wEPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Research and Development
Washington DC 20460
EPA 600/9-80-005
January 1980
RESEARCH
HIGHLIGHTS
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FOREWORD
Sometimes a piece of accurate information can
be a very valuable commodity. In our technologi-
cally sophisticated society, the health and welfare
of many, if not all, of our citizens are dependent on
good scientific data. Such data directly affect our
daily lives.
Take the incident at Three-Mile Island, for
example. There were millions of people living
near the faulty nuclear reactor who didn 't know if
they should evacuate, if their children were safe
outdoors or if they could drink local milk or water.
How much was it worth to these people to know
for a fact that their lives had not been endangered?
Or, take the hundreds of people who live along
the 200-miles of roadway in North Carolina along
which highly toxic chemicals (PCB 's) had been
dumped. Some were afraid they'd already been
seriously poisoned and that their property would
become worthless — unmarketable. How much
was it worth to these people to know that their
exposure was not severe and that the spill could be
safely removed?
Or what about the nearly 200 people in Oregon
who came down with acute gastrointestinal illness
— how much is it worth to them to know what
caused that illness and that the situation had been
corrected?
In every one of the above cases, the answer is
obvious—for people's health, safety and financial
security the information they wanted was very
valuable. And, in each of the above cases,
EPA's research program was key to providing the
answers.
On an even larger scale, information can be
worth (or lack of information can cost) billions of
dollars. This is especially true in a regulatory
agency such as EPA. We are mandated by law to
protect the public health and welfare from
unacceptable damage due to polluted air, water or
land. To carry out that mandate, EPA establishes
regulations which can cost billions of dollars for
compliance. EPA's research program helps to
ensure that standards are set only as stringently as
necessary and that effective measurement and
control technologies are available.
For example, in the Toxics chapter is the
description of a set of relatively inexpensive test
methods developed by ORD that will estimate
potential human exposure to newly-developed
organic chemicals. These tests will help the EPA
in meeting its responsibilities under the Toxic
Substances Control Act. Another set of tests
described in the Toxics chapter is undergoing
study to determine ways to estimate whether
certain chemicals cause mutations by damaging
genetic material. Such tests will help EPA in
future efforts to register chemicals for market.
Other efforts during 1979 have developed
sophisticated, laser-based monitoring techniques
to measure pollution over considerable distances.
One device, for example, can analyze the compo-
sition of fumes from a smokestack located up to a
kilometer away!
In addition to directly supporting EPA's regu-
latory functions, EPA's research program also
investigates longer-term phenomena in an effort to
identify — and prepare for — emerging environ-
mental concerns. For example, EPA's role in
developing information on the causes and impact
of acid rain is central. While this issue is only
beginning to be generally acknowledged, EPA has
been developing a major research program in this
area for the past several years. In this Highlights
you'll read of our findings with regard to lakes in
Minnesota and Wisconsin and what we've learned
about the impact of acid rain on food crops.
The value of information is even clearer in the
results of some of EPA's other research projects.
One, for example, promises to produce ethyl
alcohol — for use in gasohol — for only about
two-thirds of the cost of alternative methods. In
addition, EPA's method disposes of waste paper in
the process.
Other projects described in this Highlights are
providing information on cleaner, more efficient
ways to burn coal, on improving the efficiency of
flue gas scrubbers, on protecting against exposure
to airborne asbestos fibers, on detecting and
controlling toxic substances, and on protecting
and restoring our lakes, coasts and the abundantly
productive fisheries of the Chesapeake Bay.
During 1979, EPA's research program invested
approximately $320 million in some 2,200
different research projects, and in excess of $1.6
million and over 125 person-years on technical
support efforts. In this year's Highlights report we
present a very small sampling of these projects,
including those which are mentioned above. In
fact, fewer than 1 out of every 30 of our projects
are described in this report.
We firmly believe that the information pro-
duced by our research has benefits far beyond the
costs of the research itself. As you read through
this, the third of our Research Highlights reports, I
think you '11 see why.
Stephen J. Gage
Assistant Administrator
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CONTENTS
Three Mile Island
Emergencies/Assistance
Energy
Acid Rain
Clean Air Monitoring
Non-Ionizing Radiation
Toxics
Analytic Techniques
Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act
Water Quality
Coastal Environment
Chesapeake Bay
Wastewater
Information Transfer
ORD Program Expands
ORD Resources
The People
2
5
14
26
30
38
40
53
57
66
72
77
79
88
92
97
99
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THREE MILE ISLAND
('.oolirtg Init'i'i^ <>/ the
I hree \\ilc Island /'Lint in Pennsylvania
EPA research teams monitor the radiation
levels of the country's worst
nuclear accident
The Emergency
Wednesday, March 28. 1979, at 4 a.m., the
nuclear reactor at the Three Mile Island
powerplant near Harrisburg/Middletown, Penn-
sylvania, malfunctioned. Later that morning,
government officials were notified of a potential
radiation problem, although the seriousness of the
malfunction had not yet been recognized. That
afternoon, EPA, through its Office of Radiation
Programs, began daily sampling of air at three of
its Environmental Radiation Ambient Monitoring
Systems (ERAMS) stations nearest the reactor.
On Friday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commis-
sion (NRC) notified EPA of the serious nature of
the malfunction and its potential for creating a core
meltdown, which could in turn, result in radiation
exposure to people living within a 10- to 15-mile
radius of the plant. EPA's Region III Office im-
mediately began taking water samples from the
Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay. That
same day the EPA Administrator, Douglas Costle,
asked the Office of Research and Development to
assist in an emergency radiation monitoring pro-
gram around the Three Mile Island plant and to
assume leadership of coordinating EPA's overall
response to the accident. A monitoring plan was
created and approved on the spot.
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Within three hours after notification, approxi-
mately 10,000 pounds of radiation monitoring and
sampling equipment from EPA's laboratory in Las
Vegas was loaded onto an aircraft bound for the
Three Mile Island area. By early Saturday after-
noon, March 31, nineteen ORD radiation scien-
tists and technicians from Las Vegas had arrived in
nearby Harrisburg. With them arrived additional
monitoring equipment, including a twin Turbo-
Beech aircraft equipped for tracking and sampling
radioactivity.
EPA made the only actual
measurements of
radioactive xenon
Immediately following their arrival, the moni-
toring team began establishing a continuous
monitoring and sampling network. Ultimately,
this network would consist of 12 stations within a
3-mile radius of the reactor, 10 additional stations
within a 6- or 7-mile radius, and 9 more stations at
selected populated locations beyond 7 miles from
the reactor. By Sunday, April 1,11 stations were
operational. All 31 stations were operating by
April 3. Each station was equipped with an air
sampler, gamma rate recorder to measure radia-
tion exposure at a given moment, and thermo-
luminescent dosimeters that measure total radia-
tion exposure. As part of the monitoring effort,
EPA made the only actual collections and analyses
of radioactive xenon, the principal radioactive ma-
terial released from the reactor.
To process the samples collected at the monitor-
ing sites and other environmental samples gath-
ered by EPA technicians, the team established an an-
alytical laboratory in nearby Harrisburg. The ORD
aircraft performed two sampling missions to col-
lect filtered and compressed air samples and was
held on standby for the duration of the critical
phase of the emergency for tracking and sampling
in the event of a more serious release of radio-
activity.
Two EPA water sampling stations on the Sus-
quehanna River and three stations on Chesapeake
Bay were established, and by Monday, April 2,
drinking water samples were collected and tested
for contamination. By April 7, all public water
supplies within a 20-mile radius of Three Mile
Island had been tested. In all, more than 140 water
sources were identified, 21 of which were surface
water that were more susceptible to radiation, and
thus were given sampling priority.
On Wednesday, April 4, daily sampling of
effluent discharges from the nuclear reactor were
initiated. By late April, a continuous iodine-131
monitor had been developed and installed on the
major water discharge from the plant.
ORD aerial photointerpretation techniques
were used to identify 570 dairies within 25 miles
of the reactor and on April 5, EPA began a daily
milk sampling program at nine selected dairy
farms. EPA also collected additional air, water,
milk, vegetation, soil, and sediment samples for
study.
OK/) technit uin .//.;
Ihrct' Mill' l^Lnitl
monitoring stJtion
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Thermoluminescent
Dosimeters measure
total radiation exposure
The Susquehanna River
water was sampled by
ORD monitoring teams
Results of this massive emergency monitoring
and sampling effort were encouraging. Only very
low radiation levels were recorded for the area—
not sufficient, according to an interagency
analysis, to produce one additional cancer death in
the exposed population. Radioactive iodine in the
air was slight, and the radioactive iodine levels
found in a few milk samples were so low that the
milk was considered safe to drink. There was also
no radiological contamination present in water
samples, and no radionuclides detected in vegeta-
tion, soil, or sediment samples.
As the situation at Three Mile Island stabilized
and the threat to public health and safety di-
minished, the ORD effort was reduced accord-
ingly. By early May, the surveillance program
was phased down to 18 continuous monitoring sta-
tions, plus the dosimeter network. Other efforts
were also reduced and, while the total number of
EPA personnel on the scene at the height of the
emergency numbered 31, within little more than a
month the environmental situation in the area was
sufficiently secure to leave the remaining tasks in
the hands of five ORD scientists and technicians.
EPA Coordination
Two weeks following the incident at Three
Mile Island, EPA was designated by the
White House as the lead federal agency for coor-
dinating the follow-up environmental monitoring
efforts at the plant site. In this capacity, EPA
worked with the NRC and HEW to coordinate
monitoring activities and provided the monitoring
data for use by DOE. The data from all agencies
were pooled and documented to be made available
for use by other federal agencies and interested
state and local agencies as well. EPA also pre-
pared and delivered a 6-volume compilation of
environmental monitoring data to the President's
Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island.
EPA will coordinate a
long-term monitoring
program
As lead agency, EPA will also coordinate a
long-term Three Mile Island radiation monitoring
program. This surveillance plan to monitor the
cleanup program and other plant activities is ex-
pected to be in operation for at least one year, after
which time EPA is to submit a report of its
monitoring findings.
In the future, it is expected that EPA will play an
important role in the formulation of plans outlin-
ing even more efficient and effective federal
agency response procedures to incidents such as
the one that took place at Three Mile Island.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• EPA Region III, Philadelphia
• Office of Air, Noise and Radiation,
Washington, D.C.
• Office of Research and Development, Office of
Monitoring and Technical Support—Environmental
Monitoring Systems Laboratory, Las Vegas
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EMERGENCIES/ASSISTANCE
An ORD team assists in
the clean up of a Dittmer,
Missouri dump site
Rapid response by ORD helped the
analysis and cleanup of health threatening
emergencies
During 1979, ORD was called on to respond
rapidly to a wide variety of environmental
emergencies or to provide technical support in
cases of environmental crises. Activities ranged
from the analysis of toxic industrial wastes in an
Elizabeth, New Jersey clean-up operation to the
study of heavy metals concentration in Lima,
Peru's drinking water. Unique technical assist-
ance was provided states, municipalities, other
federal agencies, EPA Regional Offices, and other
branches of EPA to enable them to conduct their
missions or achieve agency-wide goals.
PCB Spills
During the summer of 1978, over 200 miles of
North Carolina roadways were contami-
nated by the surreptitious dumping of polychlori-
nated biphenyls (PCB), a highly toxic chemical
compound. ORD was asked to supply technical
support to the state and EPA's Region IV in asses-
sing the hazards associated with the spill and in
developing a strategy to rectify the problem.
To define the initial problem, ORD scientists
took samples of roadside soil from areas thought to
be contaminated. The soil was tested for PCB and
other impurities. Analysis showed concentrations
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Roail *ig>: alting a
North Carolina highway
An ORD technician
sampling the ambient air
at 1\'.B spill site
of PCB in the upper inch of soil that ranged from
5,000 to 10,000 ppm. Chlorinated benzenes were
also present.
The ambient air was monitored at three spill
sites before, during, and after a test removal of
contaminated soil to determine the extent of PCB
release into the atmosphere. Ambient air was also
monitored in connection with in-place treatment
tests proposed by the state. This treatment in-
volved the mixing of activated charcoal, lime, and
fertilizer into the soil to dilute and bind the PCBs.
Results of all studies showed ambient air PCB
levels to be no higher than those found in urban or
industrial areas.
PCB concentrations were
found to be within
prescribed standards
Air was also sampled inside houses along the
test removal route and near a contaminated road-
way. PCB concentrations were found to be well
within prescribed standards.
A third air monitoring effort involved study of
the air breathed by personnel involved in the tests
to remove or treat the contaminated soil in place.
During the test removal phase of the study, PCB
levels were below the one microgram per cubic
meter level for all but one sweeper operator. Dur-
ing the in-place treatment phase, a number of
workers close to the dustier parts of the operation
were exposed to PCB levels slightly higher than
those proposed by NIOSH as safe for humans.
Blood samples from the test spill removal team
were taken prior to the operation to determine
baseline levels and to assure that no one was se-
lected for the task that had higher than usual PCB
levels.
Studies were conducted on the proposed in-
place treatment of PCB by the addition of ac-
tivated charcoal. Laboratory results indicated that
the PCB was transferred from the soil to the char-
coal with a 50 to 70% efficiency and that PCB was
not leached from either soil or charcoal by water.
Animal studies to determine the effects of ac-
tivated charcoal on the biological availability of
PCB found that activated charcoal does decrease
the effects of PCB but does not eliminate them.
Among the conclusions drawn by the ORD sci-
entists was that the primary human hazard of the
contaminated soil comes from chronic exposure
by intimate contact, e.g., walking over spill areas.
Exposure through the air would be negligible,
even during removal or in-place treatment, except
for workers nearest dust-producing operations.
While it was determined that precipitation would
not leach PCBs from the soil into nearby streams,
their spread by erosion during heavy rains is
thought to be a distinct possibility.
The in-place treatment of the soil as proposed
by some clean-up participants was not considered
effective by ORD scientists who subsequently
provided the technical basis for EPA's decision to
recommend against it. Rather, ORD advised that
the contaminated soil be removed and placed in
controlled chemical landfills to eliminate all risks
of human exposure.
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Clean-up
ORD has frequently been called on by state
and local environmental officials and EPA
regional administrators to provide technical sup-
port for the clean-up of hazardous chemical wastes
from abandoned dump sites.
In 1977, such support was provided to EPA's
Region II which was involved in a clean-up of a
defunct toxic waste disposal site in Oswego, New
York. When two dikes were assessed as unstable
by ORD's sonic dam tester, the Rumble Reader,
ORD quickly dispatched its Mobile Physical
Chemical Treatment System to treat the toxic
water contained in the two lagoons that were
threatening Lake Ontario. Overall, a total of 1.8
million gallons of water and waste were treated to
alleviate the problem.
In Haverford, Pennsylvania, in 1976, ORD
stemmed the leakage of oily wastes into ground-
water. In Dittmer, Missouri, ORD participated in
a clean-up of an illegal dump area whose leaching
wastes were fatal to all living organisms in a
nearby stream. And, in 1978, when chemicals that
leached from the Love Canal — formerly a waste
disposal facility in Niagara Falls, New York, and
subsequently developed as a residential area and
schoolyard—resulted in human health problems,
ORD was immediately called to the scene to
analyze the leachate and to specify the treatment
technology available for its decontamination.
In 1979, ORD again responded to a Region II
request for emergency technical support at a
state-sponsored clean-up of a bankrupt hazardous
waste industrial disposal facility near Elizabeth,
New Jersey. Here, prior to ORD's arrival, a
number of workers participating in clean-up oper-
ations had been injured due to the improper han-
dling of some of the 40,000 unmarked drums on
the site. Using ORD's Mobile Analytical Laborat-
ory, protocols for analyzing the contents of the
drums were quickly developed. The resulting
rapid and accurate analyses were vital in determin-
ing which drums could be safely removed and
readily disposed of and which posed yet greater
disposal problems. Some of the drums, for exam-
ple, were found to contain radioactive material,
while others housed explosives.
Drums containing radio-
active material and
explosives were among
those at this disposal site
in Mew Jersey
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l':/ml>»i('tit in support of
the Dittmer, Missouri
clean-up effort
Children can hi- exposed
to asbestos fibers from
insulation material in
school buildings
Asbestos fibers
8
The 35-foot ORD Mobile Laboratory remained
on-site through the initial analysis portion of the
operation and was subsequently made available to
the State of New Jersey until longer term technical
support for the duration of the clean-up could be
arranged.
Through the development and refinement of its
emergency response and clean-up capabilities,
EPA will continue to be able to provide rapid as-
sistance in dealing with the extremely important
problems posed by improperly managed hazard-
ous wastes.
Asbestos Sealants
In December of 1978, EPA's Office of Pes-
ticides and Toxic Substances (OPTS) instituted
a corrective action for friable (easily crumbled)
asbestos in school buildings. It was known at that
time that even short-term exposure to asbestos was
harmful to the lungs and that long-term exposure
often resulted in lung cancer and other related
diseases.
ORD was asked to provide technical support in
two areas. First, to produce a videotape (see the
Information Transfer, page 89 ) to introduce and
summarize material contained in a report on the
use of sprayed-on sealants for asbestos fiber con-
trol already under way at ORD laboratories. And
second, to provide technical support for a series of
seminars to be held in all EPA Regional Offices.
By March 1979, the videotape was complete,
and over the next three months seminars were held
to acquaint regional personnel with the hazards
and corrective actions recommended for asbestos
contamination. ORD provided the necessary tech-
nical support for this work, and conducted a work-
shop for EPA regional asbestos coordinators and
Army, Navy, and Air Force representatives to
give them hands-on experience in performing as-
bestos removal and sealing operations.
As a result of these workshops, EPA personnel
are now well informed and equipped to provide
assistance to school administrators in the asbestos
abatement procedures necessary to protect the
health of school personnel and school children.
Benzene Contamination
of Water
A small Indiana manufacturing plant was the
focus of ORD assistance action following an
EPA Region V investigation of the plant's drink-
ing water to locate the source of a persistent objec-
tional taste and odor. The investigation led to the
discovery of high concentrations of benzene, sul-
fur compounds, and other chemicals contaminat-
ing the private well supplying water to the plant.
Because benzene is a known cancer causing mate-
rial and toxic to blood-forming cells, Region V
officials requested ORD technical support to de-
termine if employees had been exposed to this
dangerous substance and if any adverse health ef-
fects had resulted from this exposure.
An ORD team was mobilized to conduct a com-
prehensive health evaluation both of company
employees and of unexposed workers from a
neighboring firm who served as a control group.
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Subjects completed a general questionnaire, a
medical interview, and donated a blood specimen.
An exposure index was developed based on em-
ployee water and coffee consumption information
and on company employment records. Water and
air samples were collected at various locations
throughout the plant.
A thorough analysis of medical history and a
check of the blood specimens for a variety of func-
tions showed both groups to be in generally good
health. Comparison of the exposed and control
workers revealed no differences between them in
any of the health status indicators measured. Nor
were there any suspicious trends found that might
be attributable to chemical exposures.
Analysis of air sampling data found benzene at
hazardous levels in bathroom air when the show-
ers were running. Here the toxic chemicals in the
water posed a triple threat—exposure was possible
through swallowing, skin absorption, and air inha-
lation of the water in its evaporated state.
Nevertheless, the technical support team did not
detect any adverse health effects, probably owing
in large part to the contaminating sulfur com-
pounds present in the water which gave it its pun-
gent odor and served as an early warning indicator
that something was amiss. The plant is now using
an alternate water supply while the source of the
chemical contamination is under investigation.
Neskowin, Oregon
When nearly 200 people came down with
acute gastrointestinal illness in Neskowin,
Oregon, a small city in EPA's Region X, ORD
was called in to provide technical support to the
city's privately-owned and operated water supply
following determination that the supply was the
probable cause of the illness.
An ORD engineer
identified serious
deficiencies in the city's
water system
ORD's response in emergency assistance cases
such as this is to identify the causative agent, de-
termine its route of entry into the water supply,
provide technical support, and make recom-
mendations to assure the event does not recur. An
ORD sanitary engineer working with Region X
personnel identified serious deficiencies in the
city's water system, including inadequate chlori-
nation. Improvements were recommended but
when the water supply owner and operator proved
reluctant to implement them, enforcement pro-
ceedings ensued under the Safe Drinking Water
Act. The ORD engineer who investigated the ini-
tial outbreak was called as a witness at the pro-
ceedings. He described deficiencies in the system,
prescribed short-term improvements necessary to
ameliorate the immediate health effects, identified
long-term improvements to remedy the general in-
Seatlle
Portland
Neskowin
Benzene, a well-known
cancer-causing agent,
was jound in an Indiana
plant's drinking water
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Aerial view »t wnugc
treatment plant in
Oklahoma
Land treatment futility
near Phoenix
10
adequacies of the system, and estimated the health
risk involved with continued operation of the sys-
tem without improvements.
Incorporating the ORD technical advice into its
order, the court ruled that the water utility must
make the improvements, a precedent-setting deci-
sion, in that it was the first incidence of court
enforcement in support of the Safe Drinking Water
Act. It also served notice to recalcitrant water sys-
tem operators that health risks from inadequate
and poorly-operated water supply systems could
not and would not be tolerated. As an outgrowth of
public concern and concurrent with the court ac-
tion, Neskowin citizens formed a group to estab-
lish a publicly owned water supply for the city.
Federal funding was obtained and currently all
signs point to upgraded water quality for the com-
munity.
Land Treatment
Land treatment—the application of wastewater
to soil for irrigation and fertilization — has
been practiced for centuries around the world, but
only in recent years has it become an accepted
alternative in the United States to conventional
wastewater treatment processes. Compared to con-
ventional processes land treatment offers a num-
ber of advantages including low initial cost, lower
operating costs, potential for revenue to offset
operating costs, and low energy requirements.
Yet despite its many advantages proven in the
laboratory, in pilot plants and in full-scale opera-
tion, land treatment has not begun to reach its
potential as a wastewater treatment alternative.
Part of the problem stems from lack of public ac-
ceptance. The public tends to equate the process
with "sewage farming," unaware of the devel-
opments in soils treatment technology made dur-
ing the last decade. Farmers, who stand to reap
significant benefits from land treatment, have also
shown little interest by and large because they
have not been made aware of the increased crop
yields, fertilizer savings, and water conservation
experienced by those who have already joined in
joint city-farmer land treatment arrangements.
Some state water pollution control agencies still
have restrictive design criteria that do not take into
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consideration new land treatment technology,
while many community officials simply feel more
comfortable with older, more traditional methods
of wastewater management.
In 1978, EPA formed two pilot program Land
Treatment Task Force Teams to operate in EPA
Regions VI and VII. The teams have two main
functions: (1) to encourage land treatment where
practicable, and (2) to assure that selected land
treatment options are designed and operated at
high efficiency levels. To this end, recent efforts
were concentrated on providing technical support
to consulting engineers, community officials, and
state water pollution control agencies.
Consulting engineers are the key to implemen-
tation of innovative or alternative approaches to
water pollution control problems because they art
the people who propose pollution solutions to
local governments. To inform the engineers and to
win their support for land treatment, three land
treatment design workshops were held, resulting
in certification in the two regions of over 100 en-
gineers. These certified engineers have generally
proposed land treatment where appropriate in the
nine states of Regions VI and VII. The task force
also worked with state water pollution control
agencies to update out-of-date design and policy
criteria that tended to discourage land treatment
and ignore present state-of-the-art soils treatment
technology.
To better educate the public, the task force pro-
duced a 20-minute slide/tape show that presents
seven land treatment case histories. Additionally,
task force members attended public meetings on
land treatment to provide information and answer
questions.
Results of task force efforts are already in evi-
dence as state and local officials, consulting en-
gineers, and the general public are demonstrating
enthusiasm for land treatment and giving the pro-
cedure the consideration it deserves.
Aerial Imagery
When technical support was required to pre-
pare pulp and paper mill water quality en-
forcement actions, ORD developed an informa-
tion-gathering system that combined aerial photo-
graphy and multispectral scanning technology
with a comprehensive mill process and production
data base. Thus, in 1979, EPA was able to photo-
graph and obtain multispectral scanner imagery of
pulp and paper mill sites from the air for a clear
assessment of site pollution sources and environs.
Information gathered from these overflights was
then correlated with process and production data
and presented in an "atlas" format for review and
strategy planning. The atlas also serves as a basis
for discussions with industry officials about poten-
tial pollution problems.
EPA conducted these flights during various
tidal and stream flow conditions and at several
altitudes to evaluate pulp and paper mill waste
discharge plumes as they mixed with receiving
waters. The timing and variations in rates of dis-
charge were established. Water turbidity and color
were analyzed and ground-collected data were
used along with the image-collecting overflights
to derive reference points for fully describing
plume characteristics.
The ORD-developed technical support system
presents EPA with a clear information base for
making informed enforcement decisions, and the
comprehensive evidence necessary to convince
industry officials and state and local agencies of
the validity of these decisions.
('.cntcr-pwot irrigation
Ixiotn sprjwng trt'jtcd
wastewater in Oklahoma
Aerial photograph of
j pulp mill
11
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Secondary lead smelter
12
Standards for Secondary Lead
Smelters
To facilitate the future joint implementation of
the EPA and OSHA lead standards, an
ORD/NIOSH team traveled to Denmark in 1978 to
measure the sources and concentrations of lead
emissions from a secondary lead smelter. The
plant uses advanced administrative and engineer-
ing controls designed to meet environmental and
occupational lead standards and, as such, repre-
sents the world's best example of airborne lead
control for secondary lead smelting operations.
Activity at secondary smelters involves the
reclaiming of lead from scrap and batteries, a pro-
cess carried out by mixing lead with coke, slag,
iron, and lime in blast furnaces. The resulting hard
lead is either cast or refined to produce soft lead
(i.e. lead that contains no trace elements) for use in
lead products or to make lead oxide for batteries.
The most dangerous emissions from such smel-
ters result from dust, particulates, fumes, and
gases that are not collected or that escape from
collection devices or transport ducts. These uncol-
lected emissions can produce high levels of ex-
posure to lead, antimony, sulfur, and chlorine
compounds inside the plant as well as downwind
from it.
At the Danish facility, ground-level concen-
trations were shown to be substantially below
those found in domestic plants and, although rela-
tively lead-free areas were identified within the
smelter building, some employee exposures in the
working zone were above OSHA's four and five
year goals for the secondary lead industry.
Nevertheless, by permitting employees into the
"dirty" zones only as necessary, the OSHA 8
hour exposure levels could probably be met.
Following the Danish evaluation, the ORD/
NIOSH team investigated a domestic facility, typ-
ical of U.S. "pre-control" secondary lead smel-
ters. Here, emissions and exposure rates were well
above current standards, and respirators were re-
quired for personnel protection. It was also found
that weather played an important role in these
emission and exposure rates. Windy conditions
tended to cleanse the air inside the plant, while
calm days permitted air to stagnate and lead levels
to remain high. However, the higher winds carried
more dust from the plant to be disbursed into the
surrounding areas.
Ultimately, this ORD research may provide
OSHA and NIOSH with a firmer scientific base
upon which to propose future lead control
strategies.
LEAD CONCENTRATIONS
FROM SECONDARY SMELTERS
within plant downwind
WINDY DAY
-------
Heavy Metal Recovery
The Boliden Metal Corporation in Sweden is
the only nonferrous smelter in the world that
makes use of full-scale sulfide precipitation to
treat heavy metal wastes. To assist EPA offices in
the preparation of a sulfide precipitation system
design manual, ORD undertook an extensive
sampling program in 1979 to determine the
Swedish system operating parameters and to eval-
uate its performance.
Characteristic of the system is the addition of
sodium sulfide to plant and process runoff and
wastewaters to precipitate heavy metals. By ad-
justing the acidity of the solution, the selective
precipitation of heavy metals for recovery can be
accomplished. Though this aspect of the process is
not in current practice, the Boliden plant is capable
of separating arsenic, copper, zinc, mercury, and
cadmium sulfide. The plant now processes over
50,000 gallons of plant wastewater per hour. The
sulfide sludge that remains is retained for possible
future metals recovery.
ORD test data indicated
very effective removal of
heavy metals
ORD test data indicated generally very effective
removal of heavy metals but identified some occa-
sional resistance of zinc and arsenic to the precipi-
tation process. It was concluded, however, that
these fluctuations were probably caused by im-
proper control of solution acidity, sodium sulfide
dosages and H2S/SO2 reactions, and by poor pro-
cess control.
The data generated in this ORD study will be
used to support EPA effluent limitations for non-
ferrous smelters. Additionally, it provides an in-
sight into a sophisticated treatment system that
may eventually play a recycle/reuse role in similar
U.S. industries.
Peru
At the request of the Pan American Health Or-
ganization (PAHO), an ORD scientist visited
Peru in December 1978 as a member of a two-man
investigative team. The purpose of the visit was to
evaluate the extent and impact of metal pollution
in surface waters of the Mantaro River Basin and
to determine the effects of a planned water-diver-
sion project from that Basin on Lima's drinking
water. Protocols were also to be developed detail-
ing the steps necessary to protect the health and
welfare of Mantaro River Valley inhabitants.
It became readily apparent to the visiting team
that a serious pollution problem existed in the river
basin. Peru, rich in minerals and ore, is a multibill-
ion dollar exporter of copper, lead, zinc, silver,
and other metals; river basin pollutants reflected
these extensive mining and smelting activities,
with reported levels found to be as high as, or
higher than, levels that have already resulted in
major human health consequences in other areas.
The air carries elevated levels of arsenic, lead,
and sulfur dioxide; the water, used to irrigate
local farmland, contains high concentrations of
heavy metals.
The planned Lima water diversion project will
include construction to decrease the discharge of
heavy metals into the river and to bypass some of
the river's heavily contaminated sediment banks.
It was not clear to the visiting team, however,
whether such actions would be sufficient.
The team also determined that more informa-
tion was required before a full assessment of the
pollution situation could be made. Measurements
of metal concentrations in water, soil, food, and in
the tissues, blood, and urine of humans would
have to be established, and epidemiological
studies would have to be made to determine the
extent to which humans are affected by these met-
als . The visiting team prepared protocols detailing
methods for generating this information.
ORD believes that such international environ-
mental assistance often provides new insights into
the solution of similar local problems while it also
contributes to the inevitable worldwide accep-
tance of a shared global environment.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Health Research, Health Effects Research
Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio and Research Triangle
Park
• Office of Environmental Engineering and Technol-
ogy, Industrial Environmental Research Laboratories,
Cincinnati and Edison
• Office of Environmental Processes and Effects
Research, Kerr Environmental Research Laboratory,
Ada
• Office of Monitoring and Technical Support,
Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory, Las
Vegas
13
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ENERGY
14
ORD researches the environmental and
economic effects of existing and emerging
energy technologies
1979 was a year where again the necessity for a
comprehensive national energy program became
all too evident. Rises in the cost of heating fuel and
shortages of gasoline at the pumps were only the
most obvious indicators of the need for an in-
creased energy supply. Heartening is the fact that
the resources exist within our boundaries to al-
leviate many of our energy problems. A major
remaining issue is one of cost—not only the cost of
the process to produce this energy but also the cost
to the environment. What are the ecological prices
to be paid if our shale is to be retorted? Our coal
mined and gasified? And are those costs afforda-
ble when measured against the benefits derived?
Recent EPA research into the environmental ef-
fects of energy production and use explores these
costs—from both the environmental and a dollars
and cents standpoint. Overall, the program seeks
to monitor, control, develop, verify, and improve
existing and emerging energy sources and tech-
nology. The following are some highlights of this
effort.
-------
Conversion from Scarce Oil
to Plentiful Coal
EPA's response to President Carter's mandate
to turn from imported oil to domestic coal to
fire many of the nation's power plants was to ac-
celerate research into the viability of such a con-
version, both from a cost standpoint and from an
environmental one. 1979 produced noteworthy re-
sults on both fronts.
A power plant can save
$14 million per year by
making the conversion
The cost. To produce 1 million Btu's of heat,
the cost of oil is $5.18, based on a price of $30 per
barrel. To produce the same 1 million Btu's of
heat, the cost of coal is $ 1.30, based on a price of
$30 per ton. Extensive EPA research has demon-
strated that it would be financially attractive for a
power plant to convert from oil to coal, even if the
costliest pollution control equipment is required.
By example, a power plant could save 0.50 per
kWh by making the conversion and using the best
available scrubber, one that is 90% efficient in
reducing sulfur dioxide emissions. This translates
to a savings of over $14 million per year for the
average size of electric generating plant being
built today. Where less stringent scrubber controls
are required, savings would increase, and, in those
states where emissions standards could be met
without scrubbers, yet greater savings could be
realized. In fact, according to conservative EPA
projections for the burning of high sulfur coals, a
savings of 1/5 of a cent per kilowatthour will ac-
crue to a utility that retires a modern oil plant and
replaces it with a new coal facility outfitted with
the best scrubber.
Currently, 26% of all U.S. power plants are
oil-fired and 39% coal-fired; the rest depend on
either natural gas, nuclear energy, orhydropower.
The environment. Although scrubbers are ex-
pensive, this expense must be viewed both in
terms of alternative energy sources (i.e., oil) and
in terms of total environmental impact. Notably,
in the testing of a 10-MW industrial boiler, it was
demonstrated that the national goal of the exten-
sive conversion of oil-fired boilers to coal could be
accomplished without the unacceptable degrada-
tion of the environment, a conclusion predicated,
however, on the careful application of pollution
control technologies.
•
A nickel per kilowatt
hour savings is po^ihle
through oil-to-coal
conversion
A coal-fired power plant
in action
15
-------
The following are among the significant test
results:
• Flue gas desulfurization systems (scrubbers)
can cause sulfur oxide emissions from high sul-
fur coal applications to be less than emission
levels from the combustion of low-sulfur oil.
• The quantity of particles exhausted from coal-
firing was 56 times as great as from oil-firing,
with oil-fired particles smaller and more diffi-
cult to remove. After scrubbing, however,
quantities from coal-firing were only 1.4 times
as great.
• NO( and CO emissions before and after scrub-
bing were three times as high for coal than for
oil, not an unexpected finding, since the scrub-
ber does not remove these pollutants and oil-
firing produces smaller amounts of them. Re-
sulting NOv levels were greater than those per-
mitted by National Ambient Air Quality stan-
dards, thus pointing to the need for some man-
ner of NOx controls for coal-fired plants.
• SO, emissions were about 1.5 times greater
from oil-firing than from coal-firing.
• Greater quantities of heavy metals and trace
elements were found to remain in the scrubber
cake after coal-firing; however, disposal of the
scrubber cake from both oil- and coal-firing
would require care to avoid contamination of
ground water through leaching.
• Trace element emissions from the scrubber were
generally higher for coal; however, oil-firing
produced 60 times as much cadmium.
• Among trace element emissions, cadmium and
molybdenum are predicted to produce the
greatest burden in living plant tissue; oil-firing
was predicted to cause a ten-fold increase in
cadmium concentrations and coal-firing to
cause a thirty-fold increase in molybdenum
concentrations. Cadmium is thought to be con-
siderably more dangerous, however, and the
study indicated clusters of oil-fired plants could
produce levels of cadmium in living plants that
could ultimately be injurious to man.
EPA research
demonstrated that it would
be economical for a power
plant to convert from
oil to coal
16
Enhanced Pollution Control—
Adipic Acid
As the nation returns to coal as a primary en-
ergy source, increasing concern is being
voiced about the by-products of such combustion.
Will the future be a repeat of the nineteenth cen-
tury when cities were choked by fumes and the air
was thick with sulfur? Not likely, with today's
control technologies—particularly for the control
of sulfur dioxide (SO2), the major pollutant in coal
combustion.
Two 1979 reliability runs of coal-fired boilers
indicated precisely how far we have come in con-
trolling the offending by-products of coal combus-
tion . The purpose of these tests was to demonstrate
the effectiveness of adipic acid when used as an
additive in flue gas desulfurization (FGD) lime/
limestone scrubbers for the removal of SO2. The
acid itself is a readily available organic compound
in general use today in the manufacture of nylon
and sometimes used as a food additive.
The first reliability run involved the use of
adipic acid in a conventional prototype limestone
scrubber over a 28-day test period. SO2 removal
averaged 96%, with a 24-hour emissions average
of only 0.26 lbs/106 Btu. This figure falls well
below the 1979 revised EPA standards of 1.2
lb/106 Btu. Moveover, these results far exceeded
the requirements under the 1979 revised EPA per-
formance standards for new plants.
The second adipic acid reliability run involved a
more advanced prototype limestone scrubber, one
that forced the oxidation of various elements in the
remaining sulfur sludge to their less harmful
-------
oxides. Over a 112-day test period SO2 removal
averaged 96%, fully 10% greater than in similar
tests without the additive. The 24-hour emissions
average was 0.20 lb/106 Btu, again, far exceed-
ing the requirements under the new EPA stan-
dard. Scrubber reliability over the test period
was 98.9%.
In addition to demonstrating full compliance
with the new EPA performance standard, the sec-
ond test also demonstrated that waste sludge can
be completely oxidized through the use of adipic
acid, thus making sludge disposal easier and less
costly. And since adipic acid use requires less
limestone to attain a given degree of SO2 removal,
the quantity of the waste sludge produced is also
diminished. Through use of adipic acid these im-
proved costs and performances can be realized not
only by new plants, but by existing plants as well.
Exceptionally high operating reliability factors
in these tests can also be attributed to the use of
adipic acid. The addition of the compound en-
hances the effectiveness of a flue gas desulfuriza-
tion system's scrubbing alkalis — lime or lime-
stone. With the high alkali utilization brought
about by the use of adipic acid a number of operat-
ing problems common to FGD systems with low
alkali utilization can be avoided. Adipic acid has
been demonstrated to stabilize the effects of rapid
or varied changes in SO, input into the scrubber
system. Thus, a more constant outlet level of SO2
is maintained in spite of fluctuations in boiler load
or coal composition.
Preliminary cost assessments indicate that the
use of adipic acid will not increase scrubber costs,
but may, in fact, decrease them slightly. One fac-
tor in the cost analysis is that the efficiency of the
additive permits the use of limestone rather than
the more energy-intensive lime to achieve the de-
sired removal efficiency. The use of forced oxida-
tion systems to complete oxidation of the sludge
and the diminished quantities of waste sludge also
figure into the cost equation.
Subsequent 1979 studies demonstrated no sec-
ondary environmental effects from the use of
adipic acid. Tests of the scrubber solution and
sludge for harmful by-products also revealed no
problem.
Limestone Coal Pellets
An operational characteristic of stoker boilers
is their relatively low emission of nitrogen
oxides, carbon monoxide, and gaseous hydrocar-
bons. Because particulate matter emitted from
these types of boilers can be controlled by existing
technology the only environmental deterrent to
using high sulfur coal in stoker boilers is their
tendency to produce high SO2 emissions. Recent
ORD tests, however, demonstrated a marked re-
duction in SO2 emissions when stoker boilers were
fired with a fuel pellet composed of coal and lime-
stone. While it is yet to be established exactly how
limestone captures sulfur more efficiently when it
Limestone coal pellets
17
-------
hruluiil pellet size can
fti'i t fuel {ii-r/onnance
18
is integrally mixed with coal, the fact is that it
does, and tests continue in its use in ORD's pro-
gram to provide incentives for industry to burn
coal in an environmentally acceptable manner.
In 1978, Phase I of the study evaluated a 50%
limestone/50% coal pellet in a small scale (20-hp)
spreader stoker boiler. The combination was
found to be 77% effective in capturing the sulfur
content of the fuel. Phase II confirmed the sulfur
capturing potential of the fuel pellet in an 8-hour
test run in a full-scale spreader stoker boiler. Sul-
fur capture with the 50%/50% pellet was 74%
effective.
In 1979, Phase III research was initiated to
study optimum pellet formation, production, and
operation, both from a performance and a cost
standpoint. Although a number of different boilers
eventually will be used in pellet fuel evaluation,
the basic testing system to screen out likely pellet
candidates involved the use of a relatively small,
batch combustor called a tubular fixed-bed reac-
tor. Several hundred experiments were performed
in this combustor to evaluate the parameters that
affect pellet fuel performance. These parameters
include coal/limestone ratio, pellet size, coal type,
binder material, and limestone type. As a result of
these screening tests, a material for binding the
limestone to the coal was evolved which resulted
in a sulfur capture of as high as 87% using a 66%
coal/33% limestone pellet.
Pellet fuels made by several different forming
methods are currently being produced for evalua-
tion in the 20-hp spreader stoker boiler. Forthcom-
ing data from these test series will result in the
selection of a pellet formulation that will be pro-
duced in tonnage quantities for an 8- to 10-hour
test in a full-scale boiler. A complete environmen-
tal assessment of the pellet fuel operation will then
be developed from this test to complete the Phase
III operation.
Cost analysis of pellet fuel technology has indi-
cated that preparing the fuel, based on a projected
60-ton/hr processing plant, would only add $15/
ton to the cost of the coal; substantially below the
cost of the wet scrubber technologies available for
industrial boilers today. Thus, further develop-
ment of pellet fuel technology could provide a
cost-effective alternative control technology for
industrial and commercial boiler operators who do
not have the capital or the trained personnel avail-
able to use these scrubber systems, still the most
effective method of SO2 control.
Future ORD study will involve the preparation
of 4000 tons of the best pellet formulation for a
30-day test on a large stoker boiler. Results will
establish the full-scale environmental and opera-
tional performance of the technology, while al-
lowing EPA the opportunity to evaluate this
technology in relation to the new source perfor-
mance standards being developed for industrial
boilers.
A program is currently in the planning stages to
expand the pellet fuel concept to a wider range of
coals and boiler types. Since essentially all the
technology to produce these pellet fuels is already
in existence, success of this research could mean
major use of the pellet fuel process in America's
energy future.
Environmental Impact of
Coal-Fired Power Plant Sites
An ongoing study monitoring two coal-fired
power plants—one in Colstrip, Montana and
one in Portage, Wisconsin — has yielded some
interesting environmental results. Notably, it was
found that only moderate quantities of gaseous
emissions, trace metals, and fly ash were depos-
ited close to the plants. Far larger quantities of
these pollutants, however, were transported well
beyond the plants' vicinity to areas where they
finally settled to the ground, some in the form of
acid precipitation.
-------
The study also revealed that the existing bulk
analysis method for monitoring fly ash particles
was not adequate. Rather, it was found that the key
to the particles' effects lay not in bulk, but on their
surface where readily transferable or extractable
toxic components gather. A comparison of bulk-
to-surface analysis of a single sample is highly
revealing:
BULK-TO-SURFACE
COMPARISON OF FLYASH
Lead
Thallium
Chromium
Zinc
Arsenic
Surface (//.g/g)
2700
920
1400
14600
1500
Bulk (jig/g)
620
28
400
1250
600
Fly ash was also shown to host complex organic
compounds which left the stack as vapor and then
attached themselves to the particles' surface.
Some fly ash particles, it was found, resembled
"time release" capsules—large particles enclos-
ing several smaller ones. Yet another finding in
the fly ash studies was that the particles from a
specific power plant had a unique "fingerprint"
based on their chemical composition. This finger-
print permits their identification in environmental
samples in the presence of fly ash from other
sources.
A second major finding of the overall study
concerned the effect of the Wisconsin plant's cool-
ing pond on the nearby Wisconsin River. Owing to
a 9-foot difference in water levels, and a sandy soil
in the meadow that separated them, the pond
leaked water into the river, an anticipated
phenomenon. What was not anticipated was the
six-month lag time of the leakage which resulted
in the pond water that was heated during the sum-
mer leaking into cold winter river water. This ele-
vation of temperature produced widespread dam-
age to perennial plants in the meadow and river,
and upset spawning activities of a number of fish
species. Today damage continues with the addi-
tion of a second power plant unit causing higher
cooling pond temperatures and creating wide-
spread changes. Whatever steps are taken to al-
leviate the problem, it is expected that it will be at
Fly ash sphericals from
coal combustion
19
-------
Selected site for a
coal-fired power plant
20
least a decade before an ecological steady-state
can again be achieved.
Monitoring in the cooling pond continues for
copper, arsenic, and other compounds that might
find their way into the sediment and into the food
chain. Sources for these pollutants include pipes,
conduits, and chemicals used in plant construction
and operation.
Pollutant sources include
pipes, conduits, and
chemicals used in plant
construction and operation
Additional study has been made of cooling pond
organisms (mainly fish) for the presence of toxic
chemicals associated with coal combustion that
might be hazardous in the event of secondary con-
sumption, i.e., man eats fish. The identification of
a few key indicator chemicals could serve as
monitors for the banning of fish for human con-
sumption. To date, few of these chemicals have
been found, and none in any quantities to be of
concern.
The study also developed a regional air quality
simulation computer model capable of measuring
the dispersion of plant exhausts from a number of
sources and in a number of weather conditions.
Wet and dry deposition of pollutants can also be
measured to assess the impacts of acid precipita-
tion. Recent use of the model in northern Min-
nesota/western Ontario border areas allowed re-
searchers to estimate the deposition of emissions
associated with a single site. This model may be
generalized for use.
As an outgrowth of study data, a protocol has
been developed for the evaluation of energy and
environmental policy issues in power plant siting.
Also, over the course of this research advances
have been made in the overall science of energy
impact evaluation. In the past, either an ecosys-
tem approach (one that considers the impacted sys-
tem as highly interconnected) or a mass-balance
approach (one that follows chemicals into the
plant and traces them to their ultimate effect) was
used. Today as a result of the study, planners fi-
nally are looking to integrate both approaches for a
more comprehensive and realistic measure of the
effects of energy development.
Low NOX Burner
Field Testing
Under EPA contracts, a coal burner low in
nitrogen oxide emissions has been devel-
oped. The burner is called a distributed mixing
burner and was designed for use in large, pul-
verized coal-fired boilers. NOx reduction comes as
a result of the burner design which provides staged
addition of air to the coal.
Coal is introduced with primary air into the
boiler where it reacts in a fuel-rich/oxygen-poor
environment to produce fuel nitrogen inter-
-------
mediates (XN). The introduction of secondary air
then creates a gradual leaning out of the fuel envi-
ronment and brings about chemical reactions that
serve to convert the XN species predominantly to
innocuous N2. The addition of tertiary air to reac-
tion products establishes a low emissions burnout
zone.
In 1979, the burner was tested at an exper-
imental facility at a scale comparable to practical
burners. NOx emissions from bituminous coal
were found to be at or below 0.2 Ibs of NOx (as
NO2) per 106 Btu, which is significantly below
levels currently produced in pulverized coal-fired
boilers.
Small-scale, fuel-screening experiments per-
formed to help generalize burner designs to assure
their compatibility with a full range of U.S. fuels
indicated that a variety of coal properties have
significant effects on NOx emissions. In a test of
fifteen coals, it was established that the percentage
of nitrogen alone in coal does not necessarily cor-
relate to eventual NOx emissions. Rather, other
more subtle factors are at play, such as the distri-
bution of the nitrogen in the coal. In an experiment
with five coals having essentially the same nitro-
gen content, it was further found that NOx emis-
sions varied by over a factor of 1.5, which trans-
lates to a difference of between 800 to 1200 parts
per million (ppm) of NOx emitted to the air. Under
staged combustion conditions the relative ranking
of the five coals by their NOx emissions remained
the same, but the emission difference between
them was reduced to less than 100 ppm.
A field study was also initiated to evaluate the
burner's performance over an 18-month period. In
1979, field study work concentrated on the selec-
tion of host sites and preliminary engineering de-
sign for prototype boilers. Currently, an
industrial-sized burner fabricated under the ORD
program is being tested at the experimental facility
to optimize its mechanical design and emission
performance in preparation for the first boiler in-
stallation anticipated for the spring of 1980.
Home and Service Guides
for Gas Furnaces and Water
Heaters
Homeowners and commercial users of gas-
fired space and water heaters can learn and
benefit from two guides issued in 1979 by ORD.
The two publications discuss the optimal adjust-
ment of gas furnaces and heaters as well as ad-
dressing the issue of safety.
Guidelines for Adjustment of Atmospheric Gas
Burners for Residential and Commercial Space
Heating and Water Heating was written for use by
experienced service technicians. By following the
step-by-step procedures outlined, the technician
will be able to adjust gas-fired equipment to
minimize air pollution, maximize efficiency, and
ensure safe, reliable operation. The 30-page guide
was reviewed by industry representatives and can
be used in conjunction with manufacturer's serv-
ice instructions and as a training guide in advanced
burner service courses.
Get the Most from Your Gas Heating Dollar
was designed for use by the homeowner. Written
in less technical language, this brochure describes
how the novice can visually inspect a gas flame to
determine whether the burner needs servicing. To
date, over 200,000 copies have been distributed
by EPA's Office of Public Awareness.
Companion guides were previously issued for
residential oil burners. Guidelines for Residential
Oil-Burner Adjustment was written for service
technicians, and a homeowner's brochure, first
printed in 1977 and reprinted in 1979, is entitled,
Get the Most from your Heating Oil Dollar -
Servicing Cuts Cost and Pollution.
21
-------
Technician taking samples
at coal gasification
facility at North Carolina
State University
Other guides which have been published in-
clude: Guidelines for Burner Adjustments of
Commercial Oil-Fired Boilers, Guidelines for In-
dustrial Boiler Performance Improvement, and
Reference Guidelines for Industrial Boiler Man-
ufacturers to Control Pollution with Combustion
Modification.
Early in 1980, Guidelines for NOt Control by
Combustion Modification for Coal Fired Utility
Boilers will be published. The guide is intended
for use by engineering personnel and boiler
operators responsible for reducing NOK emissions
from new and existing coal-fired utility boilers.
Coal Gasification
The creation of gas from coals is not only a
method of obtaining synthetic fuel gas, but is
also the first step in many coal liquefaction proces-
ses that turn the coal to a gas and then to a variety
of synthetic liquid fuels including gasoline. Con-
sequently, it is expected that coal gasification will
play a significant part in the energy future of the
United States.
Well aware of the need for adequate knowledge
of the health and ecological effects of gasification
wastes, ORD awarded a cooperative research
grant to North Carolina State University (NCSU)
to construct a coal gasification test facility to study
various techniques for the removal of unwanted
contaminants from gases generated by the process
and to identify quantities of pollutants and the
point of their potential discharge into the environ-
ment. Completed in 1978, the facility represents
the state-of-the-art in automated plant operation
and data acquisition and features a modular type
design which allows selection of any of four dif-
ferent pollutant gas removal systems to be studied
at one time.
The gasification process itself involves drying
and grinding coal and feeding it into a chamber
where it comes into contact with steam and air or
oxygen at high temperatures and pressure. The
gasified coal that results is then further processed
to remove unwanted constituents from the product
until it becomes the gas that is being sought. This
cleaning ranges from the removal of solids to the
removal of acid gases. Since coal is made up of
approximately 20% unwanted constituents, the re-
sulting clean-up job is a big one.
22
COAL GASIFICATION
removal of
unwanted constituents
-------
However, the NCSU facility has been designed
to handle the clean-up required. A cyclone re-
moves solid materials and two types of scrubbers
remove liquids and tars. An acid gas removal sys-
tem consists of an absorption unit in which
solvents absorb the acids, and a stripper tower
where the solvent is cleaned and regenerated.
In this first full year of the facility's completion,
the initial goals of making the plant 100% opera-
tional and of completing a preliminary exper-
imental gasification program using coal char as
feedstock were successfully attained. Future in-
formation developed from the clean-up test fa-
cility will be used to guide EPA in setting emission
limitations and should aid commercial process de-
velopers in designing environmental control sys-
tems for what promises to become a major new
United States industry.
Oil Shale Groundwater
Monitoring
Substitute petroleum products recovered from
western oil shale are expected to play an im-
portant role in supplying future energy needs. Of
the approximately 4,000 billion barrels of oil con-
tained in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming shale de-
posits, as much as 1,800 billion barrels may be
recoverable; not, however, without significant
The major source of
groundwater pollution
comes from the spent
shale itself
impact on groundwater quality. In the event of
surface-mined shale, for example, millions of
cubic yards of spent shale—the material remain-
ing after the shale oil has been extracted—will be
deposited adjacent to production areas, providing
the potential for leaching of chemicals from this
disposal pile into subsurface water and eventually
into surface streams. With shale mined in situ
(processed underground) the spent shale is left un-
derground where the potential exists for wastes to
come into contact with adjacent supplies of sub-
surface water. In either case, the major threat of
pollution to groundwater from the mining of shale
comes from the spent shale itself, rather than the
oil that is drawn from it.
POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF OIL
SHALE EXTRACTION
BEFORE
ABOVE GROUND
aquifer
BEFORE
lower aquifer
AFTER
aquifer
IN SITU
ORD is charged with the responsibility of de-
veloping, testing, and verifying groundwater
monitoring techniques capable of dealing with this
potentially massive pollution source, and in Janu-
ary 1979, issued a major oil shale project report.
The report presented a priority ranking of potential
pollution sources resulting from the underground
mining, surface retorting, and the disposal of oil
shale. The report specifies that to rank a pollutant,
data must first be gathered and evaluated in order
to identify the pollution's source and the pollutant
23
-------
24
itself and to assess the infiltration and mobility of
this pollution in the subsurface. The criteria then
used to develop priority rankings are: (1) mass of
wastes, and pollutant persistence, toxicity, and
concentration; (2) potential pollutant mobility;
and (3) known or anticipated harm to water users.
This report is only the first phase of a larger
research effort to design a complete monitoring
program for all the potential environmental im-
pacts of oil shale on groundwater quality.
Alcohol From Wastes
For more than 150 years, scientists have been
seeking an economical way to turn wood-
based wastes into liquid fuels. EPA's entry into
the search for conversion processes has been more
recent, beginning in 1975 with a study at New
York University (NYU). To date results have been
encouraging. By 1979 a pilot plant was in opera-
tion capable of converting one ton of newsprint a
day into glucose, a sugar which can, in turn, be
fermented to produce ethyl alcohol. Ethyl alcohol
can then be added to gasoline to produce gasohol,
a product now being sold at some gas stations
throughout the United States.
Plans are being developed
for ten 100-ton/day
cellulose-to-glucose
pilot plants
To convert the newsprint the ORD-NYU plant
makes use of an acid hydrolysis process, which
involves exposing shredded, water-soaked news-
print to doses of ultraviolet light. Following this
pretreatment, the newsprint is then fed into a reac-
tion chamber where it is exposed to injections of
steam and sulfuric acid under moderately high
temperature and pressure to yield glucose. Opera-
tions at the plant feature an around-the-clock pro-
cessing technology developed by EPA and NYU.
Currently the facility is capable of converting 50%
of the available waste into fermentable sugar, with
experiments underway to maximize these glucose
yields. Plans are also being developed for ten 50-
100-ton/day cellulose-glucose pilot plants.
The major question remaining to be answered is
whether such a process (or any of the other proces-
ses that create ethyl alcohol) can yield a product
competitive with the costs of gasoline. As of now,
neither the natural processes of fermentation nor
the synthetic production of ethyl alcohol using
ethylene are able to compete. Ethylene yields
ethyl-alcohol at a cost of approximately $1.00 a
gallon, 60# for the ethylene and 400 for the pro-
cess . Corn converted to ethanol can be produced at
$1.56 per gallon. With the conversion cost of glu-
cose to ethyl alcohol pegged at 40tf per gallon and
The EPA process promises
the ability to use waste
instead of foreign oil for
the production of fuel
the cost of the EPA-NYU acid hydrolysis process
of waste estimated to range between 45$ and 600,
depending on conversion efficiency, the per gal-
lon cost at the gas pump again approaches the
$1.00 level.
GLUCOSE CONVERSION
Newsprint ' -
Water
Steam
Ultra
Violet
Light
Reaction
Chamber
Sulfuric
Acid
50% GLUCOSE
-------
These figures demonstrate that due to produc-
tion costs, farmers are not currently able to pro-
duce ethyl alcohol from grain that is competitive
with the present cost of gasoline, nor can synthetic
production compete unless there is a reduction in
the costs of the raw material. The ORD-NYU
wastes-to-alcohol process finds itself in a similar
situation.
What the EPA process does promise, however,
is the ability to use waste instead of foreign oil for
the production of fuel and the extension of gas into
gasohol. With the possibility of increased oil
prices in the future, it is a process that looks more
promising each day.
Synthetic Fuel Symposium
In April 1979, EPA held the fourth Symposium
on Environmental Aspects of Fuel Conversion
Technology. Government agencies, contractors,
process developers, manufacturers, university re-
search teams, and private corporations were rep-
resented among the over 300 attendees to the meet-
ing, indicating renewed interest in the devel-
opment of these synthetic fuel conversion
technologies.
The first session of the symposium provided a
general overview of environmental assessments as
well as specific assessment programs. Emerging
from the session were two key messages: despite
many ongoing projects, much work still remains
to eliminate process and pollution control uncer-
tainties; and more cooperation and communica-
tion is necessary among sponsoring groups to
maximize efficient use of resources.
The major emphasis of the second session was
on data and conclusions from ongoing research
and field studies. Highlighting this session was a
dual presentation by the Yugoslav-U.S. team in-
volved in the environmental assessment of the
commercial-scale Lurgi gasifier facility at the
Kosovo industrial complex in Yugoslavia.
The third session featured evaluation of envi-
ronmental control technologies for synthetic fuel
plants. Topics included control assay screening
procedures, wastewater treatability, and control
technology for paniculate and tar emissions from
coal converters. Other presentations described a
gas cleaning pilot plant, and the leaching and
chemical analysis of solid wastes.
More cooperation and
communication is
necessary to maximize
efficient use of resources
The third session also saw presentation of a re-
port on water requirements for a variety of syn-
thetic fuel technologies. It was noted that many
major coal and oil-shale-bearing regions in the
United States would not be able to satisfy the water
requirements necessary for synthetic fuel produc-
tion, due both to limited water supplies and/or
human water demand.
Overall, the meeting indicated that substantial
progress has been made in determining the envi-
ronmental effects of synfuel production, and that
by the time synthetic fuel plants are operating in
this country, the control and monitoring tools and
regulations will be available to assure their envi-
ronmentally acceptable operation.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Environmental Engineering andTechnol-
ogy,Industrial Environmental Research Laboratories,
Cincinnati and Research Triangle Park—Municipal
Environmental Research Laboratory, Cincinnati
• Office of Environmental Processes and Effects
Research, Environmental Research Laboratory.Duluth
• Office of Monitoring and Technical Support,
Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory,
Las Vegas
Old newspapers can hi-
converted into glucose
which is an important
ingredient of gasohol
25
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ACID RAIN
26
The causes and effects of acid precipitation
are the focus of ORD research programs
Rainwater, or any other form of precipitation,
falling through an atmosphere containing nitrous
oxides (NOK) or sulfur oxides (SOK) reacts with
these pollutants to form acids. The resulting acid
precipitation poses a very real threat to sensitive
aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in parts of the
U.S. The past few decades have seen a marked
trend toward more acid rain. Both the intensity of
this acidity and the area affected by it have
increased.
Sulfur oxides are primarily emitted from sta-
tionary sources such as utility and industrial boil-
ers burning coal as a fuel. However, nitrogen
oxides are emitted from both stationary and trans-
portation-related sources such as cars and trucks.
Approximately 56% of the NOx discharged into
the atmosphere in 1977 resulted from the combus-
tion of fossil fuels by stationary sources, while
40% originated from transportation-related
sources. Over the next twenty years the combus-
tion of fossil fuels is expected to increase signifi-
cantly. In particular, emissions of nitrogen oxides
from stationary sources are likely to increase
rapidly during this period. Precisely what this pre-
cipitation means to the environment is the subject
of ongoing EPA study.
-------
Aquatic Impacts
The air, water, and soil normally possess a
buffering capacity that neutralizes acids. As
acids are neutralized, this buffering capacity is
diminished by a finite amount. This phenomenon
is not considered a problem in areas rich in buffer-
ing materials, but is a threat to those areas with
thin soils and bedrock low in lime orcalcite. Here,
even relatively small amounts of acid precipita-
tion could exhaust a region's existing buffering ca-
pacities and result in the acidification of local
ecosystems.
The most profound
damage is to aquatic
ecosystems
When the buffering materials in a watershed are
depleted, surface waters acidify, and dramatic
changes occur. Nutrient concentrations and pri-
mary production are reduced. The planktonic and
benthic communities are changed to different
species with fewer total species and numbers rep-
resented. Nutrients are no longer cycled from or-
ganic matter, which decomposes more slowly and
accumulates in lake basins. Fish fail to reproduce
due to the added stress. Those populations of fish
reproducing may contain elevated levels of heavy
metals. Macrophyte communities are altered with
the appearance and proliferation of tolerant
species. Such changes have all been documented
in lakes affected by acid precipitation. Ultimately,
these affected lakes become devoid of useful or
desirable forms of aquatic life.
COMBUSTION OF
FOSSIL FUELS
Because of the severity of the effects on aquatic
communities and because the constituents of acid
precipitation can be transported hundreds of miles
from their source and cause problems in distant
susceptible areas, ORD initiated a series of studies
of selected northern Minnesota lakes to determine
their potential for susceptibility to acid precipita-
tion. Using helicopters and U.S. Forest Service
aircraft, more than 100 lakes were surveyed dur-
ing the fall of 1978 and the spring of 1979. Since
acid precipitation accumulates during the winter
when it is temporarily stored in the snowpack,
periodic snow and meltwater sampling was con-
ducted across the area to determine the largest acid
load contributed during snowmelt.
Results of the Minnesota study indicated that
many of the lakes were low in buffering materials
and would be susceptible to acidification if atmos-
pheric acid loads increased. Preliminary data re-
vealed that atmospheric loading was at or near the
critical level, and that any increase in the acid
loading could result in the environmental stress of
the lakes. Results of the study of the snowmelt
indicated that both the buffering capacity and the
pH of the receiving waters temporarily decreased
(that is, became more acidic) during the first part
of the snowmelt when the majority of the winter's
accumulated contaminants left the snowpack and
entered the surface water.
Gaskin Lake in
Minnesota's Boundary
Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness
27
-------
acid rain
rich buffering
^[J/agents
WATERSHED PROPERTIES AND THE EFFECTS OF ACID RAIN
thin soils, few
buffering agents
Electrochemical field
instruments for measuring
pH, oxidation reduction
potential, conductivity
and temperature
28
A second ORD study in conjunction with the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources that
samples 400 northern Wisconsin lakes revealed
15% of these lakes to be of lower pH and to have
less buffering material than the Minnesota lakes,
with some well below the pH level at which
biological effects would be expected. Other lakes
in both states, it was found, have enough buffering
capacity to eliminate them from concern for
acidification at this time.
Current research in the impacts of acid precipi-
tation on lakes involves the identification and
measurement of parameters that could, in turn,
determine the amount of acid loading a given wa-
tershed could sustain without undue environ-
mental harm.
Terrestrial Impacts
The impacts of acid precipitation on terrestrial
ecosystems represents a major area of interest
for EPA researchers. A recent study, partially
completed, measured the effects of acid precipita-
tion on 32 major crops that represented a total U.S.
annual income of $50 billion. This study was per-
formed in an EPA experimental facility in which
the crops were grown under controlled environ-
mental conditions and exposed to simulated sul-
furic acid rain of: pH 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0, in addition
to a control rain of pH 5.7. Injury to foliage
and effects on yield of edible portions was then
determined.
Initial results of this study indicated that some
crops suffered severe damage, but others sus-
tained little apparent injury. For example, the
leafy portion of mustard greens and the edible por-
tion of broccoli exposed to rain of pH 3.0 were
reduced in weight by an average of 30% and 25%,
respectively, when compared to controls. The
edible portion of radishes exposed to pH 3.0
-------
weighed less than half that of radishes receiving
normal rain. Spinach growth was reduced by only
15%, but the leaves were so badly pitted that the
spinach was unmarketable.
Bluegrass yield at pH 3.0 was reduced by 30%
by weight and clover 21%. Both showed visual
damage. Under less acidic conditions (pH 3.5-
4.0) the yields of mustard greens, radishes, and
bluegrass were still from 14% to 28% less than the
corresponding controls. Cauliflower, cabbage,
and green peas seemed negligibly affected, indi-
cating a greater tolerance to increased acidity in
these plants.
A second study exposed bush beans — de-
monstrated to be highly acid resistant—to differ-
ent sulfuric acid and nitric acid mixtures to deter-
mine which blend of constituents was not harmful.
Results showed no effect on crop yield at pH 3.0 or
above. Under more extreme conditions reduction
in growth was observed at pH 2.0 in beans ex-
posed to rains both high in sulfuric acid and high in
nitric acid. More visible tissue damage resulted
from the high sulfuric acid rain.
A third terrestrial impact study examined a
number of forest microcosms created to simulate
environmental conditions in the northeast where
the acid precipitation problem is most severe.
Each microcosm, containing sugar maple and
alder trees grown in natural soil-litter mixtures,
was exposed to artificial acid rain under controlled
conditions so that effects on both plant growths
and soil nutrients could be studied and trends pre-
dicted. When all the results are in, computer mod-
els of affected ecosystems will be used in conjunc-
tion with other research findings to derive a clearer
picture of what lies in the future for northeastern
forests. Additionally, recent ORD experiments
indicate that acid precipitation can:
• Damage foliage
• Accelerate plant surface erosion
• Alter responses to associated organisms
• Affect germination of conifer and hardwood
seeds
• Affect the establishment of seedlings
• Affect the availability of nitrogen from the soil
• Decrease soil respiration
• Increase leaching of nutrients from the soil.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Environmental Processes and Effects
Research—Environmental Research Laboratories,
Duluth and Corvallis
Lowered pH level* cun
have drastic effects on
plant lift'
29
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CLEAN AIR MONITORING
30
A new look at visibility and the use of
space age technology facilitates ORD's
air quality research
ORD research on the maintenance and im-
provement of air quality was performed on a broad
scale in 1979. Monitoring instruments were de-
veloped, evaluated, refined, and utilized. Im-
proved methods of SO2 emissions control were
evolved to facilitate the nation's transition to the
burning of high sulfur coal. And space-age
technology became part of the clean air effort as
ORD made use of solar cells and satellites to keep
an environmental eye on remote areas of the country.
1979 clean air monitoring highlights include:
Optimal Air Quality Monitoring
The Clean Air Act requires state and local
agencies to monitor ambient air quality,
primarily to document an area's compliance to
the National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS). To assist in this monitoring effort,
ORD addressed the question of whether it was
possible to develop and validate a method of de-
termining the precise location and number of sam-
pling stations necessary to monitor ambient air
quality — was there, in other words, a way of
setting up an optimal air quality monitoring net-
work in a given area?
-------
One such method was defined in the 1979 EPA
research program and involves the use of an air
quality simulation computer model to develop a
data base for the region under consideration. Me-
teorological information is fed into the model to
replicate all of the important weather scenarios for
that region. Existing pollutant emission informa-
tion is then added to the model as an overlay to the
scenarios. A series of pollutant maps can then be
generated for the area, which locate the coordi-
nates of pollutant concentration peaks. Simpli-
fied, these data can then be used to provide the
relative frequencies of the pollutant's occurrence
over a broad range of weather conditions. With
this information in hand monitoring stations can
then be located and ranked based either on their
expected exposure to occasions when NAAQS
standards are exceeded or their expected ability to
represent a region's overall air quality. Based on
those criteria, this method also includes a proce-
dure to objectively limit the number of stations to a
required minimum.
This initial application of the method was for an
inert pollutant, carbon monoxide (CO), in the Las
Vegas valley. To validate this model, a key ele-
ment in its development, a limited but intensive
field sampling program was undertaken. In this
study it was hoped that a high correlation between
the model-predicted incidence and location of CO
and the measured incidence and location of CO
would be demonstrated. Such a correlation would
indicate that the modeling method was effective in
defining both peaks of CO concentrations as well
as the locations of those peaks. The results of the
validation showed a high degree of agreement be-
tween predicted and measured values of CO for
nearly all cases examined. Currently, network se-
lections are being evaluated, with verification
studies for other pollutants and for other locales
also underway.
Work is also in progress on a radically different
method of determining the number and location of
monitoring stations. The monitoring network in
this ORD study is based on a region's wind field
patterns rather than directly on air pollution distri-
bution. It is thought that, by concentrating on wind
field a more stable, long-term monitoring network
might be established, one less directly influenced
by changes in pollutant emission source locations
and emission values. Three separate models are
used in this method. The first simulates wind field;
the second determines the wind monitoring net-
work using the simulated wind data; and the third
establishes pollutant concentration distribution by
making use of wind data and existing emission and
pollutant concentration data. Results from evalua-
tion and validation studies of this wind field
method will soon be forthcoming.
Atmospheric Participates
Since 1973, EPA has been working with an
airborne remote sensing device called lidar to
map paniculate matter in the atmosphere. Lidar
(light detection and ranging) probes the atmos-
phere beneath an aircraft in the same way a depth
sounder probes water beneath a boat. A light pulse
is emitted by a laser pointed toward the earth. As
the pulse travels through the atmosphere striking
air molecules and aerosols, light is scattered back
to the aircraft's onboard sensing and recording de-
vices. Measurements taken from this scattered
light can then be used along with navigational in-
formation to indicate pollutant plume dimensions
and locations.
In 1979, a third generation lidar system was
developed and flight-tested to enhance EPA's
monitoring capabilities. As with first and second
generation systems, this lidar is capable of the
Lidar unit installed in
an aircraft
31
-------
/'/'c iirihid H'hitc blind
across the bottom of this
is ti plume as seen
by Lidar
32
three-dimensional characterization of airborne
participate plumes. This third system, however, is
also capable of performing some characterization
of the particles themselves. This in-air analysis is
made possible by the addition of a second lidar
frequency: the first to characterize the plume loca-
tion, the second the approximate size of the parti-
cles based on their ability to scatter light.
Other features of the third generation system
involve laser firing-time intervals and data output
capabilities. The first generation lidar could only
be fired once every 12 seconds; the two-frequency
system can be fired ten times every second, thus
greatly increasing the system's ability to define
plume dimensions. Data from the first generation
device had to be extensively manipulated using a
ground-based digital computer, with output often
delayed for several months. The two-frequency
lidar uses two microprocessor computer systems
built into the devidltwhich give instant access to
data, even as thejrcontrol and monitor system
functions.
The two-frequency lidar, to be in full use by
1980, will provide EPA air quality investigations
with yet higher quality and more comprehensive
data for its enforcement of the Clean Air Act
Amendments.
What Is Visibility
What is visibility? Is it merely "as far as the
eye can see"? Can it be quantified? In
1979, researchers on ORD's Visibility Investiga-
tive Experiment in the West (VIEW) worked to
provide answers to these questions and others. Ini-
tially a program to establish visibility baseline data
for the Western Energy Research Development
Area, VIEW objectives were expanded as a result
of the visibility protection mandate established by
Congress. Now VIEW seeks to:
• Establish an instrument(s) that characterizes vis-
ibility
• Develop a western regional visibility data base
• Identify air pollutant emission sources respon-
sible for visibility degradation
To fulfill the first objective ORD initiated a re-
search program at Canyonlands National Park to
investigate the tools of the visibility measurement
trade. Of the numerous devices tested, none was
demonstrated capable of independently establish-
ing the relationship of air pollution to visibility.
While, for example, long-path telephotometer
measurements most closely represented that qual-
ity of a given vista observed by the human eye,
under certain meteorological conditions it was dif-
ficult to relate these measurements to degraded air
quality. And while an integrating nephelometer
proved to be effective in measuring air quality
under all meteorological conditions, the device
was constrained to making point measurements
which are highly dependent on local sources. It
was thus expected that characterizing visibility
would involve a number of instruments in combi-
nation.
The degree of color
contrast was the key
measure of visibility
-------
NOAA Satellite,
then to:
visibility in
national park
transmitted to:
•ill ffcfc I
DIAL-A-VISIBILITY
A survey was then taken to establish the rela-
tionship between what the instruments measured
and what the human eye actually perceived. Vis-
itors to Canyonkmds participated in the survey.
Analysis of the data gathered from the subjects'
viewing of slides and specific vistas established
that the degree of color contrast was a key measure
of visibility. Also developed from the data was a
method to quantify the effect that weather and
scenic beauty have on a person's ability to per-
ceive degraded air quality.
CANYONLANDS
NATIONAL
PARK
Work on VIEW's second objective involved
area-wide monitoring to create a western visibility
data base. In a graphic illustration of the adage that
"looks deceive," it was established from these
monitoring data that air quality in a number of
areas was approximately 50% cleaner than was
previously assumed based on airport visibility ob-
servations. However, this discrepancy is under-
standable since airport observations are not neces-
sarily representative of area-wide visibility, and
furthermore, visibility in relatively clean air can
be degraded by even small, local increases in air
pollution.
VIEW's third objective, to identify the sources
responsible for visibility degradation, was furth-
ered by the development of a program to monitor
particulates. A sampling network was deployed
and samples were analyzed. Preliminary results
indicated that suspended soil materials and sulfur
in the form of sulfates most often interfered with
visibility.
Satellites, Solar Cells
For the price of a phone call, ORD will soon be
able to summon data on visibility conditions
at Lava Point in Zion National Park, Utah. The
information ORD will receive will have traveled
over 50,000 miles in a matter of seconds and will
not have necessitated the lifting of a single human
finger beyond the one that dialed the phone.
When Congress mandated visibility protection
in national parks and wilderness areas, ORD re-
sponded by adapting space-age technology to ena-
ble the monitoring and transmission of visibility
data from these often remote locations. Instru-
ments powered by solar cells collect the data,
which are then beamed to the western Geostation-
ary Operational Environmental Satellite con-
trolled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA). The data are relayed
from the satellite to a receiver in Virginia, then to
NOAA's computer in Camp Springs, Maryland.
A phone call to this NOAA installation then yields
this Lava Point visibility information. The Zion
National Park system is now ready for use and will
become operational following clearance from the
Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee.
The Contrast Tele-
photometer measures
visibility
33
-------
The ROSE system
in action
A current limitation inherent in the system is
that data can only be transmitted at prescribed
times, as determined by the availability of receiv-
ing and transmission equipment on board the satel-
lite. In addition, as the number of stations trans-
mitting to the satellite grows, restrictions will in-
evitably be placed on the frequency of single site
transmissions.
Limitations notwithstanding, it is expected that
this system will usher in a new era in the monitor-
ing of isolated locations. If performance of the
system proves reliable and satisfactory, similar
systems may be placed in other national parks and
wilderness areas, enabling EPA to monitor the vis-
ibility and receive near-instant information from
an entire network of remote locations.
Remote Optical Sensing
In addition to the airborne lidar three other re-
mote optical sensing systems are in use by ORD
today—the ROSE infrared system to measure at-
mospheric gas concentrations, a ground-based
lidar system to measure airborne particle concen-
trations, and the mobile laser-Doppler velocimeter
(LDV) system to measure the rate of movement of
the gases and particles. These instruments, which
are capable of measuring air pollution without the
necessity of collecting physical samples, are used
to characterize emissions from all types of mobile
and stationary sources. Of further value to EPA is
the instruments' ability to make pollution mea-
surements at almost any time without the knowl-
edge of suspected polluters.
The ROSE (Remote Optical Sensing of Emis-
sions) system consists of special telescopes, an
infrared spectrometer and a computer, all located
in an EPA van. In operation, an infrared light
source sends a beam through the atmosphere to be
captured by the telescope in the van, the telescope
then focuses the beam onto the spectrometer for
analysis in conjunction with the computer. Be-
cause almost all natural and pollutant gases in the
air absorb infrared light at specific characteristic
frequencies, each gas has its own infrared signa-
ture or "fingerprint" which thus permits positive
identification by the computer/spectrometer anal-
ysis. Once the gas is identified, further analysis
can be used to compute the actual amount of the
gas in the path between the infrared light and the
telescope.
The ROSE system can be pointed at a specific
target such as an industrial stack to measure the
types and concentrations of hot gases exiting the
stack. For such targets, the system's maximum
range is approximately one kilometer. For general
atmospheric measurements, ROSE has a range of
several kilometers.
34
portions of beam
absorbed
"fingerprin
CONCEPT OF ROSE SYSTEM
In 1979 the ROSE system:
• Identified and quantified gaseous pollutants
emitted by kilns used in the manufacture of
bricks.
• Analyzed hot exhaust gases from jet engines at
Tyndall Air Force Base.
• Verified hydrogen fluoride as the only signifi-
cant gaseous fluoride emitted from phosphate
fertilizer plant wastewater treatment ponds.
• Demonstrated its ability to quantify hot gas
emissions from waste gas flares, a widely used
emission control technique that generally defies
conventional analysis techniques.
The ground-based lidar system for paniculate
concentration measurements also was used exten-
sively during the 1979 ORD research year. It op-
erates on the same physical principles as the air-
borne lidar.
-------
In recent studies, measurements of opacity
taken by the ground-based lidar were compared
with those made by trained observers and in-stack
measuring devices. The data from the measure-
ment studies helped determine the relationship
between opacity and mass paniculate con-
centrations. 1979 also saw modernization of the
system with the addition of a new laser, data pro-
cessing system, and van.
Current lidar work includes studies of coal-fired
power plant emissions at five generating stations,
development of a low-cost lidar system, and de-
velopment of a system for the remote determina-
tion of paniculate size distributions in stack emis-
sions.
The third remote optical sensing system, the
mobile LDV system, was delivered to ORD this
year. NASA scientists who have been actively de-
veloping LDV systems for 10 years assisted EPA
in the development of the current LDV system.
This system is used to measure wind or stack
plume velocities by sending a CO2 laser beam into
the atmosphere or a stack plume. Part of the beam
is backscattered as it comes into contact with
aerosols. Because of the velocity of the aerosols,
the frequency of the backscattered beam shifts as a
result of the phenomenon known as the Doppler
effect. This backscattered beam frequency is then
compared by computer with the outgoing beam
frequency, and the resulting difference allows for
These devices are capable
of measuring air pollution
without collecting
physical samples
the remote computation of the aerosols' velocity.
The measurement of wind velocity at different
plume altitudes is more complex than measuring
the plume velocity but it is based on the same
principle.
The velocity data then can be used in conjunc-
tion with pollutant concentration data gathered by
the other remote sensors to calculate total area-
wide pollution concentrations from both point
sources and extended area sources. This method-
ology is particularly suited for the difficult task of
quantifying the net amount of pollutants in the air
from fugitive emission sources.
All three systems will continue to be evaluated,
improved, and used in 1980 ORD research work.
A Lidar van measuring
industrial emissions
35
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Stack gasses from coal-
fired power plant
36
Atmospheric Sulfates Analysis
Sulfate emissions can consist of gas or aerosol
sulfuric acid and sulfate salts such as MgSO4,
VOSO4, and Na2SO4. These air pollutants come
mainly from coal- and oil-fired power plants, pulp
and paper mills, cement kilns and a variety of
similar industrial sources, and can contribute to
the causes of acid rain, poor visibility, and human
health problems. Furthermore, increasing evi-
dence points to oil-fired power plants as the major
contributor to the high levels of sulfates measured
in the northeast United States.
EPA's responsibility to keep the air clean of
these damaging pollutants requires formulation
and recommendation of strategies to control the
pollutants, but two likely targets for the EPA con-
trol strategies—type of fuel and type of combus-
tion—also appear to directly influence the extent
of sulfuric acid production and hence the amount
of atmospheric acid. Therefore, to formulate the
appropriate controls, EPA needs to know the rela-
tive amounts of air pollution in the form of sulfuric
acid as compared to the total sulfate load. To ac-
complish this differentiation of acid from the sul-
fate salts, ORD research has developed two
methods to continuously monitor sulfuric acid in
the hot gases which come from smoke stacks.
The first method is an automated procedure
which first filters particles from the stack gases
and then condenses out the sulfuric acid. Mea-
surements by this method have shown that most of
the sulfuric acid is emitted as a gas, not as a parti-
cle or an aerosol. This monitoring and analysis
method has been used on oil-fired boilers to de-
termine how much acid can escape from flue gas
desulfurization control devices.
The second ORD monitoring method uses a
diode laser pointed at the stack gases. By employ-
ing known optical absorption and light scattering
characteristics of sulfuric acid, the laser device
can produce real-time measurement of acid emis-
sions. In one test, combustion changes in an oil-
fired boiler showed up immediately by changes in
sulfuric acid emission.
In related work, ORD scientists identified prob-
lems with handling aerosol samples that were to be
analyzed for acidity. For example, samples col-
Preliminary results
indicated that sulfates and
suspended soil most often
interfered with visibility
lected in the field, in particular in rural areas, were
occasionally contaminated with coarse alkaline
particles, and samples transported or stored were
sometimes exposed to ammonia gas. The alkaline
particles and ammonia gas neutralized the aerosol
acids thus leading to incorrect acidity readings
when the samples were analyzed. Further prob-
lems included sample contamination from previ-
ously-used glass fiber filters.
To solve these problems Teflon filters replaced
the glass filters, dichotomous samplers were used
to keep the alkaline particles separate from the
aerosols and better storage and handling tech-
niques were instituted. Establishment of these
procedures enabled ORD scientists to make much
more accurate measurements of sulfates in aerosol
samples taken in rural areas.
ORD scientists solved another acids analysis
problem in 1979. In the past, air samples taken to a
laboratory and used for acidity analysis could be
used for no other analyses because of the risk of
acid neutralization by ammonia in the laboratory
-------
air. This meant that field sampling personnel had
to collect numerous samples for the many analyt-
ical tests performed by EPA. ORD solved the
problem by inventing a new acidity analysis
method consisting of titration of the samples with
carbon-14 labeled trimethylamine. The samples
analyzed by the new method remain sufficiently
unaltered so subsequent tests can be performed
accurately and efficiently.
All of these new monitoring and analysis tech-
niques will help make EPA clean air monitoring
tasks more accurate and more cost-effective.
Fugitive Emissions
The average leaky valve in a petroleum refin-
ery emits only about a half a pound of hydro-
carbon vapor into the air per day. This single fugi-
tive emission source of Volatile Organic Com-
pounds (VOC) is hardly significant by itself, but
when taken along with the thousands of other po-
tential sources of fugitive emissions in a refinery
- spills, open drains, leaky components,
wastewater treatment streams — the deterioration
of air quality and the hazard to human health can
be significant.
A 1979 ORD study of fugitive emissions at
fourteen oil refineries examined the problem and
determined steps that could be taken to alleviate it.
Thousands of potential sources of fugitive emis-
sions were investigated using a portable hydrocar-
Thousands of potential
sources of fugitive
emissions were investigated
bon detector. Those sources found to emit hydro-
carbons were then studied to determine their actual
leak rate. This was done by enclosing the leaking
source in a plastic enclosure and measuring VOC
emissions over a fixed period of time. To deter-
mine the effectiveness of maintenance in reducing
emissions, a number of the leaking sources were
repaired by refinery maintenance personnel, then
resampled to determine any decreases in emis-
sions rates.
Of note, this research effort yielded the average
leak rate of fugitive VOC emission sources in pe-
troleum refineries, the first substantive data
gathered on this topic in twenty years. Data on the
frequency of leak occurrence were also obtained,
as well as data on the effectiveness of maintenance
in the reduction of fugitive emissions. In addition,
the research pointed to the need for future ffforts
REFINERY
VALVE LEAK
AREAS
to better quantify emissions from petrochemical
process units and to reduce emissions from refin-
ery wastewater systems.
As a result of this study, EPA now has the data
necessary to set effective regulations to control the
sources of fugitive VOC emissions in petroleum
refineries.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Environmental Engineering and Technol-
ogy—Industrial Environmental Research
Laboratories-Cincinnati and Research Triangle Park
• Office of Monitoring and Technical Support—
Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory,
Las Vegas
• Office of Environmental Processes and Effects
Research—Environmental Sciences Research Labora-
tory, Research Triangle Park
37
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NON-IONIZING RADIATION
Radio and television
transmitting tower
38
ORD researches the possible
health hazards of electronic smog
Radiation is a form of energy emitted as waves
or particles. When the radiation is of high energy,
as from nuclear radiation, it ionizes material; that
is, it separates electrons from atoms or molecules.
Such ionizing radiation is known to be lethal. By
contrast, non-ionizing radiation (NIR) is far less
energetic, and is of longer wavelength. Its sources
are hardly exotic and are, in fact, part of our
everyday lives and include radios, televisions,
electric power lines, microwave ovens, citizen
band radios, and air traffic control radars.
Sometimes characterized as "electronic
smog," levels of NIR have grown with the prolif-
eration of electronic devices and their applica-
tions. As the number of these sources increases,
the U.S. population is faced with increasing expo-
sure to low-level radio and microwave frequency
radiation. Little, however, is known about possi-
ble health effects that may result from these expo-
sures, and public attention to the problem has only
recently been piqued by news reports of the beam-
ing of microwave radiation at the U.S. embassy in
-------
Moscow. Currently, a number of interdisciplinary
studies by ORD are underway to examine the pos-
sible risks posed by low-level exposures.
One study, completed in 1979, examined preg-
nant rats and their offspring exposed to a radio
frequency of 100 MHz to determine whether such
exposure might impair growth, neurological de-
velopment, behavior, and reproductive capacity.
In addition, factors relative to neurochemistry,
mutagenicity, hematology, and immunology were
also examined. The 100 MHz frequency is part of
the FM radio frequency band and falls in the range
that contributes most to ambient radio frequency
radiation. It is also close to the frequencies at
which maximum absorption of energy occurs in
human tissue (i.e., 70-80 MHz).
Non-ionizing radiation is
part of our everyday lives
The results of this study showed that no overall
change in the growth and neurological develop-
ment of offspring was evident at these power den-
sity levels. Also, examination of the rats' immune
systems and blood failed to show any alterations
that might lead to disease.
Laboratory rat being
exposed to radio
frequency o/ 100 MHz
Rats in this study were exposed at power density
levels over 50,000 times higher than the levels
experienced by the general public from radio
transmitting stations, but because of body size dif-
ferences, the rate of energy absorption in the rats
was equivalent to that experienced by humans ex-
posed to the occupational guidelines. Exposure
was for four hours daily throughout pregnancy; the
offspring were similarly exposed until they were
young adults at 90 days of age.
Male offspring suffered no impairment to re-
productive capacity. The behavior of the animals
did not appear to be altered. In some of the rats,
however, levels of a brain enzyme were altered.
The reasons for the enzymatic change, as well as
its consequence to the health of rats, still needs to
be determined.
Additional data on the health effects of other
NIR frequencies of environmental significance are
currently being generated in other ORD studies
along with information on how NIR interacts with
biological systems. These data will be important
to the development of federal guidance on NIR in
the environment.
Non-Ionizing test unit
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Health Research—Health Effects
Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park
39
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TOXICS
Chemical samples during
testing for toxicity
40
Researchers seek those chemicals with
the potential for environmental
and human harm
Any chemical can be toxic at the right dose and
under the right circumstances. But what is that
dose? That circumstance? And what precisely is
the mechanism that brings about its toxicity? ORD
is attempting to understand the behavior of chemi-
cals and their effects on the environment and on
humans, and to establish scientifically sound
techniques to both estimate and control the risks
they pose. The following are highlights of the
1979 re search effort.
Chlorinated Dioxins
Chlorinated dioxins are a family of highly
toxic, related organic compounds generally
occurring as unwanted by-products in the man-
ufacture of certain chemicals (e.g., 2,4,5, trichlo-
rophenal). One such chlorinated dioxin, 2,3,7,8-
TCDD, has been called the most toxic molecule
synthesized by man. Extremely small amounts can
cause skin, liver, and kidney disorders, birth de-
fects, and possibly cancer. While modifications in
industrial processes have reduced the quantity of
-------
chlorinated dioxins produced, methods for the
disposal of the remaining chlorinated dioxins in
industrial wastes are not clearly defined.
In 1979 ORD research in this area focused on
the development of effective chlorinated dioxin
detection methods, highlighted by the develop-
ment of an analytical procedure for detecting parts
per trillion (ppt) levels of chlorinated dioxins in
complex industrial wastes. The key to the process
was a sample clean-up procedure that could sepa-
rate the chlorinated dioxins from the complex
background of waste materials, and then make use
of a known amount of' 'labeled'' TCDD as a stan-
dard of measurement.
comprehensive health evaluation of present and
former employees is now underway. Additionally,
the plant has ceased production of the trichloro-
phenol and 2,4,5-T that created the hazard.
In other dioxin-related activities, ORD pro-
vided technical assistance to the Australian gov-
ernment in the disposition of dioxin wastes trap-
ped in activated carbon and took part in EPA's
review of a chemical company's data concerning
the discovery of TCDD in fish downstream of the
company's Michigan facility. In addition, ORD
participated in the EPA's dioxin task force, whose
primary function is to coordinate the agency-wide
chlorinated dioxin program.
TCDD has been called the
most toxic molecule
synthesized by man
A second result of the ORD chlorinated dioxin
detection effort was the discovery of environmen-
tal contamination by TCDD in Arkansas. The dis-
covery came about after 17 samples, which were
collected in the vicinity of a chemical manufactur-
ing plant, had been analyzed and some found to
contain dioxin. The initial ORD analysis of 40
ppm TCDD was subsequently confirmed by an
independent laboratory.
Subsequently, the discovery led to the notifica-
tion of Region VI personnel by ORD. Continued
investigations have shown TCDD to be present in
the local sewage treatment system used by the
plant and at low levels in surface waters and fish
downstream from the pollution source. Contami-
nated waterways have been quarantined and a
DIAGNOSIS BY LUNG CAPACITY
Pulmonary Function
1979 saw the development of a series of tests of
pulmonary function that can be applied to
small laboratory animals exposed to pollutants.
These tests can provide information on functional
changes in the lungs of test animals, which, in
turn, may indicate the development of chronic
pulmonary disease. A number of tests were devel-
oped capable of a variety of measures.
One such test measures the volume of gas re-
maining in the lungs after maximal exhalation.
This test is valuable in that it helps identify
obstructive diseases such as emphysema or
41
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TREATMENT
AMSTER LUNGS FOLLOWING
yiTH ELASTASE
CONTROL
BODY WEIGHT (g)
LUNG WEIGHT (g)
LUNG CAPACITY (ml)
RESIDUAL VOLUME
NO. OF ANIMALS
119
0.60
5.9
1.1
10
TREATED
118
0.68
8.7
1.8
7
Possible tumor in clam
taken from coastal
waters off the northern
Gulf of Mexico
42
chronic bronchitis. When these diseases occur, the
total volume of gas the lungs can hold is increased
due to a breakdown in lung tissue, while the
amount of gas remaining in the lungs after a max-
imal exhalation is also increased due to obstruc-
tion or collapse in the airways.
A second test determines how well the lung is
ventilated. This is accomplished by measuring the
amount of time it takes the lung to wash out the
nitrogen contained in the lungs when an animal is
breathing pure oxygen. A lung demonstrating
poor ventilation characteristics is often an early
sign of respiratory disease.
A poorly ventilated lung is
often an early sign of
respiratory disease
A third test measures the rate at which a test gas
diffuses from the air spaces in the lungs into the
blood. This test measuring the lungs' diffusing
capacity is useful in determining whether obstruc-
tive or tissue diseases are present.
Recent ORD research proved that functional
changes in the lungs, as measured by these tests,
are indeed consistent with actual lung damage.
Hamsters were given emphysema by treating them
with the enzyme elastase. Their lung functions
were then tested. Results indicated that nitrogen
washout was delayed, total lung capacity and re-
sidual volume were increased, and the lungs' dif-
fusing capacity was diminished.
In another study making use of the pulmonary
function tests, rats were exposed to asbestos fibers
for one year and then examined to evaluate the
functional status of their lungs. The results indi-
cated a marked reduction in total lung capacity.
ORD effects data generated making use of these
and other pulmonary test techniques on animals
will be vital in indicating the potential health
hazards of inhaled environmental pollutants.
Aquatic Indicators
A pilot research program investigating the use
of aquatic animals as indicators of the pres-
ence and the potential effects of toxics in the larger
environment is a study approach being taken by
ORD in conjunction with the National Cancer In-
stitute. The use of the aquatic community to aug-
ment laboratory toxicity studies performed on rats
-------
and mice is based on the premise that water, aqua-
tic biota, and sediments are the ultimate "sinks"
for the runoff, fallout, and discharge of most toxic
pollutants, and that species living in the water are
completely exposed to pollutants, and less able
than land species to escape a dissolved or carried
toxicant.
In 1979, researchers studied species offish and
shellfish along the northern Gulf of Mexico to de-
termine which species might be the most effective
indicators of carcinogenic agents in the environ-
ment. Fish, oyster, and clam populations were
analyzed monthly for tumors and cellular diseases
indicative of pollution. Additionally, chemical
analyses are now being performed in a search for
residues of potential carcinogens. Sampling sta-
tions were located in both polluted and clean es-
tuaries as well as offshore in relatively pristine
waters. Also, as part of the study, select species of
fish were exposed in the laboratory to determine
their specific responses to chemical carcinogens
known to occur in the environment.
Results of the study to date have generally
proven fish to be suitable experimental test ani-
mals. Certain species of fish, it was demonstrated,
can be kept in the laboratory for long-term (one
year and longer) testing of their potential to de-
velop tumors from select chemicals released into
the environment. One such species, for example,
exposed to the herbicide Trifluralin for ten to
twelve months, developed abnormal growths on
their vertebral columns.
Field study results demonstrated that some
members of fish and shellfish populations in both
polluted and apparently clean coastal waters suf-
fered from a variety of tumors and tumor-like
lesions. This prompted researchers to attempt to
correlate the presence of these tumors with the
presence of certain pollutants in the water, in the
sediment, and in fish tissues.
Another finding demonstrated that fish, when
exposed to a carcinogen, undergo biochemical
changes in tissues, such as the liver, that are simi-
lar to the precancerous changes that occur in the
livers of mammals when exposed to the same car-
cinogen. This result further points to the potential
value of fish as research animals for carcinogen
assay.
In the years to come results from these studies
will aid in evaluating the appropriateness of using
aquatic communities and other forms of wildlife as
indicators of the presence and effects of pollu-
tants. Also, data generated in these studies will aid
in determining the routes taken by carcinogens
in water and the human health risks posed by
this water and the aquatic organisms used as food
by man.
Toxicity Test Standardization
To assure that the short-term screening test
methods for toxics being developed by ORD
ecological effects laboratories were reliable, a
round robin system of test method evaluation was
initiated in 1979. Participating in the evaluation
were four of EPA's research laboratories and sev-
eral contract laboratories. Variability of animal
test results among laboratories is currently being
determined so weaknesses or needed improve-
ments can be identified.
The initial products of these standardized tox-
icity tests will be available in early 1980 and will
include results of acute toxicity testing on the
Radiograph of normal
Sheepshead Minnow
Radiograph of Sheeps-
head Minnow exposed
for eight months to the
herbicide Trifluralin
Outdoor aquatic research
test tanks
43
-------
Indoor aquatic testing
facility
mysid shrimp, a copepod, the sheepshead min-
now, the fathead minnow, and the rainbow trout.
Additional test method development and stan-
dardization will continue through 1980 and be-
yond. Among the items on the research agenda are
chronic toxicity tests with marine and freshwater
plankton, marine and freshwater fishes, shellfish,
and other organisms. Tests for the bioaccumula-
tion of chemicals will be standardized as will a
specialized test for ethylene evolution by stressed
terrestrial plants.
The goal of the validation program is to assure
that ORD-originated test methods are the best,
most reliable, most cost-effective tests possible,
thus encouraging their use by industry as well as
by EPA and other federal agencies.
Heavy Metals
Heavy metals are widely distributed in aquatic
systems and are known to harm fish popula-
tions by affecting their reproduction, growth, and
survival. In a 1979 ORD program, the sublethal
effects of copper on certain life stages of the
Pacific salmon were studied to determine the ef-
fect of minimal exposures on the salmon's future
survival.
Results of the study indicated that young sal-
mon in the smolt stage, ready to migrate from their
birth streams toward the ocean, were particularly
susceptible to the sublethal effects of the copper.
Exposure prior to this migration resulted in a lower
percentage of successful migrants and a higher
percentage of smolt deaths from causes other than
direct copper toxicity.
In addition, smolts exposed to copper just prior
to entering seawater proved unable to survive the
normal transition to a seawater environment due to
their inability to maintain a proper internal salt and
water balance.
The salmon's swimup and young parr stages are
susceptible to a virus disease called Infectious
Hematopoietic Necrosis (IHN). Recent tests show
that exposure to very low levels of copper lowers a
salmon's resistance to IHN 100-fold.
Mortality from disease and migratory failure
was produced by copper levels lower than any
previously shown to harm salmon. These results
emphasize the importance of testing sublethal ef-
fects of pollutants on each life stage of valuable
aquatic species.
44
LIFESTAGES OF PACIFIC SALMON
-------
Airborne Asbestos
Asbestos or asbestiform minerals are a group of
naturally occurring silicates with a distinct
fibrous crystalline structure and special thermal
and mechanical properties that have long encour-
aged their use in the manufacture of such products
as roofing, insulation, brake linings, fireproof cur-
tains, etc.
There is concern about the public health risks
associated with the occurrence of asbestos in the
ambient air and in supplies of food and drinking
water. The concern is based on evidence that,
occupational and paraoccupational exposures to
asbestos have induced mesothelioma of the pleura
and peritoneum, as well as cancer of the lungs,
esophagus and stomach, after latent periods of
about 20 to 40 years.
In support of EPA's effort to gather sufficient
data for the promulgation of industrial and munic-
ipal wastewater asbestos discharge regulations
ORD has developed a number of asbestos measur-
ing and monitoring methods and aids. Of note, a
recently completed study produced a procedure
for optimizing the use of the electron microscope
to identify and characterize asbestos fibers in am-
bient air and water samples. Traditionally, elec-
tron microscopy has been a relatively slow and
expensive method, and often, because of var-
iations in technique, results from two laboratories
for the same sample differed significantly. The
new ORD procedure was designed to diminish
such discrepancies, and to improve method effi-
ciency, while lowering costs.
A second ORD project saw the design and con-
struction of a prototype asbestos analyzer that
makes use of special X-ray diffraction optics. The
analyzer can detect and measure submicrogram
amounts of asbestos, and has demonstrated a po-
tential ten-fold cost savings over electron micros-
copy, while requiring far less time for analysis.
ORD has developed a
number of asbestos
measuring and
monitoring aids
EPA has also designed and built an aerosol fiber
counter that detects fibers (as opposed to other
particles) based on their ability to scatter light.
Initial tests indicated the counter was effective in
the continuous monitoring for fibers and should be
a useful tool for rapid screening and problem as-
sessment, and for checking the effectiveness of
control measures.
Hemoglobin as a Dose Monitor
How much of a given carcinogen can the
human body endure before cancer and cell
mutations result? This ' 'dose " is far more than a
function of mere exposure to the toxic chemical.
Dose also depends on a system's contact with the
chemical, its uptake and absorption of it, the dis-
tribution of the chemical in the body, and the
metabolism of the chemical.
To determine the extent of the risk a given car-
cinogen poses to the public, researchers expose
laboratory animals to the chemical, then extrapo-
late animal bioassay results to humans. To do so,
however, requires an exact knowledge of the dose
— in all its ramifications — administered in the
animal studies. This often presents a problem. In
the case of determining the carcinogenic potency
of diesel exhaust, for example, the degree of expo-
sure to the actual exhaust is known. But because
Electron micrograph
showing Chrysolite
Asbestos insulating mate-
rial magnified 2000 times
45
-------
the carcinogens in the exhaust first bind them-
selves to particles before they are inhaled, the true
dose of the carcinogens being administered is not
known.
Thus ORD, in a recent research effort, sought to
develop a dose monitor for use in animal and
human studies that could bind itself to a carcino-
gen, and provide proof of the carcinogen's pres-
ence while serving as a measure of dose. A key
1979 result of this work identified hemoglobin as a
promising dose monitor. Results from a study of
15 direct and indirect acting carcinogens demon-
strated that a substantial fraction of these chemi-
cals tended to attach themselves to hemoglobin.
today there is a general lack of knowledge to ex-
plain how these chemicals interact on a molecular
level; how, for example, water toxicants affect the
biological chemistry of fish.
Biochemists working at this molecular level are
faced with a number of problems. Which method
of in vitro testing, for example, will yield the re-
sults that can then most realistically be extrapo-
lated to other organisms including humans? And,
also, to determine the presence of toxics, what
chemical in a living organism is the best indicator?
Should suspect water samples be brought into con-
tact with hormones? With liver slices? With cells
in vivol
46
Hemoglobin is highly
useful in EPA's role of
protecting the public health
Still, many advantages accrue from the use of
hemoglobin as a dose monitor. It is readily ob-
tained from humans; the red blood cells normally
discarded during a routine blood test are sufficient
for a complete bioassay. And, once bound to
hemoglobin, the carcinogen remains for months,
allowing analysis long after exposure. The stabil-
ity of this binding also allows for detection of
low-level chronic exposure, whereas a single in-
dividual exposure might not have been detected.
Additionally, the presence of carcinogens bound
to hemoglobin relates directly to the degree of
exposure.
These advantages and the fact that carcinogens
representing many different classes bind to
hemoglobin, potentially makes it a dose monitor
highly useful to EPA in protecting the public
health. Future work with hemoglobin as a dose
monitor will involve a study of the binding to
hemoglobin of benzo(a)pyrene in cigarette smok-
ers and in laboratory animals exposed to diesel
exhaust.
Molecular Indicators
With tens of thousands of chemical agents
already in the environment and the intro-
duction of some 600 new ones annually, a need
exists for inexpensive short-term screening tests
that can determine the presence of these chemicals
and the hazards they pose as they react with the
chemicals inside living systems. Unfortunately,
IN VIVO
IN VITRO
animal
A recent ORD research project attempted to
provide some answers to these questions by devel-
oping a screening test that exposed various water
toxicants to fish enzymes to determine, first, the
efficiency of such a test, and, second, the viability
of using enzymes as molecular indicators of a tox-
icant's presence. Enzymes were chosen because
they are the known biological catalysts that control
the rate of most metabolic processes.
-------
Glass capillary containing
porous protein matrix
Enzymes
adsorbed to
matrix
TOXICANT / ENZYME SCREENING TEST
The test procedure involved placing enzymes
contained in a porous protein mixture into a glass
tube, then channeling water containing toxicants
through the tube. After a specific amount of water
was passed through the protein mixture, catalytic
activity of the enzymes was measured. Any
change in activity was noted.
The design of this screening test permitted
analysis of 24 or more water samples in a one-hour
period. Also evolved during the test was an en-
zyme combination that responded to most pollu-
tants, thereby marking it as an effective indicator.
A second phase of this study, now in progress,
compares these biological analyses to ongoing fish
bioassay studies.
Test Protocols
Recently, ORD devised a set of laboratory
techniques or protocols that can be used to
estimate the potential exposure of humans and
ecosystem organisms to newly developed organic
chemicals. These protocols greatly improve
EPA's ability to carry out its responsibilities as set
forth in the Toxic Substances Control Act by al-
lowing the relatively inexpensive and efficient
testing of the hundreds of new compounds being
introduced annually into the air, the land, and the
water.
Because environmental exposure is directly re-
lated to a compound's persistence and its move-
ment through the environment, the protocols were
designed to determine a new chemicals' degrada-
tion and transport characteristics. Information ob-
tained from applying these protocols to the com-
pounds produces a rationale for separating them
into three groups: those that require regulation to
prevent unnecessary exposure, those that require
no regulation, and those that require further testing
and analysis.
Because of the high costs incurred in testing any
new chemical, the protocols provide a two-tier
system that eliminates the need for expensive test-
ing of those chemicals that fall within certain
parameters. In the first tier, relatively inexpen-
sive, gross level tests provide a preliminary
screening. If results from the tier-one tests are
not conclusive for a chemical's classifica-
tion, a costlier, more detailed set of tests is
recommended.
This ORD protocol development effort contrib-
uted significantly to the official test methods for
new organic chemicals recently promulgated in
the Federal Register.
Behavioral Teratology
In 1979, ORD designed a study to demonstrate
whether a single exposure to a chemical tox-
icant during a critical developmental period can
irreversibly alter sexual development in the rat and
hamster. The purpose of this study was to evolve a
similar bioassy method that could evaluate the
power that a given toxicant could wield over a
Laboratory hamster
undergoing testing
47
-------
48
human fetus and its future ability to behave in a
manner considered normal to its sex—i.e., male/
female fertility characteristics, growth rates, etc.
The critical period during which this behavioral
differentiation occurs in the brain of the fetus is
thought to be in the first trimester of pregnancy—
in rats and hamsters it occurs post-natally, during
lactation.
Preliminary results
indicated female rats'
brains were more
susceptible to chemical
disruption
In the study, groups of rat and hamster pups
were injected with either estradiol or kepone, both
honnonally active chemical toxicants. Data were
collected on growth rates, the age of vaginal open-
ing, and open field activity. Preliminary results of
the study indicated that females' brains were more
susceptible than males' to chemical disruption
during this period when behavioral differentiation
takes place. Puberty in female rats was altered and
they later became infertile. Female hamsters dis-
played abnormal bisexual behavior and altered
ovarian cycles, and many had cystic ovaries. Fe-
male rats were "masculinized" as evidenced by
increases in body weight and their "man-like"
locomotor levels, rearing frequency, and scrab-
bling. In males, open-field behavior was unaf-
fected, but at the highest doses some slight altera-
tions in the reproductive system were noted.
Further behavioral abnormality research will
study the effects of other chemicals, expand test
procedures, and examine other species to ulti-
mately develop a bioassay method that can ade-
quately reflect the effects of toxicants on man.
Postnatal Mouse Teratology Screen
To determine the potential of any substance to
induce abnormalities in test animals a stan-
dard protocol is used which involves exposing
pregnant animals of two or more species to three or
more doses of the agent during the period of organ
formation, and then examining the fetuses for any
abnormalities. Such a teratology study takes three
months to complete and currently costs $25,000 to
$35,000 for a single compound.
Recently ORD, aware that the number of poten-
tial teratogenic chemicals was outstripping EPA's
ability to perform teratology studies, sought to de-
velop a screening system that would identify and
prioritize those compounds in need of more de-
tailed testing. As a result of this research effort,
the Postnatal Mouse Teratology screen was devel-
oped in 1979.
The screening procedure involves administer-
ing the maximum tolerated dose of the compound
in question to 30 pregnant mice on the eighth
through twelfth days of gestation, then determin-
ing the percentage of dams littering, the average
number of live and dead pups born per litter, the
percentage of pups surviving three days of life,
and the average weight of the pups on the first and
third days following birth. The data are then com-
pared with concurrent control group results.
Teratology study data can be used to evaluate a
compound's potential developmental toxicity.
Decreases in litter size, for instance, are generally
an indication of severe toxicity causing embryonic
resorbtions, later prenatal death, or cannibaliza-
tion of malformed pups by the dam, while a failure
maximum dose of
toxic compound
POSTNATAL MOUSE
TERATOLOGY SCREEN
to grow or survive over the 48 hours following
birth may be due to heart, liver, lung or other
organ malfunction, indicating a possible func-
tional rather than a morphological effect. In es-
sence, by using such measures as weight and litter
size, the postnatal teratology screen allows the
mouse's natural mechanisms to act as a substitute
for the labor intensive and costly skills of techni-
cians and teratologists ordinarily required for
standard testing protocols. The screen also allows
researchers to maintain newborn pups for further
testing, an opportunity inherently lacking in in
vitro tests.
-------
Following development of the screen, a valida-
tion phase was undertaken. Twenty-three com-
pounds of varying teratogenic potential were
tested with empirical results providing a high de-
gree of agreement with results already established
under standard protocols. All five compounds
known to be teratogenic were positive in the
screen. Of the 12 nonteratogenic compounds
tested, 11 were negative in the screen and only
one, kepone, was found to be positive. Of the
remaining 6 tested for which standard protocols
did not exist, 2 were positive and the remainder
negative. Validation studies continue.
Since the screen can be administered for ap-
proximately 6% of the cost of a standard teratol-
ogy protocol while requiring only one quarter of
the time, it is expected that it has the potential for
becoming an extremely useful toxicological test-
ing tool.
Complex Effluents
To present an alternative approach to the cur-
rent method used by EPA and state programs
for the protection of aquatic life in waters receiv-
ing complex industrial wastes, ORD has been giv-
ing recent attention to acute toxicity testing on fish
and invertebrates to provide a good first cut evalu-
ation of the potential hazards being posed by such
discharges. Unlike current protective measures
which specify effluent limitations for specific
chemicals, these ORD tests did not single out any
one effluent but instead made use of all the chemi-
cals in test wastewaters in whatever concen-
trations they occurred. Another feature of the
study was the use of species death as an endpoint
to clearly allow the rapid identification of those
complex wastes containing lethal chemicals. The
length of time exposed species were monitored
was 24 hours, a time favored by ORD in this re-
search as a result of past study.
SEWAGE TREATMENT:
98% REDUCED TOXICITY
In 1979, to test this concept and to determine
how effectively well-designed and operated
wastewater treatment systems can reduce acute
toxicity to aquatic organisms, ORD studied a
number of industrial wastewater facilities.
Twenty-four hour acute toxicity tests were con-
ducted with fathead minnows twice daily on both
treated and untreated effluent. Two daily 24-hour
acute toxicity tests were conducted with the water
flea.
Results from the testing indicated that the acute
toxicity of the treated waste remained relatively
consistent from day to day, while untreated wastes
varied significantly. The average efficiency of the
wastewater treatment systems in reducing acute
toxicity ranged from 92% to 100%, with a mean
reduction of 98%. Most significantly, data from
the tested sites indicated that the acute toxicity of
treated wastewater is relative to the toxicity of the
untreated effluent. Thus, a highly toxic influent
will still be moderately toxic even with a
reduction.
49
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Fishing on the Great
Lakes can be hazardous
if too many fish are
consumed in a year
Ultimately, it is expected that acute toxicity
tests will be integrated into effluent guideline sys-
tems and standards as a means to better control the
discharge of toxic substances. This could be done
by setting specific acute toxicity test performance
levels that would have to be met. Levels would be
arrived at by applying a formula that measures the
lethality of wastewater before and after treatment.
The formula would yield the percentage of the
effluent volume that is lethal to 50% of the test
organisms in a given time span.
Future study into the toxicity of industrial
wastewater will involve development of more sen-
sitive biological tests. These tests will also be rela-
tively short-term and will expose organisms to
sublethal levels of toxics and should prove valu-
able in determining the impacts on the aquatic en-
vironment of lower discharge concentrations.
50
Chicago
GREAT LAKES AREA
Great Lakes
Results from a preliminary ORD study have
shown the Great Lakes region to be a major
problem area for human exposure to toxic sub-
stances. It also appears to be one of the few sites
where inputs from sources of toxic substances can
be ultimately related directly to human exposure.
This offers the promise that critical doses of the
substances can be estimated with a high degree of
accuracy.
In 1979 work centered around assessing the im-
pact of a group of organic contaminants on human
exposure. The presence of these substances was
indicated by the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)
molecule.
An ORD-sponsored study established that up to
95% of the PCB loading of the upper Great Lakes
was the result of long-range transport mechanisms
via the atmosphere, and that open water levels of
this substance ranged from 4 to 10 nanograms per
liter, a relatively low PCB level. Fish, however,
bioconcentrated and bioaccumulated these tox-
icants and were shown to carry them in amounts
exceeding 20 milligrams per kilogram, depending
on the species. It was subsequently found that fish,
in fact, were the major source of PCB exposure to
humans residing in the region. Calculations show
that the consumption of a one-pound meal of Lake
Michigan lake trout would present the same risk to
exposure as a full five years of breathing ambient
air and drinking water from local supplies.
These results provoked concern over human
fish consumption levels, particularly among the
hundreds of thousands of licensed sportsfishermen
in the region. The Michigan Department of Public
Health has established a maximum safe consump-
tion rate of 24 pounds per year, with the recom-
LAKE TROUT
-------
mendation that expectant mothers avoid exposure
entirely. A preliminary survey in the region, how-
ever, observed mean consumption in the area to be
36 pounds per year, with a range of between zero
and over 100 pounds annually.
Preliminary results from blood sampling by the
Michigan Department of Public Health revealed a
significant difference between levels of PCB in
humans in direct relationship to the amount of lake
fish consumed. Also discovered was that follow-
ing removal offish from the diet, PCB persisted in
the circulatory system for as long as two years
after initial exposure.
The Great Lakes region is a
major problem area for
human exposure to
toxic substances
The most disturbing of the research findings,
however, concerned infants and small children.
Studies have demonstrated that from conception to
birth the fetus is exposed to approximately 75% of
the mother's circulating blood liter of PCB com-
pound. Preliminary results of Great Lakes region
breast milk studies for mothers in the high expo-
sure range from lake fish consumption, indicated
an average value of 4 to 6 parts of PCB per million.
This value represents an effective dose to the aver-
age newborn infant of more than 1500 times the
maximum allowable PCB dose rate for 70-kilo-
gram adults established by the Food and Drug
Administration.
The situation is further complicated by the fact
that these massive doses occur during formative
stages and in periods of intense growth and mat-
uration of tissues. Thus the potential for signifi-
cant long-term impacts of PCBs on the human
community exposed in this way is substantially
increased.
In a related development, in 1977 ORD
provided technical assistance and field study
coordination for Region V following the industrial
disposal of more than 7,000,000 pounds of PCBs
to landfills, the atmosphere, the Waukegan Har-
bor, and a small tributary to Lake Michigan. Sed-
iments in the harbor were found to contain as many
as 4000 ppm PCB, which was being gradually
leached into the overlying water. Field studies
were aimed at determining the significance of the
harbor sediments as potential sources of PCBs to
the lake. The effect of dredging the harbor to re-
move the contamination was also studied.
Short-Term Tests
When a chemical demonstrates the ability to
damage the genetic material (DNA) of a
cell it is considered to be genotoxic. Since DNA
controls the genetic make-up of an organism, even
a small change in this material can have severe
consequences for the organism or its offspring.
The key to short-term testing for genotoxicity is
the fact that the fundamental structure for DNA is
the same in all organisms. Thus, a chemical that
affects the DNA of a single cell in a short-term test
will theoretically have a similar effect on the DNA
of an exposed human.
Normal mouse embryo
fibroblasts multiplied
3000 times
Transformed mouse
embryo fihrobliists
multiplied 3000 times
51
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Using such short-term tests instead of long-term
tests results in a significant savings in performance
time and cost, and consequently ORD has sought
to make use of these testing procedures whenever
possible, particularly in the screening of chemi-
cals that may pose a mutagenic or carcinogenic
threat. Over the last few years, significant ad-
vances have been made in the development of
methods for assessing such a threat. Short-term
tests now available can detect alterations to genes,
chromosome damage and primary damage to
DNA. Genetic activity and/or mutations observed
in these tests can then be used by researchers to
predict a compound's potential carcinogenicity.
In carcinogenicity testing a three-tiered ap-
proach is generally used: detection at the first tier,
verification at the second, and hazard or risk as-
sessment at the third. Mutagenicity is determined
using a set of tests capable of determining gene
mutation, chromosome damage and primary DNA
damage.
In the ORD-developed phased approach to
evaluating compounds as mutagens and potential
carcinogens, tiered testing for carcinogenicity is
combined with battery testing for mutagenicity.
This approach defines three separate testing
phases, the first two of which have their own set of
short-term tests. Phase One, the detection phase,
involves the detection of gene mutations and DNA
damage in microbes and chromosome alteration in
mammalian cells. Costs of Phase One tests are on
the order of $3000 or less. Positive results on any
of the Phase One tests lead to Phase Two testing,
which involves short-term tests using cell trans-
formation in mammalian cells, insects, and in vivo
short-term tests on plants. Phase Two tests are
used to confirm the effects detected in Phase One
and to characterize more specifically the nature of
the effects (i.e., whether the chemical is poten-
tially carcinogenic or mutagenic, or neither).
Costs of these tests run approximately $30,000.
Phase Three testing is performed on those priority
compounds that test positive in Phase Two. These
tests are generally whole animal studies using rats
or mice to validate the hazard posed by the com-
pound and to make a quantitative assessment of
the risks it presents. Such studies may cost
$300,000 or more and may take several years to
complete.
Recent ORD applications of the phased testing
approach on 38 pesticides and on diesel exhaust
have demonstrated the efficiency of the approach
and have contributed to an increased understand-
ing of the sensitivity and adaptability of short-term
tests. The pesticide study pointed to the validity of
applying the phased approach to short-term test-
ing, particularly when large numbers of chemicals
must be tested rapidly and efficiently.
The diesel exhaust program, still in progress,
has demonstrated the ability of short-term tests to
indicate that a potential hazard exists in a complex
mixture such as diesel exhaust; and when such a
hazard does exist, the short-term tests can prove
valuable in pinpointing those chemical fractions
within the mixture responsible for the hazard.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Environmental Processes and Effects
Research, Environmental Research Laboratories,
Duluth. Cincinnati, Gulf Breeze, Corvallis, Athens,—
Environmental Sciences Research Laboratory,
Research Triangle Park
• Office of Environmental Engineering and Technol-
ogy, Industrial Environmental Research Laboratory,
Cincinnati
• Office of Health Research—Health Effects
Research Laboratory—Cincinnati and Research
Triangle Park
Compounds with
suspected
carcinogenicity
Positive results
on any phase 1
tests \
Compounds which
consistently test
positive
52
$2,000 $20,000 $250,000
TIERED TESTING FOR CARCINOGENICITY
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ANALYTIC TECHNIQUES
ORD improves and refines its methods
to insure accurate and efficient
pollutant research
Behind every pollutant that EPA studies, and
behind every standard that EPA sets, are a com-
plex series of analytic techniques and testing
methods to assure proper measurement, accurate
monitoring results, precise instrumentation, cali-
bration, and cost-effective and efficient pollutant
analysis procedures. In 1979, several improved
analytic techniques were developed or refined.
Toxic Compound Analysis
When EPA signed a consent decree to estab-
lish stringent wastewater discharge stan-
dards for 65 compounds and elements considered
harmful to aquatic and human populations, the
EPA Effluent Guidelines Division was charged
with the responsibility for developing the stan-
dards. ORD, in direct support of those standards,
began developing monitoring methods for these
priority pollutants.
53
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Data processing has
become an important
part of analytic testing
54
The challenge to ORD was to develop test pro-
cedures that could measure small amounts of toxic
substances in the wastewater discharges of 21 dif-
ferent industrial categories, from auto laundries to
pulp mills. The test methods had to be reliable and
accurate, and had to rely on readily available
laboratory instruments and skills so as not to place
unreasonable economic burdens on the industrial
discharger, state monitoring agencies, and the
EPA laboratories charged with determining com-
pliance to the standards.
114 organic compounds
were identified for testing
A number of items on the list of 65 toxic sub-
stances were groupings of compounds that had to
be isolated to specific chemicals before monitor-
ing could be carried out. Ultimately, 114 organic
compounds, some of them cancer-producing, and
15 metals were identified for testing. To facilitate
this testing, the 114 organics were grouped into
categories based primarily on similarity of chemi-
cal structure.
By mid-1979, the first phase of the test proce-
dure work was complete. In this phase, methods
were developed to refine and optimize samples
processing and testing techniques for each com-
pound. The majority of the procedures made use
of the gas chromatograph for measurement. In the
gas chromatograph, individual compounds are
separated based on the speed at which they pass
through a long narrow column packed with a
chemical filter. Two of the categories of com-
pounds required the use of high pressure chroma-
tography with a liquid filter; dioxin, the most
highly toxic substance under test, required use of
the gas chromatograph in combination with a mass
spectrometer, a device that breaks compounds into
fragments for an even more refined measure of
their type and concentration.
Still to be completed is the second major step of
the operation, which involves application of the
test procedures to actual samples from many of the
21 types of industrial wastewaters. As a necessary
prelude to this step, ORD is currently conducting
interlaboratory studies to establish the precision
and accuracy of the test procedures in a large
number of laboratories. The final product, ex-
pected to be completed by 1981, will include a
complete method description with supporting data
on the usefulness of the procedures in wastewater
monitoring.
Undetected Pollutants
Now Measurable
Liquid chromatography, like gas chromatog-
raphy, is a recognized laboratory procedure
for separating and identifying pollutants in water.
In 1979, ORD scientists evaluated two new liquid
chromatography methods to help EPA determine
whether some pollutants suspected to be in certain
industrial wastewater discharges but undetected
by existing analytical techniques did, in fact, exist
in the water effluents.
The first method employed a new commer-
cially-available material which makes the liquid
chromatograph/mass spectrometer analytical
-------
combination better able to detect non-volatile or-
ganic compounds. Five water samples taken from
the wastewater discharges of the leather tanning
and finishing industry were analyzed for these
compounds using the new system. Eleven com-
pounds have been identified to date including
three compounds never before reported in envi-
ronmental samples. This method represents the
first time extracts from samples have been sepa-
rated by liquid chromatography and analyzed di-
rectly by mass spectrometry.
The second method used a high pressure liquid
chromatograph to detect nitrophenols in drinking
water, municipal effluents and industrial dis-
charges. Nitrophenols are potential carcinogens
used in the manufacture of dyes and explosives.
They are also formed as decomposition products
of some pesticides.
The ORD procedure now enables measurement
of nitrophenol concentrations down to 0.1 ppb for
a specific nitrophenol. Future work will be de-
voted to measuring even lower concentrations of
these hazardous compounds.
Ozone Calibration
A three-year ORD study culminated recently
when EPA replaced its long-standing ozone
(O3) calibration procedure with a more accurate
and precise method to measure ozone in the at-
mosphere.
Measurement for O3 is carried out by first cali-
brating an ozone analyzer with a known O3 con-
centration and then using this reference in measur-
ing the ambient air. This is complicated by the fact
that no standard reference material for O3 exists
due to the pollutant's instability and its consequent
resistance to storage. Thus, to calibrate the
analyzer, standard samples have to be generated
and assayed at the time and place of use. The
accuracy of ambient O3 measurements depends on
the accuracy of the assay method used to calibrate
the analyzer.
Electron Microscope
display
55
-------
Atmospheric ammonia
may be a key constituent
in the pollutants Sulfate,
Nitrate and Acid Rain
Technician using an
electron microscope
56
Formerly, this calibration procedure was based
on assay of O3 concentrations using potassium
iodide. However, it was found that this procedure
resulted in significant degrees of error and
variability, particularly when used under field
conditions.
To ensure more reliable air quality mea-
surements, ORD took ozone calibration under
study in 1976. Four new calibration procedures
were documented and evaluated. Each procedure
first underwent study by a single investigator,
which determined its overall acceptability. Then a
second study was conducted using typical air pol-
lution equipment and experienced air pollution
measurement personnel to determine the degree to
which calibrations might vary from user to user.
Results of the evaluations clearly indicated that
an ultraviolet (UV) photometry technique was the
most accurate and least variable of the four proce-
dures studied. The UV procedure makes use of the
ability of O3 to absorb UV light. The O3 absorp-
tion characteristics can then be translated into ac-
curate assays of sample O3 concentrations used to
calibrate ozone analyzers. In February 1979, EPA
adopted the procedure.
Additionally, the accuracy of the new O3 cali-
bration procedure allows a standard established at
one location to be transferred for use at another
location. The implementation of such transfer
standards offers state and local agencies important
benefits including easier operation, and greater
flexibility in the performance of their air monitor-
ing responsibilities.
Monitoring Ambient Ammonia
Atmospheric ammonia may be a key con-
stituent in the formation of sulfate aerosols,
nitrate aerosols and acid rain. To determine the
role ammonia plays in the airborne amounts of
these pollutants EPA must measure the concentra-
tion of ammonia in ambient air. Normal levels of
ambient ammonia, however, are very low; there-
fore, measurement and analytical techniques must
be quite sophisticated and-sensitive. ORD has de-
veloped such a technique.
The ORD technique involves passing an air
sample through a tube containing an ammonia
sorbant, a material that successfully captures the
ammonia in the air. By passing a large amount of
air through the tube, the ammonia becomes con-
centrated on the sorbent, which is then heated to
release the ammonia in sufficient quantities to be
detected by either chemiluminescence or opto-
acoustic methods. The known amount of air that
was passed through the tube and the amount of
ammonia that was released and measured is suffi-
cient information to describe the concentration of
ammonia in the original sample.
This analytical technique has been used to suc-
cessfully measure average ammonia concen-
trations of 1 part per billion (ppb) and peak con-
centrations up to 10 ppb. The increased monitor-
ing and analytical flexibility achieved by this
methodology will enable EPA to better understand
the effects of ammonia on air pollution.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Monitoring and Technical Support—
Environmental Monitoring and Support Laboratory,
Cincinnati; Environmental Monitoring Systems
Laboratory, Research Triangle Park
• Office of Environmental Processes and Effects
Research—Environmental Sciences Research
Laboratory, Research Triangle Park; Environmental
Research Laboratory, Athens
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RESOURCE CONSERVATION
AND RECOVERY ACT
Research and supervision by ORD
personnel contributes to the recovery,
reuse or safe disposal of wastes
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
was passed into law in 1976 to: a) provide techni-
cal and financial assistance for the development of
management plans and facilities to recover energy
and other resources from discarded materials and
to safely dispose of discarded materials and
b) regulate the management of hazardous wastes.
The objectives of the Act include the regulation
of hazardous wastes, the setting of guidelines for
solid waste disposal, the monitoring of grants for
development of solid waste disposal systems, and
the promotion of a national research and develop-
ment program for improved solid waste manage-
ment and resource recovery and resource conser-
vation systems to preserve and enhance the quality
of the environment. Primary responsibility for the
accomplishment of these objectives lies with the
EPA.
In support of the effort, and to rectify past errors
and improve future practices, ORD is to provide
the human health and environmental data neces-
sary for the informed setting of standards, guide-
57
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Technician installing
a new filter in ambient
air monitoring
equipment
Protective clothing is
often a necessity when
dealing with hazardous
materials
58
lines, criteria, and regulations. Additionally,
ORD will supervise contract work with a large
number of researchers and will perform in-house
studies and research into improved waste disposal,
waste management, and resource recovery and
conservation systems.
One of the grimmest discoveries of our decade
has been the severe threat to public health and the
environmental problems now occurring because
of past mismanagement of hazardous waste. Love
Canal, the Valley of the Drums and other hazard-
ous waste incidents have received wide media
coverage which has served to remind us of the
consequences of improper disposal of hazardous
waste. EPA is proceeding to discover remedies for
existing sites that endanger public health and
welfare.
Responding to Past Problems
Safety and Hazard Guide. When EPA or other
federal, state, or local agency personnel are called
in to monitor or participate in the clean-up of
hazardous material, they are often exposed to
dangerous chemicals in volatile situations. To
help assure the safety of workers taking part in
such activities and to further their understanding
of the hazardous materials involved in spills, in
1979 ORD published the two-part Hazardous Ma-
terials Spill Monitoring Safety Handbook and
Chemical Hazard Guide.
To prepare the Guide, an effort requiring two
years, researchers extensively reviewed spill his-
tories to determine the hazardous chemicals in-
volved, their identifying characteristics, the de-
gree and nature of the hazard they posed and the
frequency of occurrence of the given chemicals in
spills. Appropriate preventive and first aid mea-
sures were also studied.
The Hazard Guide portion of the handbook con-
sists of a listing of the chemicals addressed and
individual chemical data sheets for 655 specific
chemical compounds. These data sheets contain
information on the nature, degree of hazard, and
exposure and safety precautions to be taken for
each of the chemicals.
Degree of hazard information for the chemicals
is summarized when available, using the National
Fire Protection Association hazard identification
system, which defines three categories of concern:
a chemical's toxicity, its flammability, and its re-
activity. In the Guide each of the 655 chemicals is
rated in each of these categories on a scale of 0 to
4, with 0 representing no hazard and 4 indicating
severe hazard or extreme danger.
Also included in the Hazard Guide is a priority
listing of hazardous substances subject to being
spilled, based on previous spill data. The objective
of such a listing is to direct the attention of Guide
users to those chemicals most likely to be encoun-
tered and the corresponding safety and protection
measures required during monitoring and clean-up
operations.
The suggested first aid measures contained in
the Safety Handbook portion of the Guide have all
been proven effective but are not intended to re-
place professional medical attention. Rather, they
appear so that personnel who sustain an injury or
acute exposure to a particularly toxic substance
can take the immediate and correct life-saving
steps necessary.
The 707 page handbook provides a wealth of
information to lessen the chance of accident or
exposure and to minimize the effects of such an
accident if it does occur.
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Mobile Soils Grouting and Detoxification. To
rid an area of soil contaminated by hazardous
wastes requires that the soil first be excavated and
then disposed of, both costly procedures. A recent
ORD development, however, allows for decon-
tamination of soil in situ (in place). Such innova-
tive treatment is made possible by the use of a
mobile pumping system capable of the high-
pressure injection of chemicals or grouts into the
contaminated soil. In 1979, ORD worked with the
mobile system to prepare it for future use in
emergency situations at chemical and waste dis-
posal sites.
The grouting concept, used for years by the
construction industry to consolidate soils or divert
groundwater supplies, involves injecting certain
liquids, plastics, or particles into the soil to fill
underground voids. The ORD system makes use
of this concept for the clean-up, control, or detoxi-
fication of underground wastes by using grout cur-
tains to surround and isolate contaminated areas or
by deep-injection of certain chemicals known to
be capable of safely treating impacted areas.
The system to accomplish this consists mainly
of mixing, piping, and pumping equipment all
mounted on a trailer. Two types of pumps are
used: one kind to pump grout and the other to
handle soils detoxification chemicals.
To surround a spill with a curtain, grout mate-
rial such as bentonite or a cement slurry is pumped
through a pipe driven into the soil. The grout per-
meates the soil at the end of the pipe, creating a
sphere with a 3- to 6-foot diameter. The pipe is
then withdrawn slightly and a new injection is
made above the first. Eventually this results in a
column of grout spheres, one on top of another. A
curtain is formed when a number of these columns
interlock.
Mobile Soil Grouting
Unit
APPLICATION OF A SOIL GROUTING CURTAIN
eres of grouting material are injected into soil, until a column is created.
Subsequent columns form a 'curtain.'
59
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Mobile Carbon
Regenerator
To use the system to detoxify contaminated
soil, slotted or perforated pipes are inserted into a
series of holes drilled into the impacted area.
Water is then pumped through the pipes to wash
the soils. Chemicals may be added to this water to
achieve neutralization or other chemical reaction,
while microbiological agents may be introduced to
biodegrade contaminants.
Future ORD testing of the system to gain expe-
rience with the technique and ultimately to make
the technology available to the pollution control
industry involves soil evaluation studies and re-
search into grouting materials and various con-
taminated soil neutralization methods.
Mobile Carbon Regenerator. When a spill of
hazardous wastes occurs, or when toxic wastes at
an abandoned dump site endanger the environ-
ment and threaten human health, ORD is capable
of a quick response with its Mobile Physical/
Chemical Treatment System. This system makes
use of granular activated carbon (GAC) to remove
hazardous organic chemicals from aqueous so-
lutions. Pollutants are adsorbed physically to the
carbon surfaces as the liquid passes through the
GAC. What remains is a quantity of GAC loaded
with contaminants.
To augment this system, in 1979 ORD devel-
oped and tested a mobile carbon regenerator, ca-
pable of treating this leftover carbon to remove
contaminants and thus regenerate the GAC for re-
use. To eliminate problems associated with the
transport of contaminated GAC from the spill site
to a regenerating facility, the entire carbon
regeneration system is contained within a single
mobile van.
Equipment in the van includes a carbon feed
hopper, a primary kiln, an afterburner, a gas
scrubber, a water-filled quench tank, and various
analytical and screening equipment and facilities.
The spent carbon is first drained of excess water
and then introduced into the feed hopper where a
screw feeder meters the carbon into the kiln. Car-
bon retention time in the kiln is twenty minutes at
approximately 1800°F. Under these conditions the
pollutants are desorbed from the carbon and par-
tially combusted, after which they are incinerated
in an afterburner designed to totally decompose
organics. The acid gases that are generated in the
afterburner are then quenched with water sprays
and channeled through a flue gas scrubber to neu-
tralize acids and remove particulates. The hot car-
bon is also quenched in water and is then available
for reuse. During the operation all effluents
are monitored to assure pollution-free GAC
regeneration.
Capacity of the mobile regenerator is 210
pounds of spent carbon per hour, which breaks
down to 120 pounds of spent carbon, 10 pounds of
hazardous substances, which have been captured
60
carbon ready
for re-use
pollution-free
effluent
screw
feeder
HOW THE CARBON REGENERATOR WORKS
-------
by the carbon, and 80 pounds of water. It is esti-
mated that, while some carbon is lost through oxi-
dation in regeneration and the capacity of the re-
maining carbon to absorb wastes is diminished,
one pound of regenerated GAC is still equivalent
to at least 0.9 pounds of virgin GAC.
In addition to its efficiency, the system pro-
duces regenerated GAC cost effectively. This,
along with its ability to make the carbon ready for
immediate reuse will stimulate interest in the sys-
tem for spills clean-up applications and will allow
ORD teams to respond even more effectively to
hazardous waste emergencies.
Improving Waste Management
Classification Methods. In response to the
mandates of the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA), EPA recently called on
ORD to assist in the development of regulations
for the high volume wastes generated from coal-
fired power plants. The primary objective of the
resulting ORD study was to determine whether or
not wastes such as coal ash or flue gas desulfuriza-
tion (FGD) waste were hazardous.
To generate the necessary information, three
projects were initiated in 1979. First, a study was
conducted to develop data on the coal-fired utility
industry for a long-term waste management plan,
this to evolve some general waste disposal truths
or identify key information gaps. One such gap,
for example, indicated by the study was that there
was insufficient hydrological data on existing
power plant wastewater disposal sites to deter-
mine whether RCRA performance criteria were
being met.
The second project involved the testing of
power plant wastes for toxicity; fly ash, bottom
ash, and FGD wastes from a single TVA plant
were tested. Results showed all three samples to
be non-hazardous; however, since fly ash came
closest to failing the test, a second sample from
another plant is currently being studied.
The third and largest project in this ORD data-
generation effort began in 1979 and will be com-
pleted by 1981. It involves characterizing and
monitoring 16 coal-fired electric utility coal ash
and FGD disposal sites to obtain the full-scale
field data necessary for EPA to promulgate regu-
lations to manage these wastes. Sites studied rep-
resent an industry cross-section and include preva-
lent disposal methods as well as those disposal
technologies most likely to be used in the future.
Wastes as Fuels. When the problem of di-
minishing fuel sources is linked innovatively to
the problem of finding environmentally accept-
able solid waste disposal methods, a single, albeit
partial, solution to both emerges: use waste as
fuel. This potentially beneficial conversion plays a
significant part in ORD solid waste disposal ef-
forts. Overall this work is concentrated in four
study areas:
• Emissions testing and assessment of wastes-as-
fuels processes
• Development of waste/conventional fuel co-
firing technology
• Development of high temperature waste-to-fuel
conversion technology
• Development of appropriate pollution controls
In 1979, research on waste/fuel co-firing tech-
nology resulted in a major breakthrough in the use
of wastes as fuel along with coal in a pulverized-
coal boiler. The key to this development was the
installation of special bottom dump grates that
The success of this co-firing
technology may well alter
the nation's energy future
were capable of retaining larger particles of refuse
in the boiler long enough to assure their more
complete combustion. Prior to the installation of
the grates, only 10% of the coal could be replaced
with waste while still maintaining an efficient
combustion level. With the grates, the replace-
ment rate grew to 25%, resulting in both a more
efficient use of coal and a consequent lowering of
pollution levels. Installation of the grates also re-
duced ash generation and facilitated ash removal.
Since pulverized coal boilers represent the largest
Technician operating
Mobile Carbon
Regenerator
61
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A potential market exists
for secondary materials
such as iron scrap
GRATES ALLOW INCREASED
USE OF WASTE AS FUEL
62
number of boilers in operation, the success of this
co-firing technology may well alter the nation's
energy picture.
Additional recent waste-as-fuel program work
includes:
• Characterization of the pollutants emitted from
six separate waste-as-fuel systems
• Construction of a pilot plant to establish the
technical, environmental, and economic worth
of converting low density wet agricultural
wastes, such as rice and wheat straws, to fuel oil
and char
• Construction and testing of a fabric filter to de-
termine its capability of removing lead emis-
sions
• Design of a mobile van to investigate water pol-
lution control technologies for waste-as-fuel
process wastewaters
Results from the ORD waste-as-fuel program
will be presented in April 1980 at the "Waste to
Energy Technology: 1980 Update" conference.
Scrap Futures. One of the major risks in com-
modity futures such as butter, soybeans, or coffee
is the ever-present possibility of price movements
unfavorable to either buyer or seller. To hedge
against this risk, these commodities are made
available to speculators to buy and sell prior to the
actual delivery of the commodity sometime in the
future. The incentive for speculators is that com-
modity prices at the time of delivery may be higher
than at the time of purchase,and that their conse-
quent sale of the commodity will yield them a
profit. With speculators thus assuming the risks,
commodity prices tend toward greater stability
and commercial buyers and sellers are offered a
measure of security.
In 1979, ORD conducted a symposium which
brought together a number of major consumers
and suppliers of metal scrap and wastepaper to
discuss the feasibility of a scrap futures market.
The purpose of such a market would be to encour-
age and expand the use of secondary materials
such as iron scrap or wastepaper in industry opera-
tions. Speakers included Commodity Exchange
(COMEX) members, selected industry mem-
bers and representatives of the Department of
Commerce.
Discussions dealt with the mechanics of futures
trading, scrap grade requirements, delivery
points, trading margins, transportation modes,
and how such futures trading could facilitate in-
dustry decisions about the use of secondary mate-
rials. An EPA-prepared handbook on scrap futures
trading served as a focus for the discussion.
Attendees were generally impressed by the
scrap futures markets concept, and COMEX of
New York subsequently announced it was giving
serious consideration to iron scrap futures trading.
Deep-Well Injection. For years, industry has
used deep-well injection to dispose of fluid
wastes, ranging from oil field brines to radioactive
material, deep below the earth's surface into por-
ous rock. While supporters of the process consider
it a harmless and economical use of the subsurface
of the earth, detractors fear that the fluids injected
under pressure might move laterally through the
geologic strata and into improperly constructed or
unplugged wells. The formation fluid and/or fluid
waste would then be free to move upward where it
could contaminate subsurface water supplies.
A number of instances of environmental dam-
age have already been recorded as a result of deep
well injection activity. In 1968, a well in Erie,
Pennsylvania, into which a paper company had
been injecting 150,000 gallons of waste a day,
suddenly sent up a geyser 20 feet into the air. An
estimated four million gallons of contaminated
fluid gushed out in the three weeks it took before
-------
the well could be tapped. Another hazard of
deep-well injection was revealed in 1968 when the
U.S. Army, disposing of its nerve gas arsenal in
Denver, Colorado, pumped the waste into very
deep wells under extremely high pressures. The
waste apparently lubricated an unknown earth-
quake fault, resulting in a series of small but sig-
nificant earthquakes in the Denver area. The
pumping was stopped and the earthquakes ceased.
In support of proposed EPA Underground Injec-
tion Control (UIC) regulations, ORD was called
on to answer some key technical questions con-
cerning injection wells. What, for example, is the
magnitude of the pressure build-up in these wells?
How extensive and endangering is the "zone of
influence" that this pressure exerts on nearby
strata? What must be known to evaluate the envi-
ronmental impact of an injection system? And
how can such a system be monitored?
In 1979 ORD made considerable headway in
answering these questions. Data concerning
pressure build-up were amassed and studied. A
case history of pollution problems arising from
injection wells was compiled, and preliminary
recommendations for extending existing method-
ology for predicting pressure build-up patterns
were developed.
Growing out of this effort, over thirty equations
were generated and evaluated in terms of their
utility in calculating pressure increases around the
POTENTIAL HAZARDS OF
DEEP WELL INJECTION
salt water injection wells used by oil and gas
producers.
At the request of the Office of Water Supply,
one equation was selected and applied to actual
data from 115 injection wells in three Texas oil
fields to determine their zone of endangering in-
fluence. A significant finding of this study was
that to look at the zone of endangering influence of
individual wells in an area where more than a
single well exists does not provide a true picture of
the pressure effects. Rather, such zones must be
studied on a field or area basis, especially in areas
where a common injection zone is being used.
The results of the ORD study will assist the EPA
and the Office of Water Supply in their evaluation
of proposed UIC regulations.
Deep well drilling rig
63
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The Fate of Hazardous Pollutants
Movement of Organics in Groundwater.
Groundwater is a source of drinking water for over
half of the U.S. population, and over 96% of its
rural population. The nation's groundwater
supplies are being increasingly threatened, how-
ever, as more and more industries and
municipalities channel wastes into the soil rather
than into the air or surface waters. Hazards posed
by such disposal procedures are difficult to
monitor because an organic chemical's movement
Once groundwater is
contaminated,
decontamination can take
decades, even centuries
through the soil to groundwater supplies is a pro-
cess that may take years and when and if a threat is
manifest, and the groundwater is contaminated, its
decontamination can, in turn, take decades, even
centuries. For this reason ORD's groundwater re-
search is directed toward pollution prevention and
water quality protection, rather than toward resto-
ration of groundwater supplies.
One recent study sought to evaluate the poten-
tial impact of a number of chlorinated organic
chemicals on groundwater. Twenty chemicals, all
reported in incidents of groundwater pollution,
were studied in laboratory tests to determine how
they are transformed and how quickly they travel
through the soil profile. Forthcoming results will
allow researchers to assess the consequences of
chlorinating wastewater prior to its use in land
applications and determine the groundwater im-
pact from the use of chlorinated products such as
septic tank cleaners.
64
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A second study examined the transport and fate
of a group of organic compounds in simulated
high-rate land application waste treatment sys-
tems. Models describing the behavior of those pol-
lutants are being developed, tested and refined,
and the data generated may provide a first approx-
imation of the effects on groundwater of applying
treated waste water to the land.
RESULTS OF LAND TREATMENT
STUDY IN MICHIGAN
In a related study, ORD conducted a survey of
toxic pollutants at a wastewater land-treatment
plant in Michigan. Fifty-nine organic pollutants
were identified in the influent wastewater. Follow-
ing preliminary treatment in lagoons, 19 of these
chemicals remained, although in diminished quan-
tities. This wastewater was then applied to the soil
and allowed to filter through a soil profile of 5-12
feet, after which it was collected. At that point, the
water was found to contain only eight of the com-
pounds in yet further reduced quantities.
While the study did indicate that the system was
highly effective in reducing the presence and con-
centration of organics, it also pointed to the need
for further research into the design and operation
of land treatment systems.
In another research project, the movement of
trace organics through an aquifer was studied to
examine the possibilities of recharging ground-
water supplies with treated wastewater. Results of
this study indicated that certain compounds were
biodegraded and adsorbed in the subsurface, while
others persisted and posed a potential threat to the
aquifer.
These studies are all elements in ORD's re-
search program to protect the nation's ground-
water supplies, and will contribute to the devel-
opment of protocols for the use of physical models
capable of predicting the transport and fate charac-
teristics of pollutants in soil, subsoil, and ground-
water environments.
Indicatory Fate Study. As a result of the 1976
consent decree requiring EPA to establish control
for 65 priority pollutants found in industrial wastes
and believed to pose major problems for the na-
tion's waterways, in 1978 EPA's Effluent
Guidelines Division requested that ORD study the
fate of selected industrial pollutants as they passed
through biological treatment systems.
Twelve industrial sites were chosen for the
study, representing the waste make-up of six dif-
ferent industries. Samples were collected from the
waste site influents, effluents, and from the re-
sidual or remaining sludge. The air was also sam-
pled. Samples were analyzed using a variety of
state-of-the-art tools and techniques.
Results of the study indicated that there was
generally an increase in the concentrations of
priority pollutants in the solid residuals of the
plant's treatment systems, thus pointing clearly to
the need for precautionary methods of sludge dis-
posal. Results also demonstrated that in present
biological systems certain organic compounds
were particularly susceptible to release into the
atmosphere. A third key finding in the ORD tests
indicated that a number of new compounds were
synthesized during the biological treatment pro-
cess, particularly among specific organic com-
pound groups.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Environmental Processes and Effects
Research—Roberts. KerrEnvironmental Research
Laboratory, Ada
• Office of Monitoring and Technical Support—
Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory,
Las Vegas
• Office of Environmental Engineering and Technol-
ogy—Municipal Environmental Research Laboratory
Cincinnati; Industrial Environmental Research
Laboratories, Cincinnati and Edison
65
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WATER QUALITY
66
New methods are developed to protect
and restore lakes, streams and other
water sources
When water quality is allowed to deteriorate,
fish populations suffer and man's use of the water
is restricted. At that point, there are but two alter-
natives— restore the water's quality, if it is still
possible—or learn to live without. To avert facing
the latter alternative, EPA sponsors a number of
projects that seek to identify, monitor, and pro-
pose control measures for maintenance or im-
provement of the water quality throughout the
United States. These following highlights are but a
few of the many projects ongoing in water quality
research.
Trout, Salmon and Sediments
Unlike most other families of fish that spawn
in fresh waters, Salmonids (trout and salmon)
generally bury their eggs in the gravel of streams,
then leave them unattended during incubation and
emergence of the young fish, known as fry. De-
pending on the species and the water temperature,
a period of two to five months elapses from the
time Salmonid eggs are laid to the time the fry
emerge from the gravel to the free-flowing water
above.
During incubation, stream water must be able to
percolate freely through the gravel to supply the
-------
eggs their necessary oxygen, and to carry off the
metabolic wastes they produce. When develop-
ment is complete and the fry emerge, they must
have access to free flowing water. If, however,
there is excessive sediment in the stream caused by
improper logging practices, agricultural activities,
urban construction or natural landslides, the com-
position of the stream bottom may be altered and
the spaces between the gravel clogged. Incubation
and emergence are thwarted, and the species
threatened.
Excessive sediment alters
the composition of the
stream bottom
How extensive is this threat? What granular size
of sediment is dangerous? How much sediment is
deleterious? In 1979, EPA researchers, in collab-
oration with other scientists, developed a stream-
bottom gravel and sediment monitoring method
and a procedure for integrating the results of this
gravel analysis to answer these questions. Using
existing data, a formula was developed that relates
the mean gravel diameter and mean egg diameter
to the survival success of the young fish from in-
cubation to emergence. For optimal survival, it
was found that gravel diameter at the spawning
site should be about four times egg diameter. This
allows for both percolation and fry emergence.
However, since sediment found on stream bot-
toms is generally finer than gravel, its presence
inhibits both processes and diminishes the chances
for successful reproduction. If, for example, the
mean gravel and sediment diameter is only twice
the egg diameter, according to the formula survi-
val will average only about 50%. Or if both diame-
ters are equal, as may be the case in streams with
heavy sediment, only a 15% chance of survival
remains.
While spawning failure is not uncommon and
exists in streams untouched by man, it is expected
that this stream-bed predictive and analytical for-
mula will allow for a better estimation of those
spawning changes induced by human activity.
Additionally, this formula should prove a valuable
predictive tool for use by enforcement programs to
protect our trout and salmon populations.
Sediment in spa
streams can seriously
affect the survival
i han
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Logging roads can cause
damaging erosion in
forest lands
Laser Fluorosensor
A high density of planktonic algae in surface
waters for extended periods frequently indi-
cates high levels of nutrient pollution from waste
effluents or agricultural land runoff or percolation.
High productivity of algae populations can gener-
ate foul-smelling and even toxic water conditions
after phytoplankton die-off, along with severe de-
pletions in water oxygen levels, which in turn
cause an adverse effect on fish populations. Con-
versely, excessively low levels of algae may sug-
gest presence of substances toxic not only to the
algae but to higher life forms.
LASER FLUOROSENSOR
High-intensity
blue light
down
Excited
chlorophyll in algae
68
Over the last 3 years, ORD has developed and
tested an airborne sensing device called a laser
fluorosensor that can be used to map the distribu-
tion of surface water chlorophyll, a key con-
stituent of planktonic algae. Traditional monitor-
ing of chlorophyll in planktonic algae requires
manual sampling from a number of lake locations
and wet chemical analysis. Such monitoring is
slow, labor intensive, and by its nature, spotty.
However, using ORD's laser fluorosensor, it has
been demonstrated that the equivalent of tens of
thousands of chlorophyll sample estimates can be
made in one hour. Such data in conjunction with
one or two on-site reference samples is then pro-
cessed and mapped to predict the density of
chlorophyll concentration over the entire water
surface.
The fluorosensor consists of a laser transmitter
that is joined to a telescope receiver. It is mounted
on an airplane or helicopter and flown at a height
of several hundred meters above the water's sur-
face. The laser transmits short-duration, high-
intensity pulses of blue light, which in turn excite
the chlorophyll in the algae to emit pulses of red
fluorescent light. This red emission is collected by
the telescope and converted into an electrical sig-
nal, which is recorded on magnetic tape for later
analysis and comparison to reference samples.
ORD researchers extensively tested and evalu-
ated the prototype laser fluorosensor in 1979.
Chlorophyll profiles of polluted regions of Neva-
da's Lake Mead were produced.
Forestry Management
Nearly one-third of the U.S. is covered by for-
ests. Although much of this forest land is set
aside as wilderness, a large portion is subject to
forestry activity to supply timber for a variety of
uses. These lands, however, are far more than just
a source for timber; they also serve as watersheds
to catch and hold rainfall and snowmelt for release
into streams and rivers. The streams, in turn, are
spawning areas for fish, provide water for many
municipalities, and offer countless recreational
opportunities, all of which require high levels of
water quality. This raises the question then, can
water quality be maintained in the face of intensive
forestry management activities like logging and
other development?
A five-year joint research effort involving
ORD, the U.S. Forest Service, and several univer-
sities has been studying the integration of water
-------
quality control with overall forestry management.
The major objectives of this work are to identify
water quality problems and the control techniques
to mitigate them, and to define cost-effective
management strategies that embrace both the
needs of the timber industry and those of the envi-
ronment.
Some important results were realized in 1979.
The major water quality problem associated with
timber production was found to be the heavy load-
ing of waterways with sediment resulting from the
disturbance of land in upland forests. Secondary
problems were found to result from the improper
use of pesticides and fertilizers and the disposal of
liquid and solid wastes. Control techniques evalu-
ated included the planting of vegetation to reduce
erosion, building access roads in a manner that
minimizes erosion, constructing sediment basins
to allow the sediment to settle prior to release of
runoff water into stream channels, and halting
road traffic during periods of high runoff.
Research in 1979 into cost-effective manage-
ment strategies produced a technique for estimat-
ing changes in water quality from forestry ac-
tivities through the use of computer-based models.
The processes modeled were highly complex and
ranged from snowmelt reactions in higher moun-
tain regions to sediment deposition and movement
in streams draining into coastal areas. In addition,
a "goal programming" approach was developed
to aid in decision-making when environmental and
timber production needs are in conflict.
Lake Restoration
EPA's Office of Water Planning and Standards
has been charged by Congress to oversee the
protection and improvement of the water quality in
the nation's freshwater lakes. EPA's Lake Resto-
ration Evaluation Program provides direct assist-
ance in achieving this goal by helping to determine
the effectiveness of water pollution controls and
lake restoration techniques on different lakes.
Among the methods of restoration used histori-
cally are (1) those that treat or modify the water
inputs to a lake, (2) those that are performed in-
lake such as dredging or bottom sealing, and (3)
those that are directed at treating symptoms rather
than the problems at their source. Despite the vari-
••
- * * -^Mfr
Forest slope after
clearcutting
69
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Little Trout Lake in
northwestern Minnesota
70
ety of treatment methods, however, the goal of
most restoration projects is to limit the amount of
biologically-active phosphorous in the water
either directly or indirectly. Phosphorous, a com-
mon ingredient in most household laundry soaps,
stimulates explosive growth of algae, particularly
noxious blue-green algae.
In 1979, new projects were identified, lakes to
be evaluated were classified, experiments were
designed, and evaluation techniques were refined.
Economic and social studies were also instituted
where appropriate to focus on human concerns,
actions, and the consequences of lake restoration.
Who, for example, will benefit from lake restora-
tion? Who will pay? And, is it worth it in dollars
and cents? Improved procedures for making these
socioeconomic assessments are evolving as re-
search continues.
While most pollutant effects on lakes are subtle,
occurring over a long period of time, so too are
restoration effects. One treatment, however—the
in-lake inactivation of phosphorous with an alu-
minum salt—often yields immediate and dramatic
results. Here a slurry of aluminum sulfate (alum)
and/or sodium aluminate is added directly to a
lake. As these salts settle to the bottom they carry
suspended solid and precipitated soluble nutrient
matter (the phosphorous) with them, effectively
stripping the water column of the phosphorous and
solids and creating a partial seal at the sediment/
INACTIVATION OF PHOSPHOROUS
USING ALUMINUM SULFATE
PHOSPHOROUS-POLLUTED LAKE
ALUMINUM SULFATE SLURRY
ADDED TO LAKE.
PHOSPHOROUS CARRIED
TTOM AND TRAPPED THERE.
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water interface to prevent their re-entry into the
overlying water. The effects of this technique are
being evaluated at lakes in Wisconsin and Wash-
ington. To date, short-term response of lakes to
this treatment has been exceptional. All indicators
point to reductions in total phosphorous, and other
nutrients that feed the algae biomass that can
choke a lake. Two- to three-fold increases in water
clarity were also observed.
Short-term response of
lakes has been exceptional
A second treatment that produces significant
short-term water quality changes is the dilution of
a lake's dissolved solids, a procedure that involves
pumping large amounts of better quality water into
the lake being restored. When a series of evalua-
tions were made of a lake in Washington following
its dilution by Columbia River water, a more than
50% reduction in phosphorous was observed and
water clarity considerably improved. Blue-green
algae populations were also reduced.
With both of these techniques, however, only
short-term effects have been measured. Longer
range monitoring will provide researchers with a
more accurate sense of lake restoration potential—
both ecologically and economically.
$350,000
ET COST OF DIRTY LAKE.
,00
NET COST OF RESTORED LAKE
Also, recently developed under the auspices of
the Lake Restoration Program is a procedure that
will enable planners to more clearly determine the
dollar trade-offs involved in the maintenance of
water quality levels. A 1979 application of the
procedure was built around a lake undergoing de-
gradation caused by stormwater runoff. Here it
was estimated that the decline of the lake's water
quality would lead to a decrease of 27,000 annual
recreational visits representing a dollar value of
approximately $40,000 each year. The present
value of these visits over a twenty-year period, at
10% interest, would yield a loss of $350,000 to the
area. This loss could be avoided, according to
study figures, by an expenditure of $ 175,000 for a
stormwater diversion system, which would result
in a net savings of $175,000. In this example the
cost of restoration clearly is less than the long-term
losses that would be incurred were lake degrada-
tion allowed to continue. It is expected that this
financial cost trade-off procedure will enhance
lake restoration decision-making in the future.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Monitoring and Technical Support—
Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory,
Las Vegas
• Office of Environmental Processes and Effects
Research—Environmental Research Laboratories,
Corvallis and Athens
Rocky shoreline of
Embla Lakt', northern
Minnesota
71
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THE COASTAL ENVIRONMENT
72
ORD studies assist the effort to protect our
fragile coastlines from onshore and
offshore threats
The President's Message
Over half of the U.S. population lives in a
50-mile wide strip of land along the nation's
coasts. Nearly one-half of the U.S. multibillion
dollar fishing industry depends directly on near-
shore waters. The coast provides a home for heavy
and light industry and a prosperous recreation in-
dustry as well. And billions of dollars worth of
goods arrive and leave from our coastal ports
annually.
The coast is a land under pressure. More than
50% of the Atlantic shellfish beds were closed in
1979 due to pesticide, oil, and sewage contamina-
tion. Over the years, man has altered two-thirds of
our offshore barrier islands, in some cases destroy-
ing these natural storm buffers. And land available
for recreation is at an all-time low.
In August 1979, responding to the challenge of
protecting our coast, President Carter endorsed
1980 as the "Year of the Coast" and outlined a
three-point initiative to continue and improve our
resource protection policy.
First, the Executive Branch will submit legisla-
tion to Congress to reauthorize federal assistance
for state coastal zone management programs under
the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972
(CZMA) that will guarantee each state a total of
five years of federal assistance at current levels
after a state management program is approved and
before federal support is gradually phased down.
Second, new amendments will be recommended
by CZMA which will establish a national coastal
policy. The recommended amendments will
-------
provide for protecting the coastal areas and
wildlife, managing coastal development, siting
new coastal development under guidelines, coor-
dinating government decisions about the use of
our coasts, and preserving and restoring valuable
coastal areas. And third, the Secretary of Com-
merce will be directed to conduct a review of fed-
eral programs that affect coastal resources to de-
termine any conflicts with CZMA. This will
provide a basis for actions necessary to improve
such federal programs and for the development of
any necessary additional information. ORD re-
search data will help support the decisions that will
be made to implement the President's objectives.
Wetlands
In 1979, EPA research into marsh or wetland
ecosystems -- among the most productive
ecosystems in the world — was highlighted by a
number of studies. In Florida, where developers
are proposing destruction of stands of black man-
grove trees, scientists funded by EPA have been at
work to determine whether these marsh trees are
essential in the production of food supplies for
coastal ecosystems. Preliminary results indicate
that the mangroves are a significant link in the
estuarine food chain and that their destruction
would alter the region's ecosystem.
In a second study, northwest coastal wetlands
were investigated to determine the productivity of
selected marshes and the biological and physical
mechanisms that control it. Specific species of
marsh plants were studied and their productivity
rates established. It was found that certain species
are far more productive than others and that pro-
BLACK
MANGROVE
ductivity rates vary considerably. From this work,
a handbook for estimating primary productivity
was prepared. This handbook will enable in-
formed decisions to be made in estimating the
effects of development or other modification on
the productivity of wetlands ecosystems.
Other wetland studies in 1979 included projects
to explore the relationship between plant species
distribution and soil parameters that relate to
species growth and adaptability and a project to
test for the slow deterioration of wetland plants in
the presence of low concentrations of subtle toxic
materials. It was found that the stresses put on
these marsh plants by toxics, such as heavy met-
als, could be used as indicators of the movement of
the toxic materials through the marsh ecosystem.
73
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()(i\in outfall
74
Ocean Outfalls
Precisely what level of treatment is needed to
protect the marine environment from munic-
ipal wastewater discharge in a given location?
This is the question that confronts EPA today
when municipalities request a permit that modifies
the uniform secondary treatment requirements
outlined by the 1972 amendments to the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act. Ongoing ORD field
monitoring and laboratory studies assure informed
decisions.
Following passage of the 1972 amendments,
which defined secondary treatment in terms of
discharge levels of acidity and fecal coliform and
required the removal of biochemical oxygen-
demanding material and suspended solids, the
EPA established a task force to determine if, in-
deed, secondary treatment was necessary in all
instances. Based partly on task force findings and
partly on substantial information provided by
large municipalities, Congress, in 1977, granted
EPA the authority to issue to publicly owned
treatment works permits which allowed
wastewater that had not received secondary treat-
ment to be discharged through ocean outfalls to
specified marine waters. However, these exemp-
ted plants were still required to meet other specific
criteria of the Act, and Congress emphasized that
issuance of the permits was temporary—an exper-
iment to be closely monitored to assure the ecolog-
ical integrity of the marine environment.
ORD was charged with defining data needs and
helping interpret data collected for decisions on
whether or not to issue permits. ORD was to also
help interpret data from monitoring programs once
permits were issued. It was already known that
some nearshore coastal environments were very
sensitive and delicately balanced so that a high
degree of treatment (more extensive than secon-
dary) would be required if outfalls were to be al-
lowed, while others were more resilient, so less-
than-conventional secondary treatment would be
adequate. But not enough was known about the
specific relationships between sewage quality,
degree of treatment, and marine ecosystem ef-
-------
fects. One study underway in 1979 to examine this
problem is being conducted in Miami, Florida.
The study is designed to determine precisely the
kind of wastewater treatment needed to protect the
corals, sponges, and fish found in nearshore wa-
ters of southeast Florida. Another study in Hawaii
has shown the recovery of Kaneohe Bay after a
secondary treatment plant replaced a sewage out-
fall. Other studies and future work will further
explore the delicate balances in marine ecosys-
tems that receive wastewater discharges.
Offshore Drilling
The intensive search for oil and gas in the
United States has led to increased offshore
drilling for these valuable resources. As part of the
normal drilling operations from offshore oil drill-
ing platforms, chemicals are routinely discharged
into the marine environment. With the increase in
offshore drilling, greater volumes of chemicals
will be dumped into coastal waters. EPA has the
responsibility to issue and enforce discharge per-
mits that ensure that the platform/drilling rig
operators meet the goals of the Clean Water Act
and the Ocean Dumping Act. However, current
environmental effects data are inadequate to scien-
tifically support EPA's permit responsibilities to
deal with the increased chemical loads that are
predicted. Therefore, ORD is sponsoring research
to determine the potential environmental effects of
chemicals normally discharged in offshore oil and
gas drilling. The research will focus on drilling
sites in the Georges Bank fishing ground off New
England and at the coral reefs, known as the
"Flower Garden Banks," off the Texas coast.
These research results, which should be applicable
to other coastal regions as well, will assist all the
EPA regional offices with coasts as part of their
jurisdiction.
When an offshore well is being drilled, a special
mixture of clay, water, and chemicals is essential
to the operation. As this mud is pumped down into
the drilled hole through the drillpipe and the
drillbit, it cools the rapidly rotating bit, lubricates
the drilling string (steel pipe attaching the bit to the
drill rig) as it turns in the wellbore, and carries
With the increase in
offshore drilling, greater
volumes of chemicals
will be dumped into
coastal waters
rock cuttings to the surface. The mud also serves
as a plaster to prevent the surrounding rock from
crumbling or collapsing into the wellbore and
provides the hydrostatic head necessary to control
downhole pressures and to keep extraneous fluids
(such as the seawater) from entering the wellbore.
The chemicals are added to drilling mud to en-
hance the mud's ability to perform its many tasks.
These chemicals can range from bactericides, cal-
cium removers, corrosion inhibitors, defoamers
and emulsifiers to filtrate reducers, shale-control
inhibitors, thinners, dispersants, and weighting
>•/'();•(• drilling UK
75
-------
Off shore drilling platform
76
agents. From an environmental point of view, the
question of concern is ' 'at what levels are these
chemicals toxic to the surrounding marine eco-
system?" And, therefore, when EPA issues a
discharge permit, the question is "what is the
maximum toxicant concentration allowable that
will still protect man and the sea life?"
In 1979, EPA reported research results to help
answer these questions. The project was located
on a U.S. Navy offshore research platform 12
miles off the coast of the Florida panhandle in the
Gulf of Mexico. With close cooperation from per-
sonnel aboard an Amoco drilling rig only 20 miles
away, ORD scientists were able to simulate realis-
tic drilling conditions. Small marine animals
(shrimp and shellfish), flora, and coral samples
were collected from the sea floor and placed in
specially prepared tanks both on board the plat-
form and at EPA's laboratory at Gulf Breeze,
Florida. Unfiltered seawater was pumped into the
tanks at both sites as were various samples of drill-
ing fluids from the nearby Amoco rig to test the
effects of the fluids on the marine life samples.
The research findings from the project and from
available scientific literature showed that:
• Drilling fluid is ten times more toxic than indus-
trial effluents such as untreated wastes from oil
refineries or pulp mills.
• Carcinogens are discharged during drilling op-
erations.
• Drilling compounds thought to be "insoluble"
and therefore "biologically unavailable" are,
instead, actively taken up by marine organisms.
• Chemicals normally discharged are capable of
accumulating in marine organisms.
• Chemicals discharged during drilling persist for
years in the sea bottom sediments.
• A wide variety of organisms that normally live
on the sea floor cannot grow on sediments con-
taminated by drilling fluids.
• Effects of chemicals on coral may be delayed for
a year before they can be observed.
These findings do not answer all the environ-
mental questions about the effects of offshore oil
and gas drilling; the effects of different chemical
mixtures on different marine species still need to
be determined to fulfill the data needs of future
discharge permits.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Environmental Processes and Effects
Research—Environmental Research Laboratories,
Corvallis and Gulf Breeze
-------
CHESAPEAKE BAY
Information gathered by ORD helps to
clarify the options available in the
preservation of Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay is by far the largest and most
complex of the 850 estuaries dotting the coastline
of the United States. It is 190 miles long and has
8000 miles of shoreline. It drains a watershed of
65,000 square miles, encompassing parts of six
states. It supports a recreation industry estimated
at $200 million a year. There are 80,000 licensed
hunters and fishermen in the Bay area, and up-
wards of 200,000 licensed pleasure boats. More
than 100 million tons of cargo are carried up and
down Bay channels annually, representing $4 bil-
lion worth of goods. In a good year, the Bay pro-
duces an enormous seafood harvest representing a
major share of the entire East Coast catch.
This very prosperity and wealth of resources,
however, creates problems of significant mag-
nitude as various interests seek to mold the Bay
area to their particular version of the future. As
these proponents of industrial use, commercial
development, sportfishing, land use, recreational
development, commercial shipping and a host of
other interests come into conflict, key questions
inevitably arise, questions surrounding the envi-
ronmental costs and consequences of the actions
that will ultimately be taken. Unfortunately, the
data to answer these questions are in short supply,
which is the reason for ORD's aggressive effort to
collect, catalogue, analyze and distribute as much
77
-------
scientific information about the Bay's environ-
mental future as possible.
In 1975, Congress authorized $25 million for a
five-year program to begin in 1976 that would
study the Bay area's environment with the ulti-
mate goal of determining management options for
the Chesapeake environment. The funds are cur-
rently supporting the research efforts of more than
40 principal investigators from over 30 institutions
and organizations working under the guidance of
EPA project officers.
Since its inception, the Chesapeake Bay Pro-
gram has attempted to foster decision-making at
the local level in political bodies that represent the
people who live in the Bay area or who make their
livelihood from the Bay's resources. The program
has thus carefully avoided any hint of bureaucratic
control over land developers, industries and
businesses who now put environmental pressures
on the Bay. Furthermore, the program has at-
tempted to complement, rather than replace or
interfere with, current environmental studies
being done by other agencies, institutions or citi-
zens' groups.
Overall, the program is intended to:
• sort out the array of programs, laws, research
projects, and citizens' efforts;
• coordinate and help evaluate scientific work
going on;
• help fill gaps where more information is needed
to most effectively manage the future of the
Bay.
The program's goal is to provide the people
with straightforward facts, alternatives, and realis-
tic costs, in order that well-informed decisions
about the Bay area's environmental future can be
made. If people in the area, for example, opt for
maintaining the status quo, the results of the study
will tell them this is what maintaining the status
quo means environmentally and these will be the
costs sustained. If, on the other hand, the choice is
to improve environmental quality then this is what
it will cost and these are the benefits that can be
expected.
The program is currently well underway. An
EPA local office has been established in An-
napolis, Maryland and is staffed with scientific
experts and research managers. In Bay waters
touching Maryland and Virginia, researchers have
collected samples that were then catalogued and
stored for future reference. A toxics program is
establishing baseline data for monitoring water,
sediments, and aquatic organisms for toxic pollu-
tants. Currently, sediment samples are being taken
from more than 6000 sites to test for toxics and
other materials. Potential sources of the toxics
were assessed, and an inventory was made of
some 100 industrial dischargers and 400 discharge
pipes.
It is expected that the EPA Chesapeake Bay
fact-finding program will provide a sound basis on
which to determine the environmental future of
what is today, and hopefully will remain, a vital,
thriving area.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Research and Development, Region HI,
Philadelphia
Chesapeake Bay supports
a recreation industry
estimated at $200 million
a year
78
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WASTEWATER
ORD researchers analyze cost-effective
methods of improving existing wastewater
treatment facilities
A major challenge confronting ORD's
wastewater program is finding ways to upgrade
performance of existing municipal wastewater
plants without requiring major modifications. To
this end issues such as treatment plant reliability,
plant management and staff education, and op-
timum system design and operation are being
evaluated and their relative impact on perfor-
mance measured.
A second challenge faced by the program in-
volves the environmentally sound disinfection of
wastewater to facilitate its reuse in industry and
agriculture. Here, as water supplies dwindle, cost
effective alternatives must be designed, evalu-
ated, and implemented. Other significant issues
addressed in 1979 research include evaluation of
the health impact of aerosols derived from
wastewater treatment plants, the treatment of
combined sewer overflows by magnetic separa-
tion of solids, and methods for wastewater
reclamation and reuse.
79
-------
Wastewatersettling tanks
80
Treatment Plant Operation and
Design Program
Composite correction - Under ORD's
Treatment Plant Operation and Design Pro-
gram, a Composite Correction Program (CCP) for
treatment plants was developed in 1979 as a result
of a 3%-year survey which revealed a number of
causes of poor plant performance. During the sur-
vey, 103 plants were comprehensively evaluated
and performance-limiting factors were examined
and then ranked in order of severity of impact. Of
the seventy factors ranked, the sixteen leading
causes of poor plant performance involved either
operational problems (i.e., inadequate application
of concepts and testing for process control), im-
proper technical guidance, or plant design. Over-
all poor plant performance, however, was never
the result of only one of these limiting factors, but
always a combination of them, and often the limit-
ing factors were interrelated.
The purpose of this comprehensive plant per-
formance evaluation and the CCP was to identify
all performance limiting factors with the goal of
eliminating as many of them as possible, stopping
short of any major plant redesign and construc-
tion. In 1979, this was pursued by the implementa-
tion of the recommendations contained in the
comprehensive CCP evaluation reports.
Initial results were gratifying. At those plants
where CCP corrections were implemented, signif-
icantly improved performance was demonstrated,
often simply by changing operating procedures or
making low-cost modifications in plant design.
At the time of the initial evaluation it was found
that only 37 (36%) of the 103 plants evaluated
were meeting National Pollution Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) standards with any
consistency. It was then estimated that by imple-
menting CCP recommendations, an additional 51
plants could improve levels of performance with-
out major upgrading of existing facilities, thereby
increasing compliance from 36% to 85%.
Improving plant reliability — The reliability
of a treatment plant can be measured in a number
of ways. NPDES standards require that specific
effluent quality parameters are not exceeded over
a certain period of time. A plant's reliability (as
related to effluent quality) is the probability that
such standards are met. Thus, a plant 95% reliable
-------
is one that meets or exceeds standards 95% of the
time; or a plant may be 82% reliable in meeting
standards for biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD), while 92% reliable in meeting standards
for total suspended solids (TSS). Reliability is also
a measure of a plant's overall capability to perform
its functions and includes an examinaticn of spe-
cific design, operation, and mechanical factors.
Recent research defined the existing levels of
reliability of treatment plants for a variety of
biological systems. Computer modeling was used
to develop reliability-based design procedures that
factor in the effects of influent toxic materials and
the impacts of treatment by-products on overall
performance and cost. Also, a critical analysis was
completed that determined which mechanical
components have the most drastic and immediate
impact on effluent quality when a failure occurs.
Improving plant design — A comprehensive
matrix was developed that identified more than
1000 design deficiencies and correlated them to
correction modules. These modules recommend
correction methods for existing facilities and
provide design guidance necessary to circumvent
such deficiencies in new or upgraded plants.
In 1979, the Design Information and Guidance
series of informational documents was initiated to
analyze existing design practices and present de-
sign criteria that reflect a consensus of opinion.
Among the topics examined in 1979 were peak
flows and their impact on plant process designs
and the adequacy of current design practices for
assessing the performance of a relatively new sec-
ondary treatment process for wastewater known as
the Rotating Biological Contactors (RBC).
Improving unit process and systems man-
agement — A comprehensive computerized cost
and performance data base was established that
contains design, performance and operating, and
maintenance information from 270 plants, as well
as energy demands and cost effectiveness figures
for both conventional and alternative wastewater
treatment technologies. The data base is being
enlarged, and is available to interested mu-
nicipalities.
Recent research in instrumentation and automa-
tion of treatment plants has emphasized the devel-
opment of control strategies for the activated
sludge process and for selected sludge handling
and stabilization techniques. 1979 highlights in-
clude production of a design handbook to aid in the
development of cost-effective systems. A series of
pilot-scale and field evaluations of automated pro-
cess sludge control strategies proved such ideas to
be cost effective. The strategies included sludge
modification, aeration methods, new equipment,
and dissolved oxygen control methods. Also, a
method was developed to determine the optimum
dose of chemicals necessary for sludge condition-
ing prior to dewatering for sludge stabilization.
Studies in 1979 on centralized management for
a number of treatment plants indicated the poten-
tial for cost savings and improved performance.
Savings may also be realized in the collective op-
eration of groups of small treatment plants through
the pooling of resources and use of microproces-
sors, automated monitoring, and remote tele-
metry. Work is currently underway that will
further describe and evaluate the concepts and
characteristics of centralized management as they
relate to specific plant engineering approaches.
Wastewater iisi'tl to filter
solid waste in Oklahoma
Land treatment of
wastewater
81
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Wasteuutcr lagoon in
Oklahoma
82
Ultraviolet Light
The use of ultraviolet light in the disinfection
of sewage is seen as an environmentally at-
tractive alternative to chlorination. In a recently-
completed study at the Northwest Bergen County
Water Pollution Control Plant in Waldwick, New
Jersey, a prototype ultraviolet disinfection unit
demonstrated its cost effectiveness and operated
for 15 months without a major equipment mal-
function. During the time of operation, the fecal
coliform levels in the treated stream consistently
conformed to state standards, and the unit proved
capable of disinfecting the entire treatment flow of
the plant.
The unit consisted of a number of tube-like ul-
traviolet lamps placed horizontally in a stainless
steel bulkhead measuring 3 x 3 x 6 ft. The effluent
was gravity fed into the bulkhead where it passed
between the lamps. The thickness of the stream of
effluent was determined by the spacing of the
lamps. This particular unit employed the "thin
film" design with a liquid thickness of approxi-
mately V4 in. The unit was mechanically cleaned
by a wiper mechanism.
Additional experiments established that ul-
traviolet light causes no change in the nonvolatile
organic components of the effluent. The possibil-
ity that bacteria damaged by ultraviolet light can
repair themselves when exposed to natural light
was also studied and found to be true to some
extent, particularly in the summer months. Work
is planned to minimize this photoreactivation
effect.
While the cost of ultraviolet disinfection in the
Northwest Bergen County study was competitive
with that of chlorination, the effluent was of better
than average quality. A second generation study
will determine the effectiveness of similar systems
on a broad spectrum of effluents. Also, thin film
designs will be compared with thicker film designs
to establish optimum cost/benefit performance
characteristics. It is expected that the results of this
influent
stainless steel
bulkheads
ucnt
reinforced
concrete
support walls
ultra-violet tubes
ULTRAVIOLET DISINFECTION
UNIT INSTALLATION
-------
study along with other related ORD activities will
provide the information necessary to begin im-
plementation of ultraviolet light disinfection at
municipal facilities.
Concrete Pipe
Concrete pipe is the most popular and most
widely used in sewer construction. It is,
however, susceptible to corrosion which occurs
above the liquid level in the pipe and is largely
caused by sulfates in sewage that are reduced to
sulfuric acid, which undermines the integrity of
the pipe's interior. Such corrosion results in leak-
age, infiltration, overflows, the bypassing and
overloading of treatment facilities, and ultimately
the premature need for pipe replacement. While
more corrosion resistant types of sewer pipes are
on the market (i.e., PVC), they are generally more
expensive and limited in size; thus other alterna-
tives require examination.
Water droplets with bacteria oxidize
hydrogen sulfide to create sulfuric acid
which attacks concrete.
Completed in 1979 was a long-term demonstra-
tion project which produced two promising sys-
tems for impregnating concrete pipe to improve
corrosion resistance at an economically attractive
cost. Each system involved impregnating pipes
with chemicals—one used modified sulfur, while
the other used dilute hydrofluoric acid. The pipe
was impregnated by submerging it into vats con-
taining a solution of either chemical. Early test
results indicated a tenfold improvement in corro-
sion resistance. Impregnation of the pipe., it was
Bacteria
in slime
converts sulfur
in sewage to hydrogen
sulfide gas.
CROSS-SECTION OF
CONCRETE SEWER PIPE
found, reduced the permeability of the concrete,
thus the sulfuric acid was inhibited from reacting
with the interior structure of the concrete and, in
the case of reinforced pipe, the steel reinforcing
rods. A total of 1400 ft. of impregnated concrete
pipe was installed in four Texas cities and closely
monitored for corrosion. Results indicated mark-
edly less corrosion in the treated section.
It was also established that nan reinforced pipe
impregnated with sulfur approached the strength
of steel reinforced pipe. This dramatic strength
improvement, coupled with the improved resist-
ance to corrosion, points to the possibility that
sulfur impregnated pipe will be used in future in-
stallations at an attractive savings in material cost.
It is estimated that such savings will range from
$0.83 to $2.08 per linear foot of 27-in. diameter
pipe. Also, as desulfurized coal becomes a major
source of energy, it is expected that sulfur as a
by-product of the desulfurization process will be
cheap and in good supply.
Today, it is estimated that by 1990 over 90,000
miles of new sewer pipe will be required. The
cost? $17 billion. However, this figure assumes
the use of conventional reinforced concrete pipe.
Results to date into this ORD-sponsored research
on pipe impregnation indicate a substantial tax-
payer savings could well be realized in the decade
to come.
Concrete sewer pipe
being submerged to
prevent corrosion
83
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Ai:i\iti:tl u'jf
lagoon
84
Wastewater Aerosols
and Disease
In September 1979, a symposium on Waste-
water Aerosols and Disease, held in Cincinnati,
dealt with the results of ORD-sponsored research
into microorganisms from wastewater plants.
Some of the research findings presented:
• The density of airborne microorganisms from an
Illinois treatment plant located 400 meters from
a residential area was not distinguishable from
background levels. There was no health hazard.
• Persons living within 600 meters of a Michigan
sewage treatment plant had a greater than ex-
pected rate of respiratory and gastrointestinal
illness, a rate that may be attributable to a high
density of lower socioeconomic families, rather
than plant proximity.
• A demographic and health survey of persons
residing near a treatment plant in Illinois pro-
duced the overall conclusions that no obvious
adverse health effects resulted from exposure to
aerosol emissions, a conclusion tempered by the
fact that only a small number of people were
exposed to the highest pollution levels.
• Sources of microorganisms from a wastewater
treatment plant in Oregon were established. No
viruses were detected and attendance measures
at nearby schools indicated no obvious adverse
effects.
• Spray irrigation of unchlorinated wastewater
was monitored in California. Pathogenic or-
ganisms were found in aerosols and were trans-
ported downwind. At 50 meters, significant
densities existed, but at 200 meters, the mic-
roorganisms were virtually undetectable.
• Data were evaluated to correlate the existence of
disease and the use of wastewater irrigation in
kibbutzim in Israel. Preliminary results mir-
rored control group findings. A new study is
underway.
• Sewage treatment plant workers were tested
over time in three cities to determine incidences
of infection and disease as a result of exposure to
microorganisms. Initial results indicated slight-
ly higher incidences of gastrointestinal illness in
new workers while incidence in experienced
workers did not differ from those of controls.
Overall these results combine to indicate that
while a potential health problem may be created by
wastewater aerosols, current state-of-the-art
methodology is unable to detect a health hazard for
exposed populations.
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Magnetic Separation
Overflows containing both domestic waters
and stormwater runoff (called combined
sewer overflows) contribute substantially to the
pollution of major waterways and coastal areas in
the United States. Such overflow occurs most
often during "first flush" storm situations, where
large increases in wastes in the form of rainwater
and land runoff course through sewers along with
their regular load. For treatment plants to have on
hand the reserve capacity to handle these surges of
wastes is prohibitively costly and as a result these
combined sewer overflows often enter waterways
untreated.
ORD research, however, has recently demon-
strated the viability of a system that can handle
these overloads. Called High Gradient Magnetic
Separation (HGMS)® the system uses a large
magnet, capable of separating suspended solids or
precipitates from a large, fast-flowing volume of
water. Simply, the wastewater is seeded with
magnetic iron oxide (magnetite) that attaches itself
to the nonmagnetic solids in the water making
them weakly magnetic. As the water passes
through a filter of magnetic wires, the solids
adhere to the wires while the liquid passes through
the filter. Any increase in wastewater volume can
be accommodated either by adding more
separators and/or increasing the magnetic field.
Early ORD pilot-plant work with HGMS
showed the system to be capable of effectively and
efficiently treating a variety of wastewater sam-
ples, demonstrating a removal efficiency of well
over 90% for most parameters. In 1976, a mobile
pilot plant system developed by ORD was de-
signed to operate automatically for 24 hours, and
contained two magnetic filters to simulate the op-
eration of a full-scale variable flow capacity sys-
tem such as that used at wastewater plants.
Test findings of the mobile system in 1979 bore
out initial research findings. HGMS proved effec-
tive in its ability to handle dynamic situations such
as those encountered in treatment installations
handling both wet-weather and dry-weather
flows. Storm profile tests showed that HGMS
was also up to the task of handling significant-
ly increased flow velocity without losing its
effectiveness.
The system's inherent adaptability, its ability to
handle large volumes of water to give treatment
plants a reserve capability, and its overall size rela-
tive to conventional systems make it an attractive
alternative for treatment plant use.
HGMS capital costs for an integrated wet and
dry facility are estimated to be approximately 40%
lower than the comparative physical-chemical sys-
tems in common use today; operations and main-
MAGNETIC SEPARATION
magnetite —n
added
magnetite attaches
to solid waste
solid wastes
solids adhere
to magnetic
liquid
waste
Magnetic Separatum
facility
wires.
85
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tenance costs are estimated to be about 20% lower.
ORD is currently surveying potential sites for a
future full-scale demonstration of HGMS treat-
ment of combined sewer overflows.
Wastewater Reuse
In a recent ORD study of 1246 municipal water
supply utilities using surface water from 194
basins and serving 525 cities, wastewater from
upstream sources was found in all but 142 in-
stances. In a number of cities, in fact, waste-
water was found to be a major portion of the water
supply.
Such research results point clearly to the need
for more effective methods in controlling waste-
water discharges. While to some extent water is a
renewable resource, its wholesale use in munici-
palities and industry subsequently creates whole-
sale amounts of wastewater.
EPA is supporting a number of wastewater
recycle/reuse efforts and is closely monitoring in-
dependent work in this area to assure its environ-
mental soundness. Two such programs in 1979
included demonstration of recycling methods by a
paper manufacturer and the testing of an inno-
vative wastewater reuse procedure in Orange
County, California.
Hardboard industry water reuse program—
In 1978, U.S. pulp and paper mills supplied indus-
try with 2.4 million tons of hardboard to be used in
manufacturing and construction. To accomplish
this, 75% of the nation's paper mills made use of a
water-intensive wet manufacturing process that
resulted in the daily discharge of 18 million gal-
lons of wastewater polluted by suspended solids
and a host of toxic chemicals.
The following year, however, under an ORD-
supported project, one such hardboard manufac-
turer utilized specialized equipment and made
process modifications to recover process water
and chemicals from the mill's waste stream. As a
result, the volume of wastewater discharged from
the mill was reduced by more than 97%, and the
decrease in pollution load was approximately
87%.
Although there were some production problems
encountered early in the study period, solutions
were found and product quality and production
rates equalled or exceeded premodification levels.
Freshwater requirements were drastically lowered
and the use of chemicals, both for hardboard pro-
cessing and wastewater treatment, was reduced.
86
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SEAWATER BARRIER AT WATER FACTORY 21
Injection Well
Extraction
Water Factory
21
Groundwater recharge — ORD research has
also been integrated into the construction and op-
eration of the Orange Count)' Water District's
Water Factor,' 21 located in Fountain Valley, Cal-
ifornia, one of the nation's most innovative water
treatment technology and municipal wastewater
reuse facilities. Here, treated wastewater is in-
jected into the ground through wells, where it per-
forms two vital functions. First, the wastewater
provides a barrier that prevents the incursion of sea
water into heavily mined groundwater aquifers.
Second, this highly treated wastewater actually
recharges the depleted Orange Count) groundwa-
ter basin. Such recharged groundwater. it is
thought, might well be capable of creating the
supplemental water that may be necessary in
water-short areas in the coming centurv .
Over the last three years. Water Factor)' 2 I has
been demonstrating the feasibilit) of renovating
municipal wastewater for groundwater recharge.
Some 15 million gallons per da) of reclaimed
municipal secondary effluent have been injected
into the groundwater basin through a series of 23
injection wells. Wells are spaced approximately
600 feet apart and span the Talbert Gap, the his-
toric flood plain of the Santa Ana River, an area
subject to sea water intrusion.
The wastewater used in the injection s\ stem has
undergone the most comprehensive treatment to
assure that existing aquifers are not threatened —
lime treatment to remove suspended solids and
heavy metals, ammonia stripping and initial
chlorination to remove nitrogen, filtration and
activated-carbon adsorption to remove organics
and additional suspended solids, reverse osmosis
for demineralization. and final chlorination for
disinfection. In a recent ORD continuous opera-
tion and monitoring program, it was demonstrated
that Water Factor) 21 produced a product on a par
with and often better than drinking water sources
used by many municipalities todav. It was further
demonstrated that the treatment plant was reliable
in the removal of trace contaminants. During the
program, sufficient data were generated to evalu-
ate the effectiveness of the plant's various treat-
ment technologies—individuall) and in combina-
tion— in removing those materials of concern to
public health.
Overall, findings indicate that the combined
wastewater treatment processes employed at
Water Factor) 21 are certainlv capable of produc-
ing w ater that is suitable for injection as a seawater
barrier and that quite probablv offer the additional
promise of removing a public health concern asso-
ciated with mixing wastewater with groundwater
in an aquifer used for general municipal purposes.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above.
• Office of Environmental Engineering and Technol-
osv—Municipal Env ironmental Research
Laboratories. Edison and Cincinnati, and
industrial Environmental Research Laboratorv.
Cincinnati
• Office of Health Research—Health Effect
Research Laboratorv . Cincinnati
87
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INFORMATION TRANSFER
ORD continues to insure public access
to its scientific information
EPA derives significant benefit from the mass
of information generated by ORD programs in a
given year. For the greatest benefits to be realized,
however, this information must also be made
available and accessible to the public as well as to
other federal agencies and to state and local gov-
ernments. The means for accomplishing this at
ORD include films, publications, videotapes, and
data recovery systems. The following is a selec-
tion of ORD's 1979 information transfer high-
lights.
Film—"Hold This Land"
Hold This Land is an ORD-sponsored 23-
minute color film narrated by Robert Red-
ford that deals with the water pollution problems
that can be brought about by farmland irrigation,
and the benefits that can be expected if various
control measures and management practices are
implemented.
This film focuses on the good works of one
progressive farmer, and shows how he converted
soil sediments eroded from his land during irriga-
tion into topsoil for use on 60 acres of formerly
-------
barren, rim-rock land. By collecting the sediment
from his and his neighbors fields in settling basins,
then spreading the soil where i'. was needed, pro-
ductive cropland was created and the value of his
land increased.
The film also focuses on a number of other cases
where new and innovative technologies have been
demonstrated effective in controlling the soil ero-
sion and sedimentation that results from irrigation.
These technologies include improved water distri-
bution and application systems as well as drainage
systems designed to keep the sediment on the
fields instead of allowing it to accumulate in
streams and river basins.
The idea for the film was born in 1975 when an
independent Idaho filmmaker saw a draft copy of a
state-of-the-art report on "Control of Sediment,
Nutrient and Absorbed Biocides in Surface Irriga-
tion Return Flows,'' being prepared for ORD. In-
terested and inspired by its findings, the
filmmaker, with funding by ORD and consultation
by the Agricultural Research Staff of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture's Science and Education Ad-
ministration, produced a film that translates the
technical concepts presented in the report into vi-
sual ones. Most of the footage was shot in Twin
Falls, Idaho, though to broaden the film's scope
some sequences take place in California and
Washington.
The film has been widely used by farmers,
cooperative extension personnel, local and state
action agencies as well as control agencies. The
film has also been well received by universities as
a teaching aid in environmental awareness educa-
tion. Copies of the film are available at each of
EPA's Regional Offices for loan to local school of-
ficials and other interested groups or individuals.
Videotape-Asbestos
Airborne asbestos fibers inhaled into the lungs
are a cause of lung cancer, asbestosis, and
mesothelioma. The period between exposure and
the actual lung disease can range from 15 to 40
years. While the degree of exposure that can bring
about such dysfunction has not been established,
evidence points to the fact that even small amounts
of asbestos fibers can prove to be exceedingly
harmful.
When it was discovered that asbestos, used in
school buildings as fireproofing, was deteriorat-
ing, releasing large amounts of fibers into the
buildings' air space, the EPA Office of Pesticides
and Toxic Substances immediately initiated a cor-
rective action program which included publication
of a comprehensive guidance document entitled
Asbestos-Containing Material in School Build-
ings. In support of this document and the overall
effort, in 1979, ORD also produced a videotape
entitled What Your School Can Do About Friable
A shestos-Containing Materials.
Much of the information contained in the
videotape was an outgrowth of ORD's ongoing
study of commercially available treatments that
can be sprayed on asbestos to lock or seal fibers
into place. Beyond the information, the tape
communicates the seriousness of the problem and
the fact that EPA is prepared to aid school officials
in evaluating asbestos hazards in their buildings
and deciding on means for correction.
The videotape was used in the press conference
announcing the corrective actions effort and is cur-
rently available for loan at all of the EPA Regional
Offices.
Farmland irrigation
sci'Hi- from film
"Hold This Land"
89
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Publications
Research Summary Series. In 1979, the Re-
search Summary Series was initiated to
provide concise non-technical information con-
cerning the major areas of ORD research to a wide
audience. Each summary brochure begins with a
brief discussion of an environmental problem area
and outlines ORD approaches for its solution. The
brochure's main body contains descriptions of
major ORD research projects, past and present.
Title listings for current research being performed
at or through EPA laboratories or offices and a
listing of sources for additional information com-
prise the remainder of the publication.
90
Two summaries have been completed to date:
Oil Spills, and Acid Rain, the latter having been
submitted to the National Commission on Air
Quality as part of EPA's testimony on the envi-
ronmental consequences of acid precipitation in
the United States.
Summaries in preparation deal with topics such
as the control of nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide
emissions, industrial wastewater treatment, inte-
grated pest management, sewage sludge disposal
and hazardous wastes control.
Environmental Assessment Series. A second
new ORD report series, the Environmental As-
sessment Series, will focus on issues involving
toxic substances and their effects on human
health. This series is a natural outgrowth of EPA's
efforts and resources currently directed at regulat-
ing the release of toxic chemicals into the envi-
ronment, and is intended for the reader whose
chief concern is the protection of human health.
The first report in the series, Short-Term Tests
for Carcinogens, Mutagens and Other Genotoxic
Agents, was published in 1979 and addresses the
use of short-term tests to predict a chemical's po-
tential long-term effects on human genetic mate-
rial. The problem that had perplexed researchers
for years was how to quickly and accurately de-
termine whether a substance was safe for human
use or whether it caused delayed deleterious ef-
fects. The research documented in this report con-
stitutes a significant step forward in the area of
short-term testing. The report discusses the advan-
tages and disadvantages of these testing tech-
niques, and the way they can contribute to toxic
material effects assessments. The scientific basis
for these tests as well as current applications and
research activities are also discussed.
Environmental Outlook is a report prepared
annually by ORD's Strategic Analysis Group. It is
EPA's look into the future of our air, water, and
land as well as its look at the future of the specific
pollutants that impact on them. Traditionally, this
publication was limited to reporting data gener-
ated by a large computerized environmental as-
sessment system about quantitative trends for se-
lected pollutants.
Environmental Outlook 1980, however, repre-
sents a major step toward making this annual re-
port a more provocative and comprehensive look
into the environmental future. The number of pol-
lutants dealt with was expanded, and their envi-
ronmental implications discussed. Trends from
other sources were reported and information on
public attitudes and environmental legislation and
regulation was included.
Among the report's highlights were two
scenarios representing contrasting environmental
views of the closing years of the twentieth century.
Each scenario makes use of different assumptions
-------
about economic growth, trends in employment,
population growth and distribution, energy supply
and demand, and environmental standards and
policies. The purpose of these two scenarios was
not so much to present two views of the future as it
was to present two sets of boundaries from which
reasonable forecasts and analyses of that future
could be made.
An important set of findings contained in Envi-
ronmental Outlook 1980 are those pertaining to
public attitudes toward the environmental future.
According to an EPA survey, the public continues
to show a consistent concern for environmental
quality, including a general reluctance to relax en-
vironmental standards to achieve economic
growth. This interest is also present in the legisla-
tion and executive branches of government where
enhancement and protection of public health and
the environment has been demonstrated to be on
the increase.
Project Tracking System
The well-known and often evoked "informa-
tion explosion" of the mid-twentieth century
has not passed EPA by. With literally thousands of
individual research projects under way at any one
time, the amount of information being generated is
extensive, if not overwhelming.
The Project Tracking System is a computerized
data bank that contains key information on all of
ORDs individual research projects. The data con-
tained in the bank include descriptions of the work
being performed, research results of the previous
quarter, the names of the principal investigators
involved and a host of other project administrative
and management information.
The data bank is maintained at EPA's Washing-
ton Computer Center where it is accessible by way
of a variety of search methods, the most widely
used of which is a keyword search process. Over
6,000 keywords are listed, from the general
("ecosystem," "carcinogenisis") to the specific
("enzyme interaction," "immunohistology").
Recent system improvements allow for a variety
of sophisticated search procedures. Today, for
example, to retrieve information on projects re-
lated to the health effects of coal-fired boilers, the
key words "coal," "health effects," and
"boilers, "may be entered simultaneously and the
system will print out only those projects having
those three keywords in common.
The data bank is also programmed to produce
information that falls into broader categories, and
searches are possible for data that link one such
category to another. For example, if one wanted
information on all research mandated by the Ma-
rine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act and
done in support of the Office of Water and Waste
Management, a search code for the legislation and
a search code for the program office is entered and
all projects having the two given codes in common
would then be retrieved.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Environmental Processes and Effects
Research, Kerr Environmental Research Laboratory.
Ada
• Office of Environmental Engineering and Technol-
ogy, Industrial Environmental Research Laboratories.
Cincinnali
• Office of Research Program Management. Techni-
cal Information Office, Center For Environmental
Research Information, Cincinnati
Sophisticated
-------
ORD PROGRAM EXPANDS
New Multipurpose Test
and Evaluation l-acHity
at the Mill Creek V/r.ay
I'Lint in (.'.incinnati
92
ORD expands in an effort to
better anticipate future environmental
research needs
To remain current in the ever-expanding re-
search and informational world requires anticipat-
ing tomorrow's needs today. Thus, when the fu-
ture does arrive, the groundwork will have already
been laid to interpret new information as it devel-
ops. For EPA to fulfill its mission, ORD must
continuously look to that future—to assure that the
proper tools and facilities exist, to plan research
directions, to assure that grants, contracts, and
cooperative agreements are awarded to the most
qualified researchers, and to guarantee the exis-
tence of a well-trained workforce capable of meet-
ing future environmental challenges. In 1979, the
ORD program expanded to better meet these fu-
ture needs.
EPA and the Academic
Community
The concept of' 'Institutional Centers of Excel-
lence" was born out of the 1978 decision to
commit part of ORD's annual research budget to
long-term exploratory research in a number of key
areas. This research will be performed by ORD in
cooperative agreement with those organizations
and institutions—the centers of excellence—hav-
ing well-established credentials in the key re-
search areas and a demonstrated commitment to
such research.
The focus of each center program will generally
be long-term exploratory research (3 to 5 years or
more). It is expected that ORD will be taking an
active role during the span of this work, for unlike
grants and contracts, such cooperative agreements
-------
require the sponsoring agency's substantial in-
volvement in all facets of the program on a contin-
uing basis. Consequently, it is expected that the
results of this joint ORD/institution effort will be a
synthesis between the basic work most often car-
ried out by universities and the applied research
ORD requires to assist EPA in carrying out its
mission. Beyond this, the center programs are de-
signed to:
• Serve as a resource for ORD laboratories within
a broad research area in which a national need
has been identified.
• Fill research gaps and address areas requiring
expansion.
• Stimulate ORD's applied research programs.
• Serve as a talent pool for prospective scientists
in the environmental field.
ORD must continuously
look to the future
The major 1979 highlights of the fledgling
"centers" program was the selection of the initial
four areas for exploratory research and the sub-
sequent selection of centers that would perform
the research. An August announcement named the
University of Pittsburgh as the Epidemiology Re-
search Center, a consortium of the University of
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, and Rice
University as the Groundwater Center, and the
University of Illinois as the Advanced Control
Technology Center. In December the Marine En-
vironmental Sciences Research Center was se-
lected. It is located at the University of Rhode
Island's Graduate School of Oceanography and is
augmented by scientists from the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute, the University of Mary-
land, Bryant College and Columbia University.
Studies at the Epidemiological Center will
focus on the human health risks associated with
environmental pollution. Research will include
studies into the population distribution of health
effects, the development of improved research
methodologies, the conduct of prospective epi-
demiological studies, and the improvement of
statistical techniques.
Three major research areas will be addressed at
the Groundwater Center. Subsurface characteriza-
tion research will be primarily involved with the
study of soils and how they control the movement
and transformation of chemicals. Transport and
fate studies will concentrate on the development
and application of laboratory tests and systems to
evaluate the behavior of chemicals in the soil.
Methods development research will center around
the evaluation and development of drilling and
coring field tests used to collect subsurface sam-
ples.
Some examples of the research to be carried out
at the Advanced Control Technology Center are:
• Investigation of microbiological metabolic pro-
cesses.
• Evaluation of combustion phenomena.
• Studies of the basic mechanisms of physical and
chemical separator processes.
• Evaluation of the innovations in reprocessing
and recycling.
University of Oklahoma
Oklahoma Stale University
93
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I'tpin^ xvs/cw .it the Mill
('rt't'k ii'xtuig ,i>ul
Evaluation l:,icilit\
94
Two key research subjects to be addressed by
the Marine Environmental Sciences Research cen-
ter are:
• Determination of effective means to assess the
state of health of marine ecosystems under
stress.
• Study of pathways and processes influencing
exposure of man or marine ecosystems to toxic
substances.
Four additional centers are
planned for 1980
Three additional centers are planned with
EPA's Anticipatory Research Program for 1980.
Research will focus on:
• Solution of waste disposal problems.
• Intermedia transport—the study of the interac-
tion between air pollutants and the earth's sur-
face.
• Integrated ecosystem studies—the investigation
of stressed ecosystems.
New Grant Procedure
During 1979, ORD took steps to revamp its
system of grant proposal solicitation, re-
view, and project management. As a result of the
findings of the specially convened Grant's Proce-
dure Review Group, ORD administrative regu-
lations were updated and revised to provide a more
open and competitive system encouraging a wider
range of input and a higher quality final research
project.
In response to the Review Group's recom-
mendation to broaden the base of research applica-
tions considered, proposal solicitations are now
being developed that better reflect the research
needs identified both by ORD laboratory directors
and by each ORD Research Committee. To en-
courage the widest response, solicitations will ap-
pear as "flyers" and in other media such as tech-
nical journals, and trade publications.
A new peer panel review process also recom-
mended by the Review Group, will be in operation
by February, 1980. All grant and cooperative
agreement applications will be reviewed by peer
panels, whose members are selected for their sci-
entific expertise. The panels, made up in part by
ORD laboratory scientists, will evaluate the scien-
tific merit of each proposal, with final funding
decisions contingent on the applicability of the
proposal to ORD's research needs, priorities, and
the availability of funds.
It is expected that the nature of this system will
improve the quality of EPA's research output, in-
crease operational efficiency and effectiveness,
and enable ORD laboratory scientists to devote
more time to EPA cooperative agreements and less
time to the management of grants.
Testing and Evaluation
Traditionally, the assessment of municipal and
industrial waste and wastewater control
technologies, the development of test instruments
and monitoring methods, and the evaluation of
effluents for toxicity were all functions conducted
by different ORD laboratories at a variety of loca-
tions. To streamline such research EPA recently
constructed a $2.6 million Multipurpose Test and
Evaluation (T&E) Facility at the Mill Creek Sew-
age Plant in Cincinnati. Here the five EPA Cincin-
nati laboratories are now able to perform broad-
based cooperative studies under a single roof.
Under this roof, for example, the effluents gen-
erated in pilot-plant studies of municipal waste
control technologies can be used for toxicity tests,
while elsewhere in the two-story 33,500 square
foot facility, instruments and monitoring methods
might be undergoing simultaneous testing on a
wide variety of wastewaters and contaminated at-
mospheres.
-------
Beyond the facility's value for integrated re-
search, is its flexible design, which will allow it to
function optimally today and also extends its
ability to function well into the future. All of the
municipal sewage and sludges generated at the
Mill Creek Plant, for example, can be made avail-
able via a piping system to any of 16 stations
around the ORD facility thus the use of space is
optimized and the efficiency of research en-
hanced. A wide variety of industrial effluents are
also ' 'on tap''.
The ORD plant includes all the facilities and
services required to conduct bench and pilot-scale
research on water pollution, air pollution, and
solid and hazardous waste technology, and will
be ideal for the testing of advanced treatment
concepts.
Projects currently underway at the new facility
include:
• An evaluation of the fate of priority pollutants
once they enter sewer systems and publicly
owned treatment works.
• An evaluation of the relative efficiency of five
generic types of ozone contactors for use in dis-
infection of treatment plant effluents.
• An evaluation of municipal and industrial
sludge dewatering.
• An investigation into the viability of disinfect-
ing industrial wastes containing toxic com-
pounds by subjecting them to high tempera-
tures.
• An analysis of the effects of landfill leachateson
conventional sewage treatment.
Neurotoxicology
Certain chemicals attack the nervous system,
producing disabling behavioral or neurologi-
cal disorders. These chemicals originate from a
variety of sources and can enter the body by a
variety of routes. While ORD is not unfamiliar
with many of these toxics and their effects, much
of what has been learned came as a result of some
environmental mishap rather than systematic re-
search. We have gathered a fair amount of
neurotoxicological data, for example, as a result
of the 1975 kepone discharge into the James
River, and the 1977 Michigan food contamination
case, which stemmed from the inadvertant mixing
of PBB (polybrominated biphenyls used in flame
retardants) in cattle feed.
In 1979, to provide a framework for the more
systematic, less reactive study of the effects of
toxic agents on the nervous system, EPA and the
Food and Drug Administration established the Na-
tional Program in Neurotoxicology. Based at a
major research facility, work is already under way
investigating the behavioral, neurophysiological,
biochemical, and pathological consequences of
exposures to toxicants.
Current staffing is expected to increase by ap-
proximately one-third in the next calendar year
and a National Search Committee has been formed
to aid in the selection of a permanent program
director.
The objective of the program is to provide a
Interior of the Mill
Creek Testing and
Evaluation Facility
95
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coordinated research effort to minimize regulatory
agency research overlaps and, with its full-scale
multidisciplinary program, to be able to respond
quickly to a variety of agency needs.
In the long term, it is expected that the program
will: improve testing methods through develop-
ment of cost-effective, efficient, and sensitive test
systems; evolve a clearer understanding of how
toxics produce adverse effects on the nervous sys-
tem; and establish a data base which can be used
by regulatory agencies to develop standards to pro-
tect human health.
Outreach—The Environmental
Workforce Program
Most of the 800,000 workers in environmental
fields are not federally employed. Widely
dispersed in the economy, many workers are in
emerging occupations for which no training is
available. ORD's workforce program seeks to
connect these workers to the nation's education
and employment resources to develop a skilled
environmental workforce capable of meeting
present and future needs.
1979 saw national recognition of the Senior En-
vironmental Employment Program (SEE). This
EPA/Administration On Aging interagency pro-
gram provided funds to ten states across the coun-
try to hire an average of 22 senior citizens to per-
form a variety of environmental jobs. Among the
tasks undertaken were dump inspection and clo-
sure, drafting, pesticide inventory, treatment plant
trouble-shooting, feed lot and grain elevator in-
spections, surveys of nonpublic drinking water
supplies, and pesticides protection training. The
program was deemed successful by EPA, Con-
gress, states, independent evaluators, and the SEE
workers and supervisors. Recently, legislative
provisions were made for its expansion at the na-
tional level.
A related 1979 highlight was the development
of a comprehensive strategy to upgrade the envi-
ronmental workforce by interfacing with the co-
operative education programs offered by many of
the nation's colleges and universities. As a first
step in implementing this strategy nationally, a
project was initiated that will afford Colorado
State University engineering and science students
enrolled in cooperative education and work/study
programs the opportunity to participate in career-
ladder jobs in state and local environmental
agencies.
In 1979, ORD also continued its coordination
and reporting of EPA's successful direct training
programs. In all, 111 short courses were offered,
87 air pollution courses, 19 wastewater courses,
and 5 drinking watercourses. Over 2800 students
received a total of 12,609 student-days of instruc-
tion. Of these, 21% were federal employees, 39%
were state employees, and 16% were local em-
ployees. The remaining 24% consisted of consul-
tants, professors, industrial participants, and other
interested students.
The following ORD components contributed to the
research described above:
• Office of Anticipatory Research
• Office of Monitoring and Technical Support—
National Workforce Development Staff
• Office of Monitoring and Technical Support—
Municipal Environmental Research Laboratory,
Cincinnati
-------
ORD RESOURCES
ORD Laboratories
• ORD LABORATORIES
OTHER ORD FACILITIES
1 Wcnatchee, Washington (OHEB)
2 Newport, Oregon (OHEE)
3 Corvallis, Oregon
Environmental Research Lab (OHEE)
4 Las Vegas, Nevada
Environmental Monitoring and Support Lab
(OMTS)
5 Ada, Oklahoma
Robert S. Ken- Environmental Research Lab
(OALWU)
6 Gulf Breeze, Florida
Environmental Research Lab (OHEE)
7 Athens, Georgia
Environmental Research Lab (OALWU)
8 Bears Bluff, South Carolina (OHEE)
9 Research TViangle Park, N.C.
Environmental Monitoring and Support Lab
(OMTS). Industrial Environmental Research
Lab (OEM1). Environmental Sciences
Research Lab (OALWU). Health Effects
Research Lab (OHEB).
10 Warrcnton, Virginia (OMTS)
11 Washington, D.C.
Headquarters, OR&D
12 Edison, New Jersey (OEMI)
13 Narragansett, Rhode Island
Environmental Research Lab (OHE"E)
14 Rivesville, West Virginia (OEMI)
15 Lebanon, Ohio (OALWU)
16a Newton, Ohio (OHEE)
16b Cincinnati, Ohio ' , -
Environmental Monitoring and Suppfl'rt Lab
(OMTS). Industrial Envtronmefital Researcli ,1
Lab (OEMI).' Munidpal"Elhvirah"mentalf «•
Research Lab (OALWU)' 'HeafflilEJfec'tfv-
Research Lab" (OHEE). ErivuShliSntat ""'
Research Information CcntcrJ(OMYs')*
17 Orosse lie; Mjlhtgan (OHEE) .
18 Momicello/Minnesota (OHEE)
19 Duluth, Minnesota
Environmental Research Lab (OHEE)1"' -
20 College, Alaska (OHEE)
Funding for Fiscal 79 —
303.9 million, 1844 people
ORD Funding by Media
Air
Water Quality
Drinking Water
Pesticides
Radiation
Toxics
Energy
Solid Waste
Interdisciplinary
Management and Support
Total
$M
50.8
66.2
17.6
12.5
. 1.9
10.1
112.!
7.5
17.7
_L5_
303.9
ORD Funding by Categories
Health Effects
Ecology
Transport and Fate
Monitoring
Control Technology
Other
Total
ORD Funding by Mechanism
Contracts
Grants
lAGs
In-house
$M
65.9
34.3
27.3
38.1
121.6
_16/7_
303.9
$88. 8M 29%
$71. OM 23%
$49.6M 16%
$94.5M 32%
97
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THE PEOPLE
98
SUBJECT
CONTACT
ORGANIZATION
THREE-MILE ISLAND
EMERGENCIES/ASSISTANCE
PCB Spills
Clean Up
Sprayed-On Asbestos
Benzene Contamination of
Water
Neskowin, Oregon
Land Treatment
Aerial Imagery
Secondary Lead Standards
Peru
ENERGY
Conversion from Scarce Oil to
Plentiful Coal
Enhanced Pollution Control
—Adipic Acid
Limestone Coal Pellets for
Sulfur Control
Environmental Impact of Coal-
Fired Power Plant Sites
Low NOxBurner Field Testing
Home and Service Guides for
Gas Furnaces and Water
Heaters
Coal Gasification
Oil Shale Groundwater
Monitoring
Alcohol From Wastes
Synthetic Fuel Symposium
ACID RAIN
Terrestrial Impacts
Aquatic Impacts
CLEAN AIR MONITORING
Optimal Air Quality
Atmospheric Particulates
What is Visibility
Satellites and Solar Cells
Remote Optical Sensing
Atmospheric Sulfates Analysis
Fugitive Emissions
NON-IONIZING RADIATION
TOXICS
Great Lakes
Complex Effluents
Short-Term Tests
Molecular Indicators
Dioxin in Sludge
Airborne Asbestos
Hemoglobin as a Dose Monitor
Aquatic Animals as Indicators
Test Protocols
Heavy Metals' Effects on Fish
Validation of Short-Term
Screening Tests
Pulmonary Functions in
Small Animals
Behavioral Teratology
Post Natal Mouse
Eric Bretthauer
R. G. Lewis
Ira Wilder
William Cain
Robert Miday
Walter Grube
Richard Duty
Clayton Lake
Fred Craig
Victor Lambou
Wade Ponder
Michael Maxwell
Jack Wasser
Gary Glass
Blair Martin
Robert Hall
Dean Smith
Les McMillian
Charles Rogers
Dean Smith
Charles Powers
Gary Glass
Jim McElroy
John Eckert
William Malm
Jeff Van Ee
William Herget
Jim Homolya
Bruce Tichenor
Ralph Smialowicz
Oilman Veith
William Horning
Michael Waters
G.M. Christiansen
David Watkins
Jack Wagman
Michael Pereira
J. A. Couch
James Falco
Ron Garton
Ron Garton
John O'Neil
Earl Gray
Neil Chernoff
TELEPHONE
EMSL—Las Vegas 702/736-2969
HERE—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2510
IERL—Edison, N.J. 201/321-6635
IERL—Cincinnati 513/684-4334
HERE—Cincinnati 513/684-7461
HERE—Cincinnati 513/684-7406
RSKERL—Ada, Okla. 405/332-8800
EMSL—Las Vegas 702/736-2969
IERL—Cincinnati 513/684-4491
EMSL—Las Vegas 702/736-2969
IERL—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2915
IERL—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2578
IERL—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2476
ERL—Duluth 218/727-6692
IERL—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2235
IERL—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2477
IERL—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2235
EMSL—Las Vegas 702/736-2969
MERE—Cincinnati 513/684-7881
IERL—Research Triangle Park 919/541 -2708
ERL—Corvallis, Ore. 503/757-4671
ERL—Duluth 218/727-6692
EMSL—Las Vegas 702/736-2969
EMSL—Las Vegas 702/736-2969
EMSL—Las Vegas 702/736-2969
EMSL—Las Vegas 702/736-2969
ESRL—Research Triangle Park 919/541-3184
ESRL—Research Triangle Park 919/541-3085
IERL—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2821
HERE—Research Triangle Park 919/ 541-2541
ERL—Duluth 218/727-6692
HERE—Newtown, Ohio 513/684-8601
HERE—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2281
ERL—Duluth 218/727-6692
IERL—Cincinnati 513/684-4402
ESRL—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2191
HERE—Cincinnati 513/684-7401
ERL—Gulf Breeze, Fla. 904/932-5311
ERL—Athens, Ga. 404/546-3134
ERL—Corvallis, Ore. 503-757-4601
ERL—Corvallis, Ore. 503/757-4601
HERE—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2281
HERE—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2281
HERE—Research Triangle Park 919/541-2281
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SUBJECT
ANALYTIC TECHNIQUES
Toxic Compound Analysis
Ozone Calibration
Primary Sulfate Emissions
Aerosol Acidity Analysis
Undetected Pollutants
Now Measurable
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
Safety and Hazard Guide
Soils Grouting
Mobile Carbon Regenerator
Classification Methods
Wastes as Fuel
Scrap Futures
Deep Well Injection
Movement of Organics
in Groundwater
Indicatory Fate Study
WATER QUALITY
Trout, Salmon, and Nutrients
Laser Fluorsensor
Forestry Management
Lake Restoration
COASTAL ENVIRONMENT
Wetlands
Ocean Outfalls
Offshore Drilling
CHESAPEAKE BAY
MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER
Treatment Plant Operation
and Design
Ultraviolet Light
Concrete Pipe
Wastewater Aerosols and Disease
Magnetic Separation
Hardboard Water Reuse
Groundwater Recharge
INFORMATION TRANSFER
Film— Hold This Land
Videotape — Asbestos
Research Summary Series
Environmental Assessment Series
Project Tracking System
ORD PROGRAM EXPANDS
EPA and the Academic
Community
Testing and Evaluation
Neurotoxicology
Outreach: Environmental
Work Force
CONTACT
Dwight Ballinger
Tom Hauser
Jim Homolya
Robert Stevens
Charles Anderson
ORGANIZATION
EMSL — Cincinnati
EMSL — Research Triangle Park
ESRL— Research Triangle Park
ESRL— Research Triangle Park
ERL— Athens, Ga.
TELEPHONE
513/684-7301
919/541-2106
919/541-3085
919/541-3156
404/546-3183
AND RECOVERY ACT
Victor Lambou
Ira Wilder
Ira Wilder
R. L. Stenburg
George Huffman
Oscar Albrecht
Jack Keely
Marion Scalf
Leon Myers
Jack Gakstatter
Mike Bristow
Lee Mulkey
Spence Peterson
Hal Kibby
Don Baumgartner
Norman Richards
Tom DeMoss
Francis Evans III
Al Venosa
Richard Field
Herb Pahren
Richard Field
Michael Strutz
John English
Arthur Hornsby
William Cain
Mark Schaefer
Clarence demons
Albert Pines
Edward Schuck
Irwin Kugelman
Lawrence Reiter
Don Cook
EMSL— Las Vegas
IERL— Edison, N.J.
IERL— Edison, N.J.
MERL — Cincinnati
IERL — Cincinnati
MERL— Cincinnati
RSKERL— Ada, Okla.
RSKERL— Ada, Okla.
RSKERL— Ada, Okla.
ERL— Corvallis, Ore.
EMSL— Las Vegas
ERL— Athens, Ga.
ERL— Corvallis, Ore.
ERL— Corvallis, Ore.
ERL— Corvallis, Ore.
ERL— Gulf Breeze, Fla.
Annapolis, Md.
MERL — Cincinnati
MERL— Cincinnati
ERL— Edison, N.J.
HERL — Cincinnati
MERL— Edison, N.J.
IERL — Cincinnati
MERL — Cincinnati
RSKERL— Ada, Okla.
IERL— Cincinnati
Technical Information Office,
Washington, D.C.
CERI — Cincinnati
Technical Information Office,
Washington, D.C.
Anticipatory Research Program,
Washington, D.C.
MERL — Cincinnati
HERL— Research Triangle Park
National Workforce Develop-
ment Staff — Washington, D.C.
702/736-2969
201/321-6635
201/321-6635
513/684-7861
513/684-4478
513/684-7881
405/332-8800
405/332-8800
405/332-8800
503/757-4611
702/736-2969
404/546-3581
503/757-4794
503/757-4713
503/757-4722
904/932-5311
301/266-0077
513/684-7610
513/684-7668
201/321-6674
513/684-7217
201/321-6674
513/684-4227
513/684-7613
405/332-8800
513/684-4334
202/426-9454
513/684-7394
202/426-9454
202/755-0655
513/684-7633
919/541-2671
202/755-2937
202/755-2937
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Credits for this report: Richard Laska, Linda Smith,
Dave Myers, Tom Parker, Bill Wells, Ken Altshuler,
Phyllis Dorset, Jean McLean, Marja Wicker, Alice
Kleeman.
100
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1980—657.146/5606
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