in these activities.
At the same time, the Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare is charged o# law with
its own specific responsibilities in connection with
interstate pollution control problems.
The Secre<»vj ox health, Education, and
Welfare is required to call a conference such as this when,
10 on the basis or reports, surveys, or studies, he has
reason to believe that pollution subject to abatement
12 under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act is
13 occurring. The Act provides that pollution of inter-
14 state waters, which endangers the health or welfare
15 of persons in a State other than that in which the
16 discharges originate, is subject to abatement.
17 The conference will be useful, we hope,
18 in providing a clear picture of the problem, in
19 delineating the progress which has already been
20 accomplished, and in indicating what needs to be done
21 to correct the problem in these interstate waters,
22 All the conferees will be called upon
23 to make statements. The conferees, in addition, may
24 call upon participants whom they have invited to the
25 conference to make statements. At the conclusion of
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such statements, the conferees will be given an oppor-
tunity to comment or ask questions, and at the conclusion
of the conferees' comments or questions, I may ask a
question or two. This procedure has in the past proven
effective in reaching equitable solutions.
At the end of all the statements, we will
have a discussion among the conferees and try to arrive
at a basis of agreement on the facts of the situation.
Then we will attempt to summarize the conference
lo orally, giving the conferees, of course, the right to
n amend or modify the summary.
12 Under the Federal law, the Secretary
13 is required at the conclusion of the conference to send
14 a summary of it to all the conferees. The summary,
15 according to law, must cover the following points:
16 1. Occurrence of pollution of interstate waters
17 subject to abatement under the Federal Act;
18 2. Adequacy of measures taken toward abatement
19 of pollution; and
20 3. Nature of delays, if any, being encountered
21 in abating the pollution.
22 The Secretary is also required to make
23 recommendations for remedial action if such recommendations
24 are indicated.
25 Now, a word about the procedure
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governing the record of the conference. A verbatim
transcript of the conference is being made for the
purposes of aiding us in preparing a summary and of
providing a complete record of what is said and done
here.
We will make copies of the summary and
transcript available to the official water pollution
8 control agencies of Indiana and Illinois.
9 We have found that, generally, it is
10 best that people should request transcripts through
their State agency, rather than come directly to the
12 Federal Government. The reason for this is that we would
13 prefer the people who are interested in the problem to
14 follow their normal relations in dealing with State
15 agencie rather than the Federal Government on these
16 matters when the conference has been concluded.
17 We will be most happy to make this
18 material available to the States for distribution.
19 I would suggest that all speakers and
20 participants other than the conferees making statements
21 come to the lectern and identify themselves for purposes
22 of the record.
23 At this point, we are indeed privileged
24 to be able to present Mayor Richard Daley of the City
25 of Chicago.
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Mayor Daley.
2 (Applause.)
3 MAYOR DALEY: Thank you very much, Chairman Murray
Stein.
Mr. Poole, Frank Chesrow, Clarence
Klassen, ladies and gentlemen, as Mayor of Chicago, I
wish to welcome all of the people who are participating
here today.
9 The problem of water pollution is of the
10 deepest concern to all of our citizens, regardless of
wherever they may live, regardless of their economic
12 status.
13 This meeting in which we are all parti-
14 cipating can be a tremendous first step in initiating a
15 program that will do much to abate the pollution of our
15 most precious resource.
17 I wish to express my appreciation to the
19 United States Department of Health, Education, and
19 Welfare, Public Health Service, for this opportunity to
20 testify on this critical issue of water pollution control
21 and abatement.
22 Present here today are public officials
23 and engineers from the city who will testify and will
24 be happy to answer any questions.
25 In September of 1963, we testified before
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the House Subcommittee on Natural Resources and Power on
the identical subject matter we are addressing ourselves
to here today.
I stated then it was our general philo-
sophy to try to solve our local problems of lake pollution
originating from our own and neighboring communities and
industries by active and friendly cooperative efforts
with them as well as with the state health agencies in
Illinois and Indiana.
I still believe that we should explore
every avenue of cooperation, but the publication since
then of the report by the Division of Water Supply and
Pollution Control has made it apparent that cooperation
alone is not sufficient to meet the critical threat to
Lake Michigan and other bodies of water supply and
recreation.
I will leave it to the engineers and
technicians to discuss the scientific results of the
survey, but the conclusion of this report is
inescapable.
That conclusion is that at present
there exists a greater amount of pollution than should
be permitted that the pollution is on the increase ~
and is showing definite signs of causing degradation of
the lake.
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i The problem of water pollution has always
2 been with us. Its emergence as a definite threat to the
3 health and welfare of our people has risen from the
4 urbanization of our area the increase of population
5 the expansion of industry and the development of new
6 products which may bring new and unknown pollutants.
7 History will show that Chicago has been
8 in the forefront in recognizing that bold and drastic
9 measures are often necessary to solve pollution
10 problems.
n Hundreds of millions of dollars have been
12 spent by the citizens of the Chicago area in reversing
13 the flow of the river and establishing a sewage disposal
14 system that is recognized as one of the engineering
15 wonders of the world.
16 But we have not rested on these accomplish-
17 ments.
18 In order to maintain the quality of our
19 water in the last 12 years alone, we have spent
20 $250,000,000 for capital improvements to insure the
21 purity of our water and the adequacy of its use for
22 fire protection for our citizens and industries in 63
23 suburbs in the metropolitan area.
24 We appreciate that there have been voluntary
25 efforts made and substantial sums of money spent
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i to meet the threat of water pollution, but the people
2 of this area are now demanding that bold and drastic
3 measures be taken to solve our pollution problems.
4 Our 1965-1969 five-year water works
5 capital improvement program calls for an additional
6 expenditure of approximately $69,000,000.
7 I also take pride in the fact that
8 in 1961 a survey to determine the adequacy for fire
9 fighting of the Chicago Water System, made by the
10 National Board of Fire Underwriters, resulted in the
n water system being graded class one.
12 Chicago is the only city with a
13 population of over one million to receive this dis-
14 tinction.
is The standard of our drinking water has
16 always been considered among the highest in the Nation.
17 The absolute necessity for maintaining
18 the purity of our water resources is obvious, but is
19 worth repetition.
20 Of the highest priority, of course, is that
21 the health of our people depends on the purity of our
22 water.
23 There can be no excuse. We cannot
24 tolerate even a remote possibility that the waters of
25 Lake Michigan shall become defiled and that the life of
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! this living lake be imperiled.
2 Lake Michigan has not only provided
3 the residents of the metropolitan area with unparalleled
4 recreational facilities, but also to millions of people
5 throughout the Nation and the world.
6 With the growth of our population and the
7 utilization of land for residential and industrial pur-
8 poses the recreational facilities we do have must be
9 highly treasured.
10 We cannot permit any spoliation of
11 this great resource.
12 Another highly important factor is the
13 aesthetic contribution.
14 The shore line of Lake Michigan is our
15 front yard and it is considered one of the most fabulous
16 and beautiful front yards in the world.
17 Unlike any other of our Great Lake
is cities, you cannot only go swimming in Lake Michigan, but
19 you can breathe air unspoiled by foul odors.
20 The Federal pollution report has spelled
21 out the pollution problems facing us now and the dangers
22 that are ahead unless prompt control measures are
23 Initiated.
24 I am confident that all of the parties
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and private industrieswill cooperate fully with the
Federal Government in meeting the serious challenge
that faces all of us.
I pledge the full support and cooperation
of the City of Chicago.
6 In the words of President Johnson:
7 "It is true that we have often been
8 careless with our natural bounty. At times we have
g paid a heavy price for this neglect. But once
10 our people were aroused to the danger, we have
11 acted to preserve our resources for the enrichment
12 of our country and the enjoyment of future
13 generations."
14 With this, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen
is of the panel, I thank you again for this opportunity.
16 As the Chairman had said in his
17 opening remarks, our governments, our states must
18 cooperate because this is a very important problem and
19 it challenges all of us, and with the resources of the
20 Federal Government, the states, the local governments,
21 the health agencies, the lawyers and private industry,
22 we can and we must and we will preserve this great lake
23 for future posterity.
24 (Applause.)
25 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Mayor Daley, for a
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comprehensive statement.
I think we can all see why Chicago has
preserved its natural resources as much as it has with
the tremendous problems that you have in Chicago. And
as you well know, this is a jewel of a resource on your
lake.
I remember the last time I was at a
meeting with the Mayor. It was in Honolulu at the
Mayor's Conference one at which President Kennedy
spoke. Even in Honolulu and in Hawaii we found
pollution. I think you should be proud of the City
that you have here, with the beaches open and the
preservation of the water resources. Because I am not sure
that the Hawaiian Islands, with all their publicity and
the beautiful pictures, can match your record, especially
if given a similar population growth. You have done
a magnificent job.
(Applause.)
We would like next to call on Mr.
Kyran McGrath who has a statement for Senator Paul
Douglas.
Mr. McGrath.
MR. MC GRATH: Thank you, Mr. Stein, members of
the conference, the statement of Senator Paul Douglas
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is as follows:
Mr. Chairman, I shall waste no words
in describing the crucial necessity of our having pure
water in lower Lake Michigan for household and individual
use, and for all forms of recreation and industry.
But it should be mentioned perhaps
that thus far Chicago has provided the purest and
cheapest drinking water in the country, and that by
9 reversing the flow of the Chicago Hive?, we saved Lake
10 Michigan from being polluted by our wastes.
11 Through the activated sludge process
12 we have developed the most efficient method of treating
13 household sewage which leaves but a ten percent
14 residual of solid matter. But even this is a high
is total amount.
16 In the country, over the years, hard work,
17 imaginative efforts and large sums of money have been
18 expended in the fight against pollution.
19 The effort here is superb, but it is
20 not enough.
21 The rate of pollution is aggravated
22 here, as in any metropolitan complex, by population
23 growth, industrial growth, and new technology.
24 The problem is complicated by the fact
25 that pollution does not recognize political boundaries,
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1 and that pollution originating in Indiana can and does
2 do injury in Illinois, and to a much lesser degree,
3 vice versa.
4 Illinois shares with Indiana this
5 southern tip of Lake Michigan, a vast body of fresh
6 water which is the only one of the Great Lakes lying
7 altogether within the United States.
8 Our two states also share the Calumet
9 River System.
10 If the people of Chicago and the
n Calumet area are to enjoy the fullest benefits of these
12 waters in the years to come, Illinois and Indiana must
13 work together to reduce existing pollution, to Improve
u the quality of the degraded waters, and to keep clean
is waters clean.
16 The two states must establish and
17 enforce realistic and effective minimum pollution
18 tolerances.
19 The conference convened today in Chicago
20 in the matter of the interstate pollution of the waters
21 of the Grand Calumet, the Little Calumet, the Calumet,
22 Lake Michigan,, Wolf Lake, and their tributaries brings
23 together representatives of the State of Illinois, the
24 State of Indiana, the City of Chicago, and the
25 Government of the United States to review the state
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j of pollution and the progress made toward its control,
2 to lay a basis for future action by all of those
3 concerned, and to afford the two States and the
4 localities an opportunity to take any remedial action
, under Federal, State and local laws.
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6 Possibly, we may need new laws.
The Secretary of Health, Education, and
g Welfare has called this conference under the enforcement
g authority of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
10 As the activities authorized by that
n Act are already to our benefit through the Great
12 Lakes-Illinois River Basin comprehensive study under-
13 taken several years ago, I hope that this conference
14 will result in a new resolve and a realistic program
15 for the cleanup of the southern tip of Lake Michigan
16 and the Calumet River System.
17 The effects of pollution are manifest.
18 Disagreeable tastes and odors in
19 drinking water, and the need for more expensive and
20 difficult treatment of municipal water supplies in both
21 states are only part of the price of pollution.
22 The water here is still safe to drink,
23 but further impairment of domestic water supplies
24 cannot be tolerated.
2S Pollution also greatly reduces the
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i recreational opportunities in our heavily populated
2 area.
3 Many waters near Chicago are now unsafe
4 for swimming and other water sports.
5 The Grand Calumet and the Indiana
6 Harbor Canal are unfit for any recreational use.
7 Lake Michigan and Wolf Lake must be
8 preserved for this purpose.
9 Our people should not have to drive for
10 miles on a weekend to avoid dirty beaches or beaches
11 too crowded for enjoyment because not enough of them
12 are safe from pollution.
13 To many a city dweller, who cannot get
14 away, a posted beach means no swimming at all for his
is family for the entire summer.
16 Pollution likewise spoils opportunities
17 for boating, water skiing and fishing.
18 In some waters there are no fish, in
19 others only rough varieties.
20 Property values suffer near polluted
21 water.
22 Not the fflnallast loss, is the loss of
23 beauty.
24 If you befoul it, you take something
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i I dollars and cents.
But the fact that this cannot be
measured should not cause it to be ignored.
Illinois and Indiana municipalities
and industry share the responsibility for the degrada-
tion of these waters.
Combined sewer overflows, dredging,
storage tank and barge spills, lake vessel, barge tow,
and pleasure craft wastes inflict local or temporary
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damages.
Gary, East Chicago, and Hammond in
Indiana, and Greater Chicago and Bloom Township in
Illinois, are the principal sources of municipal wastes.
The genral absence of disinfection,
the many small treatment plants discharging into ditches
and small streams with little dilution water, and
combined sewer overflow are described as the major
municipal deficiencies in waste disposal.
The volume of industrial wastes is
much heavier.
Steel plants and, to a lesser extent,
oil refineries and chemical plants are major sources of
waste. The Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Canal
are heavily polluted, with the visual effects of the
Harbor's discoloration reaching into Lake Michigan.
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I The Canal and its banks are covered with oil. During
2 rainstorms the overflow from combined storm and sani-
3 tary sewers is discharged directly to the streams,
4 contributing raw sewage, bacterial pollution and
5 suspended solids, as well as pollution from any
6 industrial wastes present in the city sewer sytem,
7 to the total pollution load carried by the waterways.
9 A detailed discussion of pollution
9 sources and effects is the province of the experts. They
10 are described in the recent report by the Department
11 of Health, Education, and Welfare and they are
12 startling and frightening. It is my purpose in
13 highlighting some of them to only underscore the
14 seriousness of the pollution which is the business of
is this conference and the sense of urgency with which
ie it must be attacked.
17 Mr. Chairman, I look to your success in
18 this conference.
19 The Federal Water Pollution Control Act,
20 the law under which you are holding this conference,
21 has been a strong force for the prevention, control and
22 abatement of water pollution in the United States
23 since its enactment in 1956. To make it a more
24 effective instrument, the Senate has passed, and the
25 House of Representatives is expected to consider
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shortly, a bill to create the Federal Water Pollution
Control Administration, to give the Secretary of Health,
Education, and Welfare permissive authority to set
water quality standards for interstate waters, to
increase the dollar limitations on grants for construction
of municipal waste treatment works, to give a "bonus"
in the amount of a grant for projects In conformity
with metropolitan area plans, to authorize a four-
year program for the development of new and improved
10 methods of coping with the problem of overflow from
11 combined sewers, and to give statutory expression
12 to a positive national clean water policy. It was
13 my privilege to join Senator Edmund S. Muskie of
14 Maine, and thirty other Senators, in sponsoring the
is legislation. That Bill, S.4, known as the Water Quality
16 Act of 1965, passed the Senate by a roll call vote
17 of 68 to 8 on January 28.
18 When it becomes a law, the new Federal
19 Water Pollution Control Administration will provide an
20 administrative tool which will help us deal better
21 with the National water pollution control program for
22 the American people. I have a high regard for the
23 dedicated men and women of the Public Health Service
24 who fight a good fight against disease. But I do
25 not believe that a medically-oriented agency is the
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appropriate organization for the conduct of an aggressive,
sometimes controversial program such as the control of
water pollution. Water pollution control is part and
parcel of water resources management. That broad
concept is not given needed emphasis by the Public
Health Service. Nor is the program given the
identity and the status which it warrants as one of
several divisions in one of several bureaus in the
Public Health Service. I foresee a more dynamic
10 National program with the creation of the Federal Water
11 Pollution Control Administration in the Department of
12 Health, Education, and Welfare, a program devoted to
13 curbing water pollution, and I hope that no bureaucratic
14 struggle for power will delay this overdue adminlstra-
15 tive reform.
16 Another section of the Water Quality
17 Act to which I want to call attention is that which
is establishes a research and development program relating
19 to combined sewers. Chicago has exciting plans for
20 the exploration of new and Improved methods for con-
21 trolling the discharges from combined sewers, and I
22 believe the Metropolitan Sanitary District is in a
23 strong position to qualify for a demonstration grant
24 under this new authority. The Increase in the dollar
25 limitations on waste treatment works construction
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grants will give more nearly equitable treatment to the
cities of the middle size which have been receiving
far less than the thirty percent of project cost which
the law otherwise allows. But both the total appro-
priations authorization for these grants, $100 million
a year for the entire Nation, and the dollar ceilings
of $600,000 (30^ minimum) for a city, or $2.4 million
for one project involving a number of cities permit
far less assistance in the cities of the country than
the huge size of the problem requires. Certainly
the great metropolitan areas of the country, such as
New York, with its 15 million people and that of Chicago
which now includes approximately 7 million, and will
shortly include at least 10 million, should not be
shackled by the ceiling of $2.4 million in the present
bill.
Our problems here cover a multitude of
localities and two proud and independent states.
But they are also interdependent and each needs the coop-
eration of the other. We also need the cooperation
of the great industries of the area. They are now able
to throw off a major portion of the social costs of
their industrial wastes upon the general public. I
appeal to them to hasten the treatment of their wastes
so that they will no longer endanger the public.
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26
Mr. Chairman, one more point. While
interstate compacts have been useful in the past, I
think we need a more effective weapon against bi-
state pollution in the future. The Federal, state and
local governments should not be regarded as mutual
enemies. Each has a part to play and I hope we can
agree on a program whereby we can raise the standards
of performance instead of adjusting downwards to the
9 level of the lowest. The states and municipalities
10 should adopt safe and realistic minimum standards of
u pollution, and then see to It that the individuals,
12 industries, cities, and states adhere to these
13 standards.
14 As man's genius has taken the bountiful
15 water resources which are the legacy of the people of
16 our area and made them do his will, so man's pro-
17 fligacy has squandered a goodly part of that legacy
18 through gross pollution. Lake Michigan is a
19 magnificent heritage and is vital to both Illinois
20 and Indiana. I hope that 1965 will be the year when
21 the still unspoiled strip of the Indiana Dunes will
22 be set aside for the perpetual education, inspirational
23 and invaluable recreational use of the people. I hope
24 that it will also be the year when the people of
25 Illinois and the people of Indiana Join hands to
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27
restore the degraded waters of the lake and the Calumet
River System for the everlasting benefit of the people.
3 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Mr. McGrath.
4 Do you have Congressman Rostenkowski's
statement, too?
6 MR. MC GRATH: Yes, I do.
7 Congressman Rostenkowski was unable to
be here today due to pressing legislative matters of the U. S.
House of Representatives.
10 He asked me if I would present his statement
for him.
12 It goes, briefly:
13 The protection of the valuable water
14 resources of the Chicago area is a matter of Immediate concern
15 I believe this timely conference on the interstate waters of
16 the Calumet River system, Wolf Lake and the southern end of
17 Lake Michigan will be of great help to the City of Chicago in
18 its program to keep the areas1 waters clean.
19 Chicagoans are indeed fortunate to
20 have an abundance of fresh water nearby. The clear,
21 cool waters of Lake Michigan are a constant source
22 of pleasure. Swimmers, water skiers, boaters and
23 fishermen are on the lake in ever-increasing numbers
24 on every sunny summer weekend. Nor can we overlook
25 the sheer beauty of Lake Michigan. Its value to the
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28
residents of this area is inestimable.
The recreational uses of Lake Michigan
are only a part of its great importance and value. We
depend on the clean waters of the lake for the water
we drink and use in our homes. The lake supplies the
water for all domestic uses for millions of people in
the Chicago area.
Preservation of Chicago's water
resources is not a luxury, but a necessity. The uses
10 of many streams in this area already have been limited
11 by the effects of pollution. This pollution can be,
12 and must be abated. Further, it is vitally important
13 that we take firm measures to insure that the clean
14 waters of this area remain clean.
15 It is my belief that the cities and in-
16 dustrles of this area, the state agencies and the
17 Department of Health, Education, and Welfare hold
is clean water as a universal goal, and will be able to
19 work together to preserve and protect our precious
20 water resources.
21 Mr. Chairman, thank you.
22 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Mr. McGrath, for that
23 statement.
24 We also have a statement from Mr. Chesrow
25 now, another former Congressman. You know, you have so
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29
j many Congressmen from the Chicago area and Illinois who
. are interested in the problem, that we who work in
A
3 water pollution control and natural resources have a
4 lot of favorites here, and all of these are really
5 among the most effective Congressmen, and the next one
6 is, too.
7 Colonel Chesrow.
8 MR. CHESROW: I have a telegram here from Sidney
- Yates, a member of Congress.
10 "Regret cannot be with you at this
n conference tomorrow because of important leglsla-
12 tion pending in Washington.
13 "Am very much interested in the results
of the conference. Please keep me advised.
., "Kindest regards, Sidney R. Yates,
lo
,c Member of Congress."
lo
17 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Colonel.
18 Neat, we have a letter from Congressman
19 Robert McClory, Just to show this is on a bipartisan
20 basis and that letter is addressed to Mr. Poston.
21 I will call on Mr. Poston now for Mr.
22 McClory*s remarks. Mr. Poston.
23 MR. POSTON: Thank you, Mr. Stein.
24 This letter is addressed to me and
25 received yesterday and it reads:
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30
"Dear Mr. Poston:
It is with regret that I find
it impossible to attend the conference which has
been scheduled in Chicago, commencing on March 2, 1965.
Accordingly, I would be grateful if you would present
this letter to the conference.
"As you know from our previous relation-
ships, I have had a special Interest in the subject of
water pollution and various legislative and administrative
10 control measures involving this subject. Indeed, I
11 regret that my Congressional duties are such that
12 my presence will be required in Washington, rendering
13 it Impossible for me to attend, in person, the
interesting and important conference about to get
is under way.
16 "I, of course, had occasion to study
17 in detail the report submitted by your Division of
Water Supply and Pollution Control to the Subcommittee
19 on Natural Resources and Power (the Jones Committee)
20 at the hearings conducted in Chicago in August, 1963.
21 In. addition, I have noted your more recent report, of
22 February 1965, which provides a basis of information
23 for the conference, itself. Many other sources of
24 information have come to my attention establishing
25 that many conditions of pollution and threats of
pollution exist in the areas in which the conference
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31
is primarily concerned.
"The problems confronting the conferees
are complicated by the multiple uses to which the
waters of Lake Michigan (primarily)must be put. It
would seem important to recognize that these various
domestic, recreational, industrial and other appro-
priate uses of this great body of water are legitimate
and necessary. I would hope, however, that at no time
will it be necessary for Lake Michigan to receive the
10 treated effluent of the Metropolitan Sanitary District.
11 "I am confident that the purpose of the
12 conference procedures will be fulfilled if the
13 conferees (l) identify the principal sources and
14 trends of pollution in the area and (2) develop
is practical and positive schedules for reduction of
16 pollution in these vital waters of Lake Michigan and
17 the related rivers and streams.
18 "The existing Federal legislation and
19 its administration by the Public Health Service,
20 coupled with the substantial provisions of the
21 Illinois Statutes (with which I am familiar), and the
22 Indiana Statutes (with which I must confess an
23 unfamiliarity), as well as the great financial capacity
24 of the states, communities and industries involved,
25 should be adequate for correcting conditions which will be
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32
found to exist. There Is certainly, within this
great and wealthy metropolitan area, adequate state,
local and private resources to provide the necessary
treatment and disposal of the various municipal arid
industrial wastes to the end that a high quality of
water in Lake Michigan may be preserved and that
the quality of the various other waters may be
enhanced.
"In connection with arriving at satis-
10 factory solutions, it would seem extremely worthwhile
n to explore fully the desirability of an adequate
12 interstate compact in which the States of Illinois,
13 Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin might all be Joined.
u This suggestion is in line with the Congressional
is admonition contained in the 1961 Federal Water
16 Pollution Control Act.
17 "I am hoping that the conference will
18 also give adequate attention to pollution and threats
19 of pollution from septic systems, including their
20 effects upon both surface and underground water sources.
21 "The substantial progress which has been
22 made in recent years in reducing pollution in this
23 area, resulting particularly from the development of
24 municipal and industrial waste treatment facilities,
25 should not deter the conferees from recommending
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33
accelerated programs having in mind existing practical
and financial considerations.
"In conclusion, may I reemphasize the
importance of coordinated action in which local,
state and Federal agencies join in an overall spirit
of cooperation and respect to the end that all of
these interests, as well as the broader public interest,
may be well served.
9 "Sincerely yours, Robert Me Glory,
10 Member of Congress."
H CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Boston.
12 The Governor of Indiana, Mr. Roger
13 Brannigan, regrets he cannot be here because of the
14 press of legislative duties at home, and we have the
15 same sincere regrets from Otto Kerner of Illinois.
However, in Governor Kerner*s place, we will now hear
17 from Dr. Franklin Yoder, the Health Officer of the
18 State of Illinois. Dr. Yoder.
19 DR. YODER: Mr. Stein, fellow conferees,
20 distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. I also
21 understand that we have a very fine representation here
22 from various citizen groups.
23 I heard somebody mention the League of
24 Women Voters are here. I think this is excellent.
25 In view of Mayor Daley»s forthright
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statement, I will abridge my remarks to a certain extent
because I do not want to duplicate anyone's
comments.
I would like, however, to say that in
the beginning I am going to quote from Justice Oliver
Wendell Holmes when he said, "A river" and I insert
"or a fresh water lake" is more than an amenity.
It is a treasure. It offers the necessity of life that
must be rationed wisely among those who have power
10 over it."
11 This was in a 1931 decision involving
12 the Delaware River. They may be even more meaningful
13 and appropriate to us today as we convene for this
14 Important conference.
is Unlike the pioneering days, this portion
is of Lake Michigan with its surrounding streams and
17 rivers must now serve many complex purposes essential
18 to living. All too often, we lose sight of these
19 essential multipurpose uses of water which include:
20 sources of vital domestic water supply, an abundant
21 source of protein food, a vehicle for commercial trans-
22 portatlon, an expanding recreational facility, necessary
23 irrigation for crops and drink for livestock, power for
24 the wheels of Industry, as well as the necessary
25 raw material for industrial use.
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35
i In fact, the very existence, to say
2 nothing of the expansion, of our Industrial economy
3 depends upon this raw material. For in a modern community,
4 we rely on water to absorb and transport waste products
5 from our very municipal and industrial doorsteps.
g Despite the man-made municipal and state
7 boundaries, this area has been pre-eminently constituted
8 by nature into a community. Whether our allegiance is
g to Indiana, Illinois, Chicago or East Chicago, we,
10 nevertheless, live in this community where both the human
u and industrial health and progress is mutually affected
12 by the degree of the purity of the water.
13 From a geological point of view, the
14 Great Lakes area is relatively young, but we are old
15 beyond our years in regard to the use of the Lake
16 Michigan water resources. Obviously, there is general
17 agreement and acceptance of the premise that we can no
18 longer afford to continue to waste this resource, but
19 concerning the methods of its conservation and its
20 priority of use, there is a wide disagreement and
21 divergence of opinion. While many of these problems are
22 relatively old politically, technically, and legally,
23 the awareness of the public to them is new.
24 The current water resources problem in
2s this area is that of maintaining the quality of our new
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36
i and used water, suitable for reuse. We cannot afford
2 to restrict the municipal and industrial growth of
3 this area with the concept that we are running out
4 of suitable water. We cannot afford to use water once
5 and then discard it unless it is discharged suitable for
6 use again for the many purposes it is now intended. A
7 supply of water adequate in quantity and satisfactory in
s quality for all future domestic and industrial uses for
9 this area might be considered a health officer's dream.
10 I am advised that this is something which can be accom-
n plished through engineering technology. However, it may
12 not become a reality for reasons which have little
13 relation to technology or public health. It may be a
14 question of money. A clash of local interest may be
is an obstacle.
15 The necessary water development may
17 remain in the "dream stage" because of legal considerations
19 and political differences. Technical considerations
19 are based upon real, ascertainable factors. Political,
20 legal and governmental considerations may involve incon-
21 sistent and uncertain factors. Public opinion often
22 becuase of the lack of knowledge and appreciation of the
23 value and use of water may assume unpredictable propor-
24 tions. These uncertainties may through knowledge, under-
25 standing, and appreciation, change from the politically
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37
impossible or the economically unfeasible to the
possible. Often the urgent need for coordinated public
action becomes apparent when the seriousness of the
problem and feasible solutions are explained and con-
sidered. It Is my hope that this conference will
stimulate such understanding and promote such appre-
ciation of water use.
In closing then, it is recognized that
water occupies an unparalleled place In the personal and
10 economic life of this area. As a resource, water is a
11 requirement so basic to our very existence that all
12 other resources are either dependent upon a plentiful
13 supply of clean water, or, in its absence, other
14 resources are valueless for use and development. While
is many of our national resources vanish with use, the
16 use of water merely produces changes in its position,
17 quality and quantity. Viewing the area involved in this
18 conference as a community, one with mutual health and
19 economic interests, I can best conclude by paraphrasing
20 the words of an industrialist when he recently said,
21 "Cooperation is not a mere sentiment, but in this area,
22 a public health and economic necessity." With the
23 population and industrial growth predicted for this area,
24 all of us should help translate this cooperation into
25 action for "in today walks tomorrow." Thank you.
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33
l CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Dr. Yoder.
2 Now, we will turn to Mr. Poston for the
formal presentation. Mr. Poston.
4 MR. POSTON: Thank you, Mr. Stein.
5 Mr. Chairman, conferees, ladies and
gentlemen, my name is H. W. Poston, and I am the
Federal Conferee for purposes of this conference.
Normally, I direct the Water Supply &
Pollution Control activities of the Public Health Service
10 in the States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and
11 Wisconsin.
12 Today, water pollution control is one
13 of our most pressing social ard economic problems. It
14 involves the public health, water management, conservation
15 and just plain aesthetics.
16 Water pollution has been with us a long
17 time and will be a lot longer unless we take a more
18 concerted action.
19 President Johnson has shown continued
20 interest and concern for pollution of our Nation's waters.
21 In his message on natural beauty, he asked for stepped
22 up enforcement authority. He said that the Federal
23 Government must be able to prevent pollution before it
24 happens and be able to prevent this pollution at the
25 very source rather than waiting until the pollution is in
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39
1 the streams.
2 He called every major river basin in
3 America polluted and he stressed industrial pollution.
4 He called for stepped up enforcement or stepped-up
5 effort to abate pollution from Federal installations.
6 This is three per cent of our National
7 pollution load.
8 The need for Increased research on
g pesticides was emphasized. All in all, the message
10 calls for a bigger and a better and a more aggressive
11 Federal water pollution control program.
12 It specifically instructs the Secretary
13 of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to
H undertake an intensive program to clean up the Nation's
is most polluted streams.
16 Congress has recognized the water
17 pollution control problem.
18 In September of 1963, a hearing was held
19 in Chicago by a House Subcommittee on Government
20 Operations. A report on these hearings entitled "Water
21 Pollution Control and Abatement in the Chicago Area,
22 Lower Lake Michigan," has just been released, and it is
23 available in the rear of the room. This is a copy of it.
24 This report gives the views of many
25 interests in the area and it is most complete.
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We from the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare are here because of our enforcement
responsibilities under the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act; but in addition to the specific responsibilities in
connection with enforcement, this Act provides many tools
for a mutually broad attack on the water pollution control
problem to supplement the very significant efforts that
have been put forth by the states.
9 For example, this law authorizes
10 development of comprehensive plans for utilizing the
water resources of our river basins.
12 It authorizes funds for research to
13 develop new and better methods for waste treatment.
14 It authorizes financial assistance to
15 state water pollution control agencies and municipalities
16 to strengthen their water pollution control programs.
17 The Public Health Service has long been
18 interested in the Chicago area. It was in the summer of
19 1924 that the Trustees of the Sanitary District of
20 Chicago, the Commissioner of Health of the City of
21 Chicago and the Director of the Health Department of
22 the State of Illinois and the Commissioner of Health
23 of the State of Indiana Jointly requested the Surgeon
24 General of the Public Health Service to cooperate with
25 them in a study of the sewage pollution of Lake Michigan
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41
i In that area adjacent to the so-called Calumet District
2 lying partly in Illinois and partly in Indiana.
3 This study was reported on in 1927 after
4 two years of field investigations.
s In I960, the Public Health Service started
6 a comprehensive study of the Great Lakes-Illinois River
7 Basin. This is the biggest and the most thorough.
8 investigation ever undertaken on water quality in the country,
9 The greatest part of the activities of
10 the Great Lakes-Illinois River Basin project to this date
n have been on the Illinois River Basin in Lake Michigan.
12 The purposes of the study, extensive
13 laboratory facilities have been developed to carry out
14 the extensive analytical procedure.
15 Technical personnel have been put to
16 work looking into all facets of water quality in this
17 area.
18 Automatic monitoring equipment has been
19 used for continuous surveillance of streams and lake
20 conditions.
21 Meters have been developed for determining
22 the direction and velocity of currents in the lake.
23 Special studies have been made in an attempt to find the
24 cause for the death of loons and gulls in Lake Michigan.
25 A special technical committee, representative
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42
of wide variety of water uses was formed to advise with
the project on matters of long range program development.
Our report today is a result of many
studies and from Information and the work of many people;
Federal, state and local agencies.
I think for this presentation of this
report, it is especially appropriate to have Mr. Maurice
Le Bosquet, one of our senior engineers make the present-
ation. It is appropriate because he is a native
10 Chicagoan. He went to Parker High School and graduated
from the University of Illinois and he worked with the
12 Illinois Health Department making surveys of industrial
13 wastes in the Calumet area.
14 He also worked with Greeley and Hansen,
15 consulting engineers here in Chicago.
ig In addition to his deep seated interest
17 in Chicago and the broad experience with the Public
18 Health Service, he is an engineer of international
19 authority, having been advisor to the Governments of the
20 Belgium Congo and India.
21 At mid-month, he will go to Peru for
22 the World Bank as a consultant on health and sanitation
23 matters.
24 Mr. Le Bosquet has also been an advisor
2s to our Great Lakes project. I'd like to present Mr.
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i Le Bosquet.
2 MR. LE BOSQUET: Thank you, Mr. Poston.
3 Mr. Chairman, conferees, ladies and gentlemen,
on the basis of reports, surveys or studies, in accordance
with Section 8 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act,
Secretary Anthony J. Celebrezze, of the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare, on December 15, 1965, called a con-
8 ference in the matter of pollution of the interstate waters
9 of the Grand Calumet River, Little Calumet River, Calumet
10 River, Lake Michigan, Wolf Lake and their tributaries.
11 This presentation is a summary of the technical
12 report on interstate pollution problems in the Calumet area
13 of Indiana and Illinois.
14 I would ask at this time that the complete
15 report be placed in the record and I will summarize.
16 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Without objection, that will be done.
17 REPORT ON
POLLUTION OF THE WATERS OF THE GRAND
18 CALUMET RIVER, LITTLE CALUMET RIVER, CALUMET
RIVER, LAKE MICHIGAN, WOLF LAKE AND
19 THEIR TRIBUTARIES
20 ILLINOIS - INDIANA
2i U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
Public Health Service
22 Division of Water Supply and Pollution Control
Region V
23 Chicago, Illinois
24 February, 1965
25
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44
1 I - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
2 On the basis of reports, surveys, or studies,
3 in accordance with section 8 of the Federal Water Pollution
4 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 466 et seq.) Secretary Anthony J.
5 Celebrezze of the Department of Health, Education, and Wel-
6 fare, on December 15, 1964, called a conference in the matter
7 of pollution of the interstate waters of the Grand Calumet
8 River, Little Calumet River, Calumet River, Lake Michigan,
9 Wolf Lake and their tributaries (Indiana-Illinois).
10 The Calumet Area at the south end of Lake
11 Michigan in Illinois and Indiana includes the Calumet River
12 system and the affected waters of Lake Michigan. Although
13 poorly drained, it lies astride a continental divide, with
14 about 40 percent of the area draining to the Illinois River
is thence to the Mississippi River, and about 60 percent of the
16 area draining to Lake Michigan and the St. Lawrence River.
17 Most of the streams and ditches are sluggish or stagnant, and
18 some of the streams, particularly the Calumet River in Chlcago;
19 experience alternating directions of flow.
20 The western parts of the Little Calumet and
Calumet
21 Grand^Rivers flow from Indiana into Illinois. Wolf Lake is an
22 interstate lake lying on the Illinois-Indiana state line. The
23 state line extends northward from the shoreline into Lake
24 Michigan, passing within one-third mile of the mouth of the
25 Calumet River in Chicago, and turns east at a point about li
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45
miles north of the Calumet Harbor breakwater.
The currents in Lake Michigan are also sub-
ject to reversal of flow. Under most conditions the direction
of flow is from Indiana waters to Illinois waters, but flow
from Illinois to Indiana waters is also common.
The area is highly Industrialized, and the
industries are expanding production rapidly. There are
ten major steel mills, five petroleum refineries, and several
chemical, paper, and food processing industries in the area.
Lake Michigan is used as a source of municipal
u water supply. The City of Chicago pumps about 1040 million
12 gallons daily (mgd) and serves a population of about 4,400,000
13 The cities of Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, and Whiting in
14 Indiana pump about 62 mgd and serve a population of about
15 375*000. Lake Michigan is also used as the major source
16 of industrial process and cooling water in the area, and as a
17 source of condenser water for power plants. Lake Michigan and
18 its harbors in the area handle about 60 million tons of cargo
19 annually, of which three-fourths is iron ore and related
20 materials for the steel industry.
21 Lake Michigan and Wolf Lake are heavily used
22 for recreational activities such as swimming, boating, water
23 skiing, and fishing. They also receive direct discharges of
24 industrial wastes.
25 The Grand Calumet River is used to a minor
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46
i extent as an Industrial water source. Its main use is as a
2 receiver of municipal and Industrial wastes. The Indiana
3 Harbor Canal is used extensively for navigation and as a
4 receiver of industrial wastes. The waters of the Grand
5 Calumet River and the Indiana Harbor Canal are unfit for
e any recreational activity.
7 The Calumet River and the navigable portion
8 of the Little Calumet River are used for navigation,
9 industrial water supplies, receipt of municipal and industrial
10 wastes, and recreational boating. A large number of parks,
n golf courses, and forestpreserves are located along the
12 banks of the Little Calumet River. The Cook County Forest
13 Preserve District has not developed picnic areas along the
14 Little Calumet River because of its polluted condition.
15 Municipal sewage and industrial wastes,
16 treated to varying degrees, are the principal pollutions!
17 materials discharged continuously into the waters of the
18 Calumet Area. Other wastes discharged intermittently may
19 have serious local effects or may cause temporary excessive
20 pollution. Among these wastes are accidental spills from
21 storage tanks and barges, combined sewer overflows, wastes
22 from lake vessels, barge tows, and pleasure craft, and
23 materials from dredging operations.
24 The total oxygen demend of municipal and
25 industrial waste as discharged in the Calumet Area is
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i about 1,150,000 population equivalent (PE) of which 80
2 percent Is discharged In the Lake Michigan Basin and 20
3 percent is discharged in the Illinois River Basin. Seventy
4 percent of the waste discharged in the Illinois River is
5 from municipal sources and 30 percent is from industrial
6 sources. In contrast, only 5 percent of the waste discharged
7 in the Lake Michigan Basin is from municipal sources, and
8 95 percent is from industrial sources.
9 The principal deficiencies in municipal waste
10 disposal in the Calumet Area are the general lack of
11 effluent disinfection, the prevalence of combined sewer
12 systems that cause the discharge of untreated sewage during
13 and after heavy rains, and the proliferation of small sewage
14 treatment plants throughout the basin that discharge to
15 ditches and small streams. These plants are so numerous,
16 and the amount of dilution water so small, that nearly all
17 streams are to some extent polluted.
18 Three steel plants that discharge wastes to
19 the Grand Calumet River and the Indiana Harbor Canal are the
20 most significant sources of wastes in the Lake Michigan
21 Basin. Oil refineries and chemical plants are lesser,
22 but still major, sources of wastes. The steel plants dis-
23 charge coking wastes, blast furnace wastes, and rolling
24 mill wastes. The chief identifiable constituents in these
25 discharges are oxygen-demanding wastes, oily wastes,
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i waste pickle liquor, phenolic materials, ammonia,
2 cyanide, and suspended solids. The refineries discharge
3 oxygen-demanding wastes, oily wastes, phenolic materials,
4 and ammonia.
5 The steel plants in the Illinois River
6 Basin have their coking wastes sewered and treated at the
7 Calumet Plant of the Metropolitan Sanitary District of
8 Greater Chicago. The principal wastes discharged to the
9 rivers from these plants are oily wastes, waste pickle
10 liquor, and suspended solids. One steel plant discharges
n untreated sewage to the Little Calumet River in Illinois.
12 Biological studies (1961-63) indicate that
13 all of the streams in the Calumet Area are polluted,
u differing only in degree and by nature of the pollutant.
15 The Grand Calumet River is the worst of all as evidenced by
16 the near-absence of bottom organisms. The Little Calumet
17 River is and Calumet Rivers and the Indiana Harbor Canal
is are also severely degraded.
19 Streams in the Calumet Area are generally
20 characterized by unsightly appearance, in the form of float-
21 ing debris, oil, discoloration, and turbidity. Channel
22 banks, structures, and boats acquire a black coating from
23 oil or tarry substances. Malodorous conditions are pre-
24 valent and frequent. Along the shores of Lake Michigan,
25 in Indiana and the southern shore in Illinois, the Lake
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waters are discolored by suspended and dissolved waste
materials, in sharp contrast to the pleasing appearance
of the rest of Lake Michigan.
The streams of the Calumet Area are
grossly polluted by fecal contamination. Average colifonn
densities on the Grand Calumet and Little Calumet Rivers
where they cross the State line were in the order of 1
million per 100 ml, and average fecal streptococcus densities
were 70,000 to 80,000 per 100 ml. Burns Ditch showed
10 120,000 coliform per 100 ml near Lake Michigan, and 1.7
11 million four miles Inland. In the Indiana Harbor Canal
12 coliform counts averaged 380,000 per 100 ml, and individual
13 tests ranged up to 2.5 million. The Calumet River exhibited
14 average coliform densities of 2,900 per 100 ml about three
is miles, farther inland. Periodic reversals of flow in the
is Calumet River can contribute bacterial pollution in Lake
17 Michigan. Bacterial pollution of the magnitudes Indicated
18 in Calumet Area Streams constitutes a threat to public
19 health.
20 Critically-low dissolved oxygen concentra-
21 tions exist generally throughout the streams of the Calumet
22 Area. Nearly every sampling station showed zero dissolved
23 oxygen at some time during field investigations.
24 The bottom of Lake Michigan in the Calumet
25 and Chicago areas exhibits biological degradation
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9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
50
caused by organic enrichment. Whereas in the clean bottom
areas of Lake Michigan there are many kinds of organisms,
with none predominating, this area exhibits only a few
kinds. Sludge-worms and aquatic scuds are the most
numerous, but bloodworms and fingernail clams are some-
times abundant. Of these, only the scud is sensitive
to pollution. The number of pollution-tolerant organisms
average 250 to 400 per square foot in the Calumet Area,
and increase to 1000 per square foot off Chicago. The
lesser numbers in the Calumet Area reflect inhibition
by heavy settleable solids and toxic materials, whereas the
less dense organic materials are carried by lake currents
northward to the waters off Chicago. The kinds of organisms
found in this area of Lake Michigan limit the species of
desirable fish such as whitefish, lake trout, and yellow
perch, and favor trash fish such as carp, buffalo, and
suckers.
The deep waters of Lake Michigan generally
contain less than one coliform organism per 100 ml. In
contrast, the inshore waters of Lake Michigan in the
Calumet Area often contain several thousand coliform
organisms per 100 ml, indicating fecal contamination from
the tributary area. Bathing beaches at Whiting, Hammond,
and Chicago's Calumet Park, which lie between Indiana
Harbor and the Calumet River, nearly always exhibit coliform
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51
densities greater than 1000 per 100 ml. Collform
densities greater than 10,000 are common at these beaches,
and densities greater than 100,000 occur often at the
Whiting and Hammond beaches.
Taste and odor producing materials, such
as phenolic materials, are discharged to Lake Michigan from
industries in Indiana, and Interfere with municipal water
supplies in Indiana and Illinois. It has been demonstrated
that severe taste and odor problems at Indiana water treat-
10 ment plants in January and March 1963* followed a few
days later by similar problems at Chicago, were associated
12 with lake currents moving northwestward from the Indiana
13 Harbor area toward Chicago. Likewise, large amounts of
u ammonia discharged to Lake Michigan in Indiana increase
15 the cost and difficulty of municipal water treatment in
ie Indiana and Illinois. In addition, this ammonia contri-
17 butes to fertilization of Lake Michigan, which can cause
ie prolific growths of algae and aquatic weeds that pile
19 up onto beaches, clog water intakes, and interferes with
20 filter plant operations, and cause taste and odor problems
21 in munlpal water supplies.
22 Section DC of this report discusses corrective
23 measures needed in the Calumet Area.
24 Although one company discharges industrial
25 wastes into Wolf Lake in Indiana, resulting in pollution of
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52
i a portion of the lake and causing fish kills, investl-
2 gation by the Public Health Service has not disclosed
3 significant Interstate pollution of Wolf Lake.
4 There is no evidence of interstate
5 pollution from the discharge of wastes to Lake Michigan
6 via Burns Ditch. Burns Ditch has some effect on the
7 contribution of nutrients in the south end of Lake Michigan,
8 and contributes local bacterial pollution. The effects of
9 increased development in this area bear careful watching.
10 Sewage and industrial wastes discharged
n to the Little Calumet River and Grand Calumet River in
12 Indiana cause pollution of these waters in Illinois.
13 Sewage and industrial wastes discharged to the Calumet
14 River System and Lake Michigan in Indiana cause pollution .
15 of the waters of Lake Michigan in Illinois, and sewage
16 and discharged Industrial wastes to the Calumet River
17 System and Lake Michigan in Illinois cause pollution of
18 Lake Michigan in Indiana. This pollution endangers the
19 health or welfare of persons in a state other than that
20 in which the discharges originate, and therefore is subject
21 to abatement under the provisions of the Federal Water
22 Pollution Control Act.
23 II - FORWARD
24 This is a technical report on interstate
25 pollution problems in the Calumet Area, Indiana and Illinois,
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53
l The waters under consideration are the Grand Calumet River,
2 Little Calumet River, Calumet River, Lake Michigan, Wolf
3 Lake and their tributaries. Findings are based on data
4 obtained from State, local, and sanitary district records,
5 industries, and sampling by the Public Health Service.
6 The cooperation provided by the Indiana
7 Stream Pollution Control Board, the Illinois Sanitary
8 Water Board, the Metropolitan Sanitary District of
9 Greater Chicago, and others in supplying valuable infor-
10 mation is gratefully acknowledged.
11 The report considers the quality character-
12 istics of the waters as they exist today, evaluates the
13 effects of waste discharges on the water quality and
14 water uses, and summarizes the principal problems and
15 needed corrections.
16 III - BACKGROUND
17 The quality of the waters of Lake Michigan
IB has long been a matter of concern, and there have been
19 diverse opinions on how and to what extent the lake should
20 be protected. In the 19th century the growing city of
21 Chicago experienced increasingly severe outbreaks of cholera
22 and typhoid fever. In 1856 Chicago started construction
23 of the first integrated sewer system in the United States
24 and only the second one in the modern world - Hamburg,
25 Germany having built one before. However, these sewers
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i drained to the rivers and hence to Lake Michigan, and
2 epidemics continued.
3 The Metropolitan Sanitary District of
4 Greater Chicago (then the Sanitary District of Chicago) was
5 organized in 1890, and its first responsibility was to
6 protect Chicago's water supply from pollution. It con-
7 structed the Sanitary and Ship Canal and reversed the
8 flow of the Chicago River in 1900.
9 The flow of the Calumet River was reversed
10 in 1922, and thus Chicago's sewage was substantially ex-
11 eluded from Lake Michigan and diverted to the Mississippi
12 River drainage basin.
13 In 1922 a number of Great Lakes States
14 joined to bring suit in the United States Supreme Court
is to end the existing diversion at Chicago. In 1930 the
16 Court issued a decree directing the Sanitary District
17 to reduce its diversion to 1500 cubic feet per second
18 (cfs), plus domestic pumpage (which now averages 1700-1800
19 cfs) by the end of 1938. To meet the terms of the decree,
20 the District engaged in a massive construction program
21 designed to provide secondary treatment for its wastes.
22 The building program was substantially completed in 19^9.
23 Litigation was resumed in 1959, when the Supreme Court
24 directed the reopening of its 1930 decree. The present
25 party litigants consist of the States of New York, Ohio,
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55
Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as
plaintiffs, the State of Illinois as defendant, and the
United States of America as an intervening party litigant.
The State of Illinois, the City of Chicago,
and the Sanitary District of Chicago filed suit in the
United States Supreme Court in 1944 against the State
of Indiana, the Cities of Hammond, Gary, East Chicago,
and Whiting, and 16 industries in Indiana, alleging pollution
of the south end of Lake Michigan and the impairment of
10 Chicago's water supplies. The case was heard before a
n Master in Chancery in St. Louis, Missouri, and a con-
12 sent decree was entered in 1945* whereby certain corrective
13 measures were to be taken. In 1948 the consent decree was
14 deemed to have been complied with.
15 IV - THE AREA
16 The area included in this report is the
17 Calumet River System in Indiana and Illinois upstream of
18 the navigation locks at Blue Island, Illinois, the contiguous
19 and directly affected areas of Lake Michigan, north to the
20 Cook-Lake County, Illinois line, and Wolf Lake, Figure
21 IV-1 (P.154) shows the relationship of the Calumet Area to the
22 larger Chicago area drainage pattern, while Figure IV-2
23 (P.155) shows the relevant Calumet Area in more detail.
24 The Calumet Area, as defined in this report
25 and shown in Figure IV-»2 (P.155), includes roughly ?42 square
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56
i miles, of which 320 square miles are normally tributary
2 to the Illinois River and Mississippi River, and 422 square
3 miles are normally tributary to Lake Michigan and the St.
4 Lawrence River.
5 Cities and Industries
6 Some of the major cities in the area are
7 Gary, East Chicago, Whiting, and Hammond, in Indiana; and
8 Calumet City, Chicago Heights, and a part of the south side
g of Chicago in Illinois. The area is heavily industralized,
10 with five petroleum refineries and ten major steel mills.
n Some of the major industries in Indiana are the United
12 States Steel Corporation, Gary Works and Gary Sheet and
13 Tin Mill; Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company; Inland Steel
u Company; Cities Service Petroleum Company; Sinclair Re-
15 fining Company; Mobil Oil Company; and American Oil
is Company. Some of the major industries in Illinois are the
17 United States Steel Corporation, South Works, Wisconsin
18 Steel Works, Interlace Iron Corporation, Republic Steel
19 Corporation and Acme Steel Company. As an indication of
20 the magnitude of industrial activity in the area, the
21 value added in manufacture in the Calumet area in the
22 year 1958 was estimated at 2 billion dollars. Industry
23 is growing in this area and present day activity is
24 undoubtedly higher.
25 Stream System
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57
i The Calumet Area is a flat plain with
2 much of the land only slightly above Lake Michigan
3 water levels. In what might be considered their
4 natural state, the Little Calumet and Grand Calumet
5 Rivers originated in Indiana and flowed westward into
6 Illinois where they Joined and became simply the Calumet
7 River, which discharged into Lake Michigan. However,
3 the development of the area by man has changed this flow
9 pattern.
10 In 1922, the Calumet Sag Channel was
n completed between the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
12 and the Little Calumet River at Blue Island, Illinois.
13 This construction caused the Calumet River, and that
14 portion of the Little Calumet River from Blue Island
15 to the Calumet River, to be reversed and thus flow
16 away from Lake Michigan. However, this is an unstable
17 situation; depending on storm runoff and fluctuating
18 Lake levels, the stream frequently flows toward
19 Lake Michigan.
20 Burns Ditch was completed in 1923 to
2\ connect the eastern part of the Little Calumet River
22 in Indiana to Lake Michigan near Ogden Dunes, Indiana.
23 This construction caused an indefinite division of the
24 flow in the Vicinity of Highland, Indiana, reversing
25 the flow of the Little Calumet River from this point
east to Ogden Dunes. All portions of the Little Calu-
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58
i met River east of the new divide then became tributary
2 to Lake Michigan via Burns Ditch.
3 The Indiana Harbor Canal was completed
4 in East Chicago, Indiana, in 1903. Construction of
5 this canal connected the Grand Calumet River east of
6 this point, now normally tributary to Lake Michigan.
7 The Grand Calumet River from this point west to the
g area near the East Chicago - Hammond, Indiana city limit
9 has been reversed and now flows to the Lake Michigan via
10 the Indiana Harbor Canal. The point where the division
11 of flow occurs is rather Indefinite, and depending
12 upon the local level of Lake Michigan, dredging operations,
13 and rainfall intensity, the actual divide can vary over
14 a distance of several miles. Under normal dry-weather
15 conditions the East Chicago sewage treatment plant
16 effluent flows eastward to the Indiana Harbor Canal and
17 Lake Michigan, while a variable part of the Hammond
18 sewage treatment plant effluent flows westward to the
19 Calumet River.
20 A temporary dam on the Grand Calumet
21 River at Columbia Avenue in Hammond, Indiana has
22 recently been proposed by the U. S. Corps of Engineers.
23 The purpose of the dam would be to prevent water
24 reaching the Illinois River system from the Grand
25 Calumet River east of that point, when the locks at
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59
Blue Island, Illinois, have been removed. The exact
location of the new dam is still subject to study. The
Corps of Engineers has proposed two alternate sites for
the dam. Site A is just west of the outfall sewer from
the Hammond sewage treatment plant and would direct all
treated and by-passed sewage from Hammond and East
Chicago toward Lake Michigan. Site B is just east of the
Hammond outfall sewer and would direct sewage from
Hammond to the Calumet River, while sewage from East
10 Chicago would flow to Lake Michigan. The Public Health
n Service has proposed that the dam be so located that
12 the treated sewage from Hammond and East Chicago, Indiana,
13 will not be directed toward Lake Michigan.
14 Wolf Lake is located astride the Illinois-
15 Indiana State Line in Chicago and Hammond. The original
16 connecting channel from Wolf Lake to Lake Michigan has
17 been blocked, and a connection to the Calumet River in
18 Chicago has been constructed. The City of Hammond has a
19 much-used park on the east shore of Wolf Lake which
20 occupies most of the Indiana shoreline. The Illinois
21 portion is a part of Wolf Lake Conservation Area.
22 Flow Reversal nin .Calumet R_iygr
23 The direction of flow in the Calumet
24 River under normal conditions is from Lake Michigan
25 toward the Calumet-Sag Canal. This flow is induced
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60
1 by the hydraulic control of the Sanitary and Ship Canal
2 system maintained by the Metropolitan Sanitary District
3 in connection with the diversion of water from Lake
4 Michigan for dilution purposes. The Blue Island Con-
5 trolling Works, owned and operated by the Sanitary
6 District, is one of the points of diversion from Lake
7 Michigan.
8 The record low stages of Lake Michigan
9 during the past year have contributed to reversals
10 of flow in the Calumet River under two different sets
11 of conditions as explained below.
12 1. With the present low lake stages
13 and the requirement to maintain a 9-foot navigation
14 depth in the Calumet Sag Channel, the hydraulic head
is at the Blue Island Controlling Works is minimal, vary-
16 ing from zero to a few tenths of a foot most of the
17 time.
IB Local variations in the level of Lake
19 Michigan of 0.5 to 1.0 foot due to wind and/or
20 barometric pressure effects are common. These changes
21 occur in a few hours time, and the effect may persist
22 for one or more days.
23 When the lake drops 0.5 foot or more
24 at Calumet Harbor, this can produce a hydraulic
25 gradient which causes the Calumet River to flow toward
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61
! the lake for periods ranging from a few hours to more
2 than one day. This may occur even though the lock
3 gates at the Blue Island Controlling Works are fully
4 opened in an effort to induce flow to the Calumet-Sag
5 Channel.
6 The Metropolitan Sanitary District
7 operates recording water level gages located on the
8 Little Calumet River at the Acme Steel Plant, and
9 on the Calumet River near its mouth. The recorder
10 charts for the period January through March 1964, were
n examined for periods of flow reversal. On the basis
12 of 12-hour average gage heights obtained by inspection,
13 eight periods of flow reversal were found. The duration
14 of reversal varied from 12 to 36 hours. A detailed
15 examination of these gage records would permit cal-
16 culation of the percent of time during which flow is
17 towards the lake. Flow reversals could also be correlated
18 with rainfall to determine which reversals were caused
19 by storm runoff.
20 2. Major storms which produce excessive
21 runoff in the Little Calumet River basin in the past have
22 resulted in occasional flow reversals in the Calumet
23 River. These have been due to the Inability of the
24 Calumet-Sag Channel to carry the flood flows away from
25 the area fast enough, or to operation of the Blue Island
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62
Controlling Works for prevention of flood damage In the
area west of the Controlling works. The duration of
A
these flow reversals varies greatly, depending on
3
the storm rainfall distribution. It was estimated that
4
the Calumet River flowed into Lake Michigan for about
5
72 hours during and after the storm of October 9-11,
6
1951*. During the storm of July 12-13* 1957, when
flooding became critical in the Calumet-Sag Channel,
8
the lock gates at Blue Island Controlling Works were
9
opened to permit flow out of the canal toward Lake
Michigan. The entire Calumet-Little Calumet system
flowed into Lake Michigan for several hours.
In September 1961, heavy rains on
13
the 13th and 14th resulted in general flooding which
14
caused the Calumet River to flow into the Lake for
15
several hours.
16
Flow reversals caused by runoff have
17
recently become more frequent, due in part to the
18
hydraulic conditions produced by the extremely low
iy
lake stages. The laofc of head at the Blue Island
Controlling Works restricts the flow that can be
£i
discharged out of the Calumet-Little Calumet system
22
to the Calumet-Sag Channel. Therefore, runoff may more
23
easily produce a gradient causing flow toward
24
Lake Michigan.
25
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63
When reversals of flow in the Calumet
River occur, both municipal and industrial wastes
enter Indiana waters of Lake Michigan which lie about
1/3 mile off shore. Corps of Engineers studies of
currents in Calumet Harbor show that strong northerly
winds produce a strong southeast current through the
harbor. This current would carry pollution along the
Indiana shoreline.
9 The Thomas J. O'Brien lock and dam
10 will provide a positive barrier between Lake Michigan
and all of the municipal treatment plants and some of
12 the Industrial waste sources on the Calumet-Little
13 Calumet system. When the 0»Brlen lock is put into
14 operation, these wastes will be excluded from the lake,
15 except during infrequent periods of major flooding
16 when the control gates might be opened to alleviate
i? flood damage.
18 V - WATER USES
19 Municipal Water Supply
20 There are six major municipal water
21 systems in Chicago and the adjacent Calumet Area in
22 Indiana which use Lake Michigan as a source of water
23 supply. The largest is the recently constructed Central
24 District Filtration Plant near the center of Chicago.
25 This plant serves a population of about 2,800,000 and
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64
! pumps an average of about 660 mgd (million gallons daily)
2 The second largest is Chicago's South District Pil-
3 tration Plant located Just north of Calumet Harbor.
4 This plant serves a population of about 1,600,000 and
5 pumps an average of about 380 mgd. The other users
6 are Gary, serving 200,000 people and using 24 mgd;
7 Hammond, serving 112,000 people and using 23 mgd;
8 East Chicago, serving 56,000 people and using 14
9 mgd; and Whiting, serving 8,000 persons and using 1.5
10 mgd. The Gary-Hobart Water Company is constructing
H a new municipal water plant at Ogden Dunes, Indiana,
12 about one mile west of Burns Ditch. This plant will
13 have an initial rated capacity of 16 mgd.
14 The location of these municipal water
15 supplies is shown in Figure IV-1 (P.154).
16 Industrial Water Supplies
17 Nearly all of the independent water
18 supplies in the Calumet Area are surface supplies.
19 The total pumpage (excluding cooling water used by
20 public utilities) is about 2,760 mgd, of which about
21 2,480 mgd is pumped in the Lake Michigan Basin and
22 about 280 mgd in the Illinois River drainage basin.
23 Table V-l shows a breakdown of water use by industrial
24 group.
25 The steel industry used about 2,400
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65
i mgd, 8? percent of the total. The petroleum refining
2 industry uses 250 mgd, 9 percent of the total. The
3 remaining 4 percent is used by the paper, food, and
4 chemical industries. Ninety percent of the industrial
5 water pumpage is taken directly from Lake Michigan.
6 The Calumet and Little Calumet Rivers supply the
7 remainder, except for a small amount taken from the
8 Grand Calumet River and the Indiana Harbor Canal.
9 Waterborne Commerce
10 The several ports in the Calumet Area
11 are Involved in international, interstate, and
12 interport activities and form a large part of Lake
13 Michigan commerce. The Corps of Engineers, U. S.
14 Army, reported that in 1963* over 52 million tons of cargo
15 moved through Gary Harbor, Buffington Harbor, Indiana
is Harbor, Lake Calumet, Calumet Harbor, and the Calumet
17 River. This accounted for almost one-half of the
18 total Lake Michigan commerce. Three major types of
is cargo made up 90 percent of the tonnage handled through
20 the Calumet Area ports. Iron ore and related
21 materials for the steel industry accounted for 74
22 percent of the total. Petroleum products amounted to
23 10 percent and grain shipments were 6 percent of the
24 total
25 In general, the harbors listed above
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66
have sufficient depth to accommodate lake vessels and
some, but not all, of the ocean-going vessels which
enter the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence Seaway.
In addition, a 9-foot depth navigation channel connects
the Calumet River with the Illinois Waterway-Mississippi
River System, providing water transportation to St.
Louis, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and New Orleans.
Recreation
Recreational activities such as swimming,
10 boating, water skiing and fishing are engaged in by a
11 large segment of the population of the Calumet Area.
12 During the summer, millions of people visit the beaches
13 in Chicago, Gary and Indiana Dunes State Park.
14 Hundreds of pleasure boats can be observed on Lake
is Michigan and Wolf Lake, and at times there is a
16 virtual parade of boats to and from the marinas and
i? mooring facilities. As the population grows, the need
18 for recreational facilities will expand. The locations
19 of marinas, launching ramps, beaches, and water-oriented
20 parks are shown in Figure V-l (P. 156).
21 Lake Michigan and Wolf Lake provide the
22 only swimming waters. The streams are not safe for
23 swimming because of the bacterial pollution. The
24 Lake Michigan beaches at Chicago, Gary, and whiting are
25 packed on summer weekends, but there is an increasing
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67
i tendency for people living in the Calumet area
2 to drive to the Indiana Dunes State Park or the
3 Michigan beaches where the water is clearer and
4 the sand is cleaner. The Hammond-owned beach on Wolf
5 Lake is used by thousands of swimmers and sun bathers.
6 The Lake Michigan beach at Hammond has been closed
7 for several years because of high coliform bacteria
8 counts.
9 The popularity of water skiing has
10 paralleled the growth in pleasure boating. Occasionally
11 water skiers are observed on the Calumet River but the
12 poor quality of the water and heavy boat traffic make
13 it undesirable. The Indiana Harbor Canal and Grand
14 Calumet River are unfit for any recreational activity.
is None of the other streams of the area is deep enough
16 for motor boating and skiing. Water skiing is a
L
17 popular sport on both Lake Michigan and Wolf Lake.
18 In recent years the growth of interest in
19 pleasure boating has increased at a phenomenal rate.
20 Marinas, mooring facilities, and launching ramps
21 are not able to handle peak traffic. There are now
22 24 such boating facilities in the areas. This number
23 would undoubtedly increase markedly if the sheltered
24 waters of the area were not polluted. The boat
25 registration records of Indiana and Illinois show how
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68
popular pleasure boating has become. In the three
Indiana counties bordering on Lake Michigan there
are 11,000 boats, and in Lake and Cook Counties in
Illinois there are 43*000 registered boats. Many of
the boaters of the area moor their boats in cleaner
waters as far away as Saugatuck and Holland in Michigan.
The waters of the Calumet River stain boat hulls with
a tar-like substance that is unsightly and difficult
to remove.
10 Most public parks are located near some
feature of nature that has strong appeal. Many times
12 the appeal is a lake or a stream. In the Calumet area
13 there are several such parks that provide recreational
14 opportunities for thousands of people. Marquette Park
15 at Gary and Wolf Lake in Hammond are two of the larger
15 parks of the area. Both are located on relatively
17 clean waters. Calumet Park beach in Chicago is also
18 heavily used, but the bacteria content of its waters is
19 higher than desirable, and accumulations of popcorn
20 slag on the beach from steel mills make the beach
21 unattractive to bathers because of its gritty texture.
22 There are a number of other parks and golf courses along
23 the Little Calumet and Grand Calumet Rivers that are
24 less attractive because of unsightly streams. The Cook
25 County Forest Preserve reports they have now adopted a
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69
a policy of building lakes and ponds in the interior of
the preserves, away from the polluted streams.
Except for Wolf Lake and Burns Ditch,
the streams of the Calumet area are not fished because
of the severely polluted conditions and consequent
absence of fish. Waterfowl avoid the polluted streams,
but hundreds of waterfowl can be observed at V/olf Lake
during the spring and fall migrations. They also frequent
the offshore Lake Michigan.
10 Esthetics
A body of water that is dirty-looking
12 or foul-smelling is anything but pleasant. It can be
13 particularly repugnant if it meanders through an area
14 where large populations live and work. The Calumet Rivers
15 are like this. Although there are not very many homes
16 on the banks of the streams, they are in view of thousands
17 of people motoring or walking in the area. The Indiana
IB Toll Road parallels seven miles of the Grand Calumet
River, and the Chicago Skyway crosses the Calumet River.
20 There are 16 beaches and parks that provide public
21 access to the streams and lakes. The polluted waters
22 at roost of these parks detract from the beauty and limit
23 esthetic enjoyment. The value of property adjacent
24 to clean water is significantly higher than similar
25 property having no adjacent water or situated next
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70
i to polluted water. If the degraded and unsightly
2 waters of the Calumet area were clean, the value
3 of the adjacent properties would rise sub-
4 stantially.
5 Waste Disposal and Assimilation
5 Nearly every stream in the Calumet area,
7 and indirectly Lake Michigan, receives municipal waste.
8 Nearly all municipal waste receives secondary treatment.
9 Most of the waste receiving less than secondary treat-
10 ment is in the process of correction. Most of the
n treated domestic waste is not disinfected.
12 Some portions of the Calumet Area receive
13 relatively little industrial waste. The area tributary
14 to Burns Ditch receives industrial wastes near its
15 mouth, and municipal wastes in tributary areas. The
16 non-navigable portion of the Little Calumet River which
17 flows to the Illinois River receives municipal wastes
is and a relatively small amount of industrial waste. The
19 large amounts of industrial waste are discharged to the
20 Calumet and Grand Calumet Rivers, the navigable portion
21 of the Little Calumet River, Wolf Lake, the Indiana
22 Harbor Canal and Lake Michigan.
23 VI - SOURCES OP WASTES
24 Municipal sewage and industrial wastes
25 are the principal pollutional materials discharged
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71
continuously into the waters of the Calumet Area.
Other wastes, discharged intermittently or regularly, may
have serious local effects or may cause temporary excessive
pollution. Among these wastes are accidental spills
from storage tanks, barges, etc.; combined sewer
overflows; wastes from lake vessels, barge tows, and
pleasure craft; and materials from dredging operations.
The total oxygen demand of municipal and
the industrial waste in the Calumet Area is about 1,150,000
10 population equivalent (PE) of which 80 percent is
discharged in the Lake Michigan Basin and 20 percent
12 is discharged in the Illinois River Basin. Seventy
13 percent of the wastes discharged in the Illinois River
14 Basin is from municipal sources and 30 percent is from
15 industrial sources. In contrast, only 5 percent of
16 the waste discharged in the Lake Michigan Basin is from
17 municipal sources and 95 percent is from industrial
18 sources.
19 Three industrial plants discharge one-
20 half of the population equivalent in the entire Calumet
21 Area and two thirds of the population equivalent in the
22 Lake Michigan portion of the area. These plants are
23 the United States Steel Corporation in Gary, Indiana,
24 and the Inland Steel Company and the Youngstown Sheet
25 and Tube Company in East Chicago, Indiana.
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72
Municipal Wastes
Sources of municipal wastes in the
Lake Michigan portion of the Calumet Area are listed
in Table VI-I, and sources in the Illinois River portion
are listed in Table VI-2.
All but two of the municipal waste sources
draining to Lake Michigan are tributary to Burns Ditch.
8 Each of these 19 sources is relatively small, but
g they total 43 percent of the municipal wastes to Lake
10 Michigan. At present, many of these sources discharge
n inadequately treated sewage. Some are in the process of
12 being corrected. For instance, the Merrillville Con-
13 servancy District has been organized to serve the
14 Black Oak-Ross area south of Gary, Indiana.
15 The largest sources of municipal wastes
16 discharged to the Lake Michigan Basin are the sewage
17 treatment plants at Gary and East Chicago, Indiana.
18 These discharge via the Grand Calumet River and the
19 Indiana Harbor Canal. Neither plant accepts significant
20 industrial wastes. Both provide secondary treatment.
21 At the present time Gary has under construction sewers
22 and sewage treatment plant expansions. This construction
23 includes chlorlnatlon facilities and is nearing com-
24 pletion. It is understood that the East Chicago plant
25 has chlorination facilities but they are not regularly
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73
i operated.
2 The largest sources of municipal
3 wastes discharged to the Illinois River Basin from
4 the Calumet Area are the Calumet Plant of the Metro-
5 politan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago, the
6 Sanitary District of Bloom Township, Illinois and the
7 Hammond Sanitary District, Indiana. All of these
8 plants provide secondary treatment and accept industrial
9 waste. Depending upon runoff conditions and the level of
10 Lake Michigan, a variable portion of the treated waste
11 from Hammond drains to Lake Michigan.
12 The Hammond Sanitary District has a
13 major sewer and sewage treatment plant expansion project
14 now under construction which is nearing completion. All
is of the waste from Griffith, Indiana has been connected;
is part of Munster is connected, and works are under con-
17 struction to connect all of it. About half of High-
18 land Is connected, with the remainder scheduled to be.
19 These connections should eliminate pollution of the Little
20 Calumet River from these sources, except for storm
21 water overflows, and will result in an Increased discharge
22 of treated sewage to the Grand Calumet River. The State
23 of Indiana has recommended that the Hammond Sanitary
24 District include chlorinatlon facilities as part of the
25 present construction project.
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74
The Sanitary District of Bloom Township,
Illinois serves Park Forest, Chicago Heights, and South
Chicago Heights, and a large industrial district in
Chicago Heights. The Sanitary District has engaged two
firms of consulting engineers to study its problems.
Both reports have been received, and actions to implement
the recommendations have been taken.
The Calumet Plant of the Metropolitan
9 Sanitary District of Greater Chicago (MSD) is by far
10 the largest sewage treatment plant in the Calumet Area.
11 It discharges 50 percent of the municipal waste in the
12 Illinois River portion, and 40 percent of the municipal
13 waste in the entire Calumet Area. Effluent disinfection
14 is not practiced, and no plans for disinfection have
15 been announced. The Calumet Plant serves the southeast
16 part of Chicago and many suburbs such as Blue Island,
17 Calumet City, Riverdale, and Dolton. It receives and
is treats domestic and Industrial wastes. Of particular
19 significance, it treats coking wastes from the steel
20 plants located along the Calumet River in Chicago so
21 that phenolic and other constituents of these wastes
22 receive secondary treatment.
23 The MSD operates two small sewage treat-
24 ment plants in the Calumet Area, each achieving 85
25 percent or higher biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
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75
removal efficiency. These plants are at East Chicago
Heights and Hazel Crest, Illinois. In addition, the
MSD supervises through analytical control 19
additional small operations. These small operations
show between 80 and 90 percent BOD removal efficiency.
Three of these latter small plants will be eliminated
within six months and become part of the Intercepter
system, In accordance with the overall policy of
the Sanitary District pertaining to such Installations.
10 Chlorlnatlon Is carried out at all small Metropolitan
11 Sanitary District treatment plants, and a number of
12 the small private plants in the District have.begun
13 chlorination.
u Except as hereafter noted, all domestic
15 wastes from industries In the Calumet Area either
16 are connected to municipal systems or receive secondary
17 treatment at the site. All industrial sewage treatment
is plants in Indiana provide chlorination except the
19 Universal Atlas Cement Company, a part of the U. S.
20 Steel Corporation.
21 Although secondary treatment for organ-
22 ized sewage systems is the rule in the Calumet Area,
23 there are a large number of small sewage treatment
24 plants, septic tanks systems, and tile systems,
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76
and ditches. These are so numerous, and the amount
of dilution water available is so small, that
nearly all streams and ditches are to some extent
polluted.
Table IV-7 shows the status of
Public Health Service Grants for Construction of
Municipal WasteTreatment facilities. Total grants
of $1,900,210 in Indiana have supported $7,039,000
in eligible construction, while grants of $237,710
10 in Illinois have supported $795,600 in eligible
construction. The Metropolitan Sanitary District of
12 Greater Chicago has not been certified for a con-
13 struction grant to da% by the Illinois Sanitary
14 Water Board.
15 Combined Sewer Overflows
16 Most of the older communities in the
17 Calumet Area have combined sewer systems, which con-
18 vey the dry weather flow to treatment plants, and spill
19 combined flows to the streams or to Lake Michigan during
20 storm periods, either by gravity or by pumping. The over-
21 flow of raw sanitary sewage and Industrial wastes
22 mixed with storm runoff constitutes a source of
23 pollution of the waterways and of Lake Michigan in
24 the Calumet Area. Although the overflows are intermittent,
25 depending on rainfall, the resultant pollution seriously
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9
10
11
12
13
17
18
19
20
21
22
77
affects the quality of the receiving waters.
Combined sanitary sewage overflows
contribute gross bacterial pollution, high suspended
solids concentrations, and a heavy BOD load. Any
industrial wastes present In the municipal sewer
system add further to the pollution problem.
Several Indiana communities are served
by combined sewers with reported overflows to tributaries
of the Calumet River and flow westward into Illinois.
Pollution resulting from overflows in these towns has
Interstate implications:
MUNSTER HAMMOND
GRIFFITH SCHERERVILLE
14 I! HIGHLAND
is A number of Illinois communities having
16 combined sewers which overflow to the Calumet
River system are listed below. Overflows from
these towns can go to Lake Michigan during periods
of flow reversal in the Calumet River:
CALUMET CITY LANSING
BURNHAM RIVERDALE
SOUTH HOLLAND DOLTON
23 PHOENIX POSEN
24 I CHICAGO(MSD Calumet Treatment Plant)
25
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78
Several Indiana communities having com-
2 bined sewers which overflow to the Indiana Harbor Canal-
3 Grand Calumet River system are listed below. Overflows
4 from these towns go to Lake Michigan via the Indiana
5 Harbor Canal:
6 GARY HAMMOND
EAST CHICAGO WHITING
7
A number of other Indiana towns served
8
by combined sewers which overflow to the Little Calumet
9
Burns Ditch system are listed below. These overflows
10
reach Lake Michigan via Burns Ditch:
CHESTERTON EAST GARY
PORTER HOBART
VALPARAISO GRIFFITH
14
In addition, at least one city, whiting,
15
Indiana, has a combined sewer overflow which discharges
16
directly to Lake Michigan.
17
Industrial Wastes
18
Industrial waste information in this
19
report was obtained from records of the Indiana Stream
20
Pollution Control Board, the Illinois State Sanitary
21
Water Board, the Metropolitan Sanitary District of
22
Greater Chicago, from a number of the industries, and
23
from studies by the Public Health Service. In part-
24
icular, the Public Health Service conducted a sampling
25
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79
survey of industrial wastes in the Calumet Area in the
latter half of 1963.
The principal sources of industrial
waste in the Calumet Area are located in Figure VI-1
5. (P. 157). The industries are listed in Tables VI-3
and 4 which show the principal municipal and industrial
sources of oxygen-demanding waste, ammonia nitrogen,
phenolics, cyanide and oil.
9 The Grand Calumet River and Indiana
10 Harbor Canal are grossly polluted. There is no
11 dissolved oxygen in the Indiana Harbor Canal, and
12 Its waters and banks are covered with oil. The lake-
13 ward reaches of Indiana Harbor are rust-colored from
14 waste pickle liquor. The effects of this pollution
15 extend into Lake Michigan. The largest sources of
16 waste on the Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor
17 Canal are the United States Steel Corporation, Gary,
18 Indiana; the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, East
19 Chicago, Indiana; and Inland Steel Company, East Chicago,
20 Indiana. Three petroleum refineries are lesser, but
21 still major sources of waste. They are Cities Service
22 Petroleum Company, Sinclair Refining Company, and Mobil
23 Oil Company, and all in East Chicago, Indiana. A
24 summary of waste loads from these six plants is as
25 follows:
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1
2
8o
Pounds Per Day
Ammonia
COMPANY MOD K5 Nitrogen Phenol Cyanide Oil
U.S. Steel, 330 266,000 13,750 1,500 1,700 54,000
Gary, Ind.
Youngstown S&T 250 100,000 4,090 250 250 l8,QOO
E.Chi.,' Ind.
Inland Steel, 480 200,000 16,800 620 940 24,800
E.Chi., Ind.
Cities Service, 80 47,400 1,140 130 4,040
E.Chi., Ind.
Sinclair, 4 4,740 130 190 290
E.Chi., Ind.
8 Mobil Oil Co., 4 12,400 1,130 780
E.Chi., Ind.
9
10 All of these plants have invested in waste treatment
11 facilities. The United States Steel Corporation quenches
12 coke with ammonia still wastes and discharges waste pickle
13 liquor to an absorption lagoon. U. S. Steel discharges blast
14 furnace flue dust to the Grand Calumet River and recovers it
15 with a dredge that is located in the river permanently.
16 The Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company recovers phenol and
17 most of its pickle liquor, and recovers blast furnace flue
18 dust with thickeners. Inland Steel Company recovers phenol
19 and blast furnace flue dust, but discharges waste pickle
20 iiquor to the Indiana Harbor Canal. Analysis of the wastes
21 from these three steel plants indicates that large amounts
22 of coking wastes are reaching the Grand Calumet River and
23 Indiana Harbor Canal.
24 Cities Service Petroleum Company provides oil separators
25 and sulfide and ammonia strippers, and has installed a second
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81
ary treatment pilot plant. Sinclair Refining Company
provides oil separators, an ammonia and sulfide stripper,
a sulfide oxidation tower, and removes phenol by extraction
with crude oil and oxidation in a cooling tower. The total
amount of waste is limited by a large amount of water reuse.
Sinclair also skims oil from the Lake George Branch,
Indiana Harbor Canal, to help decrease the oil nuisance.
Mobil Oil Company provides oil separators, cooling towers,
9 and straw filters. A sulfide and ammonia stripper is
10 under construction. A sulfide oxidation tower is being
n installed. Mobil Oil Company uses the Indiana Harbor
i
12 Canal as a water supply.
13 E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Company, East Chicago,
14 Indiana, produces hydrochloric acid as a by-product of
15 one of its manufacturing operations. It is reported
16 that the Indiana Stream Pollution Control Board has
17 approved discharge to the Grand Calumet River through an
18 underwater waste diffusion system of a maximum of 90,000
19 pounds per day of chloride, and at normal river flows, a
20 maximum of 125*000 pounds per day of unneutralized hydro-
21 chloric acid that would use up to 25 mg/L of natural
22 alkalinity in the river. The approval was granted with
23 the understanding that the Company would make every effort to
24 sell the acid rather than discharge it to the Grand Calumet
25 River. The Company has advised that all hydrochloric acid
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is now being sold, and that no chlorides or acid from this
operation are being discharged to the river.
The Midwest Steel Division, National Steel Corporation,
provides a high degree of treatment for its sheet and tin
mill wastes. There is no significant pollution to Burns
Ditch from this source, and this plant Illustrates the
degree of waste control that can be achieved in a steel
rolling mill. The Bethlehem Steel Company is installing
9 similar waste treatment facilities for its Burns Harbor
10 sheet and tin mill, now under construction. When the
proposed Burns Harbor deep water port is constructed,
12 these two companies plan to install basic steel and coking
13 facilities. Their plans to control waste from these future
14 facilities have not been reported. The State of Indiana has
1S notified the companies that adequate waste treatment must be
16 provided and plans must be approved before basic steel
17 mills are constructed.
18 The principal sources of wastes that discharge directly
19 to Lake Michigan are Union Carbide Chemicals Company, Whiting,
20 Indiana; American Oil Company, whiting, Indiana; American
21 Maize-Products Company, Hammond, Indiana; and United States
22 Steel Corporation, Chicago, Illinois. Wastes from the
23 first three are summarized as follows:
24
25
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2
POUNDS PER DAY
3
4
Union Carbide, Whiting, 43 99,000 13
Ind.
6
American Oil Co., Whiting, 97 57,000 3,800 1,100 3,950
Ind.
American Maize-Products Co. 9 44,000
Hammond, Ind.
9
10
11
12
13
14
IS
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
AMMONIA
COMPANY MOD PE NITROGEN PHENOL OIL
Union Carbide Chemicals Company has a
quench water recirculation system. Other wastes are mostly
soluble In water, and.no treatment Is provided. Recently
large amounts of pellets of material similar to polyethylene
have been found washed ashore on the beaches in Chicago.
It is believe that Union Carbide is possible source of
this material.
American Oil Company provides oil separators
on both process wastes and cooling water return flow, and
secondary treatment on process wastes. American Maize -
Products Company discharges some wastes to the Hammond
Sanitary District. Other wastes are treated in an
anaerobic - aerobic lagoon and chlorinated before dis-
charge. A decrease of 80-90 percent in BOD in the Lagoon
system is reported.
The United States Steel Corporation,
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84
South Works, Chicago, Illinois has no coke plant. Its
principal wastes are blast furnace flue dust, oil, and
hydraulically quenched blast furnace slag (popcorn slag).
The amount of flue dust that overflows the thickeners
is not known, but discoloration of Calumet Harbor and
Lake Michigan is evident from the air. The company
provides oil separators, but their effectiveness is
not known. Popcorn slag at times is discharged and
washes ashore at such places as Calumet Park Beach in
10 Chicago where it becomes a nuisance to bathers. No
n significant amount of pickle liquor is discharged.
12 Blast furnace flue dust and oily wastes have been ob-
13 served to flow into Indiana waters of Lake Michigan,
14 which lie about 1/3 mile off shore.
is Wisconsin Steel Works, Interlake Iron
16 Corporation, and Republic Steel Corporation, all in
17 Chicago, have their coke plant wastes sewered to the
18 Calumet Sewage Treatment Plant. The data in Table VI-6,
19 however, indicate that some coke wastes are probably
20 discharged to the Calumet River by Interlake Iron
21 Corporation. Only Republic Steel Corporation discharges
22 a significant amount of pickle liquor. It has not been
23 reported whether this pickle liquor is neutralized before
24 discharge. All three plants provide thickeners for
25 recovery of blast furnace flue dust. Some popcorn slag
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65
has been traced to the Wisconsin Steel Works.
Cargill, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, provides
septic tanks for domestic wastes. Wastes from refining
soybean oil contribute 8,700 PE to the Calumet River.
An industrial waste treatment plant providing neutraliza-
tion and anaerobic-aerobic treatment has been constructed,
but has not been reported to be in operation.
Lever Brothers Company, Hammond, Indiana
discharges about 18,000 PE to the extreme northern end
10 of Wolf Lake. Several acres of the lake have been
11 polluted and fish kills have been reported. Studies
12 of Wolf Lake by the Public Health Service have not
13 disclosed evidence of significant interstate pollution.
Acme Steel Company, Riverdale, Illinois,
discharges raw sewage from approximately 2,900 of its
16 employees. It also discharges a substantial amount of
17 unneutralized pickle liquor. The Company provides
18 scale pits, oil separators and a thickener. Acme Steel
19 Company is drawing plans to separate the domestic waste
20 from the combined system so that the domestic waste may
21 be discharged to the existing sewerage system. Further,
22 plans are being made for revision of production operations
23 needed for the Installation of a pickle liquor waste
24 disposal system.
25 Victor Chemical Company in Chicago Heights,
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86
Illinois discharges an estimated 3,300 pounds per day
of phosphate via the State Street Ditch and the Sanitary
District of Bloom Township. This phosphate can
potentially produce algae nuisances downstream In the
Illinois River.
Federal Installations
There are presently twenty-five Federally
owned or leased installations in the conference area.
Of these twenty-five installations, seventeen are
10 housing units which have been leased for army personnel
11 when off-base housing was needed. The number of these
12 housing units and their location varies as the needs for
13 housing occur. In the leasing agreements, the responsi-
14 bility for providing sewage disposal lies with the
is various building owners.
16 The other Federal installations in the
17 area Include four Nike missile sites, one Corps of
is Engineers lock and dam, one Naval reserve training
19 center, one Defense material supply depot, one Coast
20 Guard light station. Waste treatment facilities appear
21 to be adequate for all of these installations except
22 the light station located at the mouth of Indiana Harbor.
23 This installation, known as the Indiana Harbor Light,
24 has a personnel complement of 3-^ persons and their
2s domestic sewage is discharged untreated directly to Lake
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87
Michigan.
A waste disposal problem could possibly
occur at the Defense material supply depot located on
Wolf Lake, Hammond, Indiana. This installation is built
on a land fill area and the soil is not ideal for the
septic tanks and tile drain fields which are currently
being used. The depot is now manned by a staff of only
15-20 persons. In the event that activity at this
installation is increased or changed, the waste disposal
10 system should be reviewed, and the possibility of
11 connecting to the Hammond Sanitary District sewers
12 should be investigated.
13 Bulk Storape Areas and Barges
14 Open air storage of iron ore, coal, and
is limestone at unloading sites adjacent to waterways is a
is potential source of pollution. If the stockpiles are
17 not properly drained, dust and granular material may be
18 washed into the streams by rainfall. These materials
19 may be carried to the lake in suspension if the stream
20 velocity is adequate, or they may settle in the dock area.
21 Bulk storage areas for petroleum products,
22 commonly called tank farms, are also potential sources
23 of pollution. Although tanks may be adequately diked,
24 accidental spills can occur in connection with the trans-
25 fer of liquid between tanks, or in the operation of
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88
loading or unloading a vessel or barge. These may be
due to human error or mechanical failure.
An accident spill occurred in December
1963 at the American Oil Company dock in the Lake
George Branch of the Indiana Harbor Canal. A barge
containing about 10,000 barrels of highly toxic toluene
was being unloaded, when suddenly the bow of the barge
sank with three valves open. An unknown amount of
9 toluene escaped to the canal approximately 14 hours
10 before the leak was controlled. As far as is known,
11 no serious damage resulted from the spill. This
12 was partly due to the high volatility of the toluene,
13 which evaporated rapidly.
14 Vessel Pollution
15 Cargo vessels accounted for about 11,000
16 trips through Calumet Area deep water ports in 1963. In
17 addition, several thousand pleasure craft operate out of
18 marinas in the area. Wastes discharged by these vessels
19 seldom undergo any treatment, although some boats have
20 facilities for treating or holding sanitary wastes. The
21 principal vessel wastes are sanitary, garbage, refuse
22 and drainage, ballast and bilge water, dredged materials,
23 compartment washings, and cargo losses. Uncontrolled
24 discharge of these wastes can result in serious pollution
25 problems to beaches, shore property, recreational waters,
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89
and municipal and industrial water supplies.
2 The Chicago Water Department has had a
3 problem during the recreational boating season with
4 plastic "Marine sanitary Bags" getting onto screens,
s settling basins and filter beds. Apparently, pleasure
6 boat operators use the bags for sanitary wastes and then
7 throw the sealed bags overboard into Lake Michigan.
a In general, existing Federal, State, and
9 local regulations restricting the discharge of vessel
10 wastes are primarily aimed at protecting municipal
11 water supplies and preserving navigation channels.
12 Enforcement of these regulations is difficult at best.
13 Posting of regulations and surveillance efforts by the
Public Health Service, the Coast Guard, and the Corps
is of Engineers constitute the control measures.
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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90
1 VII - LAKE CURRENTS
2 Intensive studies of currents and
temperature changes were made by the Public Health
Service in the Illinols-Indiana-Michigan boundary waters
from November 1962 through July 1964. The study used
automatic recording current meters and free floating cur-
rent measuring devices. Additional current meter
studies were conducted In the Calumet Harbor area during
the summer and fall of 1963 by the U. S. Lake Survey. The
10 studies indicate a prevailing flow from south to north
11 along the southern and the adjacent southwestern portion
12 of Lake Michigan.
13 Only three pertinent studies of currents
14 have been made in Lake Michigan prior to the present
15 study. Prom 1892 through 1894, Mark Harrington of the
16 U.S. Weather Bureau released a series of drift bottles
17 over a three year period. In 1954-55* James Johnson of
is the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries made an Intensive study
19 of surface currents using drift bottles and drift cards.
20 Also, in 1955, Dr. John Ayres and others of the
21 University of Michigan used drift bottles and temperature
22 studies to show currents in the lake.
23 These studies were confined to the
24 summer period and are based on a very limited period of
25 study. The information was too narrow in scope to be
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91
i usable for background information.
2 General Considerations
3 Both wind and the shore are the primary
factors which influence the flow of water in the southern
part of the lake. Wind is the energy source for putting
the water in motion, and the shoreline is responsible for
the general direction of flow in this area. Water move-
ments, in general, tend to parallel the shore as the
water gets shallower. Water tending to move parallel to
10 the shoreline is illustrated by the patterns of flow
11 found in the Calumet Area.
12 Density plays a role in the movement of
13 materials put into the lake. A pollutant discharged
14 into the lake will rise, sink or come to rest within
is the water mass depending ^on its initial density.
16 Existing currents or absence of currents
17 also affect the discharge of a pollutant. If a pollu-
tant is discharged into the lake during near calm
19 periods it will build up into a stationary mass. If
20 the pollutants are discharged into an existing current
21 It will be diluted by the moving water. The initial
22 dilution depends on the rate of discharge of the
23 pollutant and the speed of the current.
24 The most important types of motion are
25 mixing and transport. Mixing refers to the rate of
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92
dilution of a pollutant. Transport Is the net movement of
a water mass from one area to another.
Relationship to Municipal Water Supplies
Water transport can be divided into two
broad types, short and long term. Short term means up
to a few days in length and long term would include months
of travel. Data shown in Figures VII-1, 2, 3, and 4
(PP. 163, 164, 165, 166), refer to over 20,000 continuous
9 current meter observations from various stations in southern
10 Lake Michigan near or adjacent to the Calumet Area. The
data from the current meter stations describe the flow
o
12 in the area shown.
13 Two specific periods, January 21 to
14 24, 1963 and March 14 to 16, 1963* shown in Figure VII-1
15 (P. 163) and VII-2 (P. 164), show the pattern of flow from
**
16 current meter records. During both periods the City of
17 Chicago Water Department experienced severe taste and odor
18 problems from water taken at the cribs. On January 20, 1963*
19 the odor threshold level at Whiting and Hammond were
20 recorded at a value of 8 at both intakes. These values
21 Jumped 4 to 5 times by the following day and nearly
22 15 to 20 times by January 22. The flow of water past the
23 intakes was toward the northwest as shown in Figure VII-1
24 (P. 163). On January 24, Just two days later, the Chicago
25 South District Filtration Plant recorded its first
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93
taste and odor problems In 1963. Taste and odor
problems were not experienced farther to the north at
this time, indicated that the pollution occurred to
the south as shown by the water movements.
Figure VII-2 (P. 164), shows the conditions
during the second occurrence in 1963 when severe taste and
odor problems occurred at Chicago. Water flow during the
March 14 to 16, 1963 period was again from the south to
the north.
10 Mixing rates can vary widely depending
11 on the weather conditions. During the times of taste
12 and odor difficulties experienced by Chicago both in
13 January and in March 1963, chemical analyses showed
14 that the water mass was diluted about four times while
15 in transit from the Whiting-Hammond areas to the
16 Chicago intake.
17 Studies made during April 1963 near
19 Chicago indicate that the dilution ratio following near
19 calm conditions is less than five for currents up to
20 one foot per second and five miles of travel.
21 Figure VII-3 (P. 165), shows typical annual
22 water movements in the Illinois-Indiana region. Regardless
23 of the season of the year, the prevailing flow is from
24 the south, although flows from the north also occur, as
25 shown. From December through March strong northeast
-------
storms, as well as prolonged west and west-southwest
winds, account for the relatively greater percentage of
time when flow is from the north. From April through
July the total percentage of flow from the south is less
than 50 percent, but is still the dominant sector. From
August through November, currents show a very dominant
flow from the south. The winds over the lake during
the summer are primarily from the south and southeast
and in the winter are from the northwest, both of which
10 maintain the northward flow of water.
n Figure VII-4 (P. 166), illustrates the in-
12 dependent results of continuous summer and fall studies made
13 by the U.S. Lake Survey in and adjacent to Calumet Harbor.
14 The Lake Survey concluded that the northwestward flow
is past the harbor was a typical summer condition. This
16 flow was reversed only by strong northerly winds.
17 Current speeds along the shore and in the
18 upper layers move between 2 and 5 miles per day for 60
19 percent of the time. Movement from the Indiana area
20 to the Chicago vicinity will normally take from three to
21 four days for average conditions. Under storm conditions
22 or periods of high winds, it could travel the distance in
23 less than one day.
24 Summary
25 The general pattern of flow during the
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95
year in the southwest corner of Lake Michigan is from
south to north. Northwest and southerly winds maintain
this flow. Reversals to this pattern occur only after
prolonged wind shifts of more than eighteen hours in
length when the wind is from the northeast and southwest.
Specific occurrences of taste and odor
problems experienced at the South District Filtration
Plant were shown to originate in the Indiana portion of
Lake Michigan.
10
11 VIII - EFFECTS OF WASTES ON WATER QUALITY AND WATER USES
12 Water Quality Criteria
13 The quality of water as it affects the
14 health or welfare of people in the environment is adjudged
15 by many criteria. These criteria range from character-
is istlcs readily discernible to the senses of sight and
17 smell, to tests requiring highly sensitive laboratory
18 equipment and sophisticated techniques. The following
19 paragraphs discuss the more important tests and their
20 significance, preliminary to a description of quality
21 conditions and effects in specific parts of the stream
22 and lake system.
23 Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
24 The small quantity of oxygen dissolved
25 in water is perhaps the most important single Ingredient
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96
necessary for a healthy, balanced, aquatic environment.
Dissolved oxygen Is consumed by living organisms through
respiration and is replenished, if a well-balanced
environment exists, by absorption from the atmosphere
and through the life processes of aquatic plants. When
organic pollution enters this environment, the balance
is altered. The bacteria, present in the water or
8 introduced with pollution, utilize the organic matter
9 as food and multiply rapidly. The resulting oxygen
10 deficiency may be great enough to inhibit or destroy the
n fish and other desirable organisms and to convert the
12 II stream or lake into an odoriferous nuisance. Solubility
13 of oxygen in water is quite low, saturation values ranging
14 from 8 to 13 milligams per liter (mg/l) depending on
15 water temperature and, in lesser degree, on atmospheric
16 pressure. Commonly accepted minimum concentrations that
17 should be maintained at all times to prevent nuisance
18 and promote desirable aquatic life, range from a minimum
19 of 3 mg/l, which will support minimal aquatic life and
20 rough fish, to 6 or more mg/l for certain types of game
21 fish. It is considered that a reasonable goal for
22 dissolved oxygen in Calumet Area streams is an absolute
23 minimum of 3 mg/l and preferably not less than 4. For
24 Lake Michigan itself, it is both reasonable and highly
25 desirable that dissolved oxygen concentration be maintained
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97
i at or near saturation levels.
2 Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
3 The biochemical oxygen demand of muni-
cipal and Industrial waste waters is exerted by three
classes of materials: 1) carbonaceous organic materials,
2) oxldizable nitrogen compounds, and 3) certain chemical
reducing compounds which will react readily with
dissolved oxygen. In general, high BOD values can be
expected to result in lower dissolved oxygen levels
10 in the receiving waters, greater need for chlorine and
11 chemicals for water treatment and may cause tastes
12 and odor in treated water.
13 Bacterial Pollution Indicators
14 Two indicators of the degree of bacterial
is pollution are used in this report: the traditional coliform
16 bacteria test, and the more recently developed test
17 for fecal streptococci. Since the origin of most of
18 the coliform group of organisms is the intestinal tract
19 of warm-blooded animals, Including man, the presence of
20 these organisms in a body of water is strongly indicative
21 of contamination of the water by fecal matter. Waters
22 so contaminated must be presumed to contain also
23 pathogenic bacteria and viruses, some identifiable and
24 some quite difficult to Isolate. The fecal streptococci
25 (fecal strep), which are also enteric organisms abounding
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98
In the intestinal tracts of warm-blooded animals and
man, likewise indicate the presence of fecal matter in
water. Moreover, the fecal strep test is a more positive
indicator, because some of the coliform group may be
found in nature, in soil, etc., and may multiply in
water whereas the fecal strep generally do not
multiply outside their natural intestinal habitat.
Coliform and fecal strep concentrations,
expressed herein as the number of organisms per 100
10 milliliters (ml) of water sample, are therefore indica-
11 tors of the degree of hazard from waterborne disease.
12 While any degree of hazard to health is undesirable,
13 the complete elimination of hazard is impossible, and
u many states and other organizations have established or
15 proposed limiting values on the indicators. For assess-
16 ment of the degree of bacterial pollution in waters of
17 the Calumet Area, the following guidelines are proposed:
18 A) For recreational use involving intimate con-
19 tact such as swimming, water skiing, and skin
20 diving, coliform concentration should not
21 exceed 1,000 MPN per 100 ml and fecal strep
22 count should not exceed 20 MPN per 100 ml;
23 B) For uses involving limited body contact, such
24 as commercial shipping (barge traffic), and
25 boating, coliform and fecal strep counts
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99
should be, respectively, not more than 5,000
2 to 100 per 100 ml;
3 C) For municipal source water, at the intake,
4 average coliform concentration should not
5 exceed 5,000 per 100 ml in any one month, and
6 not more than 20 percent of individual samples
7 in any one month should exceed that amount.
8 It is imperative here to note that the
9 I foregoing suggested guidelines for bacterial pollution
10 are to be regarded as restrictive, not permissive. That
is to say, as subsequently recommended, pathogens and
12 associated organisms originating in human wastes should
13 be destroyed by disinfection, to the greatest degree
14 feasible, at waste treatment plants prior to discharge.
15 Referring particularly to Lake Michigan, the natural
16 bacterial quality of its water is excellent, and every
17 reasonable effort should be made to keep it that way.
18 Phenols
19 Phenolic material, which includes
20 phenols, cresols and xylenols, when found in water is
21 usually the result of pollution by industrial wastes.
22 Very low concentrations of phenols can impart a disagree-
23 able taste to water when chlorinated. Thresholds of
24 taste and odor for chlorophenols range from 1 to 20
25 mlcrograms per liter (ug/1). (Practically speaking, one
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100
microgram per liter Is equal to one part per billion by
weight.) The drinking water standards of the U.S. Public
Health Service recommend that phenols not be present
in a water supply in excess of one microgram per liter
where other more suitable supplies are or can be made
available.
7 Biological Indicators
«-
The kinds and numbers of aquatic plants
and animals Inhabiting a particular body of water, and
10 the stream or lake bottom beneath it, reflect the
11 quality of water that has generally prevailed in the
12 area for an extended period of time. Some plants and
13 animals are capable, by virtue of physiological features
14 or living habits, of withstanding polluted conditions
is and multiply rapidly when competition with less tolerant
16 forms is eliminted. Examples of pollution-tolerant
17 animals are the sludgeworms, bloodworms, leeches, and
18 pulmonate snails, that exist in the decaying organic
19 sediment which builds up from the settleable organic
20 solids present in most waste discharges. A benthic
21 (bottom-dwelling) population consisting of many kinds
22 of organisms with low numbers of each species is typical
23 of unpolluted waters.
24
25
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101
1 Calumet Area Streams
2 Except as otherwise noted, the statements
3 on water quality conditions in this and subsequent sections
4 are based on field surveys and investigations conducted
5 during 1961-64 by the Great Lakes-Illinois River Basins
6 Project.
7 Biological Conditions
8 Summary results of biological studies for
9 the Little Calumet River and the Calumet River are shown
10 in Figure VIII-1 (P. 167). These studies confirmed that all
li of the streams in the Calumet area are polluted, differing
12 only in degree and by nature of the pollutant. The
13 Grand Calumet River is the worst of all as evidenced by
14 a near-absence of bottom organisms. The Little Calumet
15 and Calumet Rivers and the Indiana Harbor Canal were
16 also found severely degraded. None of the streams
17 exhibited a balanced bottom-dwelling community.
18 The Calumet River from its confluence with
19 the Grand Calumet River to its mouth in Calumet Harbor is
20 severely degraded. The stream was highly turbid. Oil
21 slicks and floating sewage solids were observed. At
22 stations at the mouth, and five miles upstream from the
23 mouth, the bottom was composed mainly of organic ooze
24 that had a sewage and petroleum odor. Near the mouth of
25 the Grand Calumet River the bottom deposits of the
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102
Calumet River were composed of Inert or inorganic
materials.
Only very pollution-tolerant sludge-
worms (Oligochaeta) existed in the reach from Lake
Calumet downstream (away from Lake Michigan). From Lake
Calumet upstream to the harbor mouth (Lake Michigan
inlet), sludgeworms predominated, but the presence of
fingernail clams (Spaeriidae) indicated a slight improve-
9 ment in water quality and bottom conditions. Sludgeworms
10 averaged more than 3,000 per square foot in this stream
11 reach.
12 Attached filamentous algae, routinely
13 scraped from substrata in this river, were very pollutlon-
14 tolerant blue-green forms. No pollution-sensitive
is filamentous forms were found.
16 The bottom sediments of the Little
17 Calumet River were composed of ooze and organic debris
18 along with some gravel and rubble. The dredgings had
19 a sewage odor. The water was highly turbid and had a
20 strong sewage odor at the station upstream ten miles
21 from Thorn Creek. Slime was evident for about three
22 miles downstream in the barge canal from the confluence
23 with the Grand Calumet River.
24 The organic bottom deposits of the
25 Little Calumet River supported large numbers of pollution-
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103
tolerant sludgeworms, with population densities as high
as 11,000 per square foot. There were no pollution-in-
tolerant organisms. Pollution-tolerant blue-green algae
were the only aquatic plants living in this river.
The Grand Calumet River was practically
barren biologically. Although there were thick deposits
that usually provide a suitable habitat for sludge-
worms, extended septic periods and toxic pollutants
9 prevented their establishment.
10 Only the very pollution-tolerant
11 filamentous blue-green algae occurred. The bottom was
12 composed of minute iron particles at the farthest
13 station upstream near the headwaters in Gary, Indiana.
14 Westward from that point to the Indiana Harbor Canal,
is the bottom consisted of rubble, petroleum wastes, and
is a heavy black oily organic ooze that had a highly
i? objectionable sewage and petroleum odor. The stream
18 surface was covered with oil.
19 Nutrients in treated sewage from towns
20 in the drainage basin tributary to Burns Ditch, and the
21 sluggishness of the stream, combine to effect a most
22 favorable condition for planktonic algal growth. The
23 subsequent die-off of the algae forms a bottom sediment
24 favorable for populations of pollution-tolerant sludge-
25 worms and bloodworms. The stream is biologically
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104
degraded but not as severely as other area streams.
Industrial pollutants inhibited the
establishments of large numbers of bottom animals in
the Indiana Harbor Canal. The highest number of
sludgeworms, only 44 per square foot, were found near
the southern end of the canal. The stations near the
mouth at Indiana Harbor had only from two to ten sludge-
8 jj worms per square foot. Oil slicks were observed at
9 | all stations and the water was very turbid.
10
11
12
Bacterial Pollution
The bacterial findings for Calumet Area
streams reported herein derive from an intensive 24-
13 1 day sampling survey conducted between August 20 and Sep-
14 tember 12, 1963. Samples were collected once a day at
15 each sampling station on some 20 days of the period.
16 Coliform and fecal streptococcus densities were deter-
17 I mined for each sample, by the membrane filter technique.
18 Representative average and maximum results are shown
19 graphically on Figures VIII-2 (P. 168) and VIII-3 (P. 169).
20 I Gross fecal pollution is generally evidenced. It is also
21 evident on the two Figures that the interstate flow from
22 Indiana to Illinois through both Grand and Little
23 Calumet Rivers is grossly polluted bacterially; this
24 I contributes materially to the health hazard to down-
25 jj stream users, including workers on commercial barge lines
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105
i It and re creationists using the boating areas and boat
2
3
9
11
12
13
launching ramps in the near vicinity.
Fecal streptococcus densities add
further confirmation to the coliform indications of
5 I] pollution. Sampling stations located near the State line
6 || on either side, in both the Grand and Little Calumet
Rivers, had average fecal strep concentrations in the
8 || order of 70,000 to 80,000 per 1OO ml.
Burns Ditch showed an average coliform
10 I density of 120,000 per 100 ml near its point of dis-
charge to Lake Michigan, and 1.7 million per 100 ml
about 4 miles inland. Fecal strep at the latter point
averaged 83,000 ml.
14 I In the Indiana Harbor Canal coliform
is counts averaged 380,000 per 100 ml, and individual tests
16 I ranged up to 2.5 million. Associated fecal strep values
17 ranged as high as 40,000 per 100 ml.
18 In Wolf Lake, coliform densities as high
19 as 19,000 per 100 ml were found in the Indiana portion,
20 and values ranged downward to 250 per 100 ml at the
21 lake's outlet connection to the Calumet River. It is
22 believed that abnormally high coliform counts are con-
23 fined to local areas of Wolf Lake, and there is no
24 evidence of significant interstate bacterial pollution
25 through this lake.
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106
The Calumet River exhibited average
coliform densities of 2,900 per 100 ml near its Junction
with Lake Michigan, increasing to 25*000 per ml about 3
miles farther inland. As described in earlier sections
of this report, the Calumet River generally serves as one
of the diversion channels carrying water away from Lake
Michigan into the Illinois River system. Frequent
reversals of flow occur, however occasioned by Inver-
sion of the flat water surface gradient due to storm
10 runoff or local short-term lowering of Lake Michigan
11 surface level due to surges (seiches) in the lake.
12 Prolonged southwesterly winds could produce both such a
13 lowering of Lake Michigan and a current movement within
14 the lake that is from Illinois into Indiana waters. Thus,
15 at times water from the Calumet River, polluted bacter-
16 ially and otherwise, can cross from Illinois to Indiana.
17 Whether such movement constitutes a hazard or detriment
18 to water uses in Indiana would depend upon the effect-
19 iveness of dllutional mixing, the proximity of beaches
20 or water intakes, and other factors but the possibi-
21 lity exists. Unquestionably the flow reversals are
22 detrimental to beaches and other water uses in Illinois,
23 along the shoreline immediately adjacent to the junction.
24 In summary, widespread and gross bac-
25 terial pollution prevailing throughout the waters of the
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107
Calumet Area stream system constitutes a threat to
public health. Any human contact with these waters
entails an exposure risk of Infectious disease. In
addition, such waters comprise a habitat for insects
(such as roaches) and animals ( such as rats and birds)
which can act as mobile disseminators of infection.
7 Biochemical Oxygen Demand and Dissolved Oxygen
8 Figure VIII-4 (P. 170) shows average BOD
concentrations, at sampling stations on the Little Calumet
10 River, for August-September 1963 survey period pre-
n viously described. Noteworthy is the concentration of
12 20.3 milligrams per liter (mg/l) at mile point 333.1,
13 just east of the Illinois-Indiana State line; combining
14 with average stream flows for the period, that figure
15 converts to a pollutional load of about 1,500 pounds
16 per day of 5-day BOD crossing the line from Indiana into
17 Illinois.
18 Figure VIII-5 (P. 171) shows BOD con-
19 centratlons for the corresponding period in the western
20 part of the Grand Calumet River. It will be noted that
21 BOD concentration near the State line, at mile point 328.7,
22 is 15.7 mg/l; combining this concentration with average
23 stream flow indicates that about 3,200 pounds per day of
24 5-day BOD entered Illinois from Indiana through the
25 Grand Calumet River.
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108
For comparison with the foregoing, the
Calumet Treatment Plant of MSD-Chicago discharges about
10,000 pounds per day of 5-day BOD into the reach of
navigation channel between Lake Michigan and Blue
Island Lock. Thus, the organic waste loads of an
interstate nature, some 3,200 and 1,500 pounds per day
of BOD respectively from Grand and Little Calumet
Rivers, comprise a significant part of the total input
to the reversible-flow portion to the navigation
10 channel, and westward in the Calumet-Sag Channel. In
11 the larger picture of the Illinois River channel system,
12 downstream from the western end of the Cal-Sag Channel,
13 such waste loads are dwarfed by the much larger inputs
14 from MSD-Chicage's main plant at Stickney.
15 Average dissolved oxygen conditions in
16 the Grand and Little Calumet Rivers corresponding in
17 location and time to the BOD conditions just discussed,
is are shown in Figures VIII-6 (P. 172) and VIII-7 (P. 173).
19 Not only did critically low average DO conditions prevail
20 generally throughout the area, but some individual samples
21 showed zero DO at every station. The anomalous value of 4.9
22 mg/l average DO at mile point 337.2 in Indiana, near the
23 point where the Little Calumet River divides to flow
24 east and west, is worth special comment. Here the
25 individual samples showed extreme variability in DO,
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109
i ranging from zero to 25.6 mg/1. The latter represents
2 a high degree of supersaturation and a very unstable
3 transient condition. This anomaly is attributed to
4 intense algal activity and a lagoon effect in the
5 shallow, sluggish, nutrient-rich water.
Q Lake Michigan
7 The following discusses the effects of
8 wastes entering Lake Michigan in the Calumet Area on the
9 quality of the lake and the uses made of it. Wastes
10 entering Lake Michigan come from the Indiana Harbor
11 Canal, industries discharging along the shoreline in
12 Indiana and Illinois, reversal of flow of the Calumet
13 River in Chicago, to a lesser extent the discharge from
14 Burns Ditch in Indiana, and at least one storm water
is overflow in Whiting, Indiana.
16 Biology
17 Between 1961 and 1963 more than 450 bottom
18 dredgings were made in the lake area from Willamette,
19 Illinois to Indiana Dunes State Park and lakeward about
20 30 miles. The lake was divided into sectors bounded by
21 15 minute lines of latitude and longitude, and the numbers
22 of organisms per square foot and the kinds of organisms
23 comprising the bottom animal communities were determined
24 for each sector. Summary results of those data are
25 shown in Figure VIII-8 (P.174) and illustrate the effects
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110
on Lake Michigan of the sources of pollution in the
Calumet Area.
The bottom animal communities of this
area of Lake Michigan were composed of only a few
different kinds of organisms. Sludgeworms (Oligochaeta)
and aquatic scuds (Amphlpoda) were more numerous, but
bloodworms (Tendpiedldae) and fingernail clams (Sphaerldae)
were sometimes abundant. Of these four different kinds
9 of animals only one, the scud, is sensitive to pollution,
10 preferring a clean sand or gravel bottom and relatively
n clear water. Where the lake bottom is subjected to
12 deposits of organic materials the conditions are more
13 favorable for sludgeworms, bloodworms and fingernail
14 clams.
15 Figure VIII-8 (P. 17*0 shows the population
16 differences in bottom organisms from one sector to the
17 other. In Sector 3, offshore from the Calumet Area
18 streams, pollution-tolerant organisms averaged 400 per
19 square foot, and there were only a few clean water
20 associated organisms. In Sector 2, also Calumet Area
21 shoreline waters, pollution-tolerant organisms averaged
22 about 250 per square foot, and again there were only a
23 few pollution intolerant organisms. In Sector 6, which
24 is north of Sectors 2 and 3, and along the Chicago
25 shoreline, pollution tolerant organisms averaged about
-------
Ill
1,000 per square foot of lake bottom and pollution
intolerant forms averaged about 50 per square foot. This
more than two-fold increase in pollution tolerant
organisms is attributed to an organic sediment that is
a more suitable habitat for organisms such as sludge-
worms and less favorable for clean water associated
organisms. The reason sludgeworms were less numerous
in Sectors 2 and 3 is that the heavier suspended particles
contained in wastes from the steel industries settle out
10 before they are carried northward to the Chicago water-
n front. Some of the lighter organic particles from sewage
12 and other organic waste sources also settle out near the
13 Calumet Area, but some are carried northward by lake
14 currents, and deposited along the Chicago shoreline.
15 In addition, toxic and inhibitory materials in some of
16 the industrial pollutants are more highly concentrated
17 in the Calumet Area of the lake than off the Chicago
18 shoreline. The lower concentration of toxic substances
19 in the Chicago Area would permit larger populations of
20 organisms to develop.
21 Further evidence that wastes from the
22 Calumet Area are deposited in the Lake near Chicago is
23 in odors of the dredgings from this area of Lake
24 Michigan. Some of the dredgings from the sectors along
25 the shore contained organic sediments described as ooze.
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3
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
112
Sewage odors were detected In some of the dredgings
in Sectors 1, 2, 3 and 6j and petroleum odors were de-
tected in bottom "muds from Sectors 1 and 2.
The organic materials discharged in the
Calumet Area, and carried by the streams into Lake
Michigan, have created a condition deleterious to
aquatic life. This is indicated by the predominance
of sludgeworms over kinds of organisms beneficial to
fish. The aquatic scud is one of the principal food
organisms for desirable species of Lake Michigan fish,
particularly the whitefish, lake trout, and yellow perch.
In this area where scuds are scarce there is inade-
quate food for large populations of desirable fish.
Trash fish like carp, buffalo and suckers usually pre-
dominate in a lake area where the bottom sediment is
organic.
Pollution of this large area of Lake
Michigan is especially serious because it is practically
irreversible. That is, the conditions that now exist
will not necessarily improve with the cessation of
present waste discharges. In a stream where there is a
current moving in one direction there is a tendency for
the bottom deposits to be scoured away. However, lake
currents are weak and shifting, and bottom deposits
might move only slightly over a long period of time.
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113
i In addition to the study of the bottom
2 organisms, samples of water were collected for planktonlc
3 (free floating) algae evaluations. The information ob-
4 tained about the abundance and kinds of algae presents
5 further understanding of the effects of pollutants. If
6 growth factors such as water movement, temperature and
7 light are favorable, the planktonic algae populations
8 increase with an increase in growth nutrients. There
9 are a wide number of algal growth nutrients but, Just
10 as agricultural crops such as corn and soybeans require
11 measureable amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen, so do
12 the planktonic algae. Inorganic nitrogen and total
13 phosphate concentrations of 0.3 milligrams per liter
14 and 0.03 milligrams per liter, respectively, at the
is start of the algae growing season are considered suffi-
16 cient to cause nuisance algal conditions. Concentrations of
17 inorganic nitrogen were higher than 0.3 mg/1 in the Lake
18 Michigan area adjacent to the Calumet area. However,
19 total phosphate values were near, but rarely ever
20 more than 0.03 mg/l« Secchi disc readings in this
21 area were generally about three feet. Dense
22 populations of planktonic algae did not occur, probably
23 because of a shortage of phosphorus, and because
24 suspended matter restricted light penetration. If the
25 discharge of phosphorus and other nutrients continues,
-------
the concentration of phosphates can be expected to
2 surpass the critical level of 0.03 mg/1 and algal
3 nuisance conditions will occur.
4 Bacteriology
5 The waters off the Calumet area and
6 the Chicago area were studied during 1962 and 1963 in a
7 series of sampling cruises. Coliform and fecal
8 streptococcus determinations were made. Virtually none
9 of these organisms were found in the deep water of the
10 main body of Lake Michigan. Highest coliform concen-
u trations occurred in the waters extending from the mouth
12 of the Calumet River to the Indiana Harbor and out to
13 a distance of approximately two miles offshore. Coli-
14 form densities as high as 7,000 per 100 ml were observed
15 in this area. In the zone extending on eastward to
ie Burns Bitch all determinations were in the range of 1 to
17 1,000 per 100 ml at a distance up to two miles offshore.
18 Coliform densities in the range of 100 to 1,000 were
19 observed extending outward from the Calumet Harbor-
2o Indiana Harbor area for a distance of five to seven miles.
21 Such densities were detected at the Indiana-Illinois
22 boundary line running east and west in Lake Michigan,
23 due north of Whiting. The waters of the south end of
24 Lake Michigan are thus shown to be receiving large loads
||
25 1 of fecal pollution originating in the Calumet Area and
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115
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
in
moving out into Lake Michigan.
Data from records of the Chicago Park
District on the occurrence of coliform bacteria on
beaches in the Calumet Area and northward along the
Lake shore in Chicago are shown below. Each beach was
sampled on 20 to 30 different days during the bathing
season each year, and the table shows the number of
days sampled on which the coliform count exceeded the
values shown.
Beaches No. of sampling days when coliform were
11
12
13
Indiana
14 Whiting
15
16
17
18
19
Hammond
Illinois
Calumet
Rainbow
67th St.
20
Jackson Pk.
21
57th St.
22
49th St.
23
*240,000
24
110,
000
or
greater
greater
196!
2
2
1
1
0
0
0
0
62
5
12
1
0
0
0
0
0
63
7
9
1
0
0
0
0
0
64
0
1*
0
0
0
0
0
0
than greater
10,000
61
8
6
4
2
0
2
0
0
62 63
12 14
13 14
3 12
0 1
1 2
2 2
0 1
0 1
64
1
5
3
0
2
1
1
0
1,
61
19
19
22
10
9
12
12
5
000
62 63
20 23
20 23
19 25
10 9
9 7
11 12
5 11
3 5
than
64
16
18
18
8
10
11
6
4
25
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116
i It is evident that Whiting Beach and
2
17
18
Hammond Beach In Indiana and Calumet Park Beach In
Chicago are the most heavily polluted. These beaches
lie within the artificial bay created by the Calumet
Harbor breakwater and Indiana Harbor, and are directly
subject to pollution by wastes discharged to Lake
Michigan in the Calumet Area. Coliform densities usually
8 I! exceed 1,000 per 100 ml, and are often 100 times higher.
9 The beach at Hammond is closed to swimming by orders
10 of the Hammond Health Department due to high coliform
11 concentrations. The beach is posted for no swimming.
12 The effects of bacterial pollution from
13 the Calumet Area are extended to beaches farther north
14 along the shoreline, although to a diminishing extent.
15 These relationships are shown in Figure VIII-9 (P. 175).
16 1 The locations of the beaches are shown in Figure V-l (P. 156)
The water intakes of Chicago's Dunne
Crib and South District Filtration Plant are often
19 affected by those polluted waters moving northward from
20 Indiana and the mouth of the Calumet River. Rainbow
21 Beach and the filtration plant are immediately adjacent,
22 I and Dunne Crib is two miles offshore. The bacterial
23 records of water from both the plant and crib intakes
24 substantiate the presence of waters carrying fecal
25 pollution. At times the quality of the water abruptly
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117
worsens and coliform densities increase sharply.
During the last part of November 1963, for example,
coliform densities as high as 5,800 were recorded through
an eight-day period. Higher coliform densities have
been recorded in other seasons and years since 1950.
B Phenolic Materials and Taste and Odor
7 In 1962 Lake Michigan studies by the
Public Health Service, phenol samples were collected at
9 three Indiana Harbor stations. Results at these stations
10 and at one nearby lake station were slightly higher than
11 values found in other Inshore sampling. The most
12 notable result was a phenol value of 6.8 mg/1 (micro-
13 grams per liter).
14 In the first half of 1963, stations were
is located within the inner harbor area, and at these
16 stations the analytical results showed definite
17 degradation of water quality. Phenols were as high as
is 52.4 mg/L. At the stations adjacent to the harbor, the
19 phenols were present in concentrations ranging from 0.4
20 to 10.0 mg/1. The May, 1963 studies showed that
21 phenol values at nearly all of sixty-four lake stations
22 in the Indiana Harbor, Calumet Harbor, and adjacent
23 lake stations exceeded 1 mg/L.
24 A special study in the Calumet and
25 Indiana Harbor area was made for phenols during the
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118
! period of October 20 through December 9, 1963. Figure
2 VIII-10 (P. 176> illustrates a typical set of results obtained
3 during this study. One day's sampling was selected for
4 this figure (October 22, 1963) to show a typical flow
c pattern because averages on individual lake stations
O
6 have proved to be misleading. Changes in wind direction
7 from day to day cause the pollution plume to alter its
8 course. The direction and severity of such pollution
9 plumes are best represented by a separate examination
10 of each individual day's sampling. Averages are useful
n in showing larger range effects on the general water
12 quality of sizable areas in the lake, but averages of
13 all results at individual stations do not successfully
14 produce either of the desired patterns.
.. The phenol values shown in Figure
16 VIII-10 (P. 177) were 127 mg/1 in Indiana Harbor, 56 mg/1 at
17 the harbor mouth, and 72 mg/L a half mile out in the
18 lake. At points two miles and four and one-half miles
lg in a northwesterly direction, results were 6 mg/1.
20 They decreased to 5 mg/1 in another mile and to 3 mg/L
21 as the State line was crossed. Higher results (4 to
22 12 mg/1) were observed near the shoreline between
23 Indiana Harbor and Calumet Harbor and in Calumet Harbor.
24 These phenol results were associated with a phenol value
25 of 254 mg/1 in the Indiana Harbor Canal on the same day.
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119
To illustrate both the average results
and the maximum results in both the Indiana and Calumet
Harbor area and the Chicago water intake areas, Figure
VIII-11 (P. 177) show the average of all samples collected
5 I in these areas in 1962 and 1963.
The average of 518 samples in the Calumet
Harbor-Indiana Harbor area was 16 mg/1. In the sector
a I! west across the State line, the average of 105 samples
9 was 1.8 mg/1 and in the sector to the north, where the
10 Chicago water intakes are located, the average phenol
11 value of 21 samples was 1.6 mg/l. It should be pointed
12 out that the maximum values obtained in these three areas
13 were respectively 354 mg/1, 32 mg/1, and 3.2 mg/1, all
14 substantially higher than the typical day previously
is referred to in Figure VIII-10 (P. 176).
16 Phenols are decomposed by bacterial
i? action in the presence of dissolved oxygen and their persis-
18 tence from point-to-point is relatively short-lived, except
19 during low temperature periods. The levels observed in
20 the October study could be expected to be exceeded in
21 colder weather, especially at the stations farthest
22 removed from Indiana Harbor, near the water intakes.
23 The shore intake of the Chicago South
24 District Filtration Plant is less than a mile from the
25 Indiana State line. The Dunne Crib Intake is about two
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8
9
10
11
12
13
14
IS
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
120
miles offshore and less than three miles from the
2 State line. The locations of these intakes are such that
the problems which occur at this plant and the results
4 of analyses obtained here are a direct reflection of
5 interstate pollution.
Records of phenol determinations by the
City of Chicago were obtained during 10 months of record
in 1962 and the first three months of 1963. The 1962
phenol results ranged from 0 to 6 mg/1 with an average
of 2 mg/1. The phenol results from the first three
months of 1963 averaged 1 mg/1.
The Filtration Plant reported that one
of its most serious taste and odor problems occurred
between January 24, 1963 and February 7, 1963» lasting
15 days. During this period threshold odor numbers
increased from the usual level of 4 to a maximum value
of 50 at Dunne Crib and 15 at the shore intake. Odors
during this period were characterized as "hydrocarbon."
This description is usually associated with industrial
wastes. These high odor numbers are reflected in the
heavy use of carbon in an effort to remove the odor.
Associated with these objectionable odors were high
ammonia nitrogen results which will be discussed in more
detail later.
Other periods referred to by the Chicago
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121
South District Filtration Plant as causing similar
problems are shown in Table VIII-1 (P. 152). These periods
were March 3 and 4, 1963* when threshold odor values of 8
(Hydrocarbon) at the shore and 12 (hydrocarbon) at
Dunne Crib were reported. On April 2 to 7, 1963,
6 threshold odor numbers up to 10 at the shore and 14 at
7 the Crib were reported. Again these odors were reported
8 as "hydrocarbon." Another critical period recently
9 reported was a 20-day period from December 11 to
10 December 31, 1964. During this period an excessive
11 threshold odor of 90 (hydrocarbon) was obtained at
12 Dunne Crib and 16 was obtained at the shore.
13 As was discussed in Section VII, the
14 high threshold odor number in January and March 1963,
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
were associated with movements of water from Indiana
towards Chicago intakes.
Four Indiana water plants also take
their water from Lake Michigan in the Calumet Area. The
Gary-Hobart Water Plant reports that when high carbon
dosages are required, hydrocarbon odors are always
responsible. Acute problems were experienced in this
plant in January, February, and March 1963, and less
severe problems were experienced in January, February,
March and December 1964. Threshold odors and phenol
analyses were not reported.
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122
The East Chicago Water Treatment Plant
.2 reports that beginning December 15, 1964, a strong
phenol odor was detected. Threshold odor numbers for
the next eight days ranged from 8 to 35, maintaining
35 for three consecutive days. Normal or average
carbon dosages are 24 to 27 pounds per million gallons.
During these eight days dosages were between 63 and 163
8 Ibs/foG.
9 The Hammond Water Plant reports that
10 when winds are from the southeast or northeast, inten-
11 sive pollution due to phenols is experienced. In the
12 past, phenols were experienced only during winter
13 months but they are now expected at any time. Threshold
14 odor numbers of 2,500 or higher have been recorded. On
15 March 24 and 25 and April 2, 1964, a severe taste was
16 experienced characterized as a "gasoline or paint" type.
17 This continued with less severity for two weeks. An
18 insecticide spill was identified on July 10 and 11,
19 1964, which took one week to eliminate from the system.
20 During December 1 to 26, 1964, threshold odors from
21 30 to 79 were experienced for 77 percent of the time.
22 Whiting, Indiana, is located with
23 industrial plants in close proximity on both sides.
24 Industrial pollution never ceases to be a problem.
25 Threshold odors are usually high, running 15 to 25 when
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10
11
12
13
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
123
severe problems are absent. During 1963 and 1964 much
higher than average chemical dosages were required.
Only one period of phenol results was available. Re-
sults from January 16 to February 6, 1963, ranged from
1 to 26 mg/1 with an average value of 8 mg/1. Threshold
odors during this period averaged 18 with a maximum
of 100. In contrast during the week of December 24,
1964, threshold odors ranged from 300 to 2,000. Phenol
analyses were not obtained during this period.
Because of the taste and odor problems
reported in the first part of 1963, the Public Health
Service began monitoring water intakes in Chicago and
vicinity for organic contaminants. This program was
14 continued until June 1964. The stations selected were
is Whiting, Chicago's South District Filtration Plant,
Chicago Avenue, Evanston, and Waukegan. The carbon
absorption method was used for this study and the average
results are shown in Table VIII-2 (P. 153).
The Whiting, Indiana, plant showed
significantly greater amounts of carbon chloroform
extract than the other intakes. This is an indication
of industrial pollution. An average value of 242 micro-
grams per liter found at this station can be considered
a serious pollution load. Threshold odor numbers up to
3,000 have been reported at Whiting. The "Public Health
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121
Service Drinking Water Standard - 1962" (PHS Publication
No. 956) recommends a threshold odor number limit of 3.
A study by Rosen and Rubin showed that 70 percent of
the organic carbon in the carbon-chloroform extract
from samples of intake water at Whiting, Indiana was
fossil carbon, originating from petroleum and coal, and
indicated industrial sources. The other 30 percent was
contemporary carbon, indicating sewage origin.
The carbon filter extracts from the other
10 water plants indicate they are receiving organic
11 pollutants in their raw water of the same magnitude as
12 obtained in the South District Filtration Plant. Un-
13 fortunately, carbon filter studies were not being made
14 at the times of the most severe taste and odor problems
15 reported by these plants, in January, March, and April
16 1963, and December 1964.
17 Nitrogen: Ammonia, Organic, and Nitrate-Nitrite
18 Nitrogen is necessary to the normal
19 life cycle of aquatic life. If it is present with
20 phosphate in moderate concentrations, accelerated
21 growths of algae and plankton can result. Ammonia in
22 high concentrations, above 2 to 2.5 mg/1 and under
23 alkaline pH conditions (pH8-8.5) is a substance toxic
24 to many forms of aquatic life. At alllevels it is an
25 increased burden to municipal water treatment, because
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125
1 of its high chlorine demand.
2 A study of Indiana Harbor was conducted
3 from May 8 to May 23, 1963, covering five stations in-
4 side the breakwater and 27 stations adjacent to the
s harbor. At the same time, a survey was also made covering
6 32 stations at Calumet Harbor. Pour of these stations
7 were located inside the breakwater, and the others were
8 located outside the breakwater. The concentrations of
9 ammonia nitrogen and organic nitrogen were found to be
10 higher at the stations near the harbors than they were
11 farther out in the lake and were much higher than
12 concentrations found in the mid-lake waters.
13 Figure VIII-12 (P. 178) illustrates typical
14 ammonia nitrogen results as found on November 24, 1963.
15 The highest result was 2.4 mg/1 in the Indiana Harbor
16 Canal, followed by 1.5 mg/1 in the inner harbor, 1.6
17 at the harbor mouth, and 1.1 mg/1 at the point one-half
18 miles from shore. Close by was another result of 0.5
19 mg/1. Four miles northwest of the harbor, the level
20 was 0.45, and at five miles northwest of the State
21 line, the result was 0.75 mg/1.
22 Figure VIII-13 (P.179) shows the average
23 results of all samples collected in the Calumet Area studies,
24 The data were analyzed in quadrangles of 15 minutes
25 latitude and 15 minutes longitude. The average of 538
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126
results in the Calumet Harbor-Indiana Harbor area was
0.35 rog/1. Across the State line to the west, the aver-
age result of 108 samples was 0.19 mg/1. To the north,
in the area of the Chicago water intakes, the average
value of 58 samples was 0.12 mg/1. While the averages
are not significant from a health standpoint, they
represent a nutrient load to the lake, and the maximum
values between 2 and 4.5 mg/1 in the Indiana Harbor-
Calumet Harbor area could be toxic to many forms of
10 aquatic life. In addition, the values up to 0.37 in
n the area of the water intakes contribute to the cost of
12 water treatment. The levels also demonstrate the
13 movement of pollution from the Indiana Harbor area
14 northwestward toward the Chicago water intakes and
15 shore area. Similar patterns were also observed for
16 organic nitrogen and for nitrate-nitrite nitrogen
17 results. The distribution of the total nitrogen results
18 in the area emphasizes the nutrient load placed in the
is lake by the addition of nitrogen in the Calumet area.
20 Excessive amounts of ammonia discharged
21 to interstate waters of Lake Michigan contribute to
22 overfertilization of the lake, with consequent eutrophi-
23 cation or aging. Over-enrichment of the lake can cause
24 prolific growths of algae and aquatic weeds that pile
25 up onto beaches, clog water intakes, interfere with filter
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127
plant operations, and cause taste and odor problems in
municipal water supplies.
An even better indication of the fre-
quency and degree of this pollution can be found in the
5 I records of the Chicago South District Filtration Plant.
6 || The two analyses which were made daily on the raw water
of this plant which was closely allied are ammonia
8
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
nitrogen and threshold odor. Threshold odor has been
9 discussed previously, but it bears some repetition on
10 its relation to ammonia values. The shore Intake of
11 this plant is approximately eight miles from the
12 Indiana Harbor and three-quarters of a mile from the
13 I Indiana-IIlinois State line.
14 The effect of the ammonia in Lake
Michigan water has been felt repeatedly by the Chicago
South District Filtration Plant. This plant takes from
20 to 60 percent of its water from its short intake de-
pending on the total demand on the plant, and the
remainder of the water comes from the Dunne Crib, two
miles off shore. Reports from this plant indicated that
a critical water quality problem existed from January 24,
22 1963 to February 7, 1963.
23 During this period when the severe
24 I "hydrocarbon" threshold odor problem reached a maximum
25 odor number of 50 at the Dunne Crib and 15 at the shore,
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128
high ammonia results were also obtained. The filtration
plant reported that the normal ammonia value of raw lake
water should be 0.004 mg/1 and treatment problems occur
with a rapid increase in chlorine demand when the
ammonia nitrogen level exceeds 0.02 mg/1. During this
period, the average ammonia values at the Dunne Crib
were over 0.02 mg/1 on twelve out of the fifteen days
with maximum values over 0.10 mg/1 on nine days and over
0.20 mg/1 on four of the days. The average value at the
10 short intake exceeded 0.04 mg/1 every day, with maximum
11 values more than 0.10 mg/1 on nine days.
12 Other periods referred to by the Chicago
13 South District Filtration Plant as causing similar
14 problems were March 3 and 4, 1963, April 2 to 7, 1963,
is and December 11 to 31, 1964. On March 3 and 4, 1963,
16 a threshold odor value of 12 was obtained at the Dunne
17 Crib and 8 was obtained at the shore, again with the
18 characteristic hydrocarbon odor. Ammonia values of
19 0.052 mg/1 at the Crib and 0.10 mg/1 at the shore were
20 also obtained on this date. On April 2 to 7, 1963,
21 threshold odors of 14 at the Crib and 10 at the shore
22 were again associated with ammonia values as high as
23 0.14 mg/1 at the Crib and up to 0.098 mg/1 at the shore.
24 During the last reported problem
25 period, December 11 to 31, 1964, a maximum threshold
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129
i odor of 90 (hydrocarbon) and an ammonia value of 0.164
2 mg/1 were obtained at Dunne Crib.
3 Although the highest ammonia values
4 were obtained during the same periods as the highest
5 threshold odors, the relationship does not always hold.
e High ammonia concentrations were also observed and
7 problems occurred from them at a number of other times
8 with no attendant increase in threshold odor numbers.
9 Such conditions existed on numerous occasions, the
10 most notable being from April 15 to May 20, 1963, when
11 ammonia levels were over 0.05 mg/1 for 20 days with
12 three days over 0.11 mg/1 and from November 18 to
13 December 3* 1963* when ammonia nitrogen levels again
14 ranged from 0.05 to 0.14 mg/1 for twelve days.
15 During 1963 at the South District
16 Filtration Plant, ammonia nitrogen results exceeded 0.02
17 mg/1 on 187 days. Shown below Is a breakdown of the
18 number of days this and higher values were exceeded at
19 the Dunne Crib and at the shore:
20 Ammonia Nitrogen
Results Shore (1963) Dunne Crib (196;
21
greater than 0.02 mg/1 182 187
22
greater than 0.05 mg/1 72 77
23
greater than 0.10 mg/1 6 15
24
greater than 0.20 mg/1 3
25
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130
Ammonia problems are also reported by the
Gary-Hobart Water Company which draws its water from
Lake Michigan at Gary. Gary-Hobart reports odors
suggesting gasoline, and that high ammonia concentrations
are common in the raw water, the average magnitude
being 0.10 mg/1. Water company officials report that
each pound of ammonia in the raw water increases the
8 I! chlorine demand by about 10 pounds. On seven days
9 during January, 1963* ammonia concentrations ranged
10 from 0.40 to 0.65 mg/1. On three days in March, 1963,
11 the ammonia values were between 0.30 and 0.40 mg/1.
12 During 1964, ammonia values of 0.15 to 0.4? mg/1 were
13
14
15
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
reported on eight days in January, six days in February
and one day in March.
Additional Problems
16 I The Gary-Hobart Water Company reports
17 || that high iron concentrations are common in the raw
water supply. The average amount of the iron in the
raw water is reported to be 0.15 mg/1. In January,
1963, iron results were 0.4 to 1.0 mg/1 for five days.
In March, 1963, iron ranged from 0.5 to 1.1 mg/1 for
four days. In February and March, 1964, iron values
were between 0.3 and 0.5 mg/1 for eight days. This
iron probably comes from waste pickle liquor discharged
25 to Indiana Harbor. The effect of this iron is to
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131
i Increase the cost of water treatment.
2 An investigation was conducted in
3 September 1963, to determine the source of popcorn slag
4 which fouls the Calumet Park Beach on Lake Michigan at
5 95th Street in Chicago. Popcorn slag is a very light,
6 porous solid which is formed by rapid cooling of molten
7 blast furnace slag by water jets. Some escapes the
8 recovery facilities and is then discharged in washing or
9 cooling water to the adjacent watercourse. The slag
10 floats and is moved by winds and current. Thus, it
11 frequently collects on bathing beaches, where the
12 sulfide odor and gritty texture are both annoying and
13 uncomfortable to bathers. This problem is a more or
H less continuous nuisance throughout the summer. Field
is investigations have indicated that at least two plants
16 discharge this waste. The largest source of popcorn
17 slag is the U.S. Steel, South Works, in Chicago. A lesser
18 source is the Wisconsin Steel Works in Chicago,
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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132
1 EC - CORRECTIVE ACTION NEEDED
2 It is recommended that:
3 1. Industrial plants in both Indiana
4 and Illinois take immediate steps to improve practices
s for exclusion or treatment of wastes, especially the
6 following constituents:
7 Oil and tarry substances;
8 Phenolic compounds or other persistent
9 organic chemicals that contribute to
10 taste and odor problems;
11 Ammonia and other nitrogenous material;
12 Phosphorous;
13 Suspended matter; and
14 Highly acidic or alkaline materials.
is 2. Major Industrial plants institute
16 permanent programs of sampling their effluents to pro-
17 vide more complete information about waste outputs.
18 Location and frequencey of sample collection should be
19 sufficient to yield statistically reliable values of
20 waste output and its variations. Analyses should
21 include the following: pH, oil, tarry residues, phenolics,
22 ammonia, organic nitrogen, total nitrogen, cyanide,
23 toxic metals, phosphorus, suspended solids, and bio-
24 chemical oxygen demand. Wastewater flows should be
25 measured, and results should be reported in terms of
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133
i both concentrations and tonnage rates. Monthly
2 reports of results should be submitted to the appro-
3 prlate State water pollution control agencies, where
4 they will be available in open files. Unusual increases
5 in waste output and accident spills should be reported
6 immediately to the State agency.
7 3. Appropriate State or local agencies
8 establish system of water quality monitoring stations
9 at strategic points in the public waters of the area.
10 Analyses should include the indices recited above, plus
11 dissolved oxygen, coliform and fecal streptococcus
12 counts, and stream temperature. At selected locations
13 and for selected Indices, continuously recording
14 monitors should be maintained and data transmitted to
is a central receiving office. Effective alerting proce-
16 dures should be instituted by State or other appropriate
17 agencies, for quickly informing interested parties of
is sudden changes or hazards to water quality.
19 4. The Thomas J. C^Brien Lock be closed
20 and placed in conventional lockage operation to provide
21 more positive control of flows and reduce the frequency
22 and duration of backflows to Lake Michigan.
23 5. A dam be built across the Grand
24 Calumet River to prevent uncontrolled flows from Lake
25 Michigan to the Illinois River through that channel.
-------
14
15
16
17
18
19
134
Preferred location of the dam is east of the outfall
from the East Chicago Municipal Waste Treatment Plant.
6. All municipal wastes in the area
receive secondary treatment. The trend toward consoli-
dation of small community facilities into integrated
sewer systems should be accelerated, to achieve better
operation conditions and reduce the proliferation of
sewage treatment plants discharging into small tribu-
taries and dry watercourses.
10 I! 7. Hammond and East Chicago investigate
n the feasibility of constructing lagoons for further
12 treatment of waste effluents. Part of the existing
13 poorly-drained floor plain of the Grand Calumet River
might be utilized for this purpose, with levees around
the lagoons high enough to prevent flooding, and
improved bypass channels for storm drainage.
8. All sanitary wastes be disinfected
before discharge. Disinfection should be practiced in
the manner prescribed by State water pollution control
20 I agencies and mutually agreed upon between the two States,
21
22
23
24
25
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135
Table VI-la
SOURCES OF MUNICIPAL WASTES
LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN
Community,
Sanitary
District, or
Institution
Crown Point,
Ind.
St. John TWP,
Ind.
Lincoln Gardens,
Ind.
Ross TWP,
Ind.
Hobart TWP,
Ind.
Hobart, Ind.
Black Oak-Ross,
Ind. (d)
Gary, Ind.
Miller Plant
Chesterton,
Ind.
Porter, Ind. (e)
Valparaiso,
Ind.
Receiving
Stream
(Direct)
Deep River
Turkey Cr.
Turkey Cr.
Turkey Cr.
Deep River
Deep River
L. Cal. R.
Burns Ditch
L. Cal. R.
L. Cal. R.
Salt Creek
Eight Smaller
Sources, Ind.
BURNS DITCH SUBTOTAL
Gary, Ind . SD
Main Plant
G. Cal. R.
East Chicago,
Ind. G. Cal. R.
INDIANA HARBOR SUBTOTAL
LAKE MICHIGAN TOTAL
Treatment
Secondary
Minor
Secondary
Minor
Minor
Secondary
Minor
Secondary
Secondary
Minor
Secondary
Estimated Pop
Connected to
Sewer
8000
3300 (a)
1000
»,6» M
8920 (c)
18,680
6000
5000
^335
1200
15,000
7 Secondary
1 Minor 6350
Secondary
Secondary
92,640
174,500 (f)
57,660
232,100
Estimated- Sewered
. Population Equivalent^
Before
Treatment
8000
650
1000
3000
1800
15,000
6000
4990
uooo
1200
11,600
63,290
299,000
53,300
352, 300
Discharged
1200
650
150
3000
1800
2000
5280
1750
400
1200
500
1325
18,755
l8,HX>(g)
6500 (b)
^M^^^^^^BH
24,600
^3,355
-------
Table Vl-lb
SOURCES OF MUNICIPAL WASTES
LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN
(a) 1,000 in Illinois River basin. Remainder are served by septic tank systems with some systems oper-
ating improperly.
(b) Gary SD sewers serve 1,^00. Remainder are served by septic tank systems with subsurface discharge.
An undetermined amount reaches Turkey Creek.
(c) Gary SD sewers serve several hundred people. The remainder are served by septic tank systems with
subsurface discharge. An undetermined amount reaches Deep River.
(d) About 17,000 in Illinois River Basin; 6,000 in Lake Michigan Basin. Due to local weather conditions
and dredging operations, 0-90$ of this area may drain eastward into Lake Michigan. Man:- ::-:;.'i.ic tank
systems operating improperly or systems are inadequate. Will be served by Merrillville Conservancy
District.
(e) Negotiating with Chesterton to accept and treat Porter's sewage.
(f) Gary Main Plant serves all of Gary except the Miller Area. Outside Gary, a large shopping center and
nearby subdivisions are also served by the main plant sewers. These include: Meadowland Estates -
TOO, Meadowdale - 700, and several snail subdivisions. Altogether, about 1700 people outside Gary
are served by the Gary SD Main Plant sewers.
(g) Also - 3810 Ib/day ammonia nitrogen; 6lO Ib/day organic nitrogen; 30 Ib/day nitrate nitrogen.
(h) Also - 61tO Ib/day ammonia nitrogen; 27^ Ib/day organic nitrogen; 377 Ib/day nitrate nitrogen. ^
*Population Equivalent as Measured by 5-Day Biochemical Oxygen Demand
-------
137
Table VI-2a
SOURCES OF MUNICIPAL WASTES
ILLINOIS RIVER BASIN
Community,
Sanitary
District, or
Institution
Hammond , Ind . ( a )
Black Oak-Ross,
Ind.
Schererville,
Ind.
Dyer, Ind.
Receiving
Stream
(Direct)
G. Cal. R.
L. Cal. R.
Hart Ditch
Hart Ditch
Treatment
Secondary
Minor
Minor (b)
Minor (b)
Estimated Pop.
Connected to
Sewer
lU7,000
1,250
3,600
Estimated
Population
Before
Treatment
281,000
17,000
1,250
3,600
Sewered
Equivalent*
Discharged
27,000(h)
15,000
1,000
3,000
Highland, Ind.
(part) (c)
Three smaller
sources, Ind.
Calumet Plant
(MSD), Ill.(d)
Lansing, 111.
Bloom Twp. San.
Dist., Ill.(e)
Steger, Ill.(f)
Crete, 111.
East Chicago
Heights, 111.
Matteson, 111.
Flossmoore, 111.
Homewood, 111.
Washington Park
Race Track, 111.
L. Cal. R.
None 5,^30
2 Secondary
1 Minor
1,600
L. Cal. R.
L. Cal. R.
Thorn Creek
Third Creek
Deer Creek
Deer Creek
Butterfield
Creek
Butterfield
Creek
Butterfield
Creek
Ditch to
Thorn Cr.
Secondary 602,UOO
Secondary 18,000
Secondary 68,000
Secondary 6,UOO
Secondary 3,500
Secondary 10,000
Secondary 3,000
Secondary U,600
Secondary lU,000
Secondary 20,000
1,250
780
883,000 8o,ooo(i)
18,000 3,600
77,000 16,900(j)
6, too 1,300
3,500 1,000
10,000 1,200
3,000 200
700
15,000 i,uoo
1,000
100
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138
Table VI-2b
SOURCES OF MUNICIPAL WASTES
ILLINOS RIVER BASIN
Community,
Sanitary
District, or
Institution
Southdale
Subd., 111.
Thornton, 111.
Hazel Crest,
111.
Sundale Hills
Subd., 111.
Receiving
Stream
(Direct)
Lansing Dr.
Ditch
Thorn Creek
Cal. Union
Dr. Ditch
Midlothian
Creek
Est. 20 smaller
sources, 111.
ILLINOIS RIVER TOTAL
CALUMET AREA TOTAL
Treatment
Secondary
Secondary
Secondary
Secondary
All
Secondary
Estimated
Connected
Sewer
1,200
2,900
6,200
1,UOO
5,000
9^2,480
1,267,220
Estimated Sewered
Pop. Population Equivalent*
to Before
Treatment Discharged
800
2,900
6,200
1,900
5,000
1,3^7,830
1,763,^20
100
koo
600
200
500
159,860
203,215
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Table VI-2c
SOURCES OF MUNICIPAL WASTES
ILLINOIS RIVER BASIN
(a) Includes contributions from Whiting, Monster, Griffith, and Highland (part). Improvements completed
to raise capacity to 36 MOD.
(b) Sewage treatment plant under construction.
(c) Part of wastes served to Hammond. Interceptor to take 100$ of wastes to Hammond, SD is under
construction.
(d) Serves Alsip, Blue Crest, Blue Island, Burnham, Calumet City, Calumet Park, Canterbury Gardens, Chicago,
Chicago Ridge, Dixmoor, Dolton, Evergreen Park, Garden Homes, Harvey, Hickory Hills, Markham, Meerion-
ette Park, Midlothian, Oak Forest, Oak Lawn, Phoenix, Pcsen, Riverdale, Robbins, South Holland, Key-
stone Additions, Manor Heights Subdivision, Martin Roberts Subdivision, (Oaklawn), and South Stickney.
(e) Serves Park Forest, Chicago Heights, and South Chicago Heights.
(f) The population of Steger is divided U,300 Hill County and 2,100 Cook County.
(g) Now being sewered for a proposed treatment plant, now partly sewered, septic tanks, etc., with large
percentage discharging to Midlothian Creek.
(h) Also: 990 Ib/day ammonia nitrogen; 310 Ib/day organic nitrogen; 1,070 Ib/day nitrate nitrogen.
(i) Also: 12,200 Ib/day ammonia nitrogen; 17,500 Ib/day total nitrogen; based on 1961-1962 data.
(j) Also: 850 Ib/day ammonia nitrogen; 710 Ib/day organic nitrogen; 3^ Ib/day nitrate nitrogen.
00
*Population Equivalent As Measured By 5-Day Biochemical Oxygen Demand \Q
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140
Table VI-3 a
SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES, LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN
Industry and City
Receiving
Stream
Nature of
Waste
Treatment
Provided
N. Ind. Public Service Co.
Baileytown, Indiana
N. Ind. Public Service Co.
Gary, Indiana
Universal Atlas Cement Co.
Gary, Indiana
Union Carbide Chemicals Co.
Whiting, Indiana
American Oil Company
Whiting, Indiana
American Maize-Products Co.
Hammond, Indiana
Commonwealth Edison Co.
State Line Station
Hammond, Indiana
U.S. Steel Corp., So. Works
Chicago, Illinois
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Chesterton, Indiana
Midwest Steel Division
National Steel Corporation
Portage, Indiana
LAKE MICHIGAN SHORELINE
L. Michigan Ash
L. Michigan Ash
L. Michigan Domestic
Settling Ponds
Settling Ponds
Secondary
L. Michigan Petrochemical Some recirculation
Petroleum
L. Michigan refinery
L. Michigan Corn starch
Fly ash,
L. Michigan slag
L. Michigan Basic steel
Rolling mill
L. Cal. R. Domestic
Rolling mill
Burns Ditch Domestic
Oil separators
Secondary
Lagoon, inplant
control
Dewatering
bins
Flue dust
clairifier
Scale pits,
Flocculation-
Clairification
Scale pits,
Flocculation
Clairification,
Secondary
Chlorination
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141
Table VI-3b
SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES, LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN
Industry and City
Receiving
Stream
Nature
of Waste
Treatment
Provided
U.S. Steel Corporation*
Gary Works
Gary, Indiana
U.S. Steel Corporation
Gary Sheet & Tin Mill
Gary, Indiana
Steiner Tissue Mill
Gary, Indiana
Berry Refining Co.
Gary, Indiana
Cities Service Petroleum Co.
East Chicago, Indiana
E. I. DuPont de Menours & Co.
East Chicago, Indiana
Blaw Know Company
East Chicago, Indiana
General American Trans-
portation Company
East Chicago,, Indiana
Linde Air Products Co.
East Chicago, Indiana
American Oil Company
Hammond, Indiana
GRAND CALUMET RIVER - INDIANA HARBOR CANAL
G. Cal. R.
Basic steel
Coke
G. Cal. R.
G. Cal. R. Paper
No discharge
Petroleum
G. Cal. R. Refinery
Inorganic
G. Cal. R. Chemicals
Indiana
Harbor Canal
Indiana Tank car
Harbor Canal washing
Indiana Cooling
Harbor Canal water
Petroleum
L. George Br. refinery
Phenol quenched
pickle liquor
absorption lagoon,
oil recovery pits
flue dust-partial
recovery
Save-alls
Oil separator &
impounding basin
Oil separators,
sulfide &
ammonia stripper,
caustic neutra-
lization
Controlled dis-
charge facilities,
acid neutral-
ization
Settling tanks
& filters
Pond, settling
basin, oil
separator, pH
control, chemical
treatment
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142
Table VI-3c
SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES, LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN
Industry and City
Receiving
Stream
Nature
of Waste
Treatment
Provided
GRAND CALUMET RIVER - ITOIANA HARBOR CANAL
Calumet Nitrogen Products Co.
Hammond, Indiana
Union Tank Car Company
Hammond, Indiana
Sinclair Refining Company
East Chicago, Indiana
L. George Br.
L. George Br.
L. George Br.
Synthetic
ammonia
Tank car
washing
Petroleum
refinery
East Chicago Storm Sewer
East Chicago, Indiana
Mobil Oil Company
East Chicago, Indiana
L. George Br.
L. George Br.
Industrial
Petroleum
refinery
U.S. Gypsum Company
East Chicago, Indiana
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.
East Chicago, Indiana
Inland Steel Company
East Chicago, Indiana
Indiana
Harbor Canal
Indiana
Harbor Canal
Indiana
Harbor Canal
Gypsum &
Basic steel
Coke
Basic steel
Coke
Holding
pond
Chemical oil
separation basins
Oil separators,
cooling towers,
ammonia-sulf ide
stripper, sulfide
oxidation, caustic
treatment, phenolic
waters routed
through desalters
Oil separation,
cooling towers,
straw filters,
sulfide & ammonia
strippers under
construction.
Stripper waters
will be through
desalters for
phenol reduction
None
Phenol & pickle
liquor recovery,
thickeners, oily
waste treatment,
scale pits
Phenols & nap-
halene recovery,
coke plant
cooling waters,
recirculation,
scale pits
-------
Table VI - 3d
SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES, LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN
Receiving Nature of Treatment
Industry and City Stream Waste Provided
GRfiND CALUMET RIVER - INDIANA HARBOR CANAL
Adolph Plating, Inc. G. Cal. R. Plating
East Chicago, Indiana
U.S.S. Lead Refinery, Inc. G. Cal. R.
East Chicago, Indiana
American Steel Foundries Indiana
East Chicago, Indiana Harbor Canal
* Also includes U.S. Steel Corporation National Tube Division and American
Bridge Division, Gary, Indiana.
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144
Table VI-W
SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES, ILLINOIS RIVER BASIN
Industry and City
Receiving
Stream
Nature
of Waste
Treatment
Provided
Commonwealth Edison Company
Calumet Station
Chicago, Illinois Calumet R.
Wisconsin Steel Works
Chicago, Illinois Calumet R.
Interlake Iron Corporation
Chicago, Illinois Calumet R.
Republic Steel Corporation
Chicago, Illinois Calumet R.
Lever Brothers Company
Hammond, Indiana Wolf Lake
Allied Chemical Company
Chicago, Illinois Calumet R.
Cargill, Inc.
Chicago, Illinois Calumet R.
Ford Motor Company
Chicago, Illinois Calumet R.
LaSalle Steel Company
Hammond, Indiana G. Cal. R.
Swift & Company
Burnham, Illinois G. Cal. R.
Catalin Corporation
Calumet City, Illinois L. Cal. R.
Spencer Chemical Company
Calumet City, Illinois L. Cal. R.
Acme Steel Corporation
Riverdale, Illinois L. Cal.. R.
Flue dust,
some neutra-
lized pickle
liquor, coke
breeze
Some coke
wastes, flue
dust
Flue dust,
pickle liquor
Soap,
fats
Inorganic
chemicals
Soybean
oil
Paint, alkali,
chromium
Some pickle
liquor
Fertilizer
Phenolics
Thickener,
neutrali zatibn
Thickeners,
closed coke
quench
Thickeners,
scale pits
Air flotation,
chlorination
Neutrali zation,
treatment plant
under construction
Filtration,
treatment plant
under construction
Acid neutralization
None
Raw sewage Thickener,
mill scale, scale pits,
pickle liquor oil separation
-------
145
Table VI-^b
SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES, ILLINOIS RIVER BASIN
Receiving Nature Treatment
Industry and City Stream of Waste Provided
State Street Ditch
Chicago Heights, 111. Thorn Creek Phosphate
Simmons Company
Monster, Indiana L. Cal. R. Plating Alkaline
chlorination of
cyanide, reduction
of chromate
-------
Table VI-5a
QUANTITIES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTE, LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN
Industry
and
City
PE (5 Pounds Per Day
Discharge Day BOD Ammonia Total
MOD Basis) Nitrogen Nitrogen Phenolics Cyanide Oil Other
N. Ind. Public Service Co.
Baileytown, Indiana U25
N. Ind. Public Service Co.
Gary, Indiana U32
Universal Atlas Cement Co-
Gary, Indiana
Union Carbide Chemical Co.
Whiting, Indiana H3
American Oil Company
Whiting, Indiana
97
American Maize-Products Co.
Hammond, Indiana .8.6
Commonwealth Edison Co.
State Line Station
Hammond, Indiana 700
U.S. Steel Corp., So. Works
Chicago, Illinois
Betnlehem Steel Corporation
Chesterton, Indiana
Midwest Steel Div., National
Steel Corporation
Portage, Indiana 2.6
99,000
57,000
3,815
990
U,800
13
1,088
3,951
860
250
60
7,700
Recently began operations, no data available
UOO
-------
Table VI-5b
QUANTITIES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES, LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN
Industry
and
City
Discharge
MOD
PE (5
Day BOD
Basis)
Pounds Per Day
Ammonia Total
Nitrogen Nitrogen Phenolics Cyanide Oil Other
U.S. Steel Corp- Gary Works
Gary, Indiana 330
U.S. Steel Corporation
Gary Sheet & Tin Mill
Gary, Indiana
Steiner Tissue Mill
Gary, Indiana 1-85
Berry Refining Co.
Gary, Indiana None
Cities Service Petroleum Co.
East Chicago, Indiana 80
E. I. DuPont de Menours & Co.
East Chicago, Indiana 10.8
Blaw Khox Co.
East (Chicago, Indiana 0.9
General American Trans-
portation Company
East Chicago, Indiana
Linde Air Products Co.
East Chicago, Indiana 0.5
266,000
26,000
UT,UOO
10,000(a)
360
60
13,750
1,1UO
8
(a) Estimated equivalent of 9500 pounds per day sulfur dioxide
17,1*00 1,500 1,700 5U,000
1,580
11
68
130
9500 Ib/day
sulfur dioxide
83
27
-------
Table VI-5c
QUANTITIES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES, LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN
Industry
and
City
American Oil Co.
Hammond, Indiana
Calumet Nitrogen Products
Hammond, Indiana
Union Tank Car Co.
Hammond, Indiana
Sinclair Refining Co.
East Chicago, Indiana
East Chicago Storm Sewer
East Chicago, Indiana
Mobil Oil Company
East Chicago, Indiana
U.S. Gypsum Company
East Chicago, Indiana
Discharge
MOD
O.ll*
Co.
1.0
0.2
3-8
0.6
3.9
0.18
PE (5
Day BOD
Basis)
2,3^0
200
1*00
».7*
ll*,820
12,1*00
30
Pounds Per Day
Ammonia Total
Nitrogen Nitrogen Phenolic s Cyanide Oil Other
20 100 170 1*0
1,11*0 1960 (b) 330
130 200 190 290
1*0 160 1*0 1,1*00
1,130 1,200 780 Not det.
SUSP . !
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.
East Chicago, Indiana 250
100,200
6,000
250
250
Inland Steel Company
East Chicago, Indiana 1*80 199,800 16,800 21,000 620
(b) Sewer from ammonium nitrate plant has been connected to Hammond Sanitary District System.
of treatment not determined. Estimated present discharge 0.8 MOD-
18 187 lb/day
sampled dur-
ing strike
Some pickle
18,900 liquor
2l*,800 pickle
Effectiveness
V-"
-pr
00
-------
Table VI-6a
QUANTITIES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES, ILLINOIS RIVER BASIN
Industry
and
City
Commonwealth Edison Co.
Calumet Station
Chicago, Illinois
Wisconsin Steel Works
Chicago, Illinois
Interlake Iron Corp.
Chicago, Illinois
Republic Steel Corp.
Chicago, Illinois
Lever Brothers Co.
Hammond, Indiana
Allied Chemical Company
Chicago, Illinois
Cargill, Inc.
Chicago, Illinois
Ford Motor Company
Discharge
MOD
220
UO
37
85
10
u
OA
0.5
PE (5 Pounds Per Day
Day BOD Ammonia Total
Basis) Nitrogen Nitrogen Phenolics Cyanide Oil Other
2,200 100 10 800
20,300 700 900 260
00 80
18,000
U,200
8,700 590
3,000
LaSalle Steel Company
Hammond, Indiana
Swift & Company
Burnham, Illinois
Catalin Corporation
Calumet City, Illinois
vo
1-5
1,800
90
-------
Table VI-6b
QUANTITIES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES, ILLINOIS RIVER BASIN
Industry
and
City
Discharge
M3D
PE (5
Day BOD
Basis)
Pounds Per Day
Ammonia Total
Nitrogen Nitrogen Phenolics Cyanide Oil Other
Spencer Chemical Co.
Calumet City, Illinois
Acme Steel Corporation
Riverdale, Illinois
State Street Ditch
Chicago Heights, 111.
Simmons Company
Munster, Indiana
U8
8
5,000
U,300
0.3
90
raw sewage
900 3,300 Ib/day*
phosphate
*Including Victor Chemical Company's share of discharge from Sanitary District of Bloom Township
VJI
O
-------
151
Table VI-7
Public Health Service Grants for Construction of Waste Treatment Facilities
Municipality
INDIANA
Dyer
Griffith
Hammond S.D. (STP)
Hammond S.D.
(Munster Interc)
Highland
Hobart
Schererville
Merrillville
(Conservancy District)
ILLINOIS
Thornton
Lansing
Date
Offered or
Approved Amount
Estimated
Total Cost
of Project Status of Project
9/5/63
9/11/61
9/20/62
10/19/62
10/10/63
10/19/60
10/2U/63
1/6/65
3/5/58
V2/57
$250,000 $ 977,000
250,000 1,519,000
250,000 3,500,000
2^3,000 810,000
229,500 765,000
250,000 1,01*3,200
2^5,970 819,000
32,880 112,800
20U,830 682,800
Under construction
Essentially in
operation
Contracts awarded
In operation
Under construction
I8l,7lf0 605,800 Offer made
In operation
In operation
-------
152
Table VIII-1 - SUMMARY OF RAW WATER PROBLEMS
CHICAGO SOUTH DISTRICT FILTRATION PLANT, 1963-^
Time Period
1963
Jan. 2U-Feb. 7
March 3-U
April 2-7
Threshold Odor*
Average Maximum
Crib Shore
1U 9
9 6
8 6
Prevalent Odors
hydrocarbon
disagreeable
musty
septic
hydrocarbon
disagreeable
musty
chemical
hydrocarbon
disagreeable
musty
chemical
Carbon Dosage
pound per MG
Av. Max.
266
208
1*8
Dec. 11-12
Dec. 22-31
55
6
11
5
hydrocarbon
hydrocarbon
disagreeable
musty, fishy
septic, moldy
532
130
*Public Health Service Drinking Water Standards is a maximum of 3.
-------
153
liable VIII-2
ORGANIC CONCENTRATIONS AT CHICAGO AND VICINITY WATER INTAKES
Results in nicrograns per liter
Average Maxima Minimum
Whiting, Indiana
CCE
CAE
Total
South District Filtration Plant
CCE
CAE
Total
Chicago Avenue
CCE
CAE
Total
Evanston, Illinois
CCE
CAE
Total
Waukegan, Illinois
CCE
CAE
Total
CCE Carbon chloroform extract
CAE Carbon alcohol extract
1U6
169
308
Plant
k6
162
208
53
165
218
VT
162
209
k2
156
197
2k2
212
U2
76
262
315
97
227
29k
71
230
287
66
198
290
67
132
187
18
103
138
35
93
iVf
29
90
146
14
90
121
-------
Chicago River
~NTRAL DISTRICT
660
LEGEND-
WATERSHED BOUNDARY
DIRECTION OF FLOW
-FILTRATION PLANT
BAR SCALE: l"= 100 MILLION GALLONS DAILY
K
, ,u\7
EAST CHICAGO
~ GARY-HOBART WATER
^ r*_
24
4 UILC3
SCALE
V L
CHICAGO AND CALUMET AREA
AND MUNICIPAL WATER SUP
) AND CALUMET AREA DRAINAGE
l MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLIES
-------
t
I
SSI'S99 C* i-.LUMET SEWAGE
"""^-SSgj^y TREATMENT PL.ANT
"x^ 8tut ItlOAd LOCh«(lo _
^w fo. b« abandi
c^s'f
%£R
T;
O
LOCATION MAP
CALUMET AREA
K
-------
O
c
LAKE
MICHIGAN
ILL.IMICH.
. -J * '
IND.
H
LEGEND
E3 BEACHES
E PARKS
X MARINAS S LAUNCHING RAMPS
< DtBECTION OF FLOW
WATERSHED BOUNDARY
o t 4
| | MILES
SCALE
BEACHES,WATER- ORIENTED PARKS
8 MARINAS, CALUMET AREA
-------
o
TO
m
H
ILLINOIS RIVER BASIN
101 Commonwealth Edison
Co., Calumet Sta.
102 Wis. Steel Works
103 Interlake Iron Corp.
104 Republic Steel Corp.
105 Lever Bros. Co.
106 Allied Chemical Co.
107 Cargill, Inc.
108 Ford Motor Co.
109 LaSalle Steel Co.
HO Swift & Co.
Ill Catalin Corp.
112 Spencer Chem. Co.
113 Acme Steel Corp.
114 State Street Ditch
115 Simmons Company
LAKE MICHIGAN BASIN
1. N. Ind. Public Serv.
Co., Baileytown Sta.
2. N. Ind. Public Serv.
Co.,Dean Mitchell Sta
3. Universal Atlas
Cement Company
4. Union Carbide Chem.Co
5. American Oil Co.
6. American Maize-Prod.
Co.
7. Comm. Edison Co,,
State Line Station
8. U.S. Steel Corp.,
South Works
9. Bethlehem Steel Corp.
10. Midwest Steel Div.
11. U.S. Steel Corp.,
Gary Steel Works
A K E
M I C H I\G A N
IL L.| MICH.
IND.
H
MILCS
C«kC
12. U.S. Steel Corp.,
Gary Sheet & Tin Mill
13. Steiner Tissue Mill
14. Berry Refining Co.
15. Cities Serv. Petro.Co.
16. E.I. duPont deNemours
& Co.
17. Blaw Knox Co.
18. Gen.Amer.Trans.Co.
19. LLnde Air Prod.Co.
20. American Oil Co.
21. Calumet Nit.Prod.Co.
22. Union Tank Car Co.
23. Sinclair Refining Co.
East Chicago Storm Sewer
Mobil Oil Company
U.S. Gypsum Company
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.
Inland Steel Company
^- DIRECTION OF FLOW
WATERSHED BOUNDARY
2k.
25.
26.
27.
28.
Ui
PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES
-------
e>
C
a
H
LAKE
M I C H I \G A N
ILLjMICH.
«_^^B^ »
IND.
H
LEGEND
I - CALUMET S.T.P-80,000 PE
2 - INTERLAKE IRON CORP. - 20,300 PE
3- AMERICAN MAIZE-PROD.CO.-44,000PE
4 - AMERICAN OIL CO.-59.300 PE
5 UNION CARBIDE CHEM.CO.-99.000PE
6 YOUNGSTOWN S.ST CO.-100,200 PE
7 INLANDSTEELCO.-I99.800PE
8 U.S. STEEL CORR-266.000PE
9 HAMMOND S.O.-27,000PE
10 CITIES SERVICE PETR.CO.-47,400PE
II STEINER TISSUE MILL-26,000PE
-^- DIRECTION OF FLOW
I WATERSHED BOUNDARY
MILES
PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF OXYGEN DEMANDING
WASTES, POPULATION EQUIVALENT
VJ1
oo
SCALE
-------
N
M
LAKE
MICHIGAN
ILL. | MICH.
IN 6.
H
LEGEND
| CALUMET S.T.P-12,200 LB/OAY
2 AMERICAN OIL CO.-3,833 LB/OAY
3 YOUNCSTOWN S.8T. CO.-4,090LB/DAY
4 INLAND STEEL CO.-16,800LB/DAY
5 GARY S.D.-3,810 LB/DAY
6 U.S.STEEL CORP.-I3.750LB/DAY
^-DIRECTION OF FLOW
WATERSHED BOUNDARY
MILU
PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF AMMONIA
NITROGEN.POUNDS PER DAY
VJl
VD
SCALE
-------
o
c
X
en
ti
LAKE
MICH I\G A N
ILL. I MICH.
, . i I »
IND.
LEGEND
I INTERLAKE IRONCORP-900LB./DAY
2 U.S.STEELCORP.-250LB./DAY
3AMERICAN OIL CO.-I260LB./DAY
4 YOUNGSTOWN S.8T. CO.-250LB./DAY
5 INLAND STEEL CO.-620LB./DAY
6- U.S.STEEL CORP-1^00 LB./DAY
7 MOBIL OIL CO.-780LB./DAY
^-DIRECTION OF FLOW
WATERSHED BOUNDARY
PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF PHENOLICS,
POUNDS PER DAY
cr\
o
SCALE
-------
LAKE
M I C H 11 G A N
ILL. | MICH.
IND.
n
LEGEND
I YOUNGSTOWN S.ST. CO.-250LB./DAY
2 INLAND STEEL CO.-940LB./DAY
3 U.S. STEEL CORP-1700LB./DAY
-^-DIRECTION OF FLOW
WATERSHED BOUNDARY
O
C
31
m
MILES
PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF CYANIDE,
POUNDS PER DAY
SCALE
-------
o
C
2)
m
K E
Ml C H I\G A N
ILL. I MICH.
IND."
H
I U.S. STEEL CORP-7.700LB/DAY
Z AMERICAN OIL CO.-4,000LB/OAY
3 YOUNGSTOWN S.8 . CO.-18,900LB/OAY
4 INLAND STEEL CO.-24,800LB/DAY
5 E.CHI.STORM SEWER- I.400LB/OAY
6 CITIES SERVICE-4,040 LB/OAY
7 U.S.STEEL CORP.-54.000LB/DAY
^DIRECTION OF FLOW
WATERSHED BOUNDARY
MILCS
PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF OIL.
POUNDS PER DAY
fU
SCALE
-------
163
VWINNETKA
VKENILWORTH
vWILMETTE
LAKE
MICHIGAN
Q Wilton Av«.
£ Corltr H. Horriton
A Four Mite
Q 68lh St.
Q Hammond
SCALE
01234 5Mile»
L:
*
i
Do
t
i
GENERALIZED WATER MOVEMENT
JAN. 21-24, 1963
TOTAL FLOW
19 MILES
FIGURE m-l
-------
164
vWINNETKA
xKENILWORTH
SWILMETTE
LAKE
M I C H I G A N
Q Wilson Avt.
^ Corltr H. Horriton
^ Four MiM
c{>) 68th St.
O Hommond
HAMMOND
\^
GENERALIZED WATER MOVEMENT
MAR. 14-16, 1963
TOTAL FLOW
15 MILES
FIGURE m-2
-------
165
\L A K E MICHIGAN
DEC. 1962-MAR. 1963
LAKE MICHIGAN
APR.-JULY 1963
LAKE MICHIGAN
LEGEND
Primary Flow
Secondary Flow
Norr:
Arrow length i» proportional to per cent of time
water moved in direction indicated.
PER CENT OF TIME
ill i I i.i
10
20
30
50
AUG.-NOV. 1963
GENERALIZED
LONG TERM MOVEMENTS
FIGURE sn-3
-------
166
MICHIGAN
K
Current pattern in Calumet Harbor during prevailing
conditions with light wind from southwest.
CALUMET HARBOR
SUMMER 1963
FIGURE 301-4
-------
CALUMET RIVER
LITTLE CALUMET RIVER
12.000
»,ooo-
> 6,000-
o
I
5,000
LEGEND
^9 Pollution Toieront
| | Pollution Intoleront
+ Troce
O No Orgonisms
^^ Direction Of Flow
_ _ _ Watershed Boundary
X
BOTTOM ORGANISMS
LITTLE CALUMET ft CALUMET RIVERS
1961-1963
-------
10,000,000 -
1,000,000 -
E 100,000
O
o
\
1/1
5
(A
t
K
O
10,000 -
1,000
n
o
c
100
COLIFORM DENSITIES GRAND CALUMET RIVER
1
3258
3266
_~ DIRECTION
l§
3287
HAMMOND
L EGEN D-
Moximum
Number
Arithmetic
Average
5,000-
2,000-
1,000-
a\
oo
RIVER
MILES
ABOVE
GRAFTON
-------
MIDLOTHIAN
CREEK
10,000,000-
1,000,000-n
E
O
O
\
-------
I
If 1111
25-1
20
5 DAY BOD
LITTLE CALUMET RIVER
(AVERAGES)
o
o
ffi
o
m
10-
320
RIVER
325
MILES
330
ABOVE
335
GRAFTON
-------
5s. s
** >-
oo 5
I 11
20
5 DAY BOD
GRAND CALUMET RIVER
(AVERAGES)
o
o
o>
o
m
10
o
c
»...-..--a
325
RIVER
MILES
330
ABOVE
GRAFTON
-------
DISSOLVED OXYGEN-LITTLE CALUMET RIVER
LANSING
MUNSTER
LEGEND-
Average DO Values
( Minimum DO Values
THORN CREEK
2.5
2.0
..5
1.0
0.5
o
c
2
m
CALUMET UNION
DRAINAGE DITCH
MIDLOTHIAN CREEK
i
HART DITCH
HIGHLAND
4.9
ro
320
330
RIVER
ABOVE
GRAFTON
-------
DISSOLVED OXYGEN-GRAND CALUMET RIVER
i.o-
0.5-
o
325
RIVER
MILES
LEGEND-
- Average 00 Values
i Minimum DO Value*
HAMMOND
EAST CHICAGO
U)
ABOVE
330 _^
GRAFTON
-------
174
42V4
42°OO'-
41-45'
2.OOO
1,800
u.
O
v. I.OOO
O
900
290
87*49'
LtGENO
^1 Pollution Tolerant
| | Pollution Intoleront
+ Troce
^ Intakes
87'30
87°19'
BOTTOM ORGANISMS
S.W. LAKE MICHIGAN
1961-63
10 MILES
42*00
87eOO'
SCALE
FIGURE SHC-8
-------
COLIFORM DENSITIES PER 100 ml AT CHICAGO.HAMMOND.S WHITING BEACHES
PREVAILING LAKE CURRENTS
-------
LAKE
MICHIGAN
LEGEND
Scole' l" = 32 ug/l
j MILES
ILL. Mia
PHENOLS, OCT. 22,1963
-------
87°45'
87° 30'
87° 15'
42°I5'
o
c
LAKE MICHIGAN
10 MILES
j
4I°45'
PHENOLS
AVERAGE OF ALL SAMPLES
S.W. LAKE MICHIGAN
1962-63
-------
ILL. 'MICH.
CHICAGO
o
c
M I C H I G A N
AMMONIA-NITROGEN, NOV.22,1963
LEGEND
Seole l"= I.Omg/l
IEAST CHICAGO
HAMMOND
SCALE
-------
87° 45'
87° 30'
879 lb' 0.3-1
4 2° 15'
c
3)
m
LAKE MICHIGAN
10 MILES
AMMONIA NITROGEN
AVERAGE OF ALL SAMPLES
S.W. LAKE MICHIGAN
1962-63
vo
-------
I8o
MR. LE BOSQUET: Findings are based on data obtained
from state, local and sanitary district records, industries,
and from sampling by the Public Health Service.
Information presented in the report is
but a small sampling of the total available on this
complex situation.
Principal items in the bibliography
include the record of the Supreme Court hearings which
were terminated recently in July of '63; the Jones
10 Committee record already mentioned is also a very excellent
11 document, and we have a number of copies and I recommend
12 it for your attention; the information collected in
13 connection with the development of a comprehensive
14 Water Pollution Control Program for the Illinois River
15 and Lake Michigan Basins has been used; and finally,
16 information on past conditions is found in Public
17 Health Bulletin 1?0 of 1927 which reports on an early
18
19
20
cooperative investigation in which I was happy to
participate as a young fellow.
The cooperation
21 I] CHAIRMAN STEIN: Mr. LeBosquet, if you will let
22 me interrupt a moment, Mr. Klassen just showed me
23 something he pulled from his record and it says, "Report
24 on Analytical Study of Relationship Between Sewer
25 Outlets and Bathing Beaches in Lake Michigan Along North
-------
ibi
l Shore Sanitary District by Maurice LeBosquet, Assistant
Sanitary Engineer and Harry F. Ferguson, Chief Sanitary
3 Engineer," and the date on this, Maurice, is August-
4 September 1922.
5 (Laughter.)
c I think your qualifications speak for
b
7 themselves.
8 (Laughter.)
. MR. LE BOSQUET: I don't know whether I am decrepit
y
or not.
n (Laughter.)
The cooperation provided by the Indiana
1 Zt
13 Stream Pollution Control Board, the Illinois Sanitary
j Water Board, the Metropolitan Sanitary District of
j Greater Chicago, the industries and others in supplying
.. valuable information is greatly acknowledged.
17 This Industrial waste information was
10 obtained from these sources plus studies by the Public
lo
lg Health Service.
20 Specifically, the Public Health Service
21 conducted a sampling survey of industrial wastes in the
22 Calumet area in the latter half of 1963.
23 The dissolved oxygen, BOD, and bacterial
24 findings for the Calumet area derive from an intensive
25 2^-day sampling survey conducted between August 20th and
-------
182
September 12, 1963- Samples were collected once a day
at each sampling station on some 20 days of the period.
t»
3 This report is the work of many people.
I see them sitting before me. A number of these people
are in attendance and available to supplement their
D
c respective sections of the report.
b
The report considers the quality
characteristics of the waters as they exist today,
8
evaluates the effects of waste discharges on the water
y
quality and water uses, and summarizes the principal
problems.
Outline of presentation: The report
1 £*
deals with the entire area of 7^2 square miles in one
13
discussion. For purposes of clarity, I propose to
follow a description of the complex stream system with
lo
1C a discussion of the various sub-areas one at a time
lb
17 and finish with a general summary.
,_ The area selected in the order of
lo
ig presentation are as follows:
20 Burns Ditch Drainage Area; Little Calumet
21 River, Hammond to Blue Island; Grand Calumet River and
22 Indiana Harbor; Calumet Channel, Lake Michigan to Blue
23 Island; and finally, Lake Michigan.
. We have here five separate rather complex
&4
25 situations and even to discuss them lightly I am afraid
-------
183
will take a little time. I will be as brief as possible.
After each area of discussion, the
situations discussed will be further described with air
photographs. Special thanks are extended to Colonel
James P. Strauss of the United States Army who provided
helicopter reconnaissance and photographic flights.
The stream system: The Calumet area is
a flat plain with much of the land only slightly above
9 I! Lake Michigan water levels.
10 In what might be considered their natural
11 state, the Little Calumet and Grand Calumet Rivers
12 originated in Indiana and flowed westward into Illinois
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
where they Joined and became simply the Calumet River
which discharged into Lake Michigan.
However, the development of the area by
man has changed this flow pattern.
In 1922, the Calumet Sag Channel was
completed between the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
and the Little Calumet River at Blue Island, Illinois.
This construction caused the Calumet River and that
portion of the Little Calumet River from Blue Island
to the Calumet River to be reversed and thus flow away
from Lake Michigan.
However, this is an unstable situation;
25 depending on storm runoff and fluctuating lake levels,
-------
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
IS
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
184
the stream frequently flows toward Lake Michigan.
When you started, Murray, I might explain
that I swam in that channel before they turned the
sewage in it. It was a ten-mile swimming pool, very
beautiful and quite pure at that time.
CHAIRMAN STEIN: You wouldn't swim in it now,
would you?
MR. LE BOSQUET: The Indiana Harbor Canal was
completed in East Chicago, Indiana, in 1903- Construction
of this canal connected the Grand Calumet River to Lake
Michigan.
Thus, the Grand Calumet River east of
this point is now tributary to Lake Michigan through the
Indiana Harbor Canal.
The Grand Calumet River from this point
west to the area near the East Chicago-Hammond, Indiana,
city limit has been reversed and now flows to Lake
Michigan via the Indiana Harbor Canal.
The point where the division of flow
occurs is rather indefinite, and depending upon the
local level of Lake Michigan, dredging operations,
rain fall intensity and the actual divide can vary over
a distance of several miles.
Under normal dry-weather conditions, the
East Chicago sewage treatment plant effluent flows
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eastward to the Indiana Harbor Canal and Lake Michigan,
2 while a variable part of the Hammond Sewage Plant effluent
3 flows westward to the Calumet River.
4 A temporary dam on the Grand Calumet River
at Columbia Avenue in Hammond, Indiana, has recently been
6 proposed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers. The purpose
7 of this dam would be to prevent v/ater reaching the
8 Illinois River System from the Grand Calumet River east
9 of that point, when the locks at Blue Island, Illinois,
10 have been removed.
The exact location of the new dam is
12
still subject to study.
13 Wolf Lake is located astride the Illinois-
14 Indiana State Line in Chicago and Hammond. The original
15 connecting channel from Wolf Lake to Lake Michigan has
been blocked, and a connection to the Calumet River in
17 Chicago has been constructed.
The City of Hammond has a much-used park
19 on the east shore of Wolf Lake which occupies most of the
20 Indiana shore line. The Illinois portion is a part of the
21 V/olf Lake Conservation Area.
22 So much for the general description. Now,
23 we go to the specific Burns Ditch drainage area.
24 Burns Ditch was completed in 1923 to
25 connect the eastern part of the Little Calumet River in
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Indiana to Lake Michigan near Ogden Dunes. This was
strictly a drainage project.
This construction caused an indefinite
division of the flow in the vicinity of Highland,
Indiana, reversing the flow of the Little Calumet River
from this point east to Ogden Dunes.
The Burns Ditch drainage area is
therefore the drainage area of the Little Calumet River
east of the new divide.
10 Burns Ditch is a very popular recreational
area. There are a number of marinas and launching areas
12 and some fishing. The Corps of Engineers has made a
13 study of a proposal for the possible development of
14 Burns Ditch as a commercial harbor.
15 Municipal wastes: A total of 19 municipal
16 waste sources drain to Lake Michigan by way of Burns
17 Ditch. These sources are all relatively small, but the
18 population served totals about 93> 000 and the population
19 equivalent as discharged is about 19*000.
20 At present, many of these sources dls-
21 charge inadequately treated sewage. Some are in the
22 process of being corrected. For instance, the Merrillville
23 Conservancy District has been organized to serve the
24 fl Black Oak-Ross area south of Gary, Indiana,
Indiana towns served by combined sewers
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i which overflow at times of storm to the Burns Ditch
2 drainage area are Chesterton, Porter, Valparaiso, East
3 Gary, Hobart and Griffith.
4 Industrial wastes: The Midwest Steel
5 Division, National Steel Corporation, provides a high
6 degree of treatment for its sheet and tin mill wastes.
7 This is located at the mouth of Burns Ditch. There is
8 no significant pollution to Burns Ditch from this
9 source, and this plant illustrates the degree of waste
10 control that can be achieved in a steel rolling mill.
11 The Bethlehem Steel Company is installing
12 similar waste treatment facilities for its Burns Harbor
13 Sheet & Tin Mill now under construction. When and if
14 the proposed Burns Harbor deep water port is constructed,
15 these two companies plan to install basic steel and coking
16 facilities. Their plans to control waste from these
17 future facilities have not been reported.
18 The State of Indiana has notified the
19 companies that adequate waste treatment must be provided
20 and plans must be approved before basic steel mills are
21 constructed.
22 Water quality: Nutrients in treated
23 sewage from towns in the drainage basin tributary to
24 Burns Ditch, and the sluggishness of the stream, combine
25 to effect the most favorable condition for planktonic
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algal growth.
The subsequent die off of the algae forms
a bottom sediment favorable for populations of pollution
tolerant sludgeworms and bloodworms. The stream is
biologically degraded, but perhaps not as severely as
other area streams.
The water in Burns Ditch shows an
average coliform density of 120,000 per hundred ml near
its point of discharge to Lake Michigan; and 1.7 million
10 per hundred ml about four miles inland.
11 Fecal strep at the latter point averaged
12 83,000 per one hundred ml.
13 There is no evidence of interstate
14 pollution from the discharge of wastes to Lake Michigan
15 by way of Burns Ditch. Burns Ditch has some effect on
16 the contribution of nutrients in the south end of
17 Lake Michigan, and contributes local bacterial pollution.
18 The effects of increased development in this area bear
19 careful watching.
20 Before we go to the next area, I'd like
21 to show you a few pictures that we have of this particular
22 area.
23 Will you please turn off that light?
24 This is a panorama showing the Bethlehem
25 Steel Plant under construction in the sand dunes,
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1 Chesterton, Indiana. The Little Calumet River is at the
2 left; Northern Indiana Public Service Company, Baileytown
3 Station is at the right on the shore of Lake Michigan.
4 Midwest Steel Company is fairly visible in the
5 middle distance.
6 This is the type of industrial develop-
7 ment that may be anticipated in that area.
8 Can we go to the next slide?
9 This is another view of the Bethlehem
10 Steel Corporation and the Northern Indiana Public
11 Service Company, Chesterton, Indiana.
12 MR. POSTON: How big is this area, Maurice?
13 MR. LE BOS:,.UET: You mean the whole drainage area?
14 MR. POSTON: Well, this plant area. I think it is
15 important to understand the extensive plant that is
16 being built and how big it is.
17 MR. LE BOSQUET: The total, probably, of Bethlehem
18 Steel I haven't the faintest --
19 A VOICE: 330 acres.
20 MR. LE BOSQUET: 330 acres; thank you.
21 Next slide, please?
22 This is the Bethlehem Steel Company waste
23 outfall ditch to the Little Calumet River on the left.
24 Next slide, please?
25 This shows boating activities on Burns
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6 This is an air view of the Midwest Steel
Division at the mouth of Burns Ditch. A part of
8 the industrial waste treatment facilities are
9 visible on the east side of Burns Ditch. Domestic
10
11
12
13 Next slide, please?
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Ditch south of Highway U.S. 12, Portage, Indiana. You
will note quite a number of boat docks and marinas on
the left. This is a very popular area. There is some
fishing.
Next slide, please?
sewage is piped overhead to the activated sludge sewage
treatment plant on the west side and that is Lake
Michigan in the background.
This is a panorama view of the Midwest
Steel Division at Burns Ditch on Lake Michigan looking
west'. That completes the slides on Burns Ditch and we
will go on.
Do you want to ask questions in between?
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Yes. Are there any questions now?
MR. FOOLE: I just want to remind Mr. LeBosquet that
the activated sludge plant effluent he referred to at
the last was also chlorinated.
MR. LE BOSQUET: Thank you for supplementing the
record.
CHAIRMAN STEIN: As the audience can see, the plot
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1 is beginning to thicken.
2 (Laughter.)
3 But on the basis of past experience, I
4 know what we have to do now and that is to recess for ten
5 minutes because we know the attention span of some of
6 our older people gets a little strained at this point.
7 Vie will reconvene in ten minutes.
8 (Whereupon, a recess was ha{3)
9 CHAIRMAN STEIN: May we reconvene?
10 I'd like to at this time -- and I hope
ii you indulge me, because being a V/ashington bureaucrat,
12 I may have committed an unpardonable sin.
13 We have one other Congressional repre-
14 sentative. I'd like to call on Mr. A. J. Wakefield, a
15 representative of Congressman Mosher. Mr. V/akefield?
16 MR. WAKEFIELD: Greetings, ladies and gentlemen
17 from Congressman Mosher, 13th District of Ohio. He
13 has a message I think of importance to this group because
19 pollution has many facets, but many of them are local,
20 and because of the nature of this group, I think we should
21 take a picture of the five Great Lakes, and there are
22 some things which he knows about and haven't been said
23 yet> I think.
24 There are three facets of pollution, of
25 ! course. One is chemical poison. Well, that can't exist
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1 on the Great Lakes systems because of the tremendous
2 million to one dilution in five different steps. That is
3 a problem that may be at Calumet and every little harbor
4 and stream that flows into the lakes.
5 But, for Instance, poison can be put in
6 at St. Louis in the Mississippi River and it can be
7 measured at New Orleans. Why?
8 Because the poison goes down the
9 Mississippi River just like a train of cars, but it can't
10 do that in the great lakes because of that tremendous
11 dilution.
12 Another pollutant, of course, is temperature.
13 We have Lake Superior in the summer at a temperature of
14 39; Lake Erie, a temperature of 75. They flow and inter-
15 connect, one to another and that is a big factor and
16 that to a degree is cancelled out.
17 But we have this organic pollution and I
18 think what this movement needs more than anything else is
Congressman
19 something to happen and that is the message froniAMosher.
20 Why can't we do something about it, start
21 to do something?
22 Sure, we have these municipal problems
23 all along the lakes and they will be with us forever.
24 My father was mayor of a little town on
p5 Lake Erie and put in the second sewage disposal plant.
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The first one was Lakeland, Ohio; the second was Vermillion,
Ohio, 40 years ago.
I bring greetings from Professor Langlois
who is retired now. He sent me a postcard from
Honolulu. He is out where there is a lot of great water --
complete dilution. But I wish this meeting could carry on
the enthusiasm that we all hold for the project with its
many diversifications, by doing something also, and that
Congressman Mosher could by consulting some of these people,
especially Langlois -- who tells about the lakes in Europe
where men have lived on them for 2,000 years (and they are
quite acceptable, I might say); but they put a float on
them with a pump on, windmill, and an air pump. So his
message and mine to you is let's take care of this
organic thing by introducing a little bit of aeration.
The first thing that happens to human
organic waste is putrefaction. It takes oxygen out of
the water and people very carelessly throw their beer
cans and the beer cans rust.
It takes oxygen out of the water.
Everything does, and the fish killed in Lake Erie comes
through lack of oxygen.
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Wakefield, fora
very interesting statement.
Mr. Le3osquet?
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! Mr. LE BOS'.UET: The next section I am dealing
2 with Is the Little Calumet River, from Hammond to Blue
3 Island. This non-navigable stretch of the Little
4 Calumet River between Hammond and Blue Island flows
5 west and discharges to the Calumet-Sag Channel. Two
6 principal tributaries are Hart Ditch and Thorn Creek,
7 both of which enter from the south.
8 Municipal waste: The estimated population
9 served by sewers in this area is 193*000. The waste load,
10 Including industrial waste, totals 283,000 population
11 equivalent to treatment works which reduce the discharged
12 load to 53,000.
13 The Sanitary District of Bloom Township,
14 Illinois, serves Park Forest, Chicago Heights, and South
15 Chicago Heights, and a large industrial district in
16 Chicago Heights.
17 The Sanitary District has engaged two
18 firms of consulting engineers to study its problems.
19 Both reports have been received and action to implement
20 the recommendations have been taken.
21 A number of Illinois communities having
22 combined sewers which overflow to the Calumet River
23 system during times of storm are Calumet City, Burnham,
24 South Holland, Phoenix, Lansing, Riverdale, Dolton and
25 Posen.
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l Industrial wastes: Victor Chemical
.2 Company in Chicago Heights, Illinois, discharges an
3 estimated 3,000 pounds per day of phosphate via the
4 State Street Ditch and the Sanitary District of
S Bloom Township.
6 This phosphate can potentially produce
7 algae nuisances downstream in the Illinois River.
8 Water quality: Study of the biology
9 of the Little Calumet River shows only pollution
10 tolerant bottom organisms. Conform concentrations are
11 on the order of one million per one hundred ml and
12 5-day BODs are as high as 20 milligrams per liter.
13 The Calumet River flows from Indiana
14 to Illinois, and sewage discharged to the river in
15 Indiana causes pollution of the river in Illinois.
16 I have no pictures of the Little Calumet.
17 The Grand Calumet River and Indiana
18 Harbor: The Indiana Harbor Canal, completed in 1903>
19 drains that portion of the Grand Calumet River east of
20 the Indefinite divide in Hammond, and discharges to
21 Lake Michigan. The main channels are used primarily for
22 navigation and for the disposal of wastes after control
23 or treatment to various degrees. The channels also
24 supply a small amount of industrial water with low
25 quality requirements.
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l The principal industrial water supply in
2 this area totaling 1,220,000 gallons per day, or about
3 2,000 second feet is pumped from Lake Michigan this
4 area, the area outside the breakwater discharged
5 to the Grand Calumet River and the Indiana Harbor Canal.
B This used water supply or waste is
7 substantial in quantity and constitutes the major flow
8 discharged and carrying pollution from the Indiana
9 Harbor Canal to Lake Michigan.
10 Municipal Wastes: The largest sources
11 of municipal wastes discharged to Lake Michigan by way
12 of the Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Canal are
13 the sewage treatment plants at Gary and East Chicago,
14 Indiana. Neither plant accepts significant industrial
is wastes. Both provide secondary treatment.
16 At the present time, Gary has sewers and
17 sewage treatment plant expansions under construction.
18 This construction includes chlorination facilities and
19 is nearing completion, it is understood that the East
20 Chicago plant has chlorination facilities, but they are
21 not regularly operated.
22 MR. POOLE: They are regularly operated now.
23 (Laughter.)
24 MR. LE BOSQUET: I have to give Mr. Poole a chance
'25 here.
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i The Hammond Sanitary District has a major
2 sewer and sewage treatment plant expansion project now
3 under construction vfhich is nearing completion. All of
4 the wastes from Griffith, Indiana,have been connected;
5 part of Munster is connected, and works are under
6 construction to connect all of it.
7 About half of Highland is connected, with
8 the remainder scheduled to be. These connections should
9 eliminate pollution of the Little Calumet River from
10 these sources they should except for storm water
11 overflows, and will result in an increased discharge
12 of treated sewage to the Grand Calumet River.
13 The State of Indiana has recommended
H that the Hammond Sanitary District include chlorinatlon
15 facilities as part of the present construction project.
16 Several communities having combined sewers
17 which overflow to the Indiana Harbor Canal-Grand Calumet
18 River system during times of storms are Gary, East
19 Chicago, Hammond and Whiting.
20 Industrial wastes: The largest sources
21 of industrial waste on the Grand Calumet River and
22 Indiana Harbor Canal are the United States Steel
23 Corporation, Gary, Indiana; the Youngstovm Sheet & Tube
24 Company, Chicago; and the Inland Steel Company, East
25 Chicago.
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Three petroleum refineries are lesser but
still major sources of waste. They are Cities Service Oil
Company, Sinclair Refining Company and Mobil Oil Company,
all in East Chicago.
A summary of the waste loads as discharged
from these plants is as follows:
It takes a little time. It is on page 20
of the blue book, but I think we should examine these
figures.
U.S. Steel, Gary, Indiana, 330 million
gallons per day; the population equivalent is 266,000;
Ammonia nitrogen discharge is 13*750; phenol discharge is
1,500; cyanides, 1700; and oil, 54,000. These are all
in pounds per day.
I might insert here that these are based
on one 24-hour period of composite sampling. A great
degree of accuracy is not claimed.
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company of Chicago
is 250 million gallons per day, a population equivalent
of 100,000; ammonia nitrogen, 4,000 pounds per day;
phenol, 250 pounds per day; cyanide, 250 pounds per day;
oil, 18,900 pounds per day.
Inland Steel Company, East Chicago,
480 million gallons per day; population equivalent,
200,000; ammonia nitrogen discharged, 16,800; phenols,
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620 pounds per day; cyanide, 940 pounds per day; oil,
24,800.
The oil refineries, Cities Service, 80
million gallons per day,47,400 population equivalent;
ammonia nitrogen, 1,140 pounds per day; phenol, 130;
and oil, 4»000 pounds per day.
Sinclair, East Chicago, 4 million gallons
a day, population equivalent, 4,740; ammonia nitrogen,
130; phenol, 190; and oil, 290.
10 Mobil Oil Company, East Chicago, 4 million
gallons a day, population equivalent, 12,400; ammonia
12 nitrogen, 1,130 pounds per day; phenol, 780 pounds per
13 day.
14 I think I will insert in here the fact
15 that we have no mention of the settleable solids. The
16 Corps of Engineers has been doing work in this field for
17 many years, in this area, and I hope that we will have a
18 comment from them to contribute.
19
All of these plants have invested in
20 waste treatment facilities. The United States Steel
21 Corporation quenches coke with ammonia still wastes and
22 discharges waste pickle liquor to an absorption lagoon.
23 U.S. Steel uses public waters for a
24 treatment works when it discharges residual blast
25 furnace flue dust to the Grand Calumet River and recovers
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it with a dredge that is located in the river permanently.
The Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company
recovers phenol and blast furnace flue dust with
settling tanks or thickeners.
Inland Steel Company recovers phenol
and blast furnace flue dust, but discharges waste
pickle liquor to the Indiana Harbor Canal.
Analysis of the wastes from these three
steel plants indicates that large amounts of coking wastes,
10 blast furnace waste, and rolling mill wastes are reaching
11 the Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Canal.
12 The chief identifiable constituents in
13 these discharges are oxygen-demanding wastes, oily
14 wastes, phenolic materials, cyanide and ammonia.
15 Cities Service Oil Company provides oil
16 separators and sulfide and ammonia strippers, and has
17 installed a secondary treatment pilot plant.
18 Sinclair Refining Company provides oil
19 separators, an ammonia and sulfide stripper, a sulfide
20 oxidation tower, and removes phenol by extraction with
21 crude oil and oxidation in a cooling tov/er.
22 Furthermore, water reuse is practiced by
23 many of these plants thus reducing the volume of wastes
24 discharged.
>5 Sinclair also skims oil from the Lake
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George branch, Indiana Harbor Canal, to help decrease the
oil nuisance. It is not necessaril^ their oil.
Mobil Oil Company provides oil separators,
cooling towers and straw filters. A sulfide and ammonia
stripper is under construction. A sulfide oxidation
tower is being installed. Mobil Oil Company uses the
Indiana Harbor Canal as an industrial water supply and
I am sure it has low quality requirements.
The DuPont Company in East Chicago,
Indiana, produces hydrochloric acid as a by-product of
one of its manufacturing operations. It is reported
that the Indiana Stream Pollution Control Board has
approved discharge to the Grand Calumet River through
an underwater waste diffusion system of a maximum of
90,000 pounds per day of chloride, and at a normal river
flow, a maximum of 125*000 pounds per day of unneutralized
hydrochloric acid that would use up to 25 milligrams
per liter of natural alkalinity in the river.
The approval was granted with the
understanding that the company would make every effort
to sell the acid rather than discharge it to the Grand
Calumet River. The company has advised that all hydro-
chloric acid is now being sold, and that no chlorides or
acid from this operation are being discharged to the
river.
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i An accidental spill occurred in December
2 1963* at the American Oil Company dock in the Lake George
3 Branch of the Indiana Harbor Canal. A barge containing
4 about 10,000 barrels of highly toxic toluene v/as being
5 unloaded when suddenly the bow of the barge sank with
6 three valves open. An unknown amount of toluene escaped
7 into the canal during approximately fourteen hours
8 before the leak was controlled. As far as is known, no
9 serious damage resulted from the spill. This was
10 partly due to the high volatility of the toluene which
n evaporated rapidly.
12 I might insert that it has been reported
13 that the diving suits dissolved when the men attempted
14 to close the valves of the toluene, which created quite
15 a problem.
16 Water quality: The Grand Calumet River
17 and Indiana Harbor Canal are grossly polluted and are
18 generally characterized by unsightly appearance in the
19 form of floating debris, oil, discoloration and
20 turbidity.
21 Channel banks, structures and boats
22 acquire a black coating from oil or tarry substances.
23 Malodorous conditions are prevalent and frequent. There
24 is no dissolved oxygenin the Indiana Harbor Canal.
fes The lakeward reaches of Indiana Harbor are rust-colored
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i from waste pickle liquor. The Grand Calumet River and
2 Indiana Harbor are practically barren biologically with
3 all that cyanide going in.
4 Although there are thick deposits that
5 usually provide a suitable habitat for sludgeworms,
6 extended septic periods and toxic pollutants prevent
7 their establishment.
8 Sewage and industrial wastes discharged
9 to the Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Canal in
10 Indiana are the principal pollutional loads that affect
li interstate waters of Lake Michigan.
12 We will show you some pictures of this
13 rather Interesting situation.
14 This is the headwaters of the Grand
15 Calumet River in the Sand Dunes at Gary, Indiana. This
16 is relatively clean water with a clean sand bottom.
17 MR. POSTON: What river is this?
18 MR. LE BOSQUET: This is the Grand Calumet River
19 at the Dunes.
20 The reflections you see are the cloud
21 formations; that is not pollution.
22 The next slide, please?
23 This is a high altitude view of the U.S.
24 Steel Coke Plant at Gary. You will note the Grand
25 Calumet River goes along in the foreground.
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The next slide Is a closeup of this same
situation. There is a drag line dredge here on the left.
Maybe you can see it. That is a six-foot sewer, by the
4 way.
5 Next slide, please?
6 This is another six-foot sewer farther
west from the U.S. Steel Coke Plant on the Grand Calumet
River. We would expect phenol, ammonia and tarry
materials from this.
10 MR. POSTON: This white material, what is that?
11 MR. LE BOSQUET: I presume that is oil. I
12 wouldn't identify it specifically; probably some form.
13 It must be maybe one of our aides here can answer that
14 question.
15 MR. POSTON: Is this the Grand Calumet River again?
16 MR. LE BOSQUET: It is the Grand Calumet,yes.
17 A VOICE: Hard detergent.
18 MR. LE BOSQUET: Hard detergent.
19 (Laughter.)
20 Next slide, please?
21 This is the Grand Calumet farther
22 downstream of U.S. Steel in Gary. It is a large six-foot
23 sewer and now you see we have oil. That is an oil slick
24 you see there, also solids.
65 Next slide, please?
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I mentioned this dredge in the Grand
Calumet. That Is maintained there permanently. It moves
up and down the river and recovers the residual iron
deposited from the residual gas wash water settled
effluent. This is not the primary removal, you under-
stand. This is Just the residual after a rather brief
period of settling.
8 MR. KLASSEN: What happens to the dredging material?
9 MR. LE BOSQUET: I believe it is recovered and re-
10 processed. This is too good to waste.
11 Next slide, please?
12 This is a seven-foot outfall to the Grand
13 Calumet from the Gary Sheet & Tin Mills, U.S. Steel.
14 Note the black oily waste added to the other oil from
15 upstream. The chief characteristic of this stream seems
16 to be the oil slick that is extended over the whole
17 length.
18 MR. POSTON: This is again the Grand Calumet?
19 MR. LE BOSQUET: This is the Grand Calumet.
20 Next slide, please?
21 These are outfall sewers to the Grand
22 Calumet River from Cities Service Petroleum Company of
23 East Chicago. These large outfall sewers, each about
24 five feet in diameter, are on each side of the Cline
25 Avenue Bridge. This picture was taken looking north.
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i Next slide, please?
2 This Is duPont In East Chicago to the
3 Grand Calumet and this Is one of several discharges.
4 Note the gauging and sampling station on the ditch. This
5 is pure organic chemical waste.
B Next slide, please?
7 This is the Hammond Sewage Treatment
8 Plant on the Grand Calumet River. Sometimes the river
9 at this point flows east to the Indiana Harbor Canal;
10 sometimes west. This is looking south and this is
11 Columbia Avenue on the right.
12 Next slide, please?
13 This is the East Chicago sewage treatment
14 plant, Grand Calumet River. We have the Indiana Toll Road
15 in the background. This river here usually flows east
16 to the Indiana Harbor Canal. This picture is looking
17 south along Indianapolis Boulevard.
18 Next slide, please?
19 This is a picture of the two parts of
20 the Grand Calumet River in the foreground flowing into
21 the Indiana Harbor Canal looking towards Lake Michigan
22 to the north.
23 The Indiana Harbor Canal Intersects the
24 Grand Calumet River at this point. In other words, low
25 on the slide, the Calumet River from the east comes in on
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1 the right and the Calumet River on the west. The Grand
2 Calumet comes in on the left.
3 The next slide is a closeup of this
4 picture. This shows the same situation. Most of the
5 flow is from the east. You will notice the oily sludge
S banks.
7 Next slide, please?
8 This is the Indiana Harbor Canal at
9 Dickey Road, East Chicago. The outfall sewer you see there
10 is from the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company. This is
il looking towards the lake.
12 We also see the typical oil slicks we
13 find in these waters.
14 Next slide, please?
15 This is the Indiana Harbor Canal and
16 that is the Inland Steel Company ore pile. This is
17 heavy oil flowing towards the left which is towards
18 Lake Michigan.
19 Next slide, please?
20 MR. POSTON: What is this located on?
21 MR. LE BOSQUET: This is the Indiana Harbor Canal.
22 That is the I think it is near the E.J.& E.Railroad,
23 right in there somewhere.
24 Next slide, please?
25 This is a high elevation view of the
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Indiana Harbor Canal looking west at the Pennsylvania
Railroad bridge. The Inland Steel Company Is In the
foreground; Youngstown Sheet & Tube in the background.
The flow is from the left to the right, toward Lake
Michigan.
MR. POSTON: These markings on the surface of
the water, what is that?
MR. LE BOSQUET: That is, I believe -- this would
be an oil slick that we see all over this area.
10 MR. POSTON: Those black marks, black in appearance?
11 MR. LE BOSQUET: Well, oil often is black. We
12 have some pictures showing it very black.
13 Next slide, please?
14 This is a closeup view of that same
15 situation. It shows the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company
16 outfalls. There is very heavy oil coming in from both
17 sides. The flow is from left to right towards Lake
18 Michigan.
19 Next slide, please?
20 This is that same Pennsylvania Railroad
21 bridge looking east, and those are Inland Steel Company
22 outfalls. The flow is at this time from the right to
23 the left.
24 Next slide, please?
25 This is the Indiana Harbor Canal looking
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i east. That Is the Inland Steel Company in the background,
2 There appears to be a number of varieties of oil in
3 this picture. The flow is from right to left.
4 The oil added can be different shades
5 from the oil that is there before.
6 Next slide, please?
7 This is the Indiana Harbor Canal with
8 the Youngstown Sheet & Tube in the background. The flow
9 here is from the left to the right. This is the E.J.& E.
10 Railroad looking west. It is another picture that shows
11 the oil slicks.
12 MR. POSTON: Do these sewers that we see here
13 emptying out there are two there adjacent provide
H treatment before discharge?
15 MR. LE BOSQUET: I couldn't answer that without
16 checking the file through. Many of them do have some
l? separation.
is One of the things you have to keep in
19 mind is this practically all these cases are
20 residual pollution. It is not saying that these
21 industries haven't done a tremendous Job. There is just
22 so much. They are so complex, and the residual is our
23 problem.
24 Next slide?
25. This is the E.J.& E. looking west; and
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i looking west on the Indiana Harbor Canal is the
2 Youngstown Sheet & Tube.
3 A VOICE: That is on the right.
4 MR. LE BOSQUET: Youngstown Sheet & Tube is on the
5 right.
6 You see those outfalls and you can under-
7 stand the problem of our field men in gauging and sampling
9 those large outfall sewers.
9 Those particular sewers, for example,
10 are five and eight feet in diameter.
u The heavy oil is flowing toward us.
12 MR. POSTON: This is another sewer on the left
13 hand side of the picture?
14 MR. LE BOSQUET: Yes, I think we have a picture of
15 that in the next one.
16 That is a sewer there, the one that you
17 saw on the left. This is looking east towards the Inland
18 Steel Company. There is a boat shown here.
19 The large outfall, the flow is from right
20 to left in this case. V/e are looking east.
21 Next slide?
22 This is a four-foot sewer of the
23 Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company discharging to an inlet
24 to the Indiana Harbor Canal. You don't get the full
25 benefit of these colors.
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i Incidentally, we have prints of these
2 pictures which we will put up later, so you can look at
3 these more carefully. These are very colorful.
4 MR. POSTON: You mean this sewer is four feet in
5 diameter?
6 MR. LE BOSQUET: That's right. You can see that
7 truck there. Sometimes,you have to have some sort of
8 a scale to appreciate how large some of these are.
9 Next slide, please?
10 This is the Indiana Harbor Canal turning
11 basin. This is looking west. The Inland Steel Company
12 is in the foreground; Youngstown Sheet & Tube in the
13 background.
14 The Indiana Harbor Canal enters from
15 the left. The open lake, Lake Michigan, is at the right.
16 The visible wastes are the black oil that
17 you see, especially in the near part of the picture and
18 the red is spent acid pickle liquor.
19 The next two show
20 MR. POSTON: Do these discolorations stay here in
21 the turning basin, or what happens to this material?
22 MR. LE BOSQUET: Well, I imagine that iron, being
23 such as it is, neutralizes and some goes out. There is
24 a certain amount of flushing. There is quite a flow going
25 into this particular turning basin.
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2
5
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
212
MR. POSTON: Yes, but where does it go?
MR. LE BOSQUET: I notice up where the Indiana
Harbor Canal comes from the left, you can see the
differentiation between the water in the turning basin
and the waste in the canal which indicates the amount
of water we estimate about 2,000 cubic feet per second
coming out of that canal, so that it maintains its
current integrity.
MR. POSTON: Well, this 2,000 cubic feet per second
that you talk of, where does that go? Just in the turning
basin, does it stay there?
MR. LE BOSQUET: That goes from here. It goes
out into the Lake, the Lake which is on the right there.
MR. POSTON: I see, out into Lake Michigan.
MR. LE BOSQUET; The next detailed two slides will
show each in the lower right. I might explain that this
picture that we just passed by, this is the picture that
you observed when you fly into Chicago from the east, and
everytime I come in, I look over it, especially in the
daytime, to see if it looks differently, and you get a
very excellent view flying from the east, because the
flight channel, as I recall it, is right over this
particular area.
This is a close-up detail of the turning
basin. It shov/s the oily wastes. These are black, and
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213
the discoloration from the pickle liquor, acid pickle
liquor. A barge has entered the picture since these two
pictures were taken.
4 The next slide, please?
5 Thife is a picture which shows the same
turning basin and we have the black oily wastes on the
left and the yellow-red acid pickle liquor on the right.
9 Now, that is what we conjecture those are.
9 Now, if we can have some lights, we will
10 go on to the next.
11 MR. POSTON: Mr. Le Bosquet, you flew over this
12 area in a helicopter for a period of about three hours
13 here last month. You studied in this area in the 1920's.
14 Do you have any .comparisons with your
15 impressions on this trip?
16 MR. LE BOSQUET: Going by U.S. Steel, which in
17 those days was known as the Illinois Steel Company, it
18 looked about the same,
19 (Laughter.)
20 I can remember some of those outfalls
21 at the time. I can't say that it is the same, I don't
22 believe it is; but Just from a superficial recollection.
23 You realize that this is quite a while ago.
24 (Laughter.)
25 It's been pointed out to me that this is
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1 quite a while ago.
2 The Calumet Channel, Blue Island to Lake
3 Michigan: The Calumet Channel from Blue Island to Lake
4 Michigan connecting the Calumet-Sag Channel and the lake,
5 consists of the navigable portion of the Little Calumet
6 and the Calumet Rivers. Waters entering this section
7 are the Little and Grand Calumet Rivers and the Wolf
8 Lake. Water generally also enters from Lake Michigan.
9 Plow reversals: The direction of flow
10 in the Calumet River under normal conditions is from
n Lake Michigan toward the Calumet-Sag Channel. This
12 flow is induced by the hydraulic control of the
13 sanitary and ship canal system maintained by the
14 Metropolitan Sanitary District in connection with the
15 diversion of water from Lake Michigan for dilution
16 purposes.
17 The Blue Island controlling works,owned
18 and operated by the Sanitary District, is one of the
19 points of diversion from Lake Michigan.
20 The record low stages of Lake Michigan
21 during the past year have contributed to reversals of
22 flow in the Calumet River under two different sets of
23 conditions:
24 (l) A rapid drop in the lake level, and
25 (2) a major storm.
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1 With the present lov; lake stages and
2 the requirement to maintain a nine foot navigation
3 depth in the Calumet-Sag Channel, the hydraulic
4 head at the Blue Island controlling works is minimal,
5 varying from zero to a few tenths of a foot most of the
6 time.
7 Local variations in the level of Lake
8 Michigan of 0.5 to 1.0 foot due to wind and/or
9 barometric pressure effects are common. These changes
10 occur in a few hours' time, and the effect may persist
11 one or more days.
12 When the lake drops a half foot or
13 more at Calumet Harbor, this can produce a hydraulic
14 gradient which causes the Calumet River to flow toward
15 the lake for periods ranging from a few hours to more
16 than one day. This may occur even though the lock
17 gate at the Blue Island Controlling Works are fully
18 opened in an effort to induce the flow to the Calumet-
19 Sag Channel.
20 You might say the day that Mr. Poston
21 and I flew over this area, the Blue Island Canal was
22 wide open.
23 (2) Major storms which produce
24 excessive runoff in the Little Calumet River Basin in
25 the past have resulted in occasional flow reversals in
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the Calumet River. These have been due to the inability
of the Calumet-Sag Channel to carry the flood flows away
from the area fast enough, or to operation of the Blue
Island Controlling Works for prevention of flood damage
in the area.
The duration of these flow reversals
varies greatly, depending on the storm rainfall distri-
bution. It was estimated that the Calumet River flowed
9 into Lake Michigan for about 72 hours during the storm
10 of October, 1954.
11 During the storm of July, 1957> when
12 flooding became critical in the Calumet-Sag Channel, the
13 lock gates at Blue Island Controlling Works were opened
14 to permit a flow out of the Canal toward Lake Michigan.
15 The entire Calumet-Little Calumet system flowed into
16 Lake Michigan for several hours.
17 In September 19&1, heavy rains on the
18 13th and 14th resulted in general flooding which caused
19 the Calumet River to flow into the lake for several
20 hours.
21 The Metropolitan Sanitary District
22 operates recording water level gauges located on the
23 Little Calumet River at the Acme Steel Plant and on the
24 Calumet River near its mouth.
25 The recorder charts for the period of
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21?
1 January through March, 1964, were examined for periods
2 of flow reversal. On the basis of 12-hour average gauge
3 heights obtained by inspection, eight periods of flow
4 reversal were found. The duration of reversal varied
5 from 12 to 36 hours.
6 The Thomas J. O'Brien Lock and Dam will
7 provide a positive barrier between Lake Michigan and
8 all of the municipal treatment plants and some of the
9 industrial waste sources on the Little Calumet-Calumet
10 system.
11 When the O'Brien Lock is put into
12 operation, these wastes will be excluded from the Lake,
13 except during infrequent periods of major flooding when
14 the control gates might be opened to alleviate flood
15 damage.
16 Water uses: The Calumet River and the
17 navigable portion of the Little Calumet River are used for
18 navigation, industrial water supplies, receipt of
19 municipal and industrial wastes, and recreational
20 boating.
21 A number of parks, golf courses and forest
22 preserves are located along the banks of the Little
23 Calumet River. These are made less attractive because
24 of unsightly streams. The Cook County Forest Preserve
25 District has not developed picnic areas along the Little
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i Calumet River because of its polluted condition.
2 To provide water-oriented recreation, an
3 official of the Forest Preserve reports that a policy of
4 building lakes and ponds in the interior of the preserves
5 av/ay from the polluted streams has been adopted.
6 Municipal wastes: The Calumet Plant of
7 the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago is
8 by far the largest sewage treatment plant in the whole
9 Calumet area. It discharges 50 percent of the residual
10 municipal waste after treatment in the Illinois River
11 portion and 40 percent of the residual municipal waste
12 in the entire Calumet area.
13 Effluent disinfection is not practiced,
14 and no plans for disinfection have been announced.
15 The Calumet plant serves the southeast
16 part of Chicago and many suburbs such as Blue Island,
17 Calumet City, Rlverdale and Dolton. It receives and
18 treats domestic and industrial wastes.
19 Particularly significant, it treats
20 coking wastes from the steel plants located along the
21 Calumet River in Chicago so that phenolic and other
22 constituents of these wastes receive secondary treatment.
23 The Sanitary District operates three
24 small sewage treatment plants in the Calumet area, each
£5 achieving 85 percent or higher biochemical oxygen demand
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1 removal efficiency. These plants are at East Chicago
2 Heights, Hazelcrest and Orland Park.
3 In addition, the Sanitary District
4 supervises through analytical control 19 additional
5 small operations. These small operations show between
6 80 and 90 percent BOD removal efficiency.
7 Three of these latter small plants will
8 be eliminated within six months and become part of the
9 interceptor system in accordance with the overall policy
10 of the Sanitary District pertaining to such Installations,
11 Chlorinatlon is carried out at all small
12 Sanitary District treatment plants, and a number of small
13 private plants in the district have begun chlorination.
14 Except as otherwise noted, all domestic
is wastes from industries in the Calumet area either are
16 connected to municipal systems or receive secondary
17 treatment at the site.
18 There is a storm water overflow at the
19 Metropolitan Sanitary District Calumet Treatment Plant.
20 In addition, a pumping station operated by the
21 Metropolitan Sanitary District, located at 95th Street
22 near the Calumet River, at times discharges combined
23 sewage to the river through jthe Howard Slip, about one
24 river mile from the Calumet Harbor.
25 This discharge will reach Lake Michigan
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12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
220
if the Calumet River flow is toward the lake at the time
of discharge. Since the pumping takes place during
severe storms, it is likely to coincide with river flow
toward the lake. This overflov; is likely to contain
coking wastes from steel plants located on the Calumet
River. Pumping to the Calumet River from the 95th Street
Pumping Station is confined to severe storm periods and
has varied from only two to 100 hours per year.
The pumping station outfall is located
between the O'Brien Lock and Lake Michigan and will
therefore continue to discharge to the lake during flow
reversals, even after the O'Brien Lock is put into
operation.
Industrial wastes: The principal
sources of industrial wastes that discharge into the
Calumet-Little Calumet navigation channel are the
United States Steel Corporation, South Works; Wisconsin
Steel Works; Interlake Iron Corporation; Republic
Steel Corporation; Cargill, Inc., all in Chicago; Lever
Brothers, Hammond, Indiana; and Acme Steel Company,
Riverdale, Illinois..
22 II Their wastes are summarized as follows:
23 U.S. Steel Works, South Works, 210 million
24 galons per day; ammonia nitrogen, 990 pounds per day;
25 phenol, 250 pounds per day; oil, 7*700 pounds per day.
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Wisconsin Steel Works, 40 mgd, population
equivalent, 2,200; ammonia nitrogen, 110 pounds per day;
phenol, 10; and oil, 800 pounds per day.
Interlake Iron Corporation, 37 million
gallons per day, 20,300 population equivalent; ammonia
nitrogen, 700 pounds per day; phenol, 900 pounds per
day; and oil, 260 pounds per day.
Republic Steel Corporation has 85
million gallons per day. All we have is 80 pounds of
10 phenol.
11 Cargill, Inc., 4/10ths million gallons
12 per day, population equivalent Is 8,700.
13 Lever Brothers, Hammond, Indiana, 10
14 million gallons per day, a population equivalent of
15 18,000. This goes to Wolf Lake.
16 Acme Steel, Riverdale, 48 million gallons
17 per day and a population equivalent estimated at 4,300.
13 I might say about some of these results
19 being 24-hour composites might not be too accurate.
20 MR. POOLE: How many of these are between the
21 O'Brien Locks and the lake?
22 MR. LE BOSQUET: I would say all but the Acme
23 Steel.
24 MR. POOLE: And Lever Brothers?
25 MR. LE BOSQUET: No, Lever Brothers is on Wolf Lake
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! which is also
2 MR. POOLE: Someplace between, that's right.
3 MR. LE BOSQUET: That's right.
4 MR. POSTON: You indicated that some of these
5 results are results of 24-hour composite samples. Does
6 this mean that the averages could be higher?
7 MR. LE BOSQUET: Well, we have industrial information
8 from one or two plants that indicated their actual figures
9 are much higher. Others, I am sure, might be lower.
10 We also get into the problem of what is
11 an oil, and this oil is by Standard Methods; and some
12 of the oil companies don't agree to this as a proper
13 definition.
14 However, as far as I know, that hasn't
15 been a problem in this area.
16 The United States Steel Corporation,
17 South Works, Chicago, Illinois, has no coke plant. Its
18 principal wastes are blast furnace flue dust, oil, and
19 hydraulically quenched blast furnace slag known as
20 popcorn slag.
21 Located at the very mouth of the
22 Calumet River, U.S. Steel discharges wastes both to the
23 river and to Lake Michigan. The amount of flue dust
24 that overflows the thickeners is not known, but
25 discoloration of Calumet Harbor and Lake Michigan is
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i evident from the air.
2 I will show you the picture. The company
3 provides oil separators.
4 Popcorn slag at times is discharged and
5 washes ashore at such places as Calumet Park Beach in
6 Chicago where it becomes a nuisance to bathers. No
7 significant amount of pickle liquor is discharged.
8 Wisconsin Steel Works, Interlake Iron
9 Corporation, and Republic Steel Corporation, all in
10 Chicago, have their coke plant wastes sewered to the
n Calumet Sewage Treatment Plant.
12 The Public Health Service studies,however,
13 indicate that some coke wastes are probably discharged to
14 the Calumet River by Interlake Iron Corporation.
15 Only Republic Steel Corporation discharges
16 a significant amount of pickle liquor. It has not been
17 reported whether this pickle liquor is neutralized before
18 discharged.
19 All three plants provide settling tanks
20 or thickeners for recovery of blast furnace flue dust.
21 Some popcorn slag has been traced to the Wisconsin Steel
22 Works.
23 Carglll, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, provides
24 septic tanks for sanitary wastes. Wastes from refining
25 soybean oil contribute 8,700 population equivalent to the
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^
j Calumet River.
2 An industrial waste treatment plant
3 providing neutralization and anaerobic-aerobic treatment
4 has been constructed, but has not been reported to be
5 in operation.
6 Lever Brothers Company, Hammond, Indiana,
7 discharges about 18,000 population equivalent to the
8 extreme northern end of Wolf Lake. Several acres of the
9 lake have been polluted and fish kills have been
10 reported. Tainting of the flesh of game fish caught in
n Wolf Lake has been reported, and I might say the fish
12 seem to swim Interstate.
13 Acme Steel Company, Riverdale, Illinois,
,. discharges raw sewage from approximately 2,900 of its
15 employees. It also discharges a substantial amount of
16 unneutralized pickle liquor. The company provides
17 scale pits, oil separators and a thickener.
18 Acme Steel Company is drawing plans to
ig separate the sanitary wastes from the combined system
20 so that the sanitary wastes may be discharged to the
21 existing sewer system.
22 Further, plans are being made for revi-
23 sion of production operations needed for the installation
24 of acid pickle liquor waste disposal system.
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Mr. Le Bosquet, just for the
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! purpose of clarification, I notice here you are using the
2 term "sanitary wastes" throughout. For the people in the
3 audience, this might mean a contradiction in terms.
4 What do you mean by sanitary wastes?
5 MR. LE BOSQUET: Well, I mean human wastes.
6 CHAIRMAN STEIN: You mean human wastes?
7 MR. LE BOSQUET: Yes, there is a lot of it in this
8 area.
9 (Laughter.)
10 CHAIRMAN STEIN: You know, this field has the most
n antiseptic terminology you ever saw. I don't know that
12 the sanitary wastes implied is necessarily sanitary.
13 MR. LE BOSCiUET: Well, it is well known to
14 sanitary engineers and we call it bread and butter.
15 (Laughter.)
16 Water quality: Biological studies showed
17 that the Calumet River from its confluence with the Grand
18 Calumet River to its mouth in Calumet Harbor is severely
19 degraded. The stream was highly turbid. Oil slicks and
20 floating sewage solids were observed.
21 At stations at the mouth and five miles
22 upstream from the mouth, the bottom was composed mainly
23 of organic ooze that had a sewage and petroleum odor.
24 Near the mouth of the Grand Calumet River, the bottom
25 deposits of the Calumet River were composed of inert or
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1 inorganic materials.
2 Only very pollution-tolerant sludgeworms
3 existed in the reach from Lake Calumet downstream. Down-
4 stream in this case means away from Lake Michigan.
5 Prom Lake Calumet upstream more towards
G the lake, sludgeworms dominated, but the presence of
7 fingernail clams indicated a slight improvement in water
8 quality and bottom conditions. Sludgeworms averaged
9 more than 5,000 per square foot in this stream reach.
10 Attached filamentous algae routinely
11 scraped from under water surfaces in this river were
12 very pollution-tolerant blue-green forms. No pollution-
13 sensitive filamentous forms were found.
14 The Calumet River exhibited average
15 collform densities of 2,900 per 100 ml near its junction
16 with Lake Michigan, increasing to 24,000 per 1OO ml
17 about three miles farther inland.
IB Interstate pollution occurs with
19 reversals of flow in the Calumet River. Both municipal
20 and industrial wastes from Illinois enter Indiana
21 waters of Lake Michigan which lie about one-third mile
22 off shore. I was looking at the map the other day and
23 I found that you could stand on the pier in Calumet
24 Harbor and dive into Indiana; that the Indiana line,
25 apparently, coincides with this bulkhead.
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22?
In addition, blast furnace flue dust
and oily wastes have been observed to flow from U.S.
Steel, South Works, into Indiana waters.
The United States Lake Survey of currents
in Calumet Harbor show that strong northerly winds
produce a strong southeast current through the harbor.
7 This current would carry pollution along the Indiana
8 shore line.
9 Unquestionably, the flow reversals are
10 detrimental to beaches and other water uses in Illinois
n along the shore line immediately adjacent to the mouth
12 of the Calumet River.
13 Now, we might stop for a moment to show
14 you some more pictures.
15 This is a high altitude well, not too
16 high -- picture of Wolf Lake in Indiana. That is the
17 Indiana Toll Road to the left; Hammond parks are at the
18 right and Lake Michigan is in the background.
19 The American Maize-Products Company and
20 their waste treatment lagoon is shown at the left of the
21 channel, and Lever Brothers is at the north end of the
22 channel.
23 The original Wolf Lake channel to Lake
24 Michigan is now blocked. That is in the background.
25 That is blocked.
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The next slide?
2 This is a close-up picture of that
3 former lake channel. The American Maize Products
4
Company has a waste treatment lagoon in the foreground.
, There is an anaerobic section on the right there of
0
c the lagoon and is partly covered to conserve heat in
o
the cold weather. The aerobic section has a mechanical
0 aerator which is operating. It wasn't operating the
O
day that Mr. Poston and I were flying over it.
y
10 Treatment wastes it was zero,
incidentally.
12 MR. POOLE: Those are not connected to Wolf Lake,
however, Mr. Le Bosquet.
14 MR. LE BOSQUET: That's right.
15 Treated wastes are discharged to the
16 Hammond Sanitary District and to Lake Michigan, but not
17 to Wolf Lake.
18 You were one sentence ahead of me, Mr.
19 P°°le '
20 MR. POOLE: It's good to be ahead of you.
21 (Laughter.)
22 MR. LE BOSQUET: Lever Brothers Company, in the
23 background, discharges wastes to the north end of Wolf
24 Lake Channel. Hammond Water Plant is at the shores of
. Lake Michigan.
o i
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The next slide, please?
This is the Calumet Sewage Treatment
Plant of the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater
Chicago. This activated sludge plant is the largest
sewage treatment plant in this area by a considerable
portion.
7 Next slide, please?
8 This is the Acme Steel Company, one of
the 15 outfalls that they have. This is the Calumet
10 River at Riverdale. Untreated sewage is discharged from
n the plant. We can see visible wastes as far out as we
12 can see; solids, pickle liquor.
13 Next slide, please?
14 This is a marina on Calumet River near
15 the junction of the Grand Calumet River on the right
16 here. You can't see it. This picture is looking
17 northeast.
18 The next slide, please?
19 This is soybean processing wastes to
20 Calumet River from Cargill, Inc., Chicago. You will
21 notice that in this particular picture, the river is
22 flowing to Lake Michigan or from left to right.
23 MR. POSTON: Does this waste receive any treatment?
24 MR. LE BOSJUET: This waste is I am not too sure.
25 It is not a tremendous --
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230
! A VOICE: Yes.
2 MR. LE BOSQUET: We have a "yes" from the audience
3 I don't have it recorded.
4 Next slide, please?
5 This is a picture that Mr. Poston and I
6 took on a day when it was zero outside. We put it in
7 because to me it was a rather sensational picture,
8 mostly because of the weather. You don't get fumes
9 coming up from the Calumet River except when it is
10 zero outside, and of course, you have a lot more con-
n densation of the steam during such weather conditions.
12 This is the Calumet River at Wisconsin
13 Steel on the right. That's right, isn't it?
14 A VOICE: Republic.
15 MR. LE BOSQUET: Republic, I'm wrong; yes,
16 Republic Steel on the right; U.S. Steel is behind the
j7 steam.
18 Next slide, please?
19 This is a picture of oily wastes in the
20 Calumet River from the Republic Steel Corporation in
21 Chicago. Lake Michigan is on the left. There doesn't
22 seem to be much of a flow at this point.
23 Next slide, please?
24 These are more outfalls to the Calumet
'25 River from the Republic Steel Corporation. This is
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231
l looking east.
2 The bridge carries a gasline from
3 Interlake Iron Corporation between the coke plants on
4 one side and the blast furnace on the other.
5 MR. POSTON: What is this waste?
6 MR. LE BOSQUET: You can see the oil slick on this
7 river.
8 Next picture, please?
9 This again is Republic Steel Corporation.
10 We take it from the color that that is waste acid pickle
11 liquor discharged to the Calumet River.
12 Next slide, please?
13 This shows Republic Steel in the foreground,
14 Across the river, there is the intake, the Interlake
15 Iron Corporation. This picture is interesting. It
16 shows that the waste flow is from the outfall over into
17 the Intake.
18 (Laughter.)
19 Next slide, please?
20 Apparently, this is the Wisconsin Steel
21 Works of the International Harvester Company in
22 Chicago. This again is the color of acid pickle
23 liquor.
24 Next slide, please?
25 This is the U.S. Steel Corporation, South
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232
1 Works, in Chicago on the north bank of the Calumet River.
2 An outfall sewer is to the left. At- the left edge is a
3 discoloration. It is a little difficult to see in this
4 picture. Is this
5 MR. POSTON: How big is that sewer there?
6 MR. LE BOSQUET: This is Wisconsin. I stand
7 corrected. This is Wisconsin Steel Works.
8 You will notice there we have mentioned
9 the settling tanks and thickeners several times. Now,
10 that is one of them.
H The length of time is rather brief in
12 these, but they do carry out take out the heaviest
13 material.
14 Next slide, please?
15 This is the U.S. Steel, South V/orks, at
16 the north bank. There is a discoloration along the left
17 edge here as you can bearly see in the slide. That is
18 residual blast furnace flue dust. This would indicate
19 to me that the river was flowing towards the lake when
20 this picture was taken.
21 MR. POSTON: Do you care to estimate the size of
22 that sewer?
23 MR. LE BOSQUET: I don't know. Most of these are
24 quite large, four to six feet at least, and we have some
K of them higher than that.
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That is all the slides we have on the
Calumet, and before going into Lake Michigan, which
is a final section, are there any comments, Mr. Chairman?
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Are there any comments or
questions?
Are you going to make summaries when
you complete this, as to the total amount of ore, for
example, going into Lake Michigan?
MR. LE BOSQUET: Yes. Well I have totaled it
10 for Indiana Harbor and I will mention that on Lake
Michigan.
12 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Yes.
13 MR. LE BOSQUET: It is a little difficult to total
14 it for the Calumet River because you'd have to have some
15 factor of reversal of flow, so that this cannot be done
16 accurately.
17 MR. POOLE: Mr. Chairman?
18 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Mr. Poole.
19 MR. POOLE: Your table, or one of your slides
20 showed oil in the vicinity of Republic's plant, as I
21 recall it, and your table has a dotted line under the
/
22 oil column for Republic. What does that mean?
23 MR. LE BOSQUET: That explains that I explained
24 that this is based on one in some cases two 24-hour
25 composites and also in industries that take water from
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i the Calumet River. There is quite a substantial amount
2 of oil in the water supply and you can't properly charge
3 this to the industry.
4 In fact, you will find some of these
5 plants, no doubt,have a negative oil contribution and
6 that they pump their water supply from one of these
7 waters, treat it and use it and add oil to it, but they
8 don't add as much oil as they take out.
9 This is the kind of factor that you
10 cannot explore in one 24-hour composite.
11 MR. POOLE: Let's see if I know what you are saying,
12 Are you saying that in your Judgment there is no oil
13 from Republic that reaches the river? Is that what you
14 are saying?
is MR. LE BOSQUET: No, I am saying that you cannot
16 get accurate results based on one 24-hour composite, and
17 I would not testify with a high degree of accuracy on
18 any of our industrial waste results.
19 By and large, they are an indication of
20 the order of magnitude, and I would suspect that there
21 is some oil coming from Republic Steel.
22 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Mr. Le Bosquet, would you think
23 there are significant amounts of oil in the Calumet
24 River system?
55 MR. LE BOSQUET: Oh, yes. There are significant
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235
amounts, of course, amounts which you can see on
the surface; and if you can get your oil low enough,
these will disappear. You will still have oil but
you don't have the slicks; but with the heavy slicks that
we have in the Calumet River, as you saw from those
pictures, I will say that they were significant.
I won't say there is a large amount if
8 you want to compare it. The amount of oil going into
9 the Calumet is less than that in Indiana Harbor, quite
10 a good deal; and also it goes down most of it goes
11 down the Illinois River.
12 CHAIRMAN STEIN: But it is still oil, wherever it
13 goes?
14 MR. LE BOSuUET: Yes, that's right.
15 MR. KLASSEN: Mr. Le Bosquet, do you have any
16 estimate of the time of reversal of flow of the Calumet ?
17 What percentage of time does the Calumet flow during
18 your study toward the lake or toward the Illinois River?
19 MR. LE BOSQUET: Well, the Sanitary District has
20 that recorded and we confined our exploration, you might
21 say, to examining Just by visual observation, to
22 confining ourselves that it was a substantial part of
23 the time.
24 And to get that information, we Just
25 looked, just a couple years recent records, so I cannot
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i say what percentage of the time the Calumet River does
2 reverse.
3 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Again, that is a significant amount
4 of the time?
5 In other words, let us see if I can
6 phrase this: Is the reversal of that river frequent
7 enough to cause concern about the v/aste being put in
8 the river having an effect on Lake Michigan?
9 MR. LE BOSQUET: Yes, I think that is a fair statement,
10 It comes in the form of slugs during these reversal
11 periods, and some of these have been quite substantial
12 but not too frequent.
13 MR. CHESROW: I would add that it is not frequent
14 at all and that the statement is not correct.
15 We will go into the detail of that in our
16 presentation.
17 MR. LE BOSQUET: Fine. I will expect that you would
18 get other figures; however, I do know that looking at
19 that stream, I have observed the reversal on several
20 occasions.
21 MR. CHESROW: We will present the information in
22 detail.
23 MR. LE BOSQUET: Good, good, fine.
24 MR. POSTON: With the closing of the O'Brien Locks,
25 the new locks, this will prevent considerable amounts of
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237
waste from going back to the lake, is that right?
MR. LE BOSuUET: Yes, that's right. There will not
be as much flow to carry the wastes.
See, most of these Industrial concerns,
all but Acme Steel, are below; that is, towards the
lake from O'Brien Locks, but those locks will certainly
reduce the amount of reversals.
MR. POSTON: There will not be the opportunity for
waste from the Calumet Sewage Works to get back out
10 into the lake after the closing of the O'Brien Lock?
u MR. LE BOSQUET: No, that will be over. No,
12 the Calumet Plant is west of Lake Calumet, if I
13 remember rightly, and that will go below
14 west of the O'Brien Locks.
15 MR. POSTON: Where on that map does the effluent
16 from the Calumet waste treatment works go into the river
17 system?
18 Then, the O'Brien Locks are
19 MR. LE BOS ;UET: Between that and the lake.
20 MR. POSTON: So that will, In effect, form a dam
that will prevent this treated effluent from getting
22 back out into the lake?
23 MR. LE BOSQUET: The industries, however, by and
24 large, are on the lake side of the lock and dam.
25 We mentioned Acme as the only one, shall
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238
1 we say, downstream to the left or west of the O'Brien
2 Locks.
3 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Are there any further questions or
4 comments for Mr. LeBosquet up to this point? If not,
5 we will stand recessed for lunch. I understand there are
6 ample facilities in this building and we will continue with
7 Lake Michigan at that time. Thank you.
8 (Whereupon, a recess was had
9 until 1:45 o'clock p.m.,
10 this date.)
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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239
, AFTERNOON SESSION
1 ^~ ' "~~ "" ~" ""~ ~ ~~ "~ ^"" "^~ ~"~ " " ^ "*
CHAIRMAN STEIN: May we reconvene?
f»
3 Mr. LeBosquet.
. MR. LE BOSQUET: The last of the five sections I
4
5 was going to discuss was Lake Michigan. The area of Lake
6 Michigan under present consideration extends from the
7 Cook-Lake County, Illinois line, to east of the mouth of
8 Burns Ditch in Indiana.
9 Attention has been concentrated, however,
10 on effects of pollution on the water quality south of
n the Chicago Loop.
12 Water supply: There are six major
13 municipal water systems in Chicago and the adjacent
14 Calumet area in Indiana which use Lake Michigan as a
15 source of water supply.
16 The largest is the recently constructed
17 Central District Filtration Plant near the center of
18 Chicago. This plant serves a population of about
19 2,800,000 and pumps 606 mgd.
20 The second largest in Chicago is the
21 South District Filtration Plant located Just north of
22 Calumet Harbor. This plant serves a population of
23 1,600,000 and pumps an average of 380 mgd.
24 The other users are Gary, 200,000 people
25 and 24 mgd; Hammond, 112,000 people, 23 mgd; East Chicago,
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240
1 56,000 people and 14 mgd; and V/hiting, 8,000 persons and
2 1.5 mgd.
3 The Gary-Hobart Water Company is
4 constructing a new municipal water plant at Ogden Dunes,
5 Indiana, about two miles west of Burns Ditch. This
B plant will have an initial rated capacity of 16 m^d.
7 Nearly all of the independent water
8 supplies in the Calumet area are surface supplies. The
9 total pumpage, excluding cooling water, is about 2,760
10 mgd, of which about 2,480 mgd is pumped from the Lake
11 Michigan Basin.
12 The steel industry uses about 2,400 mgd,
13 87 percent of the total. The petroleum refining
14 industry uses 250 mgd, 9 percent of the total. The
15 remaining 4 percent is used by the paper, food and
16 chemical industries. Ninety percent of the industrial
17 water pumpage is taken directly from Lake Michigan.
18 Recreation: Recreational activities
19 such as swimming, boating, water skiing and fishing are
20 engaged in by a large segment of the population of the
21 Calumet area. During the summer, millions of people
22 visit the beaches in Chicago, Gary and Indiana Dunes
23 State Park. Hundreds of pleasure boats can be observed
24 on Lake Michigan, and at times,there is a virtual parade
125 of boats to and from the marinas and mooring facilities.
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241
l As the population grows, the need for
2 recreational facilities will expand.
3 Lake Michigan and Wolf Lake provide the
4 only swimming waters. The streams are not safe for
5 swimming because of the bacterial pollution. The Lake
6 Michigan beaches at Chicago, Gary, and Whiting are
7 packed on summer weekends, but there is an increasing
8 tendency for people living in the Calumet area to drive
9 to the Indiana Dunes State Park or the Michigan beaches
10 where the water is clearer and the sand is cleaner.
n The Hammond-owned beach on V/olf Lake is
12 used by thousands of swimmers and sunbathers. The
13 Lake Michigan beach at Hammond has been closed for
14 several years because of high coliform bacterial counts.
15 The popularity of water skiing has
16 paralleled the growth in pleasure boating. Water skiing
17 is a popular sport on both Lake Michigan and Wolf Lake.
18 In recent years, the growth of interest
19 in pleasure boating has increased at a phenomenal rate.
20 Marinas, mooring facilities and launching
21 ramps are hardly able to handle the peak traffic. There
22 are now 24 such boating facilities in the area. This
23 number would undoubtedly increase markedly if the
24 sheltered waters of the area were not polluted.
25 The boat registration records of Indiana
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242
! and Illinois show how popular pleasure boating has become.
2 In the three Indiana counties bordering on Lake
3 Michigan, there were 11,000 boats, and in Lake and Cook
4 Counties in Illinois, there are 43,000 registered boats.
5 Many of the boaters of the area moor
6 their boats in clear waters as far away as Saugatuck and
7 Holland in Michigan. The waters of the Calumet River
0 stain boat hulls with a tar-like substance that is
o
g unsightly and difficult to remove.
10 In the Calumet area, there are several
u water oriented parks that provide recreational oppor-
12 tunities for thousands of people. Mar ;uette Park at
13 Gary and Wolf Lake Park in Hammond are two of the larger
14 parks of the area. Both are located on relatively clean
15 waters. Calumet Park beach in Chicago is also heavily
16 used, but the bacteria content of its water is higher
17 than desirable, and accumulation of popcorn slag on the
18 beach from steel mills make the beach unattractive to
lg bathers because of its gritty texture.
20 Municipal wastes: Municipal sewage is
21 not generally discharged directly to Lake Michigan in
22 this area, although discharges may reach the lake
23 through tributary streams. At least one city, Whiting,
24 Indiana, has a combined sewer overflow which discharges
25 directly to Lake Michigan.
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1
2
3 Harbor and on occasion from the Calumet River.
4 Industrial wastes: The principal sources
of wastes that discharge directly to Lake Michigan are
6 Union Carbide Chemicals Company, Whiting, Indiana;
American Oil Company, Whiting, Indiana; American Maize-
8
9
three are summarized as follows:
11
10
Union Carbide in Whiting has 43 mgd,
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
243
Indirectly, sewage treated to various
degrees, reaches the lake by way of Burns Ditch, Indiana
Products Company, Hammond, Indiana; and United States
Steel Corporation, Chicago; and wastes from the first
99,000 population equivalent. They have 13 pounds of
phenols.
American Oil Company, Whiting, Indiana,
97 mgd, 57*000 population equivalent, 3*800 pounds of
ammonia, 1100 pounds of phenol and 3*950 pounds of oil
daily.
American Maize-Products Company in
Hammond, Indiana, 9 mgd and population equivalent of
44,000.
Union Carbide Chemicals Company has a
quench water recirculation system. Other wastes are
mostly soluble in water and no treatment is provided.
Recently, large amounts of pellets of
material similar to polyethylene have been found washed
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244
ashore on the beaches In Chicago. It is believed that
Union Carbide is a possible source of this material.
Conferees, here is a sample of the
pellets.
American Oil Company provides oil
separators on both process wastes, including water return
flow, and secondary treatment on process wastes.
8 American Maize-Products Company discharges
9 some wastes to the Hammond Sanitary District. Other
10 wastes are treated in an anaerobic-aerobic lagoon and
n chlorinated before discharge.
12 I showed you a picture of that, you will
13 recall, just before lunch.
14 A decrease of 80 to 90 percent in BOD
15 in the lagoon system is reported.
16 In addition, the U.S. Steel, South Works,
17 is located at the mouth of the Calumet and a number of
18 sewers discharge directly into the lake. Also important
19 are the discharges reaching the lake from the Indiana
20 Harbor ship canal. Using rounded figures, the discharges
21 previously discussed have the following totals, and what
22 I have done here is added the totals to an earlier table.
23 1*150 million gallons a day, total flow;
24 630,000 population equivalent; 37,000 pounds of ammonia
25 nitrogen per day; 3>500 pounds of phenol per day; 2,900
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245
pounds of cyanide per day; 102,000 pounds of oil per day.
I might say that these are added at the
outlets of the individual industries and it could be
that some of these have become somewhat stabilized before
they reached the lake and in the case of cyanides, they
are probably oxidized and in the case of oil, 102,000
pounds of oil, it is reported that Sinclair was skimming
oil from the lake from the Indiana Harbor ship canal,
so that they may be reducing this.
10 I But, these are the totals of those
11 industries I listed for you this morning.
12 Lake currents: Intensive studies of
13 currents and temperature changes were made by the Public
14 Health Service in the Illinois-Indiana boundary waters
15 from November, 1962 through July 1964.
16 The study used automatic recording
17 current meters and free floating current measuring devices.
18 Additional current meter studies were
19 conducted in the Calumet Harbor area during the summer
20 and fall of 19&3 by the U.S. Lake Survey.
21 The studies indicate a prevailing flow
22 from south to north along the southern and adjacent
23 southwestern portion of Lake Michigan.
24 The most important types of motion in
25 water are mixing and transport. Mixing refers to the rate
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246
of dilution of a pollutant. Transport is the net move-
ment of a water mass from one area to another.
During two specific periods, January 21-24,
'63, and March 14-16, '63, the City of Chicago Water
Department experienced severe taste and odor problems
from water taken at the cribs.
On January 20, 1963, the odor threshold
level at Whiting and Hammond were recorded at a value
9 of 8 at both intakes.
10 As a frame of reference, the Public
Health Service drinking water standards provide that the
12 threshold of water shall not be over 3 in the finished
13 water. This is the raw water, of course.
14 This value of 8 Jumped four to five
15 times by the following day and nearly 15 to 20 times
16 by January 22nd.
17 The flow of water past the intakes was
18 measured and found to be towards the northwest.
19 On January 24th, just two days later,
20 the Chicago South District Filtration Plant recorded its
21 first taste and odor problems in 1963. Taste and odor
22 problems were not experienced farther to the north at
23 this time, thus confirming the fact that the pollution
24 occurred to the south, as shown by the water movement.
25 During the March 14th to l6th, 1963 period,
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24?
there was a second occurrence of severe taste and odor
problems at Chicago. A water flow during this second
period was measured and was again from the south to
. I the north.
c We had water meters in the water at all
o
these periods.
6
7
14
15
16
17
18
20
21
22
23
24
Mixing rates can vary widely depending
Q on the weather conditions. During the times of waste
o
and odor difficulties experienced by Chicago, both in
..
January and in March, 1963 chemical analyses showed that
the water mass was diluted about four times while in
10
11
transit from the Whiting-Hammond areas to the Chicago
12
13 intake.
Studies made during April 1963, near
Chicago indicate that the dilution ratio following near
calm conditions is less than five for currents up to one
foot per second and five miles of travel, indicating that
these pollution concentrations travel as a body pretty
19 much.
Regardless of the season of the year,
the prevailing flow in the Illinois-Indiana region is
from the south, although flows from the north also occur.
The winds over the lake during the summer are primarily
from the south and southeast, and in the winter are from
25 the northwest, both of which maintain the northward flow
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248
1 of water.
2 Based on independent results of continuous
3 summer and fall studies, the U.S. Lake Survey concluded that
4 the northwestward flow past the Calumet Harbor was a typical
5 summer condition. This flow was reversed only by strong
6 northerly winds.
7 Current speeds along the shore and in
8 the upper layers moved between two and five miles per
9 day for 60 percent of the time. A movement from the
10 Indiana area to the Chicago vicinity will normally take
11 from three to four days for average conditions. Under
12 storm conditions or periods of high winds, it could travel
13 the distance in less than one day.
u Water quality: The effects of wastes
15 entering Lake Michigan in the Calumet area on the quality
16 of the lake and the uses made of it were studied by the
17 Public Health service during the period from 1962 to 1964.
18 Wastes entering Lake Michigan come from the Indiana
19 Harbor Canal, from industries discharging along the
20 shore line in Indiana and Illinois, from reversal of flow
21 of the Calumet River in Chicago, to a lesser extent from
22 the discharge from Burns Ditch in Indiana, and from at
23 least one storm water overflow in Whiting, Indiana.
24 Between 1961 and 1963, more than 450
'25 bottom dredgings were made in the lake area from Willamette,
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249
Illinois, to Indiana Dunes State Park and Lakewood about
30 miles.
The bottom animal communities in this
area of Lake Michigan were composed of only a few
different kinds of organisms. Sludgeworms and aquatic
scuds were more numerous, but bloodworms and fingernail
clams were sometimes abundant.
Of these four different kinds of animals,
only one, the scud, is sensitive to pollution, preferring
10 a clean sand or gravel bottom and relatively clean water.
11 Where the lake quality is subjected to
12 deposits of organic materials, the conditions are more
13 favorable for sludgeworms, bloodworms and fingernail clams.
14 Off shore from the Calumet area streams,
is pollution tolerant organisms averaged 400 per square foot,
16 and there were only a few clean water associated organisms.
17 Along the Chicago shoreline, pollution
18 tolerant organisms averaged about 1,000 per square foot
19 of lake bottom and pollution intolerant forms averaged
20 about 50 per square foot.
21 This more than two-fold increase in
22 pollution tolerant organisms is attributed to an organic
23 sediment that is more suitable a habitat for organisms
24 such as sludgeworms and less favorable for clean water-
25 associated organisms such as scuds.
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250
The reason sludgeworms were less numerous
offshore from the Calumet area was that the heavier
suspended particles contained in wastes from the steel
industry settle out before they are carried northward to
the Chicago waterfront.
In addition, toxic and inhibitory
materials are more highly concentrated in the Calumet area
than off the Chicago shoreline.
9 The lower concentration of toxic substances
10 in the Chicago area would permit larger populations of
11 organisms to develop.
12 Further evidence that wastes from the
13 Calumet area are deposited in the lake near Chicago is
14 in the odors of the dredgings from this area of Lake
15 Michigan.
16 Some of the dredgings from this sector
17 along the shore contained organic sediments described
13 as ooze.
19 Sewage odors were detected in some of the
20 dredgings near shore from the Chicago River to Burns
21 Ditch, and petroleum odors were detected in bottom muds
22 from the Calumet area.
23 These dredgings, of course, are the
24 dredgings made by the biologists in examining bottom
deposits.
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251
Pollution of this large area of Lake
Michigan is especially serious because it tends to be
irreversible; that is, the conditions that now exist
improve but slowly with the cessation of present waste
discharges.
In a stream where there is a current
moving in one direction, there is a tendency for the
bottom deposits to be scoured away; however, lake
currents are weak and shifting and bottom deposits
10 might move only slightly over a long period of time.
n This comment about irreverslbility I have
12 changed a little for the reason that as far as dissolved
13 matters are concerned, it is almost entirely irreversible,
14 but as far as tastes and odors are concerned, and oils, if
is you stop them tomorrow, why, they would soon disappear.
16 Bacteriology: The offshore waters;
17 that is, a mile or so off the Calumet area and the
18 Chicago areas were studied during 1962 and '63 in a
19 series of sampling cruises.
20 Conform and fecal streptococcus deter-
21 minations were made.
22 Virtually, none of these organisms were
23 found in the deep water of the main body of Lake Michigan.
24 Highest coliform concentrations occurred
25 in the waters extending from the mouth of the Calumet
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252
River to the Indiana Harbor and out to a distance of
approximately two miles offshore.
tt
That is between those two peninsulas, you
3
might say, going out in the lake.
4
Coliform densities as high as 7,000 per
hundred ml were observed in this area.
6
In the zone extending on eastward to
Burns Ditch, all determinations were 1,000 or less per
8
hundred ml at a distance up to two miles offshore.
y
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
IS
19
20
21
22
23
24
Coliform densities in the range of 100
to 1,000 were observed for a distance of five to seven
miles extending outward from the Calumet Harbor area.
Such densities were detected at the
Indiana-Illinois boundary lines running east and west in
Lake Michigan, due north to Whiting.
The waters of the south end of Lake
Michigan are thus shown to be receiving large loads of
fecal pollution originating in the Calumet area and
moving out into Lake Michigan.
I might say these cruises were made in
fairly large boats so that the samples were collected
offshore.
It was impossible to get in close so that
these are the waters away from the immediate effects of
the shore pollution. '
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253
Data from records of the Chicago Park
District on the occurrence of coliform bacteria on
beaches in the Calumet area and northward along the lake
shore in Chicago have -been examined.
Each beach was sampled on 20 to 30
different days during the bathing season each year.
You will find the table on page 37 of the
blue book and there is a slide on this particular subject,
if you will show it now.
10 The left hand part is, of course, at
11 about 3?th Street and those last three points are Indiana
12 Harbor, Hammond, I believe, and Whiting.
13 Calumet Beach is where that big rising
14 line goes on the lower curve. It is evident that Whiting
15 Beach and Hammond Beach in Indiana and Calumet Park
16 Beach in Chicago are the most heavily polluted.
17 So the last three beaches on the right,
19 these beaches lie within the artificial bay created by
19 the Calumet Harbor breakwater and Indiana Harbor, as was
20 shown in this map Just a couple minutes ago, and are
21 directly subject to pollution by wastes discharged to
22 Lake Michigan in the Calumet area.
23 Coliform density usually exceeds 1,000
24 per 100 ml and are often over 100,000 per 100 ml.
25 The beach at Hammond is closed to swimming
-------
by orders of the Hammond Health Department due to high
coliform concentrations. The beach is posted for no
swimming.
Put the lights on again, please.
The water intakes of Chicago's Dunne crib
and South District Filter Plant are often affected by
those polluted waters moving northward from Indiana and
the mouth of the Calumet River.
Rainbow Beach and the filtration plant
are immediately adjacent, and Dunne Crib is two miles
offshore.
The bacterial records of water from both
the plant and crib intakes substantiate the presence of
waters carrying fecal pollution.
At times, the quality of the water
abruptly worsens and coliform densities increase sharply.
During the last part of November, '63, for
example, coliform densities as high as 5*800 were recorded
through an eight day period.
Higher coliforra densities have been
recorded in other seasons and years since 1950.
The picture of the phenolic materials
is pretty similar to the picture on tastes and odors so
we will skip over here to tastes and odors on page 36.
Tastes and odors is the second paragraph,
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255
not the first.
The filtration plant in the City of Chicago
reported that one of its most serious taste and odor
problems occurred between January 24th and February 7th,
1963, lasting 15 days.
During this period, threshold odor
numbers increased from the usual number of four to a
maximum value of 50 at Dunne Crib and 15 at the shore
intake.
IQ Odors during this period were characterized
as hydrocarbon.
12 This description is usually associated
13 with industrial wastes;
14 These high odor numbers are reflected in
15 the heavy use of carbon in an effort to remove the odor.
16 Associated with these objectionable odors
17 were high ammonia nitrogen results.
18 Other periods referred to by the Chicago
19 South District Filtration Plant as causing similar
20 problems included March 3 and 4, '63, when threshold odor
21 values of 8 at the shore and 12 at the Dunne Crib were
22 reported.
23 On April 2nd to 7th, '63, threshold odor
24 numbers up to 10 at the shore and 14 at the Crib were
25 reported.
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256
Again, these odors were reported as
hydrocarbon.
Another critical period recently reported
was a 20-day period from December llth to December 31st,
1964.
During this period, an excessive threshold
odor of the hydrocarbon that means it was a taste
that the taste was described as hydrocarbon, was obtained
at Dunne Crib and 16 was obtained at the shore.
The high threshold odor numbers in
January and March 1963* were associated \vith movements
of water from Indiana towards Chicago intakes.
Pour Indiana water plants also take their
water from Lake Michigan in the Calumet area.
The Gary-Hobart Water Plant reports that
when high carbon dosages are required, hydrocarbon odors
are always responsible.
Acute problems were experienced at this
plant in January, February and March 1963* and less
severe problems were experienced in January, February,
March and December 1964.
Threshold odors and phenol analyses were
not reported.
The East Chicago Water Treatment Plant
reports that beginning December 15, 1964, a strong phenol
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257
! odor was detected.
2 Threshold odor numbers for the next eight
3 days ranged from eight to 35* maintaining 35 for three
4 consecutive days.
$ Normal or average carbon dosages are 24 to
6 27 pounds per million gallons.
7 During these eight days, dosages were
8 between 63 and 163 pounds per million gallons.
9 The Hammond Water Plant reports that when
10 winds are from the southeast or northeast, intensive
n pollution due to phenols is experienced.
12 In the past, phenols were experienced
13 only during winter months, but they are now expected at
14 any time.
15 Threshold odor numbers of 2,500 or higher
16 have been recorded.
17 On March 24th and 25th and April 2, 1964,
18 a severe taste was experienced characterized as a
19 gasoline or paint type.
20 This continued with less severity for
21 two weeks.
22 An insecticide spill was identified on
23 July 10th and llth, '64, which took one week to eliminate
24 from the system.
25 During December 1 to 26, 1964, threshold
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258
odors from 30 to 79 were experienced for 77 percent of
the time.
Whiting, Indiana, is located with
Industrial plants in close proximity on both sides.
Industrial pollution never ceases to be a
problem. Threshold odors are usually high, running 15 to
25 when severe problems are absent.
During 1963 and '64, much higher
average chemical dosages were required.
Only one period of phenol results was
available. The results from January l6th to February 6th,
'63, ranged from 1 to 26 micrograms per liter or this
is commonly referred to as parts per billion, with an
average value of 8 micrograms per liter.
Threshold odors during this period
averaged 18 with a maximum of 100.
In contrast, during the week of December.
24, 1964, threshold odors ranged from 300 to 2,000.
Because of the taste and odor problems
reported in the first part of 1963, the Public Health
Service began monitoring water intakes in Chicago and
vicinity for organic contaminants.
This program was continued until June
1964. The stations selected were Whiting, Chicago's
South District Filtration Plant, Chicago Avenue, Evanston
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259
i and Uaukegan.
2 The carbon absorption method was used for
3 this study.
4 The Whiting, Indiana plant showed signifi-
5 cantly greater amounts of carbon chloroform extract than
6 the other intakes.
7 This is an indication of Industrial pollution,
8 An average value of 242 micrograms per liter found at this
9 station can be considered a serious pollution load.
10 Threshold numbers up to 3,000 have been
n reported at Whiting.
12 The Public Health Service drinking water
13 standards recommends a threshold of 3.
14 A study by Rosen and Rubin showed that
15 70 percent of the organic carbon in the carbon-chloroform
16 extract from samples of intake water at Whiting, Indiana,
17 was fossil carbon, originating from petroleum and coal,
18 and indicated industrial sources.
19 The other 30 percent was contemporary
20 carbon, indicating sewage origin or else it could be
21 algae.
22 The carbon filter extracts from the other
23 water plants Indicate they are receiving organic pollu-
24 tants in their raw water of the same magnitude as obtained
25 in the South District Filtration Plant.
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260
The pattern as far as nitrogen ammonia,
organic and nitrate nitrate pretty much follows the same
pattern as this taste and odors. In other words, originating
in northern Indiana and following the currents up into the
Chicago area.
On Page 43, you have information from the
South District Filtration Plant.
I think it is significant and of interest
9 and summarizes the situation.
10 During 1963 at the South District Filtration
11 Plant, ammonia nitrogen results exceeded 0.02 milligrams
12 per liter on 187 days. That is incorrect in that blue
13 book if it isn't marked. (See "Report on Pollution of the
14 Waters of the Grand Calumet River, Little Calumet River,
15 Calumet River, Lake Michigan, Wolf Lake and their Tributaries,
16 Illinois-Indiana." February 1965, page 43, para. 3, line 2.)
17 Shown below is a breakdown of the number
18 of days this and higher values were exceeded at the Dunne
19 Crib and at the shore.
20 Greater than 0.02, 182 days at the shore
21 and 187 at the crib.
22 0.05, 72 and 77; 6 and 15; and greater
23 than 0.20 milligrams per liter, 3 days at Dunne Crib.
24 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Mr. Le Bosquet, you are a true
5 engineer. You may eliminate part of your text, but you
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1 never eliminate the
2 MR. LE BOSQUET: Well, that's a City of Chicago
3 table and I didn't feel at liberty to do it.
4 Ammonia problems are also reported by the
5 Gary-Hobart Water Company which draws its water from Lake
6 Michigan at Gary.
7 Gary-Hobart reports odors suggesting
8 gasoline, and that high ammonia concentration are common
9 in the raw water, the average magnitude being 0.10
10 milligrams per liter.
n Water Company officials report that each
12 pound of ammonia in the raw water increased the chlorine
13 demand by 10 pounds.
14 On seven days during January 19^3*
15 ammonia concentrations ranged from .4 to .65 milligrams
16 per liter.
17 On three days in March, the ammonia
18 values were between .3 and .4.
19 During '64, ammonia values of .15 and .27
20 were reported on eight days in January, six days in
21 February and one day in March.
22 Popcorn slag: Conferees, here is a
23 sample of popcorn slag.
24 An investigation was conducted in
25 September 19&3* to determine the source of popcorn slag
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1 which fouls the Calumet Park Beach on Lake Michigan at
2 95th Street in Chicago.
3 Popcorn slag is a very light, porous
4 solid which is formed by rapid cooling of molten blast
5 furnace slag by water jets.
B Some escapes the recovery facilities and
7 is then discharged in washing or cooling water to the
8 adjacent water course.
9 The slag floats and is moved by winds
10 and current. Thus, it frequently collects on bathing
n beaches where the sulfide odor and gritty texture are
12 both annoying and uncomfortable to bathers.
13 This problem is a more or less continuous
14 nuisance throughout the summer.
15 Field investigations have indicated that
16 at least two plants discharge this waste and the
17 largest source of popcorn slag is the U.S. Steel Works,
18 South Works, in Chicago, and a lesser source is the
19 Wisconsin Steel Works in Chicago.
20 I understand that our field people spent
21 a week out in the waters trying to find out where these
22 slag contributions were coming from.
23 Now, I have some pictures of Lake
24 Michigan which I would like to show you.
2s Before that, I want to apologize and say
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that this map is right as far as Calumet Beach is con-
cerned, and also report that Acme Steel Company is no
longer Acme Steel Company, that is the Interlake Iron
Corporation, that it is still Acme Steel Company Plant
and that describes it very well.
So if we will show a few slides, and
then I will summarize it up very quickly.
This is the Central District Filtration
Plant in Chicago, Illinois, which you all recognize, I
10 am sure.
n Next slide, please?
12 These are
13 MR. POSTON: Just a minute.
14 I think it might be interesting to know
15 that this is a $100 million investment in a water treat-
16 ment plant for clean water for the people of Chicago.
17 MR. LE BOSQUET: Yes, and I think you can also see
18 MR. POSTON: Just recently, it's been put into
19 operation.
20 MR. LE BOSQUET: This is the largest filter plant
21 in the world, I believe. It is really tremendous.
22 Next is the South District Filter Plant.
23 Notice there is a slight bit of wash water coming over
24 the left edge there, putting the mud back into the lake
25 that they took out of the lake.
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CHAIRMAN STEIN: Where do you want them to put it,
in the tap water?
MR. LE BOSQUET: No, I am Just presenting the fact,
Mr. Chairman.
5 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Right.
6 (Laughter.)
7 MR. LE BOSQUET: Next slide, please?
8 This is the lakefront in Chicago at Grant
9 Park on the left and there is McCormick Place somewhere
10 along in there.
u This shows the popular boating that we
12 have today.
13 Next slide, please?
14
25 Chicago, Indiana.
16 That is Inland Steel Corporation in the
17 background. The water intake for Inland Steel is right
18 in this area.
19 Is that where it is?
20 Next slide, please?
21 This is the East Chicago Beach, the
22 Universal Atlas Cement Company in the background. It is
23 approximately the same location as the previous picture.
24 Next slide, please?
This is Marquette Park Beach in Gary,
i
This is also a marina that is at East
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i Indiana. Indiana Harbor is in the background.
2 See, this is west of all we have been
3 talking about east, rather, to the east.
4 Next slide, please?
5 This is the 12th Street Beach in Chicago.
6 The foreground is the wife and small family of one of our
7 technical staff.
8 MR. POSTON: Can we focus that in?
9 (Laughter.)
10 MR. LE BOSQUET: Focus that in a little more clearly.
il These have been pictures of water use.
12 Now, we go to the waste sources, and will you show the
13 next slide, please.
14 This is the United States Steel Corporation
is in Gary, east of the main outfall, and this is evidently
16 seepage of pickle liquor into Lake Michigan.
17 Can you show him the automobile to get a
18 real idea of the scale. That is a truck, okay.
19 Next slide, please?
20 This is the Indiana Harbor Light. You
21 can see the discoloration of water as it comes out of
22 Indiana Harbor compared to what is on this side of the
23 light.
24 There is continued filling across the bay
25 there by the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company looking west,
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266
i therefore adding to these two peninsulas that enclose
2 gradually enclosing the Calumet area.
3 Next slide, please?
4 This is a panorama of Lake Michigan at
5 Whiting and East Chicago, Indiana.
6 The American Oil Company waste treatment
7 plant is shown in the foreground. There is Just a trace
8 of a slick coming out from it.
9 The effluent from the Union Carbide
10 Chemicals Company enters Lake Michigan near the center of
11 the bay and Indiana Harbor is in the background with
12 Youngstown Sheet & Tube in the middle distance and Inland
13 Steel in the far distance.
14 A continued filling operation can be
15 observed.
16 The American Oil Company, I might explain,
17 provides secondary treatment for its processed wastes.
18 Next slide, please?
19 This is a six-foot sewer. It doesn't
20 look very big, but that is a six-foot sewer from the
21 Union Carbide Chemicals Company. Fifty million gallons a
22 day is the flow from this sewer.
23 Next slide, please?
24 This shows the two outfalls of American
P5 oil Company and a part of the sewage treatment pant the
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l waste treatment plant, excuse me.
2 The next slide, please?
3 This is the U.S. Steel Company, South
4 Works, Chicago, Illinois, and that is a five-foot sewer.
5 The visible effluent is the residual of
6 blast furnace flue dust being discharged into Lake
7 Michigan.
8 I would say that the right end of the
9 picture is approximately the state line, so that discharge
10 is very close at this point.
n Next slide, please?
12 This is a higher view of the same situation.
13 There is a discoloration on the right, mostly blast furnace
14 dust. There is a dredge.
15 I would say that dredge is probably in
16 Indiana.
17 The middle left is what appears to be an
18 oily waste discharge. The Calumet River is there on the
19 extreme left.
20 That completes the slides.
21 In winding up this report, I have a couple
22 of pages of summary which you are welcome to read. I have
23 a few comments at the end, however.
24 The DHEVJ Report recognizes the numerous
25 water pollution control measures in operation in the
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Calumet area.
Typical comments from the report are that
nearly all municipal wastes receive secondary treatment,
and I quote again "all of these plants " this is
5 within the Grand Calumet "have invested in waste
6 treatment facilities."
The Calumet area is the site of one of
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
125
the greatest industrial complexes of the country.
Water pollution control is likewise large
and complex.
The residual waste after millions of
dollars have been spent for control measures still
constitutes a major problem.
Now, as far as the Individual areas, in
the Burns Ditch area, there is no evidence of interstate
pollution.
Burns Ditch has some effect on the
contribution of nutrients in the south end of Lake Michigan
and contributes local bacterial pollution.
The effects of increased development in
this area bear careful watching.
Wolf Lake receives the discharges of
industrial wastes from one company in Indiana resulting in
pollution of a portion of the lake and causing fish kills.
Tainting of the flesh of game fish caught
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1 in the lake has been reported.
2 Finally, in the Little and Grand Calumet
3 Rivers, sewage and industrial wastes discharged in Indiana
4 cause pollution of these waters in Illinois.
5 Sewage and Industrial wastes discharged
6 to Lake Michigan and the Calumet River system, especially
7 as discharged through the Indiana Harbor Canal in Indiana,
8 cause pollution of the waters of Lake Michigan in Illinois
9 and sewage and industrial wastes discharged to the Calumet
10 River system and Lake Michigan in Illinois cause pollution
11 of Lake Michigan in Indiana.
12 This pollution endangers the health or
13 welfare of persons in a state other than that in which
14 the discharges originate, and therefore is subject to
is abatement under the provisions of the Federal Water
16 Pollution Control Act.
17 That completes my presentation, Mr.
18 Chairman.
19 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Mr. LeBosquet.
20 Just wait a moment to see if we have any
21 comments or questions.
22 Are there any comments or questions?
23 MR. KLASSEN: Yes, I'd like to ask Mr. Le Bosquet
24 a question.
25 Your compilation of your various waste
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270
loadings, of course, were all important. There is one
that I would like a little more information on.
I think you indicated 2,900 pounds of cyanide
were discharged into the lake every day and we know that
temperature and pH affects the oxidation and the lethal dose
is .2 parts per million and you indicated the prevailing flow
of the lake currents. (See self-correction on record, Page 364.)
The thing that concerned me about your
statement is I hope I am quoting you correctly that
10 probably this cyanide is oxidized.
11 I think that this is too Important an Item
12 just to sweep under the rug by saying probably it is
13 oxidized.
14 Do we know it is oxidized and to what
15 extent does this cyanide loading into the lake extend
16 until it reaches less than two-tenths parts per million?
17 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Mr. Le Bosquet, if you want to
18 call on any of the staff on any of these technical
19 questions, feel free to do so.
20 MR. LE BOSQUET: Yes, well, I get details, but I
21 think in general it does oxidize rather rapidly.
22 I didn't point out that these were
23 measured at the outfall and maybe several days before
24 it actually gets into the river so that you have this
period of time.
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i As far as your experience is concerned,
2 does anybody have that?
3 This is Mr. Eklund, a staff member, whose
4 wife you saw in the picture.
5 (Laughter.)
6 MR. KLASSEN: Who, incidentally, was not in the
7 water.
8 (Laughter.)
9 MR. EKLUND: I will try to answer the question.
10 We sampled some selected outfalls where
11 we had reason to think there might be cyanide, and we
12 found that as far as I know I can be corrected by other
13 people, but I think we never analyzed for cyanide in the
14 lake or even in the rivers.
15 We did not investigate this, so to answer
16 the question, we don't know the concentration of cyanide
n in the river or lake water.
18 MR. KLASSEN: In other words, the 2,900 pounds of
19 cyanide going into the lake every day, you don't knew
20 what happens to it?
21 MR. EKLUND: That's right.
22 MR. POOLE: I want to clarify this a little bit.
23 I believe the answer has been at least twice.
24 They don't know how much it is, but there
25 is 2,900 pounds that originate in the sewers that discharge
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! from various portions of the stream.
2 What is it when it gets to the lake and
3 that is- undetermined, apparently?
4 MR. LE BOSQUET: That is right.
5 CHAIRMAN STEIN: The point is with all that being
6 discharged, you don't know what the effect is on the lake.
7 You haven't analyzed that?
8 MR. EKLUND: That is correct.
9 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Do you know if anyone analyzed it?
10 MR. LE BOSQUET: We do know that aquatic life
n in that outlet channel is completely missing.
12 CHAIRMAN STEIN: The outlet channel is before it
13 comes to the lake?
14 MR. LE BOSQUET: That is right.
15 There is probably a high degree of
16 toxlcity In the water along the main Indiana Canal, yes.
17 CHAIRMAN STEIN: By the way, I don't think this is
18 an easy question to get around.
19 As I understood the thrust of Mr.
20 Klassen's question, it was: If a large amount of cyanide
2I such as has been recorded here has been discharged in
22 reasonably close proximity to the lake into a watercourse
23 that leads to the lake, don't you think we should have a
24 pretty firm answer as to what happens to that stuff when
25 it gets into the lake without relying on conjecture?
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l MR. LE BOSQUET: That would be highly desirable, yes.
2 MR. POOLEr Mr. Chairman?
3 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Mr. Poole.
4 MR. POOLE: I don't want to start introducing the
5 Indiana report now, but as thick as it is but you
6 won't hear all of it anyway, but here we have a sampling
7 station at Dickey Road which is about as close as you
8 can get to the lake by foot.
9 This is the Indiana Harbor ship canal.
10 Now, the average cyanide in I960 was
11 six-hundredths of a part per million and these samples
12 are taken twice a month, and there was a maximum there
13 of five-tenths of a part per million.
14 In '6l, the average was one-tenth of a
15 part per million and from a minimum of zero to eight-
16 tenths of a part.
17 '62, the average was eighteen-hundredths
18 of a part. It ran from zero to 1.7 parts.
19 '63* the average was two-tenths with a
20 minimum of zero and a maximum of 1.3.
21 In '64, the average was two-tenths with
22 a minimum of zero and a maximum of six-tenths.
23 I wouldn't want to stake my complete
24 reputation on this assumption, but on the basis of those
25 figures, I personally am not much concerned about the
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cyanide content at the waterworks Intakes, and we have
several independent waterworks Intakes that are closer
to this poin't. that I have been discussing than the Chicago
intakes.
5 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Are there any further questions?
6 MR. LE BOSQUET: I think a brief computation:
7 If you don't have any stabilization at
all, this 3,500 pounds in 2,000 cubic feet a second
works out to be perhaps three-tenths of a part per million.
10 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you.
11 Colonel Chesrow.
12 MR. CHESROW: Do you have any reports on what
13 happens after it gets into the lake? Is there any oxida-
14 tlon there?
15 MR. LE BOSQUET: No, sir. We don't it does
16 oxidize in natural streams, yes, sir.
17 MR. CHESROW: When you say you have a controlling
18 station there, to what extent do you carry out your
19 control or is control carried out?
20 MR. LE BOSQUET: We have no controlling station
21 there.
22 MR. CHESROW: There is no controlling station?
23 MR. LE BOSQUET: The State of Indiana, you're
24 talking about?
MR. CHESROW: Yes, the State of Indiana said that
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they had a controlling station there.
MR. POOLE: That is just a sampling station, a
monitoring station, to accumulate records on the quality
of the ship canal at that point.
MR. CHESROW: Does the Federal study show what
happens after it gets into the lake?
7 Is there oxidation or has no study been made?
8 MR. EKLUND: No Study.
9 I would like to add one other thing, Mr.
10 Poole?
11 I believe that all the blast furnaces
12 from Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, Inland Steel Company
13 are between Dickey Road and the lake, so you wouldn't
14 sample
15 MR. POOLE: That's right.
16 CHAIRMAN STEIN: I don't know. Let's check this
17 and I think this is a very clear point.
18 If the cyanide question is & real question
19 and I am certainly not disputing it, I wouldn't after all thes
20 years, nor am I disputing Mr. Poole's conclusions on this
21 but if we say that "In I960, the Public Health Service started
22 a comprehensive water quality survey on the Great Lakes-
23 Illinois River Basin," -- and I am quoting I think from Mr.
24 Poston's remarks this is the biggest and most thorough
25 investigation ever undertaken in water quality in the
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l country.
2 The greatest part of the activities of
3 the Great Lakes-Illinois Basin project to this state
4 have been in the Illinois River Basin and Lake
5 Michigan.
B The study started in 1960. This is 1965.
7 Mr. Klassen asked a question on cyanide;
8 Colonel Chesrow asked a question-on cyanides, and we'd
9 be glad to say you don't know what happens to the cyanides
10 in the lake?
11 MR. LE BOSQUET: Well, I might explain.
12 MR. CHESROW: You sound like you are on our side.
13 (Laughter.)
14 CHAIRMAN STEIN: I didn't know that there were any
15 sides to clean water, but if that is your side, I am
16 with you.
17 MR. LE BOSQUET: Well, in making these studies,
18 I might say in defense of my cohorts> if that is necessary,
19 I think they stand on their own; but normally, we look
20 for things when we have reason to believe there is a
21 problem, and look for things when there is some evidence
22 and this, as Mr. Poole has indicated, we did not feel
23 was a major problem.
24 MR. CHESROW: There is a variance in the percentages
25 that were quoted.
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Don't you think this is a field that the
Federal Government should step in or could step in to
find out what happens to the cyanides?
MR. LE BOSQUET: I asked our research people if they
were willing to come up and indicate work on some
probing problems that came up before this particular
conference, and they said, "Well, that is one of the
reasons we are here."
We will have a laboratory in Ann Arbor
10 before too long and this type of thing would be one of
11 their Jobs.
12 MR. CHESROW: Thank you.
13 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Do we know that happens to the
14 cyanides when there is an ice cover on that lake, Mr.
15 Le Bosquet?
16 MR. LE BOSQUET: No studies were made of this.
17 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Do you feel as optimistic about
18 the problem of cyanides with an ice cover as you were
19 without them?
20 MR. LE BOSQUET: Well, what was the question?
21 Well, in this case, the wind would not
22 blow it over to the Chicago intake quite so fast,
23 definitely.
24 (Laughter.)
25 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Are there any further questions or
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2?8
comments or any aspect of Mr. Le Bosquet's presentation?
If not, thank you very much for a very
comprehensive analysis of the situation and we will call
on Mr. Poston again.
5 Mr. Poston.
6 MR. POSTON: I have asked Mr. W. Q. Kehr, Director
of our Great Lakes-Illinois River Basin project to give
a brief statement based on project studies as to the
long range effect of continued waste discharges into
10 Lake Michigan.
Mr. Kehr.
12 MR. KEHR: Mr. Poston, conferees, ladles and
13 gentlemen:
u In our studies of the Great Lakes, we
15 have considered the long range effect of waste discharges
16 into Lake Michigan.
17 This problem we consider even more
18 serious than the pollution problem which exists today.
19 Our projections indicate substantial
20 growth in the metropolitan area and as well a tremendous
21 expansion of industrial activities.
22 The quantity of wastes now discharged
23 into the lake must inevitably Increase.
24 The impact of these increasing waste loads
could be very serious.
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279
There are three physical features of
Lake Michigan which greatly interfere with the normal
ability of the lake to assimilate wastes.
First, the normal flushing pattern which
removes wastes and prevents unduly high concentrations
in a stream and in most of the Great Lakes is so small
in Lake Michigan as to be practically nonexistent.
This ability to carry wastes out of the
9 lake, if reduced in proportion to size and described in
10 easily understood terms, could be likened to a ten gallon
li barrel of water into which a bottle of ink has been
12 poured.
13 The flushing action existing in Lake
14 Michigan with present Inflows would be comparable to the
15 problem of trying to dilute the ink In this ten gallons
IS of water by adding one drop of water an hour.
17 Second, there is a shallow ridge running
18 between Milwaukee and Waukegan which Interferes with the
19 deep water circulation in the lake.
20 In effect, this divides the lake into a
21 northern and a southern basin, the southern basin being
22 that which is under consideration at this conference.
23 The quantity of inflows from rainfall and
24 runoff is so small in comparison to the great size of the
25 southern basin that there is virtually no tendency for
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280
gradual displacement of the water In a northward direction
to push pollutants towards the Straits of Macklnac where
they will be carried out of the lake.
The effect of this silt is to restrict
the mixing of the waters of the southern and northern
basin to wind-induced shallow currents which causes flow
sometimes in a northerly direction and sometimes in a
8 southerly direction.
9 We have found no dominant tendency for
10 currents to continuously sweep waters of the southern
11 basin northwardly.
12 The third of these physical features is
13 the lack of mixing in the lake.
14 We have found that lake currents are made
15 up of large masses of water which can move for extended
16 periods of time without effective mixing.
17 Thus, pollutants discharged into such
18 a mass tend to remain concentrated and can move many
19 miles and for aa long as several days without being effec-
20 tively dispersed.
21 Perhaps the most serious problem facing
22 us is the possibility that the effects of the accumulations
23 of persistent materials may be irreversible in a lake as
24 large as Lake Michigan and into which is consistently
25 being discharged natural pollution; that is, silts, nutrients
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281
1 and chemicals contained in the surface runoff from
2 rainfall.
3 It is quite likely that once concentrations
4 have reached levels which Interfere with water uses, it
5 may not be possible to reduce the contaminants in waste
6 discharges to the level that any significant improvement
7 In the quality of the lake waters can be secured.
8 The limitations created by these physical
9 characteristics of Lake Michigan are such that we must
10 make variant efforts to reduce it to the lowest possible
11 level both present and future waste discharges Into the
12 lake.
13 Failure to do this will result in gradual
14 impairment of the water quality to the extent that many
15 future water uses will be interfered with or seriously
16 curtailed.
17 Thank you.
18 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Kehr.
19 Are there any comments or questions?
20 We want to thank you very much, sir.
21 Mr. Poston.
22 MR. POSTON: As a result of this report, Mr.
23 Le Bosquet has made summaries and conclusions, and I
24 would like to make a statement as to the corrective
25 actions needed.
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282
We would recommend that:
No. 1. The Industrial plants in both
Indiana and Illinois take immediate steps to improve
practices for exclusion or treatment of wastes especially
the following constituents; oil and tarry substances;
phenolic compounds or other persistent organic chemicals
that contribute to taste and odor problems; ammonia and
other nitrogenous material; phosphorus; suspended matter,
and highly acidic or alkaline materials.
10 No. 2. Major industrial plants institute
11 permanent programs of sampling their effluents to provide
12 more complete information about waste outputs. Location
13 and frequency of sample collections should be sufficient
14 to yield statistically reliable values of waste output
is and its variations.
16 Analyses should include the following:
i? pH, oil, tarry residues, phenolics, ammonia, organic
18 nitrogen, total nitrogen, cyanide, toxic metals,
19 phosphorus, suspended solids and biochemical oxygen
20 demand.
21 Wastewater flows should be measured and
22 results should be reported in terms of both concentrations
23 and tonnage rates.
24 Monthly reports of results should be
fts submitted to the appropriate state water pollution control
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283
agencies, where they will be available in open files.
Unusual increases in waste output and
accidental spills should be reported immediately to the
4 State agency.
e Third, appropriate state or local
o
agencies establish a system of water quality monitoring
7 stations at strategic points in the public waters of the
8 area.
9 Analyses should include the indices
1Q recited above, plus dissolved oxygen, conform and fecal
streptococcus counts and stream temperature.
At selected locations and for selected
1 A
indices, continuously recording monitors should be
13
14 maintained and daily transmitted to a central receiving
,c office.
13
.. Effective loading procedures should be
15
17 instituted by state or other appropriate agencies, for
18 quickly informing interested parties of sudden changes
lg or hazards to water quality.
2Q The Thomas J. O'Brien Locks should be
21 closed and placed in conventional lockage operation to
22 provide more positive control of flows and reduce the
23 frequency and duration of backflows to Lake Michigan.
24 No. 5* a dam be built across the Grand
25 Calumet River to prevent uncontrolled flows from Lake
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284
Michigan to the Illinois River through that channel.
Preferred location of the dam Is east of
the outfall from the East Chicago Municipal Waste Treatment
Plant.
At this time, I'd like to add something
that I didn't have in the Blue Book but which I would
like the conferees to consider during their deliberations
here and that would be the placing of a dam or lock
control works at the headwaters of Indiana Harbor.
The purpose of this would be to prevent
the flow of waste to Lake Michigan.
This could permit, then, the flow to be
down to the Grand Calumet River and then to the Cal-Sag
Channel.
I think that treatment of the waste would
certainly be required in either case, but that this would
prevent and could prevent the long term despoiling of our
lake and the potential damages to all of our water uses
here.
As a sixth recommendation, all municipal
wastes in the area receive secondary treatment.
The trend toward consolidation of small
community facilities into integrated sewer systems should be
accelerated to achieve better operating conditions and
reduce the proliferation of sewage treatment plants
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285
! discharging into small tributaries and dry watercourses.
2 Hammond and East Chicago investigate the
3 feasibility of constructing lagoons for the further
4 treatment of waste effluents.
5 Part of the existing poorly-drained
6 flood plain of the Grand Calumet River might be utilised
7 for this purpose, with levees around the lagoon high
8 enough to prevent flooding, and improved bypass channels
9 for storm drainage.
10 All sanitary wastes be disinfected before
n discharge. Disinfection should be practiced in the
12 manner prescribed by State Water Pollution Control
13 Agencies and mutually agreed upon between the two
14 states.
15 This Is the summary of our recommendations
16 as a result of our studies and in our report today, and
17 this concludes our presentation.
18 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Are there any comments or questions
19 from the conferees?
20 If not, I don't know if you are going to
21 cover this, Mr. Poston, but perhaps the Corps of Engineers
22 and I am not sure that I understand your recommendation
23 No. 4, the Thomas J. O'Brien Lock be closed and placed
24 in conventional lockage operation.
25 Why isn't it closed now?
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286
1 Would you rather have the Corps answer
2 that when they come up?
3 MR. POSTON: I think we might point this out now.
4 The Blue Island Locks which are in use at
5 this time, and control the flow of water down the Cal-Sag,
B this water coming from Lake Michigan or from the Grand
7 Calumet River are small and the larger locks than the
8 O'Brien Locks have been constructed.
g If the O'Brien locks are closed, or
10 open at this time, and if they were closed, it would
11 permit flow to come through Indiana Harbor down to
12 the Grand Calumet and then uncontrolled flow down past
13 the Blue Island Locks.
14 The Blue Island locks are to be removed
15 so that the O'Brien and then, the O'Brien Locks can
16 be used for control purposes.
17 With the addition of the dam about
18 present talk is about a dam at Columbia Avenue which is
19 about the divide there.
20 I would propose that consideration be
21 given to placing this lock out at the mouth of Indiana
22 Harbor so that all of the wastes could go down Instead
23 of going out In our Lake Michigan.
24 MR. CHESROW: Mr. Chairman?
'25 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Colonel Chesrow.
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MR. CHESROW: I believe Colonel Mattlna of the Corps
of Array Engineers does have a lengthy statement on the
operation of the locks.
Now, I'd like to correct one statement.
"They are closed to navigation, but have been operational
for water control."
7 We have called upon them a number of times
8 this past year for water control.
9 Prom they are "closed" for navigational pur-
10 poses to they are "open" for navigational purposes.
n CHAIRMAN STEIN: Do you want to comment or not?
12 MR. POSTON: Well, all I have to say is that we
13 had flown over the locks at the O'Brien Locks, and I
14 am sure that Colonel Mattina could answer this question
15 as to what amount of time
16 COL. MATTINA: Let me pick it up in ray statement.
17 MR. POSTON: Okay.
18 MR. BACON: He will pick it up.
19 MR. POSTON: He will pick it up.
20 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Are there any other comments or
21 questions?
22 MR. CHESROW: I don't think we want to go into
23 the actual spotting of the dam at this time.
24 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Well, at least, from my point of
25 view, the placement of a dam in any particular place,
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whether It was here or anywhere else is a very delicate
matter that needs very mature consideration.
However, I think the technique we use
at the conference is to let the participants, whoever
they may be, make their Judgment on what is relevant
and the conferees will give it such weight as they deem
appropriate.
MR. CHESROW: Again, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Does that conclude the H.E.W.
presentation, Mr. Poston?
MR. POSTON: That concludes our presentation.
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Do you have any other Federal
agencies?
MR. POSTON: In line with the regulation
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Just one moment.
Do you have any more discussion on that?
MR. CHESROW: No, not on that.
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Good.
MR. POSTON: In line with conference procedures,
we have asked other Federal agencies having interest in
water pollution control to make such statements as they
desire that may have a bearing on this.
The Army Corps of Engineers, Colonel
John C. Mattina, District Engineer for the U.S. Army
District here in Chicago, has indicated that he will make
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a statement.
Colonel Mattina.
2
COL. MATTINA: Mr. Chairman, honorable conferees,
3
ladles and gentlemen, I am Colonel John C. Mattina,
District Engineer of the Chicago District, Corps of
O
. Engineers for civil works responsibility.
6
The area which we are discussing today,
the southern part of Lake Michigan, is part of our
8
responsibility.
This is the reason I am representing
the Corps of Engineers.
I appreciate this opportunity to discuss
with you the responsibility of the Corps of Engineers on
13
matters affecting water pollution in the Greater Chicago
14
area. I propose to develop the relationship of our
15
._ activities to the problem of water pollution in two
IB
general areas, regulatory and operational.
In the regulatory area, I will enumerate,
18
describe and explain the laws and the administration
jy
thereof for the protection of navigable waters; in the
2u
21 operational area, I will discuss aspects thereof that
22 affect or may affect the problem of pollution.
The Corps of Engineers is responsible for
23
the administration of laws for the protection of
25 navigable waters and for the construction, maintenance
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i and operation of Improvements authorized by Congress
2 for navigation and flood control, including multiple uses
a embracing power, water supply, and low river flow
4 augmentation.
s The principal laws having a relationship
6 to water pollution in which the Corps is involved are
7 the River and Harbor Act approved 3 March 1899, and to
8 a lesser extent the River and Harbor Act approved 3
9 March 1905. Section 10 of the 1899 Act provides for
10 the regulation of construction, excavation and filling
11 In navigable waters, and Section 13 of the same Act makes
12 mnlawfwl the deposit of "refuse matter of any kind or
13 description whatever other than that flowing from streets
14 and sewers and passing therefrom in a liquid state ..."
15 in navigable waters or their tributaries.
16 Section 4 of the 1905 Act charges the
17 Secretary of the Army with regulation of dumping of
18 "dredgings, earth, garbage and refuse materials of every
19 kind ..." when necessary in the interest of navigation.
20 The Oil Pollution Act of 1924 is not
21 applicable to waters in the Great Lakes area, since It
22 concerns only waters in which "the tide ebbs and flows."
23 However, oil discharged from vessels has been held to be
24 refuse matter and, therefore, its discharge into
25 navigable waters of the United States is a violation of
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Section 13 of the 1899 Act that I mentioned previously.
In brief therefore, Section 10 of the
River and Harbor Act of 3 March 1899 is the law by means
of which construction and dredging in waters of the
United States are controlled to prevent interference with
the navigable capacity thereof.
Section 13 of this same Act is the law
available to the Corps of Engineers to control oil
pollution and Illegal deposits, again in navigable waters
10 or their tributaries, insofar as these acts affect
11 navigation.
12 The Corps of Engineers' activities in
13 connection with the administration of the laws enacted
14 by Congress for the preservation and protection of the
15 navigable waters of the United States cover the
16 establishment of navigation and bridge regulations,
17 harbor lines, anchorage areas, danger zones, seaplane
18 restricted areas, dumping grounds and fish stake limits;
19 the issuance of permits and approval of bridge plans;
20 and the investigation of obstructions, wrecks, oil
21 pollution and Illegal deposits.
22 Since the primary purpose of these statutes
23 is to protect navigation from obstruction and injury, en-
24 forcement has been concentrated on prevention of illegal
25 deposits, including oil, that will impede or adversely
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affect navigation.
The most serious problem in oil pollution
enforcement rests in the difficulty of securing the
necessary evidence to warrant prosecution. The large
expanses of open water, the isolation of vessels navi-
gating thereon, and the devious and hidden methods of
discharging oil make it frequently impossible to
ascertain the vessels and persons responsible. Inspections
of probable sources of pollution from industrial
establishments are made frequently, particularly in areas
where violations are common, with a view to keeping the
navigable waterways free from oil pollution and obstruc-
tive and injurious deposits.
A major source of oil pollution, not
curable under existing laws administered by the Corps
of Engineers, is the untreated effluent from municipal
and industrial sewers. The extent of municipal sewer
systems and of the connections thereto render identifica-
tion of the oil sources a practical impossibility.
The only case in the Chicago District
involving illegal deposits which was prosecuted through
the courts is that involving the depositing of flue dust
and other industrial solids in the Calumet River, Illinois,
by three major steel companies. This case resulted in
a successful conclusion.
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The three steel companies in 1951,and
I would like to underscore the date 1951* since it became
a long, hard trek, and prior years dredged their waste
materials deposited in the Calumet River upon demand by
the Corps of Engineers.
However, in 1953, they refused to remove
additional deposits which had formed in the river channel
when requested by the Corps of Engineers. After pro-
longed attempts at negotiation and continued refusal by
10 the steel companies, suit was initiated by the Government
in the U.S. District Court in 195^ to compel the steel
12 companies to remove the Illegal deposits under Sections
13 13 and 10 of the River and Harbor Act of 3 March 1899
14 that I have explained previously. The District Court on
24 June 1957 rendered a decree favorable to the
16 Government.
17 The steel companies appealed the U.S.
18 District Court's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals
19 for the Seventh Circuit on 7 November 1957. The
20 Court on 22 January 1959 rendered a decision in favor
21 of the steel companies dealing only with the
22 applicability of the 3 March 1899 Act to the case and
23 reversed the decree of the District Court.
24 In other words, at that time, we found
25 ourselves with no law that we could apply.
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j The U.S. Department of Justice petitioned
2 the U.S. Supreme Court in April 1959 for a writ of
3 certiorari. The case was argued In January I960, and
4 on 16 May I960 the Court rendered a decision reversing
5 the U.S. Court of Appeals on the question of law; that
6 is, upholding the applicability of the law, and remanded
7 the case to it for proceedings and sufficiency of
8 evidence in conformity with the opinion.
g In other words, they were told to go
10 ahead and try the case, that the law was applicable.
jj Defendants petitioned the U.S. Supreme
12 Court for a rehearing which was denied on 6 December
. I960.
Jo
14 After oral arguments in the Court of
15 Appeals a decision was rendered affirming the decree as to
j6 the prohibitory injunctions but reversing It as to man-
17 datory injunctions and remanding the case to the
18 District Court for a new trial on 17 February 1961.
19 In other words, we were told that the
20 law was applicable, but we could not, until we proved
21 our case, force the steel companies to do any dredging.
22 Negotiations between the defendants and
23 the District Engineer were undertaken in 1962 and 1963.
24 A tentative agreement was reached by
WL which the three steel companies would pay $620,000 to the
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United States for removal of existing deposits of flue
dust and industrial solids and an annual amount of
$25,000 for removal of future deposits. The agreement
was approved by the Department of Justice and the
Secretary of the Army, and a final decree terminating
the litigation was issued by the District Court on 2
August 1963.
Permits were issued by the Department of
the Army to the steel companies on 1 August 19^3* per-
10 mitting discharge and deposition of flue dust and
11 Industrial solids in the Calumet River and requiring
12 payment of an annual amount of $25*000 for its removal.
13 This payment is to be reduced as the companies decrease
14 their deposition of solids into navigable waters.
15 The above case is cited to point out the
16 extended period of litigation involved, almost nine
17 years, and the difficulty in interpreting the existing
18 law. Now, we'd like to point out that other steel
19 companies in Cook County, Illinois, and Lake County,
20 Indiana, the area in which we are concerned here are
21 continuing to cooperate with the Corps of Engineers by
22 the removal of their deposits from the Federal channels
23 involved.
24 In its administration of Section 10 of
25 the River and Harbor Act of 3 March 1899, covering
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issuance of permits and this is important because most
people have contact with us in the Corps on this problem
of permits. These permits are for construction of
wharves, piers, dolphins, booms, weirs, breakwaters,
bulkheads, Jetties, or other structures in navigable
waters of the United States, the whole consideration of the
Corps of Engineers is whether the proposed structures
themselves constitute an unreasonable obstruction to
navigation.
However, coordination is effected with
fish and wildlife agencies whenever, upon consideration
of the work proposed under a permit application, it is
indicated that the work might have a detrimental effect on
fish and wildlife.
Permits involving the construction of
outfall sewers from industrial establishments are
thoroughly investigated. In cases where it is determined
there may be a deposit of solids in navigable waters
that may cause an obstruction to navigation, a special
condition is now included in the permit making the
applicant responsible for removal of the shoal material
upon request of the Corps of Engineers.
So much now for regulatory function.
I would like to turn now to the operation problems.
With respect to current operations of the
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i Corps of Engineers in this area, I shall discust i,.-»~ two
2 structures contained in the Calumet-Sag Project referred
3 to in the Department of Public Health's February 1965
4 report as well as our dredging activities.
5 Congress, in the River and Harbor Act of
6 19^6, authorized the Calumet-Sag navigation project. As
7 part of this project there were included a lock and
8 controlling works on the Calumet River and a lock and
9 controlling works on the Grand Calumet River.
10 The design purposes of these locks and
n controlling works were threefold: maintenance of a
12 lower water surface elevation landward thereof, thereby
13 minimizing bridge alterations; in other words, we want
14 to maintain a 25-foot vertical clearance between the
15 water surface and the bridges now being built on the
16 Cal-Sag; control of diversion from Lake Michigan; and
17 reduction of pollution into Lake Michigan.
18 At present, diversion of flow from Lake
19 Michigan through the Calumet, Little Calumet and Grand
20 Calumet Rivers is controlled by the non-Federal Blue
21 Island lock at the easterly end of the Calumet-Sag
22 Channel. This lock is owned and operated by the
23 Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago. Since
24 the Blue Island lock is only 50 feet wide, it does not
25 permit navigation to take advantage of the widened
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channels in the Calumet-Sag project.
The Gal-Sag channels are being widened
to 225 feet. The current width of the channel is only
60 feet.
The Blue Island lock is one of the two
50-foot restrictions. As the result, with the continued
existence of the 50-foot lock there, the new chemical
and oil barges that are built to 50 foot and 52 foot
width specifications cannot be used to go through the
10 Cal-Sag project.
n It is for that reason now, and this is
12 a navigation reason, that we are concerned with the
13 early removal of the Blue Island lock.
14 Now, provision of the locks and
15 controlling works on the Calumet and Grand Calumet Rivers
16 would permit the removal of the obstructive Blue Island
17 lock and would permit the achievement of the aforemen-
18 tioned design purposes.
19 To date, the lock and controlling works
20 on the Calumet River have been completed and are known
21 as the Thomas J. O'Brien Lock and Controlling Works.
22 Normally, simply, the Thomas J. O'Brien
23 Lock, because of lack of local interest in the project
24 at this time, it appears unlikely that the Grand Calumet
25 River improvements which is considered as Part 2 of the
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Cal-Sag project including the proposed locks and
controlling works will be provided in the near future.
Thus, some substitute control in the
Grand Calumet River is needed to permit completion of
the first part of the Calumet-Sag navigation project, and
when the Federal Government is expending almost $85
million for the improvement of the Cal^Sag Channel,
naturally, we would like to see some results from the
money being expended as soon as possible.
10 Now, such control that I have referred
n to would take the form of a simple barrier dam which
12 would restrain flow from Lake Michigan into the westerly
13 portion of the Grand Calumet River.
14 The location of the barrier dam has been
15 the subject of recent discussions with numerous agencies.
16 These agencies include the U.S. Public Health Service,
17 our host today, the Indiana Stream Pollution Control Board,
18 the Indiana Flood Control and Water Resources Commission,
19 the Illinois Division of Waterways, the Illinois
20 Sanitary Water Board, the Metropolitan Sanitary District
21 of Greater Chicago, the City of Chicago and the City of
22 Hammond.
23 Several alternative sites are being
24 considered for the location of the barrier dam. The
25 selection of the site will ultimately be based upon
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1 these factors.
2 One, the needs of navigation which, of
3 course, is to provide a barrier dam.
4 Two, the effect upon other water uses
5 and there are several; the desires of local interests
6 and the availability of right of way for the facility.
7 It is expected that the barrier dam
8 can be completed in fiscal year 1966; that is, the
9 Federal fiscal year beginning 1 July 1965 and ending
10 30 June 1966, probably the latter portion of the fiscal
n year.
12 This v/ill permit removal of the Blue
13 Island lock and the operation of the Thomas J. O'Brien
14 lock and controlling works for navigation purposes.
15 Now, by mutual agreement, the O'Brien
16 lock and controlling works and the barrier dam, will be
17 operated, insofar as flows from and to Lake Michigan are
18 concerned, that is, for non-navigation purposes, in
19 accordance with the request of the Metropolitan Sanitary
20 District of Greater Chicago and under the general
21 supervision of the Chicago District Engineer.
22 The barrier dam across the Grand Calumet,
23 as now envisioned, will consist of a single row of steel
sheet piling with a spillway section. The top of the dam
25 will be seven feet above the Chicago City datum. It will
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1 not be an enormous structure, I assure you.
2 The spillway section will be a steel panel
3 three feet high and 18,5 feet long, constructed so that it
4 can be raised or lowered by a manually operated screw type
5 life mechanism.
6 During dry weather periods, the spillway
7 section will be kept closed. During periods of heavy
8 runoff, in the Grand Calumet River, the spillway section
9 will be opened at the request of the City of Hammond and
10 coordinated with the Metropolitan Sanitary District of
n Greater Chicago in order to permit a temporary flow
12 toward Lake Michigan through the Indiana Harbor Canal.
13 Now, let us turn our attention to the
14 Thomas J. O'Brien lock. This lock is not now fully
15 manned for lockage of navigation, and it is intended to
16 continue this status until the removal of the Blue
17 Island lock.
18 However, sufficient crew has been assigned
19 to this location to manipulate the various appurtenances
20 as required to control river flows.
2i Since 17 January 19^5* at tlie request of
22 the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago,
23 the lock gates and sluice gates in the control works were
24 closed on 12 occasions for various periods of time in
25 order to stop the lakeward flow of the Calumet River througH
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the lock in order to reduce pollution of Lake Michigan
at Calumet Harbor.
These closures were occasioned by southerly
winds which lowered the water surface at the southern end
of Lake Michigan, inducing the Calumet River to flow
lakeward.
It is understood that the Metropolitan
Sanitary District of Greater Chicago plans to request
the closing of the gates and valves of this lock whenever
warranted in order to prevent insofar as possible,
further pollution of Lake Michigan.
In summary, therefore, insofar as the
Thomas J. O'Brien lock is concerned, although we are
not manned to operate it for navigation purposes, there
is no need to so man that particular lock as long as
the Blue Island lock is there; however, we have sufficient
crew that we can close it or open it at the request of
the Metropolitan Sanitary District to control flow of
water toward Lake Michigan.
Now, the Corps of Engineers in this
area also has another major civil works responsibility;
and that is for dredging, and of course, if the waters
are polluted, so too are the materials being dredged from
the rivers and the harbors.
Our dredging contracts in the Chicago,
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i Illinois and Indiana Harbor area; and that is, the area
2 that we are concerned with today, requiring disposal of
3 the excavated material in deep water in Lake Michigan
4 specifies that the material be transported and deposited
5 in the authorized dumping ground approved by the
6 Secretary of War in 1924.
7 This dumping ground complies with the
8 following laws: The Act of Congress, approved 23 June
9 1910, which makes it unlawful to dump or deposit refuse
10 matter of any kind or description whatever, other than
n that flowing from streets and sewers and passing there-
12 from in a liquid state, in Lake Michigan at any point
13 opposite or in front of Cook County, Illinois, or Lake
u County, Indiana, within eight miles from the shore of
is said lake, unless said material is placed Inside of and
16 is retained by a breakwater; certain regulations for
17 the control of navigation in Chicago Harbor, and I am
18 referring to the Harbor where navigation where Navy
19 Pier is located.
20 I will repeat again: Certain regulations
21 for the control of navigation in Chicago Harbor,
22 particularly Section 38-8, Befouling Public Waters, of
23 the Municipal Code of Chicago, which prohibits the
24 deposit of materials in Lake Michigan within ten miles
25 of the corporate limits, the corporate limits are three
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miles from the shoreline.
Therefore, our dredged materials have
to be transported at least 13 miles from the shore
and this law, too, prohibits the towing of loaded
dump scows, that is, within the harbor unless a
City of Chicago inspector is on board at the time of
towing.
These laws we comply with and enforce
both in our contract work and such dredging as may be
accomplished with Corps of Engineers' plant.
This is what makes dredging operations
in the Greater Chicago area much more expensive than
other parts of the country, but we comply with them as
a necessity for the health of our community.
The foregoing presents broadly Corps of
Engineers activities in this immediate area, particularly
those which are considered to have a relationship to
water pollution.
The importance of preserving and improving
the quality of our water resources is, we all agree,
unquestioned.
Within the framework of the laws and
regulations governing our activities, we shall continue
to take such actions which are feasible and possible to
improve or protect water quality.
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305
We stand ready to cooperate wholeheartedly
2 with other Federal, state and local agencies dealing
3 with this problem.
4 Thank you very much.
5 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Colonel Mattina.
6 Are there any comments or
7 questions?
o MR. POSTON: I noted at the top of page ten that
o
9 the gates were closed on the O'Brien locks on 12 different
10 occasions since mid-January which is about a month and
n a half.
12 This means that had the gate not been
13 closed, then, 12 times during the month-and-a-half period
14 there would have been flow backwards to the lake?
15 COL. MATTINA: Very definitely.
16 MR. POSTON: This would carry back from the
17 Calumet Sewage Plant effluent back to the lake, then,
18 possibly?
ig COL. MATTINA: That is true.
20 MR. POSTON: Thank you.
21 MR. POOLE: Could I assume, Colonel, that during
22 those 12 times there was flow between the O'Brien locks and
23 the lake backward to the lake?
24 COL. MATTINA: There would have been.
25 MR. POOLE: Well, anything that came in
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COL. MATTINA: You mean from the O'Brien lock In
the Calumet River itself?
MR. POOLE: Yes, back to the lake.
COL. MATTINA: Yes, there was.
MR. POOLE: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Panel?
MR. CHESROW: Colonel Mattina, I'd like you to
comment on Mr. Poston's suggestion and recommendation
with reference to the dam to be built.
COL. MATTINA: Oh, is this the control
MR. CHESROW: Yes.
COL. MATTINA: the control dam?
There has been no decision reached.
There are several locations: One, of course, is the
Public Health location now which will include the
effluent from East Chicago as well as Hammond.
There is another one that will Include
only Hammond and another one that will exclude both
East Chicago and Hammond and be built -- oh, somewhere
on the divide there.
No decision has been reached on that,
Colonel Chesrow.
MR. CHESROW: Yes. Now, one other question with
reference to the dam at Indiana Harbor that was injected
in this afternoon.
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l COL. MATTINA: I know there was some thinking in
2 that respect.
3 Since it is our responsibility for
4 navigation, this would not be a navigation lock at all.
5 I mean, actually, it would have to be approved for other
6 than navigational purposes.
7 If I have any feeling of navigation
8 Interest, of course, they would resist having a lock and
9 control works there at the head of navigation at Indiana
10 Harbor because of the normal interference that there
n would be.
12 But it is not impossible. This is
13 something that, perhaps, should be given study from a
14 public health point of view. However, I think the
15 important thing is to get everybody to clean up that
16 pollution as fast as they can, rather than to try to see
17 if we can stop it, or at least open that bulkhead in
18 the form of a lock and control works which won't be
lg completely safe.
2Q MR. CHESROW: Thank you.
2i CHAIRMAN STEIN: Any more questions?
22 Thank you, Mr. Boston, do you have any
23 other presentations?
24 MR. POSTON: The U.S. Department of Commerce has
25 asked to be heard today and Mr. K. L. Kollar will make a
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statement for the Department of Commerce.
Mr. Kollar.
MR. KOLLAR: Mr. Chairman, conferees, ladles and
gentlemen, I am K. L. Kollar, Director of the Water
Industries and Engineering Services Division, Business
and Defense Services Administration, Department of
Commerce.
8 Off the record, that is quite a mouthful
9 and I have cut it down some.
10 The Department of Commerce has spearheaded
11 a nationwide drive to modernize U.S. industry over the
12 past two years. Briefly, the purpose of this drive is
13 to Improve our competitive position in the emerging one-
u world market, and to increase our rate of economic growth.
is It is not necessary to present Department
16 of Commerce statistics which Indicate that our economy
17 is strong. Nor Is it necessary to show that we cannot
18 stand still. We must continue to increase productivity,
19 tower costs, decrease unemployment, and increase consumer
20 buying if we wish to compete profitably in today's and
21 tomorrow's market and leave the same legacy of opportunity
22 for our children and grandchildren. Part of the answer
23 rests in modernization.
24 Certainly this Administration has provided
incentives and laid the groundwork for greatly increased.
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economic activity with the $11.5 billion tax cut, the
liberalized depreciation regulations, and the investment
tax credits. These measures have been instrumental in
pumping more cash into corporate coffers for expansion
and modernization.
The Government can only set the stage
while business initiative, ingenuity, and enterprise,
8 powerfully stimulated by the profit motive, are always
the factors most responsible for our economic growth.
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Modernization generally brings to mind
plant production equipment and the associated economic
benefits in addition to finance and research development.
One of the most important benefits could be the effect
on water.
The Department of Commerce would like to
emphasize to this Conference that great water pollution
benefits can accrue from modernization. Modernization
could decrease water use by conservation, recirculatlon,
reuse, multiple use, and stepped-up use, while water
pollution could be decreased by reclaiming wastes and
preventing leakage and spills.
Pollution need not always be controlled
by treatment. It could involve diligent process control,
employee education, and recovery systems which in a
way are part of modernization. Companies spend money to
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i study and survey efficiency of organization, operation
2 and production. Considerable savings can be effected
3 from surveys of in-plant water use and sources of
4 pollution for the purpose of minimizing both. Time does
5 not permit recounting cases where companies acting on
6 their own initiative and with an eye to the future,
7 have developed programs which will create very few
8 problems to the enforcement of water pollution control
9 laws.
10 This short presentation so far has
n emphasized the industrial aspects of water pollution
12 because the Department of Commerce has the responsibility
13 of assisting and advising businessmen and acting as
14 liaison between business and Government.
15 Industry has already invested hundreds
16 of millions of dollars on control and abatement facilities,
17 These investments support the objective of President
18 Johnson's message to Congress on the national beauty of
19 our county in which he charged municipalities as well as
20 industry, and I quote:
21 "To organize for action and rebuild and
22 reclaim the beauty we Inherited."
23 It is therefore encumbent on all local
24 governments and industries to continue working hand in
PS hand to solve pollution problems where they exist.
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i
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Kollar.
Are there any comments or questions?
If not, thank you very much for your
statement.
Mr. Poston,
MR. POSTON: The Department of Interior has asked
to be heard, but Mr. H. C. Jordahl, Jr., who was to make
this statement requested that his presentation be made
first thing Wednesday morning, tomorrow morning, March
3rd. Would that be satisfactory?
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Without objection, we will try to
do that.
MR. POSTON: This is the end of the Federal
presentation.
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Thank you, Mr. Poston.
Are there any comments or questions on
the whole presentation now?
If not, I'd like to indicate a few things
One, if anyone else has a presentation
and has slides, please see the projectionist so he can
make arrangements to make you slides.
Secondly, I would like to indicate some
of the ground rules here. Under the Federal law, the
Federal Government and the states are the conferees.
The invitees here within the jurisdiction of the Federal
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Government to invite are the ones you see at the table,
and the ones who have been called up, plus the Department
3 of Interior tomorrow.
4 We are one Government, and we invite other
people if the need is established.
Other than that, we have asked that the state
agencies concerned with pollution from industry in Illinois.
They in turn, are authorized to have anyone else participate
if they wish.
10 Now and this is Just to clear this
up so you will understand the extent of our Jurisdiction
12 here, and the balance that the Congress decided to have
13 in the Federal-state relationship.
14 At this stage of the proceedings, our
IS relationship is with the states and the states have the
16 right to Invite anyone within their states to participate.
17 Our schedule at the present time will very
18 shortly call for a ten-minute recess.
19 We will reconvene and go to about five
20 o'clock.
21 There are some agendas in the back of
22 the room to give you an idea of who may be coming up.
23 You have to understand that the agendas are Just for
24 the guide of the conferees. The agendas are for our
25
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1 assistance and from time to time, adjustments are made
2 in the agendas to fit the schedule of the people who
3 come here to make statements.
4 At this time, we will stand adjourned
5 or recess for ten minutes and reconvene after that until
6 about five.
7 (Whereupon, a recess was had.)
8 CHAIRMAN STEIN: May we reconvene?
9 Mr. Klassen.
10 MR. KLASSEN: There has been a number of
il references to the multipurpose use of the water in the
12 south end of Lake Michigan and the tributary waters. One
13 of those uses that is of extreme importance, of course,
14 is recreation.
15 Prom the State of Illinois standpoint,
16 any questions of legal, political, financial differences,
17 all must be secondary to the one overriding objective and
18 that is to clean up the lake and the streams so that they
19 will be ftce from pollution and will be suitable for
20 the various multipurpose uses.
21 It has been said that nobody likes to talk
22 about sewage, much less their own; but, however, this is
23 a factual conference.
24 It is necessary, sometimes, that we talk
25 about the pollution that originates in our own area. This
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will be done.
We want to start off this afternoon,
however, with some facts on one of the extremely
important uses of water in Lake Michigan, particularly,
and this is recreation.
The Chicago Park District has been long
noted for its operation of a number of very excellent
beaches. Chicago always has been proud of the fact that
its beaches have been used and have been suitable for use.
The effect of pollution on the quality
of the water to Chicago's southside beaches, particularly,
comes into sharp focus in this conference, and the first
presentation for Illinois will be in that vein.
It will be given both by Dr. Gerald P.
Atlas, Director of Medical Services, and Glenn W.
Metcalfe, Supervisor of Sanitation.
Dr. Atlas.
DR. ATLAS: Mr. Chairman, honorable conferees,
ladles and gentlemen, I am Dr. Gerald Atlas, and In my
official capacity, I serve as the Director of Medical
Services for the Chicago Park District.
The Chicago Park District Beach sampling
program started in 19^9 as a result of the recommendation
of the tri-state survey committee on bathing water
quality in the Great Lakes conducted by the United States
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i Public Health Service.
2 There were 17 original beach sampling
points in this program and this number has varied through
the years to Its present schedule.
The rate of sampling was determined by
6 economics and also varied as the need arose.
7 At present, we have 32 beach sampling
8 points.
9 The people of the City of Chicago take
10 great pride in its lakefront water facilities, and the
n Chicago Park District is charged with the responsibility
12 of insuring the safety of these facilities under its
13 Jurisdiction.
14 Chicago is one of the few cities on
15 the Great Lakes that has relatively uncontaminated water
16 for recreational use. It is our goal to continue to
17 provide the use of this natural recreational facility
18 to the people of Chicago and if this goal is to be
19 achieved, it is necessary to remove the source of
20 contamination from the southernmost portion of our lakefront.
21 Now, if I may, I would like to introduce
22 Glenn Metcalfe, our Supervisor of Sanitation, who will
23 demonstrate to you in graphic form the results of a
24 ten-year compilation of sampling data.
25 Mr. Metcalfe. i
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MR. METCALFE: Samples collected or analyzed for
coliform organisms, fecal streptococcus organisms and
total bacteria present according to the procedures and
recommendations and standard methods for the examination
of water, the American Public Health Association, the
ten year sampling period from 1955 to 1964 was used to
Illustrate graphically these sampling results for
coliform organisms.
9 The coliform most probable number was
10 determined by using 533 dilutions of ten mlllillters,
one milliliter, a tenth milliliter, a hundredth milliliter,
12 a thousandth milliliter, portions of a hundredth
13 milliliter sample, and for those of you who have
14 copies of our report, we can go into it and start with
15 graph No. 1.
ie Graph No. 1 illustrates on semi-logarithmic
17 graph paper the averages at 29 beach sampling points and
18 you can see from Juneway Terrace on this to Rainbow
19 Beach, south sampling point, we have a fairly average
20 trend.
21 When we go to Calumet Beach, the trend
22 starts to rise, and to illustrate this further, graph
23 No. 2, the same coliform averages on standard graph
24 paper, using 1,000 coliform MPN index to the Inch.
So we can go to graph No. 2 and you see
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i what happens when you use it on standard graph paper.
2 Hammond Beach --
3 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Mr. Metcalfe?
4 MR. METCALPE: Sir?
5 CHAIRMAN STEIN: This is very dramatic and I
6 appreciate the point, but I'd like to come to an accommo-
7 datlon with you on your reproduction of this in the re-
8 cord.
9 (Laughter.)
10 MR. METCALPE: You don't know the problem that was
11 involved.
12 CHAIRMAN STEIN: I can very well know the problem
13 Involved. I am intimately concerned with it. However,
14 you have to recognize that while your problem is really
15 Involved, we have a joint committee on printing, and we
16 also have a bureaucratic organization of over 80,000
17 people, and this is the hardest thing to get set up.
18 (Laughter.)
19 We are going to have to either reduce
20 your charts or make adjustments and have a rather severe
21 limitation on the kind of folding charts we will have in
22 the printed record. If that meets with your approval
23 MR. METCALFE: Well, what you will have to do then
24 is revert to such as graph No. 1, using the semi-aogarithmlc
25 graph.
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l CHAIRMAN STEIN: Yes. Thank you.
2 MR. METCALPE: Again
3 MR. KLASSEN: Mr. Metcalfe, if you would speak in
4 more legal terms, my attorney friend here you have
5 got to overlook this. This is a lawyer's interpretation
6 of a graph.
7 (Laughter.)
8 MR. METCALPE: So then, we go to graph No. 3 and
9 we start at the 49th Street Beach sampling point.
10 As you can see, 49th Street Beach sampling
11 is fairly good. It is one of the finest beaches that we
12 have in the City of Chicago. It is stable for this
13 period of ten years.
14 Then, we go to graph No. 4 which is
15 57th Street Beach, going a little further south.
ig As you can see, we start showing a little
17 trend.
18 Then, we go to graph No. 5 at Jackson
19 Park Beach sampling point, and the trend,you can see,
20 is starting to go upward.
21 Now, we have graph No. 6 which is Rainbow
22 Beach, north sampling point, and at Rainbow Beach, north
23 sampling point, as you notice, we had what is considered
24 a slug of contamination twice in the year of 1961.
5 On June 30th, the sampling shows what the
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graph looks like with the dotted lines, and with the
August 4th sampling, it shows you what it looks like with
dotted lines, and eliminating these two samples, it
shows you that there is a steady average there going
upward.
The same with Rainbow Beach south
sampling point, only I included these two samples of
June 30th and August 14th in this, and showing the
dotted lines as being eliminated, but as you notice at
Rainbow Beach south sampling point, the trend.
Then, we get into the graph No. 8, and
starting with graph No. 8, we can go back to using semi-
logarithmic and standard paper using the 1,000 conform
average to the inch.
Mr. Stein will probably say we have a
problem there, too.
So in the period of 1955 to 1964 on
graph No. 8, semi-logarithmic paper, but then on graph
No. 8, it goes to the standard paper, and it shows how
the trend is rising.
In the year 1959 we had an average of
over 12,000 coliform for the summer and on 9-8 that
breaks down all the samples collected during the summer
of 1959* and it shows you that in this graph, the
samples are up and down.
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l The contamination is there, but it is not
2 general, and you can see that.
3 Then, we go to the Calumet Beach north
4 sampling point. This, the same thing occurs, on graph
5 No. 10 which shows on semi-logarithmic paper which
6 converts to graph No. 11 on standard graph paper that
7 we have a summer of 1958 and 1959 that the coliform
8 MPN was high.
9 And on 11-A, 11-B, and 11-C, we break
10 down 1958* 1959 and 19&3, and it shows again that the
11 contamination is not general.
12 Then, graph No. 12 is on semi-logarithmic
13 paper showing the Calumet Beach south sampling point
14 which when you go to graph No. 13 on standard graph
is paper shows the flexibility and variability of your
16 coliform index.
17 For the year 1959* and on 13-A, B and C,
18 is the breakdown of these individual years of high
19 coliform density in 1957, '58 and '59.
20 Again, a sampling shows it goes up and
21 it comes down.
22 Then, we also sampled Hammond Beach which
23 is graph No. 14, which is on your semi-logarithmic paper.
4 (Laughter.)
25 Then, we converted to the standard graph
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i that extends out 88 inches long.
2 (Laughter.)
3 It is rather dramatic, isn't it?
4 Then, we have the last sampling point
5 which is Whiting Beach and Whiting Beach on graph No. 16,
B using semi-logarithmic paper shows you the variability
7 there, too, which, converted to standard graph paper isn't
8 quite as bad as Hammond Beach, but you can see that this
9 extends 53 inches.
10 So I don't know how they will be able to
n get this into booklet form, but if they have to, they
12 can use the semi-logarithmic graph for that purpose.
13 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Let me go off the record here.
14 (Discussion omitted from
15 the record.)
16 All right, on the record again.
17 MR. METCALPE: That is the presentation of the
18 Park District for this committee.
19 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Metcalfe.
20 Are there any questions or comments?
21 MR. POOLE: There are.
22 CHAIRMAN STEIN: Mr. Poole:
23 MR. POOLE: You went through these graphs and I
24 went through them very hurriedly. You studied them in
25 advance and we Just got them, but my inspection indicates
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that in about 1959* it was your high year as far as all
these southernmost beaches were concerned, and I am
looking now at the Calumet Beach south and the curve
goes down materially after 1959.
5 Have you got any explanation for that?
6 MR. METCALPE: No, we don't have any explanation
except that I hope the thing is improving.
MR. POOLE: Well, the point I want to make was the
9 graphs certainly do not indicate that since 1906 it had
10 been deteriorating, do they?
11 If you look at your graph
12 MR. METCALFE: I know what you mean, Ed.
13 MR. POOLE: It looked to me, as I said, I went
14 through them very hurriedly, but it did look like '58
15 and '59 were your high years and admittedly they are
16 still high.
17 MR. METCALPE: That's right, that's right, admittedly
18 they are still high.
19 MR. POOLE: But all of the later graphs do indicate
20 a trend that it has dropped down. I don't know that it
21 is still going down, but it may have leveled off a little
22 bit, anyway.
23 MR. METCALPE: We will find out a little more about
124 it this summer.
25 MR. POOLE: It will be interesting to see what your
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i '65 results are.
2 MR. METCALFE: See, I am not looking for dirty
3 water. I am looking for clean water, and any Improvement
4 makes us happy.
5 MR. KLASSEN: Mr. Metcalfe, was there any correla-
& tlon that you found between wind direction and your
7 results, and also between bathing load and your results?
8 Were these taken into consideration?
9 MR. METCALFE: Bathing load apparently does not
10 have too much effect on the coliform, but your wind
n directions do, and your turbulence of the lake does.
12 Rough days,you will get 50 percent of
13 your 110,000 coliform count and it seems like 50 per-
u cent of the time the wind is from the south. So that is
15 the way it roughly breaks down.
16 MR. KLASSEN: Also, I think this is probably a
17 followup to Mr. Poole's question.
18 How would you summarize the trend or
19 isn't there any conclusive trend that you see? Are
20 things getting better and if so how much better and how
21 fast?
22 MR. METCALFE: Well, 1964 was a fairly good year
23 for the bacterial samplings, and this I attribute to
24 being a fairly cool summer. The entire month of August
25 was a cool month.
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MR. KLASSEN: This Is not in the form of a
question, but Just a comment.
It looks like with all of the technical
experts that are here and particularly the laboratory
people, you probably can come up with a new bathing
beach index, something that you have been looking for
and this is inches of paper per graph.
MR. METCALPE: Inches of coliform.
(Laughter.)
MR. POOLE: I have one more question, Mr. Chairman.
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Mr. Poole, yes.
MR. POOLE: Have you any correlation between the
incidence of disease or difficulties with the bathers in
the southerly beaches compared to the beaches on the
north side of Chicago?
MR. METCALPE: No, we have no correlation of that.
MR. POOLE: In other words, it is the same story
we found back when the '48 survey was started?
MR. METCALPE: Was started, yes, when that was
taking place.
MR. POSTON: At what level of coliform would you
close the beach or would you close the beach?
MR. METCALPE: Dr. Atlas.
MR. POOLE: This I have been looking at for years.
DR. ATLAS: I can see that there is no specific level
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at which we would close a beach unless there was a
general and consistent contamination as revealed by
successive samples.
As you can see by these graphs, there is
an Intermittency of contamination that we find on the
beaches. We have gone into conference many times.
In fact, Calumet-Outer has been closed for a number of
years.
9 The decision to open It is based upon the
10 consistency of sampling. One day, as you can see by the
graph, we will get high counts. The next day, it will
show a falling index and it will fall even further and
13 then go up the day after.
14 You must realize that this is sampling
15 that is done according to the standard methods, and when
16 we get a negative sample, we achieve the results much
17 faster than if we get a positive sample.
18 Many times, after the confirmation of a
lg sample, and we have resampled it, it will prove negative,
20 bacterialogically and by that time the horse is already
21 out of the barn.
22 As a result, we can only base the decision
23 upon persistent contamination. Other than that, I don't
24 think there is any rule of thumb that one might follow.
25 MR. KLASSEN: Do you make any analyses except
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coliform, Dr. Atlas?
DR. ATLAS: Yes, we try to get the strep, et cetera.
These graphs are very dramatically involved
as to the southern end of our beaches.
The northern portion, we feel, is good
water and healthy water.
The southern portion causes us inter-
mittent concern and concern on the very questions that
were asked here, when do we close, when do we open.
And we have Just gone by the rule of
consistency and general contamination.
MR. POSTON: Have you ever considered a practice
of treatment such as chlorlnation of the water in the
lake to reduce this number?
DR. ATLAS: We have considered it, however, our
engineers have advised us that it is not a practical or
economical method of achieving this goal.
CHAIRMAN STEIN: Are there any further comments or
questions?
If not, we have carefully reviewed the
list of the people who may have wished to speak today.
We have also taken an Informal poll of
the conferees up here and we sense that we are pretty
close to the saturation point, and I think we get this
from the audience, too.
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With that, we will stand, I think, recessed
until 9:30 tomorrow morning.
3 u (Whereupon, the Conference in
4 u above-entitled matter was
II
5 u continued until March 3*
6 " 1965, at 9:30 o'clock a.m.)
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