vvEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA-600 9 8-
Apnl1985
Research and Development
Long-Range Research
Agenda for the
Period 1986-1991
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Table of Contents
Chapter Page
Introduction 1
Water 5
Air and Radiation 21
Hazardous Wastes 33
Multimedia Energy 45
Pesticides and Toxics 59
Exploratory Research Program 71
Appendix A: Resource Options 77
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Introduction
The primary goal of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
is the reduction of risks to public health and to the environment.
Within this context, the Office of Research and Development
(ORD) provides scientific information necessary to determine
the extent of these risks and to develop and evaluate technology
options to reduce, eliminate or prevent them. As part of this
process ORD must anticipate the scientific questions that will
arise so that the appropriate data may be obtained and
evaluated for the regulatory decision-making process. The
Long-Range Research Agenda is a document prepared by ORD
describing those future research needs for the period 1986-1991.
The framework for this document is a series of scientific issues
identified by EPA's five topical Research Committees: Water,
Air and Radiation, Hazardous Wastes, Multimedia Energy
(including acid deposition), and Pesticides and Toxics. These
committees, composed of representatives of ORD, Agency
Program (regulatory) Offices and the Regions, are jointly
chaired by senior managers from ORD and the appropriate
Program Office. The critical scientific issues for each committee
were delineated in a joint strategy document by the Assistant
Administrators of ORD and the appropriate Program Office.
Thus, these issues reflect the perspectives of both the regulatory
and research offices of EPA on where the scientific uncertainties
lie and how the Agency might reduce those uncertainties in the
1986-1991 time period. Research plans for the 1987-1991 time
period are subject to changes reflecting funding levels, com-
peting Agency priorities and new or modified legislation.
The issues in the Agenda are organized by research committees
which provide integrated planning within a media. This
integration and coordination includes those investigations
conducted by the Program Offices. While some studies are
undertaken by the Program Offices, research is conducted
through the offices of ORD which are generally organized
according to broad disciplines, and which provide information
for all the committees. For example, while each of the
committees has various issues dealing with human health, the
Office of Health Research is responsible for managing human
health research across all committees. The integration of the
overall research program is, thus, a matrix of topically oriented
research committees and discipline-oriented offices.
One of the major issues facing ORD is the development and
evaluation of research on the impact and mitigation of acid
deposition. While research in this area is a multi-agency
responsibility, EPA has the major lead in aquatic effects,
control technology and assessment. EPA also contributes
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INTRODUCTION
significantly to the other areas of the research program such as
terrestrial effects and materials damage. Studies on acid
deposition constitute the major portion of the multimedia and
energy research efforts and are discussed in detail in that
chapter.
Hazardous waste research is also a high priority. As a result of
the recent amendments to the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA), some sections of the hazardous waste
research program will increase in priority. The major increases
will occur in research on underground storage tanks, alternative
treatment process, and conventional landfills (Subtitle D
facilities).
Because of the cross-cutting nature of some health and
environmental problems, planning for some research areas falls
into the domain of more than one research committee. For
these, ORD has proposed, as part of the long-term planning
process, several initiatives that address issues requiring multi-
disciplinary inputs or coordination between several research
committees. Included among these issues are three topics which
will be receiving increased emphasis over the next five years:
biotechnology, reproductive toxicology and exposure assess-
ment. While they are not new areas for EPA research, they have
become significantly more important to the conduct of the
Agency's regulatory mission.
ORD's biotechnology efforts have the goal of providing the
information necessary to protect the environment from risks
associated with bioengineered organisms. Included are methods
to monitor these organisms, to determine potential health or
ecological effects, to control or contain releases, and to develop
risk assessments. The increased effort in reproductive toxicology
is needed to rectify the paucity of information on the effects of
chemicals on the human reproductive system. This research will
emphasize test method development, extrapolation of effects
from animals to man, development of early biological indicators
and risk assessments. Increased research in exposure assessment
will provide the improved understanding of human and
environmental exposure to pollutants needed to increase the
accuracy of risk assessments.
EPA's research is carried out in the ORD laboratories as well as
through contracts, cooperative agreements and interagency
agreements with organizations outside EPA. ORD also has an
Exploratory Research Program to support more basic and
fundamental environmental research. This research is carried
out through the Research Grants and Centers programs and is
discussed in the final chapter.
While the topics explored in this year's Agenda represent EPA's
judgement of the highest priorities facing the research commun-
ity through the remainder of the decade, they do not include all
of the ongoing research related to EPA's mission. In addition, a
significant component of ORD's activities is devoted to the
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INTRODUCTION
shorter-term resolution of technical issues identified by EPA's
regulatory offices, including technical support and assistance.
ORD also conducts oversight roles in quality assurance and
management of risk assessment activities. These two programs
are briefly described as follows.
Quality Assurance Oversight Activities. Quality assurance (Q A)
is a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary program that affects all
Agency-supported activities involving environmental data
collection. The goal of Q A is to ensure that the data produced by
these activities are of known and documented quality, and meet
the requirements established by the responsible office or
laboratory. Quality assurance is central to the scientific integrity
of every environmental data base developed by (or for) EPA and
hence is vital to the confidence with which Agency managers can
make policy and regulatory decisions.
The Office of Research and Development is the focal point for
quality assurance within EPA, with responsibility to develop
QA policy and guidance, coordinate and direct QA program
implementation, and evaluate QA activities Agency-wide.
Because the quality required for collected data is a function of
the use to be made of that data, ORD assists Program Offices,
Regional Offices and laboratories in their development of
appropriate data quality objectives.
Policy and direction are provided through guidance documents
and through administrative and technical meetings on appro-
priate procedures and methods. ORD, with the help of specific
Program and Regional Offices, also prepares technical mate-
rials. In the near term, ORD is concentrating on institution-
alizing the data quality objective process throughout the
Agency, obtaining resources for adequate QA at the Regional
Office level, developing specific guidance on performing audits
and compiling key information on routinely used measurement
methods.
ORD also reviews all Program and Regional Office and
laboratory quality assurance plans to determine programmatic
and resource commitments, compliance with established guide-
lines and the likelihood of meeting goals. Audits or reviews of
audits are conducted to assess the degree of implementation and
overall effectiveness as well as to identify problem areas and
appropriate corrective actions!
Risk Assessment Management. Nearly every Program Office in
EPA uses risk assessment in its regulatory or decision-making
processes. In the course of a year, about three thousand
documents related to "risk assessment" are produced through-
out EPA. However, the Agency's assessment activities differ in
the nature, technical approach and amount of peer review that
they undergo before being used in the decision-making process.
In cooperation with the Program Offices, ORD has been given
the management responsibility for development of risk assess-
ment procedures and for ensuring the consistency and technical
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INTRODUCTION
competence of the overall risk assessment program. ORD
manages a series of new intra-Agency workgroups which have
developed or will be developing guidelines for risk assessment
for six primary topics: carcinogenicity; mutagenicity; develop-
mental toxicity; systemic effects; assessment of chemical
mixtures; and exposure assessment. The guidelines are being
reviewed by EPA working groups, recognized experts outside
the Agency, EPA's independent Science Advisory Board and
other interested parties.
A Risk Assessment Forum has also been established to develop
consensus on intra-Agency scientific risk assessment questions.
The Forum embodies the collective expertise within the
Agency—the senior scientists/managers responsible for risk
assessment from each of the Program Offices as well as
representatives from the Office of General Counsel and the
Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation—and will meet to
review risk assessments upon the request of the Administrator,
Deputy Administrator, Assistant Administrators, or Regional
Administrators. The Forum will provide a mechanism for
interchange on science issues in risk assessment and advise the
Administrator and Deputy Administrator on precedent-setting
cases and important risk assessment questions.
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Water
Water research provides the knowledge and methods required
to protect our Nation's freshwater and marine environments, to
ensure the continued safety of our drinking water supplies, and
to implement the most cost-effective wastewater treatment
technologies. Demands on water supplies are increasing while
chemical contamination from toxic wastes and waterborne
diseases are posing major threats to some localities. Traditional
methods and strategies to measure and control pollution effects,
especially from organic chemicals, may no longer provide the
level of assurance demanded by the public. In order to meet the
challenges of increasingly complex contaminants in water,
research must develop effective approaches to assess a growing
number of potentially harmful mixtures of organic, toxic and
chlorinated organic compounds. Water management is becom-
ing more complicated, and regulators in both the federal and
state sectors require greater scientific certainty as a basis for
their decisions.
In this context, EPA's health effects research is important to the
development of both drinking water and ambient water quality
regulations. The engineering research program's evaluation,
development and transfer of innovative treatment technologies
to municipalities, industry and private landowners assists in the
implementation of cost-effective alternatives. EPA is also
accelerating its research into the toxic impacts to fish, wildlife
and their ecological systems. Finally, the necessity for credible
research and monitoring data is a cross-cutting issue of
significance to the entire research program.
EPA's water research programs will continue to provide
support to the Agency in the following areas: developing revised
and new drinking water Maximum Contaminant Levels and
Health Advisories; developing Criteria Documents and the
scientific underpinnings of ambient water-quality regulatory
policies; assisting the Regions and states to meet the burgeoning
demand for toxicity-based National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) permits; and providing technical
support to the municipal wastewater construction program in
pretreatment, sludge, infiltration/inflow and other areas.
The ten topics described in this report represent the principal
concerns in the water research area. However, they do not
include all of the ongoing research related to EPA's water
protection mission.
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Major Research Issues
Water-Quality and Toxicity-Based Approaches
What information and tools are needed to support implementa-
tion of state water quality standards and toxicity-based permits?
How can research results in these areas be most effectively
transferred to EPA Regions and the states?
The Clean Water Act (CWA) recognizes two types of regulatory
requirements to restore and maintain the quality of the Nation's
waters. Technology-based guidelines set uniform national
requirements for discharges by industries and sewage treatment
facilities. Water quality-based standards define the uses to be
made of water such as drinking water supply or recreation and,
subsequently, establish a site-specific criteria protective of that
use.
In 1984 EPA issued a new policy for National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits requiring a
balanced consideration of physical, chemical, biological and
microbiological factors. To support permit development,
biological toxicity-testing will provide quick, inexpensive
screening for potentially harmful substances in complex
effluents. EPA's research program will continue to develop
rapid assessment procedures to expedite toxicity-based permit-
ting.
Despite significant reductions in point-source pollutant levels as
a result of the implementation of technology-based discharge
limits, there are still water bodies which do not meet water
quality standards. Moreover, there are increasingly important
water quality problems caused by toxic substances, non-point
sources, or other factors such as reduced flow. EPA's research
into this area integrates seven components:
Water Body Assessment and Monitoring. Extensive evaluation
of biological methods for monitoring aquatic life and pathogens
of concern for human health will be necessary to standardize
use-attainability protocols for site-specific water quality surveys.
Additional research will locus on computerized biological data
management systems, modifying and standardizing analytical
methods for organic and inorganic chemicals and metals, and
determining the method's accuracy, precision and detection
limits for the chemicals of interest.
Use Attainability. In order to ensure that water quality goals are
ecologically attainable, an orderly process is used to classify
possible uses and levels of use, determine attainability, set
ecological requirements for the use, ensure that these require-
ments are met, and, finally, monitor results. The use designation
(e.g., drinking water source, sport fishery, etc.) reflects the
human use of water bodies. This use designation defines the
desirable goals for the water body. Research will develop
methods to assess ecological potential. An ecoregional approach
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will be used to predict general levels of attainability and to
predict methods of determining wildlife potential based on
physical habitat and other features.
Complex-Effluent-Toxicity Testing. Most pollutant sources
produce complex mixtures of chemical constituents. Aquatic
research on complex mixtures will be designed to develop short-
term toxicity tests and to identify significant relationships
between ambient toxicity and biological community impair-
ment. Other research in this area will support the development
of methods to predict toxicity persistence as well as assessment
of the precision of acute and short-term toxicity tests. Health
effects research will attempt to apply existing health bioassays
for use in evaluating effluents for human health risks. The health
concerns are chemicals that cause cancer, genetic changes in
cells and chronic toxicity. The bioassays and the design of the
tier testing protocols will be developed through a peer review
workshop, followed by field validation of the protocols.
Wasteload Allocation. The wasteload allocation (WLA) process
is the basis for permit limitations for individual dischargers.
Margins of safety, distribution of treatment responsibility
among dischargers and nonpoint-source contributions are
considered. Many water quality models are available, and
efforts are underway to make these models more useful to the
states. This effort will include models of toxic wasteloads as well
as conventional pollutants. ORD will participate in developing
toxicity-based permits at some demonstration sites and will
gather information on single-constituent and complex wastes in
ambient concentrations. In addition, the research program will
develop and compile data bases of environmental-process rate
coefficients, analytical techniques for organic and inorganic
chemicals and provide current aquatic resource inventories to
identify the extent and causes of water quality degradation and
the results of controls to date.
Mixing Zones. Forty-eight states allow mixing zones where
discharged pollutants may exceed long-term standards. EPA
will collect data on the exposures to various toxic pollutants
that organisms can tolerate within these zones.
Toxic Levels in Sediments. Many heavy metals and organic
chemicals adsorb on suspended sediment. Release of these
toxicants to the water can occur, increasing exposure factors
and bioaccumulation throughout the food chain. EPA will seek
to develop sediment criteria for such toxic compounds.
EPA's research support to toxic discharge permitting will focus
on representative permit demonstrations and the development
of microcomputer programs for on-site data analysis and
evaluation of toxic dischargers.
Great Lakes Research
How can we understand and eliminate the environmental
contamination problems identified in the Great Lakes?
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The Great Lakes, their connecting channels and tributaries
constitute a dynamic and complex freshwater ecosystem
unparalleled in the world. During the last two decades, signifi-
cant progress has been made in reducing the amount of
conventional waterborne pollutants entering the Great Lakes.
However, increased use of industrial chemicals and their
presence in the Great Lakes have raised public concerns about
toxic pollutants, particularly persistent organics. Many of the
problems and approaches discussed in other parts of this
chapter also pertain to the Great Lakes. Specific approaches
may differ, however, due to the large size and economic and
recreational value of these lakes.
EPA's strategy is to develop an early-warning mechanism for
the migration of contaminants from harbors and nearshore
areas into the ecologically important areas of the Lakes, and to
develop protocols for assessing the contaminants' impacts on
the ecosystem. However, because of the complexity of many
persistent organics, it is difficult to predict the potential adverse
impact of these chemicals on organisms in the food chain,
including humans. EPA will focus on determining biological
uptake of selected dioxins, which have been reported in high
concentrations in fish. The inadequate toxicity data on organic
compounds found in freshwater systems restricts our ability to
establish effluent limits. EPA will determine the acute and
chronic toxicities of organics such as dioxins at environmental
concentrations.
Analytical methods for many of the existing organic compounds
are inadequate to detect environmental concentrations at trace
levels. EPA will develop accurate and sensitive methods for
determining the contaminant load which is chemically suited for
uptake by the biota, the contaminants which tend to build up
within organism tissues, toxic levels, and fates and effects.
Existing mathematical models have limited capabilities to relate
pollutant exposure levels to the sources of organic compounds.
In order to make defensible use of predictive models in
determining biological availability and environmental effects of
toxic organics, EPA will integrate models of fate and transport
with models of food chain uptake.
Non-point source pollution is also a problem in parts of the
Great Lakes. Research will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of
innovative and alternative Best Management Practices (BMPs)
for controlling problems such as siltation from agriculture,
mining and urban runoff.
Estuary Protection Research
What information and tools are needed to protect estuaries
from excessive nutrients and toxic chemical contamination?
Estuaries are valuable ecological systems, both directly as local
fisheries and recreation resources, and indirectly as nursery
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WATER 9
areas for oceanic fisheries. Estuaries often Meat or very near the
center of many industrial activities, including those involved in
the production, transportation, consumption and release of
toxic chemicals. In addition, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs
contribute pollutants such as contaminated sediments, excessive
nutrients, agricultural chemicals and other toxic materials.
Water quality managers and planners in the states and interstate
commissions are dependent upon scientific information that
supports regulatory alternatives to protect estuarine waters for
multiple uses such as cooling water supply, recreation, fishing
and maintenance of fish stocks, and industry. The basic
scientific uncertainties involve the quantification of pollutant
loads, their transport and fate, and their cumulative effects on
the resources. EPA is currently involved with the states, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the
Department of Commerce, the Department of the I nterior and
the Army Corps of Engineers in five major estuarine studies: the
Chesapeake Bay; Long Island Sound; Buzzards Bay, Massa-
chussetts; Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island; and Puget Sound,
Washington. The Agency is also concerned with other critical
estuarine areas, such as those in the South Atlantic, Gulf of
Mexico and the Pacific coast.
Excessive Nutrients. A number of questions remain to be
answered concerning the dynamics and fate of nutrient
chemicals deposited in estuaries. EPA's research is concentrating
on the relative importance of point sources and non-point
sources of nutrients, the quantitative relationship between
nutrient supply and anoxia under different hydrological
conditions, the effectiveness of phosphorous-control strategies,
ecological indicators of site-specific water quality criteria, the
role of sediments as sources and sinks for nutrients, the
ecological consequences of treated wastewater that is deficient
in silica, and evaluation of cost-effective methods to monitor
various estuaries.
Toxic Chemicals. The questions surrounding the physical,
chemical and biological properties of toxic substances in
estuaries are similar to those involving toxic materials in other
aquatic systems. Models describing environmental processes
must be better documented and field tested. EPA is also
evaluating weaknesses in analytical methods for sediment-
bound toxics, the role of suspended sediments on bioavailability
and bioaccumulation of toxics, and the extent to which complex
effluent testing may be necessary in estuaries to establish reliable
water and sediment quality criteria.
Non-Point Source Controls. An understanding of the site-
specific impact of non-point source pollution is vital to the
protection of estuarine areas. Research will improve the
predictive capabilities for the runoff of nutrients and toxic
substances and the verification of simulation models for
individual estuaries. Existing models may need to be modified
to include additional impacts such as the infiltration and
transport of toxics to the ground water. Best Management
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Practices may also require evaluation as to their site-specific
cost-effectiveness.
Wastewater Treatment Technology
What information and tools are needed to improve the reliability
of the performance and the cost-effective construction or
renovation of municipal wastewater facilities?
The costs of construction and operation of conventional
secondary and advanced wastewater treatment facilities repre-
sent major public sector expenditures. To assure effective and
least-cost solutions for control of municipal discharges, research
must resolve a number of technological issues associated with
defining the effectiveness and costs of water quality treatment
and management practices. EPA provides technical evaluations
of the costs, performance and effluent variabilities of various
new innovative and alternative technologies at a scale sufficient
to reduce economic risks to the designers and the utilities. For
existing facilities, emphasis will be on plant upgrading as a
cost-effective alternative to new construction. Examples of such
alternatives include converting coarse-bubble aeration to fine-
bubble aeration to increase oxygen transfer, increasing aeration
surface areas, using high-biomass reactors, and the selective
application of biotechnology.
Research support is also required to address the problem of
combined wastewater and stormwater sewer overflows. The
goal of this research is to provide reliable information to those
state and local regulators responsible for the achievement of
water quality standards through facility planning, system design
and permit issuance. A particularly strong need for research and
technology information exists for small wastewater treatment
systems.
Innovative/Alternative Technologies. EPA's wastewater treat-
ment technology research program will develop data on the
costs and performance for a range of innovative and alternative
technologies. High priority areas include the identification of
low-cost methods to improve existing facilities for smaller
communities, and the assessment of innovative and alternative
technologies. The program will also evaluate new design
concepts to achieve compliance with state discharge permits
such as innovative nutrient removal processes for Chesapeake
Bay.
Toxic Pollutants. Cost/performance information will be
developed on engineering options for methods of treating and
eliminating toxic pollutants from industrial waste sources. This
will include evaluations of the role of municipal treatment
plants and their ability to remove toxic pollutants in order to
evaluate what can be treated centrally and what has to be
required in industrial pretreatment. The engineering data base
will be updated to help states implement a national pretreatment
program. A recent workshop identified needed research to
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WATER 11
interpret the significance of mutagenic contaminants found in
treatment plant effluents. Any significant mutagenic fraction
must be identified and isolated so that specific treatment or
pretreatment technologies may be designed to mitigate the
presence of toxic chemicals in effluents.
Monitoring. ORD will continue to be responsible for quality
assurance in wastewater monitoring. It will continue to assess
the adequacy of analytical performance and report the results of
its audits to the analyst, laboratory, state and region. The data
from the 8,000 major NPDES dischargers will continue to be
monitored and will serve as the basis for calibration and
methods evaluation to support EPA's implementation of
Section 304(h) of the Clean Water Act.
Ocean Disposal
What information and methods are needed to predict and
control the environmental impacts of ocean disposal of
municipal or industrial wastes?
The EPA is charged with regulating waste disposal activities in
the marine environment. Among these activities are the dumping
in >lie ocean of wastes such as dredged material, sewage sludge
and industrial wastes; the incineration-at-sea of hazardous
liquid wastes; and the disposal of municipal and industrial
wastewater through ocean outfalls. An improved understanding
of the ecological consequences of ocean disposal will be needed
to guide future public policy, to satisfy international marine
treaties and, where possible, to protee" and enhance coastal
fisheries resources. A major need is to gather facts on the
relationship between disposal costs and protection of marine
life. EPA's research is carried out in collaboration with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Key questions concerning ocean dumping and incineration-at-
sea involve the procedures to be used in dumpsite selection, the
assessment methods to be used in evaluating the impact of ocean
disposal and the procedures necessary to monitor dumpsites for
long-term impacts and to validate predictions made about
potential impacts. For effluents discharged from publicly
owned facilities through ocean outfalls, the CWA requires
secondary treatment. However, partial waivers are allowed in
selected cases, and EPA must have a scientific basis for
determining when a modification of the secondary treatment
requirement may be allowed and what effluent limitations
would be imposed for each special case. To support its ocean
dumping and outfall permit programs, and to assess the water
impacts of incineration-at-sea, EPA's research will focus on
three major activities:
Hazard Assessment. A hazard assessment procedure will be
developed to provide the data and interpretation necessary to
define the probability of harm to the marine environment. This
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information is necessary to determine the relative safety of
ocean disposal and to provide a comparison for various disposal
strategies for future ocean policies.
Bioaccumulation. A thermodynamic model for predicting the
maximum probable bioaccumulation from sediments and
sewage sludge will be developed and validated. Research on the
biological and ecological significance of tissue residues will
include the development of a conceptual model and a research
strategy to include the pharmacological, toxicological and
structure/activity principles to determine the link between
residues and biological effects.
Monitoring. Research will develop a monitoring strategy for
coastal and deepwater applications that will identify techniques
for measuring the physical, chemical and biological character-
istics of a disposal site. The objective of this effort is to develop,
field test and evaluate integrated monitoring approaches to
satisfy monitoring needs required for the evaluation and
renewal of marine disposal permits.
Sludge Disposal Management
What information is needed to develop and to assist the states in
implementing sludge disposal regulations?
About eight million tons (dry weight) of sludge per year are
produced from municipal wastewater treatment plants in the
United States. The processing and disposal of this sludge
accounts for about half the total operating costs of a typical
sewage treatment plant. As a result of the large volume of sludge
and the presence of potentially harmful constituents, municipal-
ities are facing increased economic and public problems with
current land and ocean disposal practices. Approaches to
disposal are needed that will: (1) significantly reduce the volume
of sludge; (2) destroy pathogens; (3) insure that toxic metals are
not a problem; and (4) reduce toxic organic compounds. There
is also a need to ensure that sludge disposal does not present a
threat to groundwater. To support the new EPA regulations,
research efforts will focus on sludge use criteria, procedures and
requirements applicable to the regulatory process.
EPA will refine methods to assess sludge disposal options
including research to determine ecosystem resiliency or stress
resulting from disposal and to predict the human health effects
from exposures to sludge.
Health Effects. EPA's research on potential human health
effects of sludge disposal is concentrating on developing data on
various chemical and bacteriological contaminants in sludge,
and hazard indices for their effects associated with different
exposure pathways. Further research will focus on processes to
'kill parasites and pathogens in sludges. Epidemiological studies
have been initiated to evaluate health hazards from exposures to
sludge where composted sludge is sold as fertilizer.
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Results from these and other studies will provide data for
determining the effects of various sludge treatment processes on
mitigating disease.
Risk Assessment. Decisions on alternative means of sludge
management require improved risk assessments. EPA will
develop information on mitigating risks through sludge treat-
ment or disposal options, and will produce guidelines for
conducting health risk assessments of sludge disposal.
Engineering and Technology. A principal objective of EPA's
sludge management research program involves determining the
cost compared to performance of various engineering designs
for treatment and disposal options. In evaluating new processes
for improved sludge stabilization, volume reduction, energy
recovery and land use, EPA will support pilot studies of
innovative combinations of activated, anaerobic sludge di-
gestion and wet-oxidation to determine efficiency, performance
and cost. Another key area of research will establish the
relationship of heavy metal and toxic organic compound levels
in municipal wastewaters to the levels in sludge.
Drinking Water, Health Effects and Treatment
Technologies
What health effects are caused by chemical and microbial
contaminants found in drinking water, what are the risks
associated with them, and what new technologies are needed to
continue to assure the safety of drinking water?
The Safe Drinking Water Act requires EPA to establish
drinking water regulations to protect human health and welfare.
State and local governments, with the primary responsibility for
providing safe drinking water, need help with the many
potential problems related to drinking water quality. Pending
revisions of the National Interim Primary Drinking Water
Regulations will incorporate new standards for a variety of
synthetic and volatile organic chemicals. EPA's drinking water
research program will continue to provide support to the Office
of Drinking Water and to the states in their implementation of
safe drinking water programs.
Traditionally, drinking water standards for protecting human
health have been developed on a single-chemical basis. However,
as in other aspects of water research, methods are also needed to
determine the toxicological activity of the aggregate of chemicals
found in water through bioassays, and to determine the relative
risks from the bioassay data. This approach would have direct
application in assessing health risks of drinking water from any
source, and would support reliable determination of risk from
exposure to complex mixtures.
EPA's drinking water technology research program has two
principal objectives: (1) provide engineering data necessary to
support the development and revision of drinking water
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regulations; and (2) provide engineering information and
technological support to states, municipalities, EPA regions
and utilities relative to drinking water regulations and compli-
ance. The major technological gaps that may affect our ability to
provide safe drinking water include: inadequate data on the
relationship between treatment strategies and consequent
deterioration of water quality within the distribution system;
insufficient data on the factors causing deterioration of water
quality within the distribution system itself; and problems with
bringing small systems into compliance. Another area of
concern is the impact of distribution system corrosion on
drinking water quality and low-cost techniques to solve these
problems.
Toxicity of Complex Mixtures in Drinking Water. EPA's
research will concentrate on the development and application of
bioassays to determine the health significance of complex
mixtures of chemicals. This will lead to methods for developing
drinking water standards based on the toxicological risks of the
spectrum of chemicals in drinking water instead of on an
individual-chemical basis, and would better define the risk to
public health. Planned activities include sample-concentration
procedures for preparing representative samples for toxico-
logical evaluation of drinking water, development of a protocol
and risk assessment methodology to estimate reproductive
hazards and target-organ toxicity, and reporting on relative
risks from potable water derived from various sources.
Toxicity of Single-Chemicals in Drinking Water. The need still
exists to determine the health effects of specific chemicals that
potentially contaminate water supplies at toxic levels. Studies
will be conducted on specific chemicals to provide specific data
to support regulatory and health advisory decisions. The
individual chemicals will be selected based on potential or actual
occurrence in drinking water supplies. Through these tests, the
relationships between dose and response and the mechanisms
through which toxicity is effected will provide valuable data to
support the development of risk assessment and Maximum
Contaminant Levels in drinking water. This approach comple-
ments a similar effort to use toxicity screening as a means of
controlling effluents.
Disinfection By-Products. Trihalomethanes were the first
recognized by-products of thechlorination of drinking water. It
is now clear that a variety of other potentially carcinogenic and
mutagenic chemicals, such as haloacetonitriles, halogenated
aldehydes, ketones, and a number of as-yet unidentified by-
products are produced by chlorination. The toxicity of the
by-products of alternative disinfectants to chlorine are even less
well understood. In addition to the by-products formed in
drinking water, a variety of other substances are produced in the
bodies of those who drink the water. Research will continue on
improving treatment technologies including disinfection,
microbe filtration, ion exchange, aeration, adsorption and
reverse osmosis for the control of organic and radionuclide
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WA TER 15
chemicals, chlorinated organics and particulates. Laboratory,
pilot and field studies will be conducted to define the interaction
between treatment strategies and water quality deterioration in
distribution systems. Research by EPA seeks to identify
disinfection by-products, determine which of these chemicals
possess toxicological properties, establish the dose/response
relationships for these effects and, ultimately, establish the risk
involved with alternative disinfectants.
Infectious Diseases. The classical public health problem in
water has been the prevention of waterborne infectious disease.
Research must take into account problems with pathogens such
as Legionella, Giardia and Norwalk-like viruses while estab-
lishing the health impacts of various treatment and distribution
processes. EPA's research is concentrating on developing
methods for the isolation, identification and quantification of
waterborne pathogens, determining the effects of changing
disinfection practices on infectious disease occurrence, and
developing a dose/response water quality indicator that
correlates with disease.
Overall System Integrity. The persistence and potential regrowth
of organisms in distribution systems are influenced by a variety
of conditions that include physical and chemical characteristics
of the water, system age, pipe materials and the availability of
suitable sites for bacteria colonization. Laboratory and field
studies will be conducted to evaluate the impact of changes in
treatment and disinfection practices brought about by existing
and new regulations. Investigations will also be carried out on
other key factors that influence microbial regrowth, including
nutrients, temperature and protective habitats such as sediment
accumulations. In addition, theoretical, laboratory and field
studies will be conducted to define the factors associated with
distribution system repair and replacement criteria, including
costs associated with the optimal renovation strategies.
Small System Compliance. Special attention is directed at the
needs of small drinking water systems (under 10,000 persons)
since this is where the bulk of drinking water compliance
problems occur. Research is evaluating the cost and engineering
feasibility of specific treatment techniques to remove or control
problem organic and inorganic contaminants, trihalomethanes,
microorganisms and particles. Several evaluations will be at
pilot or full-scale. Laboratory-scale studies are being done to
define variables that govern the effectiveness and efficiencies of
treatment processes prior to large-scale evaluations.
Groundwater Protection
What information and methods are needed to improve the
monitoring, prediction and reclamation of the problems caused
by groundwater pollution?
Underground aquifers are a major source of water for drinking,
irrigation and industrial development. However, in some
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16 WA TER
instances, these aquifers are threatened by poor waste-
management and improper safeguards. The list of potential
contaminant sources is large; among the most common are
leaching from landfills, dumps and impoundments, mining and
radioactive waste disposal sites, underground waste injection
wells, petroleum development, saline recharge, excessive use of
agricultural chemicals, and accidental spills.
The research base for assessing and predicting the impacts of
groundwater pollution lags far behind that for surface-water
sources. While we know reasonably well how a few organic
chemicals behave in a few groundwater environments, a great
deal remains to be accomplished to significantly bridge the data
gaps, expand predictive capabilities, reduce costs and improve
the accuracy of groundwater monitoring, and determine the
feasibility of cleanup. The following discussion includes those
aspects that are not addressed under other research programs.
Monitoring. Research will evaluate geophysical and geochem-
ical methods for the detection and mapping of subsurface
leachates and groundwater contaminant plumes. EPA's research
objectives are to survey, develop, test and evaluate both surface-
based and downhole instruments and methods which can be
used for such monitoring and hydrogeologic investigations.
EPA will also examine these methods for monitoring deep
contaminant plumes associated with underground injection.
Additional research will evaluate "indicator" parameters which
may detect the presence of hazardous constituents in ground-
water during active site operations and after site closure.
Prediction of Contaminant Concentrations. EPA's research will
focus on the definition of the relationships between subsurface
hydrogeological properties and pollutant transfer. This includes
the determination of the chemical and microbiological con-
taminants susceptible to transformation, the physical and
chemical components of dispersion, and the prediction of
groundwater quality at a point of use.
Aquifer Restoration. In situ aquifer restoration refers to the
cleanup of contaminated groundwater, while still in the aquifer,
to a degree where the water will be restored to safe levels for use.
This capability is in its infancy, and EPA's activities will
emphasize compilation of existing information, developing
methods for isolating contaminated plumes, and evaluating the
feasibilities and cost-benefits of various mitigation techniques.
EPA will also demonstrate selected technologies through limited
field testing.
Monitoring Data Quality Assurance
To what extent can data collection and reduction methods be
standardized to assure reliability, repeatability, intercompar-
ability, and scientific credibility?
The goal of quality assurance is to ensure that data generated in
monitoring and other measurement programs are technically
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WATER 17
and scientifically defensible. At the heart of quality assurance
are the methods used to collect and analyze samples. These
methods must be developed and validated so their performance
is acceptable to the regulated organizations and the independent
scientific community. While sampling and analytical methods
are available and deployed within the appropriate measurement
programs, without standardization, sampling and analytical
methods for water and wastewater monitoring will vary in
unknown ways and with them will vary the quality of the data.
Many of the quality assurance (QA) activities are on-going,
level-of-effort programs which are critical to EPA's water
quality monitoring activities. The current QA program for
water quality research includes conceiving, developing and
providing the tools, guidelines and technical support to cost-
effectively maintain the scientific credibility of the collected
data. In this context, the QA program provides guidelines to
establish acceptability of data of known quality and for
sampling to determine representativeness of the data. A number
of questions require additional investigation as the monitoring
and measurement systems mature with changing demands for
research support.
Repositories of Analytical Standards. EPA repositories of
analytical standards play a critical role. Standards, developed
by EPA for most of the pollutants used to define water quality,
are made available on a voluntary basis to research, enforcement
and compliance offices and to other water quality laboratories
to provide an analytical reference point. The continued avail-
ability and use of these primary analytical standards is one of the
most cost-effective ways to assure credibility and intercompar-
ability of laboratory results.
Analytical Proficiency. The QA program conducts a variety of
performance evaluations. Some of these are voluntary, such as
the Water Pollution and Water Supply series in which partici-
pating laboratories are provided blind samples for analysis.
Their results are statistically analyzed and poor performers are
alerted to correct their performance. Other studies are conducted
in direct support of the Program Offices, such as the Discharge
Monitoring Report Quality Assurance program for the Office
of Water Enforcement and the Laboratory Certification
Program for the Office of Water Supply.
QA Guidelines. The quality assurance program for water is
developing guidelines for facilitating quality control statistics
and electronic transmission of data with automated techniques
for real-time QA capabilities. Additional guidelines are being
prepared for measurements of viruses, microbiological systems
and larger organisms, and for QA in physical and chemical
analytical laboratories.
Summary of Long-Term Trends
Most of the water research issues described in this chapter will
continue into the next decade, with gradually changing degrees
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18 WA TER
of activity and emphasis. Improved analytical capabilities will
continue to lower the detection limits of trace constituents in
water, resulting in identification of greater numbers of potenti-
ally deleterious chemical contaminants. Coupled with more
toxicological and epidemiological information, water quality
managers will face increasingly difficult decisions involving the
environmental significance of complex mixtures of pollutants.
A significant near-term issue includes the development of
toxicant information for complex mixtures. The growing
inventory of chlorinated organic contaminants in complicated
combinations requires significant changes in the research
strategies and technological methods used to assess them.
Whole-sample evaluations such as matrix bioassays, biological
indicators and chemical surrogates will play a larger role in the
future. To remain responsive, EPA's water research program
must simultaneously develop and validate new methods while
applying them in regulatory situations.
The environmental water quality issues, including non-point
source pollution, estuary protection, ocean disposal of wastes
and the water quality-based approach, all reflect the emerging
need to develop new tools to test and monitor ecological
impairment, including toxic effects on aquatic species. Over the
next decade, major strides will be made in establishing safe, or
"no-effect" levels of toxic organic contaminants in sediments
and water, and in methods to establish biological availability
and bioaccumulation in tissues.
Many communities and landowners rely upon groundwater
sources for drinking and irrigation. Questions regarding the
quality of groundwater have been increasing in recent years.
Consequently, the dynamics of groundwater and the residence
times and fates of leached contaminants in these aquifers will be
a major water resource issue for the remainder of the century.
The coming decade will see the refinement of the capability to
simulate and predict the impacts of contaminants on under-
ground sources. Increased research will improve approxima-
tions of the behavior of contaminants in aquifers and the
transport mechanisms of surface pollutants leached into the
ground. The fates and effects of toxic compounds and
anthropogenic radionuclides in ground water will not likely be
adequately understood until well into the future.
In the wastewater treatment areas, no fundamental changes are
foreseen. Improved engineering and the periodic emergence of
innovative and alternative technologies will partially offset the
rising costs associated with wastewater treatment. A major
breakthrough in wastewater treatment, if there is one, may come
from biological engineering, possibly by developing organisms
which could be more effective in treating wastewater.
With the increasing complexity of the information base available
to state and local water quality managers, technology infor-
mation transfer will continue to be a fundamental component of
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WATER 19
EPA's research program. While not, strictly speaking, a research
issue, demands for current technology and data outside the
federal scientific community will increase as water quality
protection is transferred to the states. The coming decade will
experience significant changes in information management,
with much greater emphasis on microcomputer-based technol-
ogies for site-specific applications. EPA's research program is
already developing and demonstrating this important new tool.
Finally, the demands on quality control of research and
monitoring data will grow with the lowering of detection limits
and the concomitant increase in new compounds. While the
methods for quality assurance will not materially change,
relying as they do on statistical analysis of the underlying
technologies, the mechanisms whereby EPA implements its QA
may change to reflect the costs of ensuring credibility and
standardization. EPA believes that its QA programs in methods
development and laboratory certification are vital components
of its mission. However, the future may bring about a transfer of
its program of providing reference samples to the private sector,
with the costs directly borne by the permittees and other
analytical users.
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21
Air and Radiation
Under the Clean Air Act (CAA), as amended in 1977, EPA is
responsible for setting ambient air quality standards to protect
the public health (primary standards) and welfare (secondary
standards) from air pollutants emitted from both stationary and
mobile sources. National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS) have been set for six "criteria" pollutants: ozone
(Oa); carbon monoxide (CO); particulate matter (PM); sulfur
dioxide (SO2); nitrogen dioxide (NO2); and lead (Pb). As
required by law, these standards must be reviewed every five
years and revised if necessary. Compliance with these standards
is the responsibility of each state through the development and
implementation of State Implementation Plans (SIPs) which
limit emissions from existing sources, set time tables for
compliance and establish monitoring procedures. The Agency is
also responsible for setting New Source Performance Standards
(NSPS) to limit criteria air pollutant emissions from new
sources or from existing sources which have been modified
based on the use of best demonstrated control systems. In areas
where the air quality is better than that required to meet primary
and secondary standards, emissions from new or modified
sources are restricted under the Prevention of Significant
Deterioration (PSD) program.
In addition, EPA is responsible for limiting emissions of air
pollutants that are hazardous to human health, but are not
already regulated as criteria pollutants. National Emission
Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESH APs) have been
set for asbestos, beryllium, mercury, benzene and vinyl chloride,
and are under evaluation for radionuclides, arsenic, and coke
oven emissions.
ORD provides the scientific data bases, methodologies, models,
assessments, emission reduction technologies and corresponding
quality assurance support to implement these legislative
authorities. Eleven major issues have been identified within the
scope of the air research program which cut across scientific
disciplines and the pollutant-specific structure of the research
program.
Major Research Issues
Dose-Response
What dose response information is needed to reduce the
uncertainties associated with the adverse health effects of air
pollutants under NAAQS and NESHAPs?
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Extrapolation
22 AIR AND RADIA TION
Uncertainty about what levels of pollutant exposure produce
adverse health effects makes it difficult to set standards that will
protect the public from those adverse health effects. A primary
source of this uncertainty is lack of sufficient dose-response
information to determine the lowest level of exposure to a
particular pollutant at which adverse effects occur. Without this
evidence the optimum level for a standard that adequately
protects the public health cannot be determined. Research is
being conducted to provide needed dose-response data on both
criteria pollutants and hazardous air pollutants.
For each of the criteria air pollutants, the sensitive population
groups and the pollutant exposure ranges of interest have
generally been identified. However, testing of these pollutants
will continue in both animal and human subjects to refine the
exposure levels and the health endpoints of concern. These
health endpoints are mainly respiratory, metabolic, and immune
system effects for O3, NO2, SO2 and particulate matter; cardio-
vascular and neurologic for CO; and behavioral effects for lead.
Additional emphasis will be placed on evaluating the effects of
long-term versus short-term higher-peak exposures to oxidants,
particularly NOz, and the effects of both long-term and short-
term exposures to the coarse fraction of airborne particles
smaller than 10 microns in diameter. The information obtained
from this research will be factored into the next round of criteria
documents and used in the review of NAAQS.
For hazardous air pollutants, a somewhat different approach is
being taken. Research to identify which pollutants are of
greatest concern, either because of the seriousness of their
effects or because of the degree of exposure to them, will be
conducted. Compounds will be studied in animals or in animal
biological test systems to characterize and quantify their effects,
particularly mutagenic or carcinogenic effects and effects upon
particular organ systems. Because of the potential hazards of
these pollutants, clinical studies of exposed human volunteers
cannot be conducted; however, epidemiological studies may be
feasible.
Studies on the health effects of motor vehicle exhausts will be
conducted by the Health Effects Institute (HEI). This institute
was established and is funded by both EPA and the motor
vehicle industry to perform independent studies and produce
health data on pollutants emitted from motor vehicles. The HEI
considers a summary of the needs submitted by the sponsors and
designs a health research program to respond to those needs.
This program is complementary to EPA's research program for
both criteria and non-criteria pollutants. HEI's research
currently focuses on carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and
diesel exhaust.
What models are needed to extrapolate from animal data to
human risks, from high to low doses and from acute to chronic
effects?
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AIR AND RADIA TION 23
The lack of data on health effects in people exposed to air
pollutants is a source of uncertainty in the development of
NAAQS and NESHAPs. Even where human health data exist,
they are often based upon short-term, high-level exposures
which may not be directly relevant to the low-level, long-term
chronic exposures that are more typical of environmental
conditions. This data gap often cannot be filled by human
clinical studies because one cannot intentionally expose human
subjects to substances suspected of causing permanent damage.
Thus, to improve our ability to relate animal data to actual
human consequences, and thereby develop more reliable risk
estimates of exposure to air pollutants, techniques are being
developed to extrapolate from animal to human effects, from
high to low doses and from acute to chronic effects. To develop
these techniques, information in three critical areas is needed:
dosimetry—the amount of pollutant which reaches specific
target sites in the body after exposure to a given concentration
of pollutant; species sensitivity—the potential variations in
response of different animal species to the same dose of
pollutant; and dose-response.
For the criteria air pollutants, human volunteers can be exposed
to pollutants for brief periods of time at concentrations similar
to those encountered in daily life, and the resulting effects on
heart and lung function, immune response, and other physio-
logical and biological parameters can be measured through
non-invasive techniques. Similar studies with animals can be
conducted. Animals can also be exposed chronically to these
pollutants and the cumulative lifetime effect of these exposures
determined. This dose-response data combined with dosimetry
and species-sensitivity information will enable an inference of
the effects that chronic exposure to a given pollutant may have
on humans. Both the experimental and theoretical work
necessary to accomplish this for the criteria pollutants will be
conducted.
The kind of extrapolation approach described above cannot be
used with hazardous air pollutants since the health effects are
likely to be chronic, severe, or irreversible, e.g., neurotoxic,
genetic, reproductive, or developmental effects. Thus, research
will concentrate on developing animal models that use biological
indicators of such effects in humans.
Integrated Cancer Project
What research is needed to determine the contribution of air
pollution to the incidence of cancer in the United States?
There is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the relationship
between air pollution and human cancer. Determining the
extent to which air pollution is responsible for or related to lung
cancers and other types of human cancers could have a major
impact on EPA's regulatory program. Thus, a long-term,
interdisciplinary research program has been developed to
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24 AIR AND RADIA TION
address the major scientific questions regarding the relationship
between air pollution and human cancer.
The three basic goals of this program are to: (1) identify the
principal airborne carcinogens; (2) determine which emission
sources are major contributors of carcinogens to ambient air;
and (3) improve the estimate of comparative human cancer risk
from specific air pollutant emission sources. Field tests of
relatively isolated single-source categories are essential for
developing methods to evaluate the more typical multiple-
source-category environments that the general population is
exposed to. Therefore, the initial field tests will focus on
quantifying carcinogens emitted from residential wood-fired
combustion systems and motor vehicles. This project focuses on
identifying those substances actually present in the air that are
most likely to be carcinogenic and on describing how they came
to be present in the environment. Thus, under the monitoring
component of the project, samples of ambient air in the
"breathing zone" of persons in an urban/industrial area and a
suburban area will be collected and analyzed for carcinogens
and mutagens. Comparisons between the ambient and personal
samples and between the urban and suburban concentrations
will be made, and relationships between exposure and dose will
be studied. The relative importance and contribution of gaseous
and volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile and particulate
organic compounds to total airborne carcinogens will be
determined. In addition, laboratory studies will be conducted to
determine the atmospheric formation and fate of bioactive
compounds.
Under the health component of the program, methods will be
developed and data gathered to evaluate the human cancer risk
from individual and, ultimately, complex-source emissions. A
comparative methodology will be adapted to evaluate and
utilize short-term mutagenesis and animal carcinogenesis data
on emissions. Research to identify the major sources of
hazardous air pollutants and to characterize these emissions
from industries and combustion sources of primary concern will
serve as the basis of the engineering component of the project.
Welfare Effects
What information is needed on the welfare effects of pollutants
to support secondary standards?
Research of the impact of air pollution on vegetation and
visibility degradation is needed to assess the need for secondary
air quality standards for criteria pollutants. Research on the
impact of Os on agricultural crops indicates that physiological
conditions such as water stress on plants and Oa exposure
fluctuations may affect plant response to Oa. Therefore research
to reduce these uncertainties will be conducted.
To develop and implement air pollution abatement strategies
for visibility protection, research will be conducted to determine
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AIR AND RADIA TION 25
the extent of visibility impairment, and analytical tools will be
developed to assess a variety of control options. Specifically, the
role of aerosols on visibility reduction will be assessed; visibility
trends for the U.S. will be determined utilizing existing data
bases; and measurement and monitoring techniques will be
developed to more completely characterize the extent of visibil-
ity changes. A regional visibility research network, using fine
particle and optical measurements, will be established to
provide data for analyzing source-receptor relationships, and
models to assess visibility protection strategies will be developed
and refined.
A mbient A ir Quality Models
What information on the atmospheric transport and transfor-
mation of air pollutants is needed to develop and improve
ambient air quality models in support of regulatory programs?
Pollutants emitted into the air often undergo chemical and
photochemical reactions that change the initial pollutants into
different compounds. Models to predict this phenomenon are
being developed at the urban and regional scale and for complex
terrains. These models, when fully developed, will provide
information necessary to develop, evaluate and implement cost-
effective air pollution control strategies for SIPs and Prevention
of Significant Deterioration determinations.
Over the last few years, a variety of air quality models have been
developed and evaluations of these models indicate that they
need to be improved to increase the accuracy and reliability of
modeling predictions. To improve urban scale models (up to
50km), smog-chamber studies will be conducted to simulate the
atmospheric chemical processes associated with the formation
of oxidants and inhalable particulate matter including fine and
coarse particulate size ranges. Emphasis will be placed on the
impact of lower hydrocarbon/ NOX ratios and the role of specific
categories of volatile organic carbons (VOCs) such as aromatic
hydrocarbons and aldehydes in producing oxidants. Other
studies will be conducted to determine the occurrence, lifetimes
and transformation processes associated with potential hazard-
ous air pollutants to assess their environmental importance.
On the regional scale (up to 1000km), laboratory and field
studies will be conducted to improve the ability of models to
predict the atmospheric transport, transformation and deposi-
tion processes for air pollutants such as Oa and particulate
matter. Alternative mathematical techniques and new meteoro-
logical tracers will also be evaluated to determine their ability to
improve modeling predictions.
In addition, complex-terrain models will be field-tested to
expand the applicability of the model to more complex
topographical situations, a greater variety of meteorological
conditions, and 3- and 24-hour average concentrations.
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26 AIR AND RAD1A TION
Mobile Source Emissions
What mobile source emission characterizations are needed to
evaluate the effectiveness of control strategies?
As the driving fleet ages and changes occur in engine design,
models to assess the impacts of mobile source emissions on
ambient air quality need to be refined and studies need to be
conducted to evaluate the health and environmental impact of
new emissions. Greater emphasis will be placed on evaluating
promising alternative fuels, particularly methanol. The two
primary pollutants of importance from methanol-fueled vehicles
are methanol and formaldehyde. Analytical procedures to
measure methanol and formaldehyde will be developed and
emission characterizations performed. Research to determine
the photochemistry of emissions from methanol-fueled vehicles
will be conducted also. Emissions from future gasoline-fueled
vehicles and diesel-fueled vehicles equipped with advanced
control technologies will be characterized.
An improved method will be developed to determine the
contribution of motor vehicle emissions to the ambient air. This
method will replace less applicable methods currently used. Past
and present research efforts have focused on the development
and refinement of a general exposure methodology for
predicting population exposures to mobile sources emissions,
using CO as a surrogate for mobile source emissions. Methods
are not currently available to determine exposure conditions for
most of the pollutants emitted from mobile sources. Because the
dominant source of CO is mobile emissions, CO has been used
as a surrogate for these other pollutants. The general exposure
methodology used for CO will be extended to other mobile
source pollutants. Vehicular exposure models will be developed
for CO and other mobile source pollutants based on previous
CO field studies. NOj, inhalable particulates and benzene are
potential candidates for study. Monitoring of these pollutants in
highway microenvironments could additionally be used to
evaluate the accuracy of these models. This information will be
used to determine whether changes/additions to the current
mobile source emission standards will be necessary.
Monitoring Systems, Methods Development and
Quality Assurance
What monitoring systems and methods and quality assurance
support are needed to support NESHAPs, NAAQS and SIPs?
New and improved air pollution monitoring methods and
techniques are needed to develop risk assessments and determine
areas where public health and welfare are threatened, air quality
trends, compliance with ambient standards and permit condi-
tions, and the need for enforcement actions. Such methods are
needed for ambient, source and personal monitoring.
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AIR AND RADIATION 27
Methods Development. Few serious monitoring or method-
ology problems exist for current criteria air pollutants.
Therefore, with the exception of inhalable particulate methods
research, the primary focus of the research program in this area
will be to refine existing ambient and source monitoring
methods. Efforts to improve the sensitivity, reliability and
precision of the methods and reduce their complexity and
expense will be continued. Emphasis will also be placed on
improving continuous source methods for monitoring SO2,
NO2 and O3.
Unlike the situation for criteria air pollutants, few monitoring
methods are available for measuring the concentration of
potentially hazardous air pollutants, especially VOCs. New
sampling and analytical systems and a set of validated source-
sampling methods will be developed for monitoring important
sources of hazardous air pollutants that cannot now be
monitored with adequate precision and accuracy. Research to
develop methods of monitoring ambient hazardous air pollutant
concentrations will be accelerated, as will work on passive
monitors and new sorbents. This will extend the measurement
capability to chemicals not collected by current methods and to
new monitoring situations such as exposures near hazardous-
waste sites. Following the development of appropriate moni-
toring technology, a nationwide Toxic Air Monitoring System
(TAMS) will be established to characterize urban atmospheres
and determine national trends for non-criteria air pollutants in
order to determine the magnitude and extent of the hazardous
air pollution problem.
Although conventional criteria pollutant monitoring programs
have emphasized the measurement of pollutants in the ambient
air, very little is known about actual human exposures to air
pollutants. Studies now indicate that measurements at fixed
sampling locations may not be representative of the concentra-
tions to which key portions of the population are exposed. Thus,
research to develop and refine methods for measuring actual
human exposure will continue. Emphasis will be on techno-
logical improvements in personal (microenvironment) monitor-
ing equipment and the development of adequate exposure
models.
Quality Assurance. To ensure that Agency decisions are backed
by technical data that are of known accuracy and precision,
EPA will continue to provide quality assurance (Q A) support in
accordance with Agency policy and in support of QA require-
ments contained in regulations. The repository for reference
samples will be maintained, standard reference materials
developed and audits performed. State and local criteria
pollutant air monitoring activities will continue, and QA
support will also be provided to EPA, state and local govern-
ments, and international monitoring programs for criteria and
non-criteria air pollutants.
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28 AIR AND RADIA TION
Human Exposure
What monitoring systems and methods are needed to define
human exposure to air pollutants?
Information on the concentrations to which people are actually
exposed is becoming an increasingly important factor in
determining the health risk associated with airborne contami-
nants. Through advances in miniaturization, it has been possible
to design small instruments, called personal monitors, capable
of accurately recording the concentrations of a pollutant to
which a person is exposed. Successful personal monitors now
exist for carbon monoxide (CO), volatile organic compounds,
and respirable particulates. A limited number of field investiga-
tions have been undertaken with these new instruments.
A continuous CO personal monitor now exists using a small
pump. However, this pump is battery operated and requires a
technician to collect stored data and recalibrate the monitor
every 12 hours. Therefore, there is a need to develop a small,
lightweight passive CO monitor which will operate like the film
badges used in radiation monitoring. There also is a need to
improve the accuracy and precision of organics monitors.
Laboratory research is under way to develop a passive monitor
for volatile organic compounds and pesticides. Because the
health effects of NO2 are thought to be associated with high
exposures of extremely short duration, a continuous NOa
monitor is called for. Over the next several years, research will
be conducted to develop such a monitor based on chemilumi-
nescent principles and evaluated in pilot-scale field studies. If
the instrument proves successful, it can be utilized in large-scale
epidemiological studies on the sources, exposures, and health
effects of NOa. Field tests for existing monitors for inhaled
particles will also be conducted and size-selective particle
samplers may be developed.
As the new air pollution exposure instrumentation is developed,
there will be a need to move from the laboratory into small-scale
pilot field investigations to test these monitors in real settings.
Once the personal monitoring methodology has proved effective
on a small scale, it will be appropriate to demonstrate the
methodology with full-scale studies on urban populations to
better assess the public health risk from these pollutants.
Emission Characterization and
Technology Evaluation
What stationary-source-emission characterizations and tech-
nology evaluations are needed to support SIPs, NSPS and
NESHAPS?
Although considerable progress has been made in controlling
air pollution from both mobile and stationary sources, emissions
of the criteria pollutants are currently a major concern in a
number of areas of the country. Thus, research will be conducted
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AIR AND RADIA TION 29
to characterize the emission sources, and evaluate and improve
the cost effectiveness of emission reduction technologies, thereby
reducing the cost of complying with SIPs and New Source
Performance Standards (NSPS).
Because much is already known about criteria pollutants,
priorities for this research have shifted in recent years to focus
more on VOCs and hazardous air pollutants. In addition, large-
scale demonstrations of emission-reduction technologies have
been replaced by less-costly fundamental studies, pilot and
prototype testing and evaluation and technology-transfer
activities.
VOCs, which react with NO» and sunlight to produce ozone, are
a major cause of the ozone non-attainment problem. Although
emissions from major stationary sources are being reduced,
small sources (e.g., dry cleaners, gas stations and paint users) are
not being widely controlled. Although these sources individually
emit small amounts of pollutants, collectively they may
constitute a significant problem. Control technologies such as
industrial flares, carbon adsorption, catalytic oxidation and
thermal incineration will be assessed to determine their
performance and cost in reducing VOC emissions from such
sources. Emphasis will be placed on developing and evaluating
methods to control VOCs without resorting to costly add-on
control devices.
Research on VOC control technologies is not only important in
resolving the ozone non-attainment problem, but in controlling
hazardous air pollutant emissions as well. Thus, additional
research will be conducted to assess the performance and
determine the degree of hazardous air pollution control present-
ly being achieved by technologies designed to control or reduce
the formation of criteria pollutants. Alternatives will be
evaluated and emission sources characterized.
Research to control particles focuses on improving the
performance, reliability and cost-effectiveness of the multi-stage
electrostatic precipitator (ESP) and fabric filtration. The major
purpose of this research is to improve collection of small
particles which have become increasingly important in meeting
particle standards. ESPs may assist in acid rain mitigation for
use with dry add-on SO2 removal processes and switching to
low-sulfur coals with their more difficult-to-collect fly ashes.
The performance of fabric filtration can improve with the
application of electrostatically augmented fabric filtration
(ESFF). The effects of precharging and particle charge on
filtration performance will be assessed. Recent research indicates
that a pressure-drop-reduction by a factor of three or more can
be achieved by properly conditioning the paniculate matter,
thus resulting in fabric filters one-third the size of conventional
units. Additional research to verify this finding is being
conducted.
Research to control NOX will focus on evaluating the applica-
bility of combustion modification techniques to industries and
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30 AIR AND RADIA TION
utility boilers, refinery process heaters, cement kilns and
stationary engines. Also, advanced methods such as reburning
(fuel staging) and changes in precombustion burner designs will
be assessed.
Summary of Long-Term Trends
The goals of the Air research program over the next five years
are to: (1) improve risk-assessment capabilities to support
existing and planned ambient air quality standards, hazardous
air pollutant standards and source emission limitations; (2)
provide the scientific data and technical support to implement
control strategies and ensure compliance; and (3) identify future
environmental problems.
To improve our risk assessment capabilities, ORD will continue
to strengthen both the health and environmental effects research
programs. In the health area, the effects of acute and chronic
exposures to criteria air pollutants on humans will be more
accurately defined and data on exposure levels refined.
Techniques to more accurately identify the presence of
hazardous air pollutants will be developed. Subsequent dose-
response studies will be conducted to assist in the character-
ization and identification of health effects. The scientific data
base necessary to develop a quantitative evaluation suitable for
estimating the human cancer risk from both complex mixtures
and individual chemicals will be developed. As the data base on
the dose-response of air pollutants is expanded, increasing
emphasis will be placed on improving the ability to relate these
data to actual human consequences. Methods to extrapolate the
data from animals to humans, from high to low doses and from
acute to chronic effects will be developed and improved.
Increased emphasis will also be placed on monitoring human
exposure to air pollutants. By increasing our knowledge of
exposure concentrations, our ability to make health risk
assessments will also improve.
Research to support the possible development of secondary
standards will continue to focus on evaluating the effects of air
pollutants on vegetation and visibility. Research to assess the
impact of air pollution on vegetation will shift from Oa to SO2
and NOa. Research to examine source-receptor relationships
and lay the framework for a more comprehensive visibility
monitoring program will be accelerated.
To support the development of control strategies and ensure
compliance with these strategies, ORD will continue to maintain
strong modeling, monitoring and engineering programs. For
criteria pollutants, ambient air quality models will be refined to
improve their predictive capabilities. Greater emphasis wili be
placed on studying the transport and transformation of Os and
particles on the regional scale and developing more sophisticated
complex-terrain models. Monitoring systems for criteria pollu-
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AIR AND RADIATION 31
tants will be refined to increase their accuracy and precision, and
engineering evaluations will be conducted to improve the cost-
effectiveness of control technologies for criteria pollutants.
Increased emphasis will be placed on VOCs as precursors of Os.
Also, research to determine the nature and the extent of
hazardous air pollution problems will be accelerated. Analytical
tools such as pollutant dispersion models will be adapted from
air pollution models to improve health and exposure assess-
ments. A national Toxics Air Monitoring System will be put
into place and data collected on what pollutants are present in
urban atmospheres and their concentrations. Trends data will
be analyzed and new monitoring methods will be developed for
use in the monitoring systems. Engineering research to bring
sources of VOCs into compliance should not only reduce Oa
levels but air toxics emissions as well.
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33
Hazardous Wastes
Hazardous wastes and their impacts on human health and the
environment remain a major public problem. The Agency has
recognized for several years that conventional land disposal of
many high-hazard wastes is an incomplete solution to the
problems they represent. Due to the possibility of leakage from
land disposal facilities, wastes containing toxic, highly persistent
and highly mobile chemicals must be carefully managed if they
are to be placed in land disposal facilities. Moreover, Federal
law now directs, through the recently enacted amendments to
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), that
waste containing certain chemicals could be banned from forms
of land disposal unless EPA determines that the prohibition is
not required to protect human health and the environment.
Therefore, methods are needed to evaluate the human and
environmental risk associated with these chemicals. I n addition,
if wastes are to be banned from landfills, there is a need for
adequate alternative technologies to ensure their safe disposal.
EPA's research program will increase the emphasis placed on
tests for determining waste toxicity, on predicting waste
movement in the subsurface, and on new means of detecting
wastes in the subsurface environment. More emphasis is also
being placed on evaluating technological alternatives to land
disposal.
In addition to the above, the recent passage of the RCRA
amendments will result in increased emphasis on certain
existing research programs and the start of new research efforts.
The major research areas affected are: (I) control of leaking
underground storage tanks, (2) disposal of high volume mining
and utility wastes, (3) underground storage of hazardous wastes,
(4) double-liner requirements for land disposal facilities, (5)
special requirements for generators of small quantities of
hazardous waste, and (6) environmentally acceptable disposal
of industrial and municipal "non-hazardous" solid wastes to
conventional land disposal facilities (Subtitle D).
To address these problems, nine major research issues have been
identified for the hazardous waste program. These issues are:
procedures for identifying and measuring chemical wastes;
assessment and control of dioxins and other high-hazard
wastes; assessment of the potential exposure to and effects of
hazardous wastes; evaluation of technologies to manage
uncontrolled waste sites; development and evaluation of
technologies as alternatives to land disposal; information on
equipment and procedures required to protect the health of
personnel involved in hazardous waste handling; procedures to
prevent and contain hazardous releases; quality assurance; and
data to support development, permitting and enforcement of
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34 HAZARDOUS WASTES
treatment, storage and disposal regulations. Many of the results
from this research may also be of use in the Superfund effort.
Major Research Issues
Identification and Measurement of
Chemical Wastes
What new analytical methods are needed to identify hazardous
wastes and their chemical constituents?
More than 100 analytical methods have been proposed by EPA
for analyzing waste samples and environmental samples that
might be contaminated with any of the hundreds of chemicals
classified as hazardous wastes. These are primarily chemical
methods but also include methods for analyzing physical and
biological properties and for determining the mobility of wastes.
Most of these methods were developed for use in other media.
Many of the proposed analytical methods are of necessity
already being used by federal, state and industrial laboratories
even though less than ten percent have been adequately
validated. The cost of fully validating a single method is high,
and can take from one to three years. Such validation, however,
is important because completion of a systematic validation
procedure can significantly enhance the Agency's or industry's
confidence in the method. Therefore, priority will continue to be
given to methods validation. Methods will be modified and
alternative methods will be substituted when appropriate.
Considerable effort will be devoted to reducing the costs and
time associated with validation procedures without sacrificing
the integrity of the process.
New hardware and software developments offer considerable
promise for reducing the costs and time, while improving the
sensitivity, of laboratory analyses. Examples of these emerging
technologies are superconductive fluids, tandem-mass-spec-
trometry, and thermospray injection. Considerable effort will
be directed to evaluating and applying such technologies for
hazardous waste analyses. One particular thrust will be in the
development of technologies for rapid screening of large
numbers of samples, particularly groundwater samples. A
second effort will be toward obtaining more comprehensive
chemical profiles of volatile and semi-volatile organic chemicals
in solids and other complex matrices. Concurrent with these
activities will be a continuing effort to upgrade the computer
programs supporting the analytical equipment, with special
attention to computer interpretations of measurements.
Improving the Agency's capability to assess subsurface contam-
ination problems will continue to be a high research priority.
Evaluation and documentation of the capabilities of remote
monitoring techniques—electromagnetic, resistivity, radar,
seismometers—in different types of subsurface environments
will continue. The feasibility of using laser/fiber-optic tech-
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HAZARDOUS WASTES 35
nology for long-term monitoring of groundwater will be
demonstrated at the Environmental Monitoring Systems
Laboratory/Las Vegas test site. Improved monitoring-well
construction techniques will be developed and tested together
with more efficient sampling procedures. Of particular concern
is the statistical basis for the location and frequency of sampling
activities, both in soil and in groundwater.
High-Hazard Wastes
What new information is needed to evaluate and control high-
hazard wastes and to continue implementing the National
Dioxin Strategy?
There is a need to develop a better scientific and engineering
basis for assessing the technical feasibility and cost of technol-
ogies for the safe disposal, storage, destruction or detoxification
of highly hazardous wastes, including such chemicals as dioxins,
dibenzofurans and other halogenated organic wastes. A long-
term research plan will be developed to address existing gaps in
knowledge. Research will support the development of new
regulations and guidance required under the reauthorization of
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The
research will provide evaluation procedures to be used by
permitting agencies for the management of high-hazard wastes.
It is not yet known whether chemical or biological methods are
safe or effective for in situ cleanup. The possible use of
genetically engineered microorganisms holds particular promise,
but serious questions exist concerning the appropriate control
of these organisms and the safety of their metabolic residues or
by-products. Biological and chemical controls are not as well
understood as traditional land disposal or incineration technol-
ogies, and must be rigorously tested and evaluated. Laboratory
studies will be followed by small-scale engineering or field
demonstrations, with careful monitoring of by-products. Special
emphasis will be directed to the potential hazards of genetically
altered organisms and their appropriate controls. A separate
effort is being conducted elsewhere in the program to determine
the conditions under which hazardous wastes can be safely land
treated or farmed.
Waste Characterization
What information is needed to characterize the potential
exposure and effects posed by hazardous wastes?
Assessments of the exposure and effects posed by the disposal of
hazardous wastes require knowledge regarding the sources and
characteristics of hazardous wastes, the chain of events by which
populations are exposed to the wastes, and the relationships
between doses and their environmental or physiological
responses. Major scientific uncertainties exist in the following
areas: the quantity and types of hazardous wastes that escape
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36 HAZARDOUS WASTES
into the environment under various disposal methods; the
concentrations of contaminants that result from different
pathways through the environment; the actual dose received;
and the effects caused by that dose. The uncertainties are
amplified because most hazardous wastes consist of mixtures of
many chemicals exhibiting different physical, chemical and
toxicological properties, while current knowledge is mainly
based on single chemicals. Adapting technical capability to the
complex mixtures of chemicals typical of hazardous wastes will
require significant effort over the next few years.
The EPA has significant research programs addressing these
uncertainties, many of which are supported under other
programs. These include in particular the groundwater program
and the drinking water health effects program described in the
Water chapter. The groundwater research program, supported
under both the drinking water and hazardous waste research
programs, is addressing the movement and transformation of
chemicals in the subsurface by many processes, including
advection, sorption, oxidation and biotransformation. These
studies, conducted under both laboratory and field conditions,
will reduce exposure uncertainties. The drinking water health
program has two major areas important to hazardous waste
problems. One activity addresses the toxicological effects of
compounds which occur in groundwater, especially volatile
organic chemicals. The second is development of methods to
determine the effects of complex mixtures in drinking water.
A program to develop more accurate methods for predicting the
quantity, composition and volatility of leachates from land
disposal of wastes is just beginning. These and other methods
for determining the escape of hazardous wastes into the
environment, as well as predictive models in air, surface water
and groundwater, will have to be combined into multimedia
tools for exposure assessment.
A major effort will be directed toward determining which wastes
should be considered hazardous. Methods will be developed
that will identify as hazardous those wastes containing consti-
tuents at levels exceeding those at which human health and the
environment is adversely affected. Short-term screening tests of
biological effects (bioassays) are being developed to quickly and
cheaply determine the toxicity of mixtures. These tests are being
adapted from available bioassays into a system so that a number
of toxicities and target organ effects can be evaluated simul-
taneously. Included are tests for agents that cause general
toxicity, genetic damage, cancer, immune disorders, nerve
damage, and reproductive and birth defects.
Structure-activity relationships, also developed for single
chemicals, are being adapted and applied to hazardous wastes as
well. Such studies will investigate the use of chemical and
structural similarities to estimate health and environmental fate
and effects.
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HAZARDOUS WASTES 37
Uncontrolled Dump Sites
What new control technologies and information are needed for
the effective management of uncontrolled waste sites?
The National Priority List currently contains 546 hazardous
waste sites, and as many as 2,200 may ultimately be listed.
Emphasis to date has been on the removal of hazardous
materials stored on the surface, and local containment of the
pollutants found in soils and groundwater. Local containment
methods have only been used on hazardous wastes for a short
period, and their long-term effectiveness and reliability are
unknown. Further development is needed to "customize" them
to hazardous waste conditions and to determine the effective
life-span of containment methods, their maintenance require-
ments, and their alternatives.
Contaminated soils, saturated zones, and groundwater are
common at uncontrolled sites, and the technology to clean up
these situations is in its infancy. Currently, the only proven
method for soils decontamination is removal and burial in
secure landfills. Groundwater requires collection, often by
pumping, and treatment. Methods are needed to decontaminate
soils and groundwater on-site.
Studies on containment systems will concentrate on refining the
methods for hazardous waste situations and ascertaining the
effectiveness of the systems under realistic situations. The
results from these efforts will be utilized to prepare design
manuals. Since containment is only a temporary measure, the
emphasis of the program will be on the demonstration of on-site
destruction technology including treatment systems and in situ
immobilization and detoxification.
In situ processes will receive the major emphasis. Most of these
technologies are now in laboratory or pilot stages, and the most
promising methods should be at the demonstration stage by the
end of this decade. If proven successful, these methods hold
promise of being a major solution to the uncontrolled dump site
problem. Existing soil and water treatment systems and
equipment will be field-demonstrated to determine their
operating characteristics and^effectiveness, and new or innova-
tive systems will be sought, evaluated, and field-tested.
A major effort is being initiated to study RCRA subtitle D waste
facilities including municipal sanitary landfills, on-site industrial
landfills, surface impoundments, and land treatment units.
Based on 1979 data there are over 275,000 operating solid waste
facilities of these types in the United States. It is suspected that
many of these are generating hazardous leachates and surface
runoff and should be investigated. The studies will determine
whether the present monitoring criteria are adequate to protect
human health and the environment.
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38 HAZARDOUS WASTES
A Iternative Technology
What additional information is needed to develop, evaluate, or
support alternatives to land disposal of wastes?
The current trend is toward eliminating land disposal of certain
classes of untreated hazardous wastes. The banning of these
wastes from land disposal could require proven alternative
technologies for treating or recycling the waste materials.
Although many of these technologies now exist, there are
numerous questions regarding their effectiveness on specific
wastes and their capacity to treat the anticipated volumes of
hazardous wastes.
The Agency's research program on alternative technologies
consists of a broad program to assess the environmental impacts
of the major alternatives now under development, and in
selected instances to support the evaluation of processes found
by the Agency to offer substantial improvements over conven-
tional hazardous waste disposal methods. These evaluations,
together with existing data, will form the basis for treatment
standards to be promulgated by the Agency.
The major research activities will consist of the performance
evaluation of individual treatment processes and combinations
of processes at pilot or field-scale tests. This program is to be
based initially on a matrix of waste types and technologies.
Initial emphasis will be on the priority technologies and waste
streams identified by the Office of Solid Waste, followed by
other techniques for processing potentially banned wastes. The
nine technology areas are biological treatment, activated carbon,
incineration, neutralization, oxidation, precipitation, reuse/
recycle, solidification and dechlorination.
Personnel Health and Safety
What data are needed to ensure the health of waste-site
personnel?
EPA personnel are directly involved as supervisors or project
managers at hazardous waste sites, chemical-release investiga-
tions and cleanup operations where the use of protective
clothing and other safety equipment is mandatory. These
operations are anticipated to expand significantly as more
Superfund remedial actions are undertaken. In addition, EPA
has the responsibility to regulate and certify appropriate
protective equipment for agricultural workers exposed to
hazardous chemicals.
Promising new protective clothing and other safety technology
for hazardous chemical activities will be subjected to laboratory
and field evaluations to determine their safety, efficiency, and
economics. In addition, field and laboratory test methods will
be studied and, if necessary, new methods will be developed to
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HAZARDOUS WASTES 39
evaluate protective clothing performance under a variety of
chemical challenges and operating conditions.
A chemical-protective ensemble will be subjected to testing and
evaluation to fully assess its safety while maintaining acceptable
comfort and protection levels. Research will also develop
permeability data on protective clothing material, protective
clothing test methods for the field and laboratory, and manuals
and guidelines describing these test results and new products in
order to assist users in making safe and effective equipment
choices for a variety of exposure situations. Research will
continue with the development and testing of suitable respira-
tors, personal cooling devices and communications equipment
for personnel wearing full protection suits.
Control of Hazardous Releases
What new techniques are needed to adequately prevent, contain
and clean up accidental discharges of hazardous materials?
Accidental releases of oil and hazardous material to the land
and water occur frequently and constitute a significant
environmental hazard. Federal, state and local emergency
response personnel require improved technologies for the
prevention and control of hazardous material releases to make
cost-effective, environmentally sound cleanup decisions.
A major area of uncertainty is in the use of chemicals and
dispersants for oil and hazardous release cleanup. Laboratory
and field evaluations of chemicals used will be made to
determine their cost effectiveness, application methods and
environmental side effects. The Oil and Hazardous Materials
Simulated Environmental Test Tank (OHMSETT), located in
Edison, New Jersey, will be utilized in these evaluations. In
cooperation with other federal agencies, OHMSETT will
continue to be used to test and evaluate the latest developments
in oil spill containment and cleanup equipment and methods.
This unique facility provides these agencies as well as states with
the knowledge on what equipment to purchase and how to use it
cost-effectively.
A continuing effort throughout this period will be the evaluation
of new technologies for the prevention and cleanup of releases.
Innovative new systems will be sought, and if shown to be
feasible, field-evaluated.
Quality A ssurance
What measures are needed to assure the reliability and
consistency of techniques and data used in support of the
hazardous waste program?
Quality assurance support provided to federal and state
laboratories participating in activities associated with RCRA
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40 HAZARDOUS WASTES
will continue to expand, as will quality control and calibration
standards for larger numbers of chemicals. Evaluations of
laboratory performance based on the analyses of blind samples
and on on-site laboratory visits will be increased in number and
scope. Reference materials for a wide range of chemicals in
complex solid and liquid matrices will be prepared using both
naturally occurring and synthetic materials. Specialized training
and technical support programs will be initiated to help state
laboratories rapidly improve their capabilities to use RCRA
analytical methods in support of state monitoring programs.
Representative and valid test samples and improved quality of
sample analyses are also critical in site assessments. These
activities include prior evaluation of contractor laboratories to
conduct required analyses, provision of quality control and
calibration standards, provision of standard reference chemi-
cals, and support of an independent referee laboratory to assist
with testing new analytical protocols and resolving particularly
complex analytical problems. Support of field sampling
activities will include improving the statistical basis for sampling
programs, ensuring that problems of sample contamination are
minimized and reducing delays in processing samples.
Emphasis will continue on improving analytical methods and
documenting their capability to assess the chemical constituents
of waste samples. Periodic reports describing available analyt-
ical methods, the state of the inter-laboratory validation of these
methods, and the expected performance of the methods will be
widely disseminated to EPA and state laboratories and
contractors. In addition to methods that have been formally
adopted by EPA for use in the hazardous waste or other
regulatory programs, the reports will identify methods in
various stages of development by the scientific community.
Regulatory Support
What technical information is needed to support the land
disposal and treatment programs and the regulations governing
incineration of hazardous wastes?
Historically, land disposal has been a commonly employed
technique for disposal of hazardous wastes. In order to better
provide environmentally safe control technology for hazardous
waste land disposal, a system of improved control technology
options will be developed within the next few years.
Land disposal will not be a "one-time" approval process.
Technological advances could require a continuing application
of research to support not only the initial permit decisions, but
the development of improved monitoring techniques and the
scientific basis for future regulatory modifications. :
As the Agency moves to ban certain wastes from land disposal,
various incineration methods are likely to become increasingly
popular. EPA's Regional Offices and the states will require
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HAZARDOUS WASTES 41
technical information and assistance regarding the performance
capabilities of hazardous waste incinerators to enable them to
prepare permits under RCRA. Reliable, economical, realtime
measurement methods are needed to allow enforcement officials
to determine whether thermal destruction facilities are in
compliance with the RCRA standards. Ensuring the safety of
hazardous waste thermal destruction processes requires that
methods be developed to predict performance, increase reliabil-
ity through improved control of operational parameters and
avoid conditions which produce hazardous combustion by-
products. Extensive technical data are also needed to develop
regulations and permitting approaches for the treatment of
hazardous waste in high-temperature industrial processes. Data
are needed on improved control methods to provide a technical
basis for implementation of revised incinerator standards.
Research in thermal destruction will be on comprehensive
laboratory and pilot-scale investigations to determine easily
monitored parameters that can be correlated with waste-
destruction performance. Emphasis will be placed upon
developing methods that will assist enforcement officials as well
as facility operators in determining the onset of process failure
and avoiding emission of hazardous combustion products. This
research will confirm these relationships and perfect monitoring
techniques for measuring key parameters.
Guidance manuals to meet established RCRA standards for
best operating practices of thermal destruction facilities will be
produced. Of particular importance will be the development of
reliable cost-effective techniques for real-time monitoring of
facility performance. Standards on the use of these techniques
will be provided to Regional Offices and state enforcement and
permitting officials. Rapid compliance-assessment techniques
will be developed and operating methods to control emissions of
hazardous products of incomplete combustion will be deter-
mined.
The performance-validation approach will be applied towards
the disposal options for landfills, surface impoundment waste
piles and underground mines. Control technologies to be
validated include cover systems, dike and slope stability, clay
soil liners, synthetic liners, pollution collection systems and
waste stabilization practices. In conjunction with these studies,
the identification of pollutant leaching from surface impound-
ments will be required, especially for dioxin, contaminated soils
and residues from new alternative technology systems.
New technical guidance documents will be developed to enable
the regulated community and permitting officials to better
prepare and review land disposal permit applications and to
assure that the performance criteria are met. EPA's research
program will also continue to provide direct technical support
to federal and state regulators in cases where supplemental
scientific support is needed. Remote sensing data, including
both historical and current aerial imagery, will continue to
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42 HAZARDOUS WASTES
provide an indispensable tool in assessing RCR A sites and in the
identification and assessment of uncontrolled dump sites.
Interpreted photographs and multispectral scanner data assist
in bringing action against illegal dumpers, determining priorities
for remedial action and guiding entry into particularly hazard-
ous areas. They also provide excellent documentation on the
state of clean-up operations. General and site-specific guidance
on the use of geophysical techniques for locating monitoring
wells, for direct identification of buried wastes and containment
plumes and for assessing subsurface features that relate to
remedial actions will be expanded as this technology becomes
more widely used. Geographical information systems will be
used to combine aerial imagery and subsurface monitoring data
together with soil, vegetation and other types of data that give a
comprehensive perspective to the status of sites. Engineering
support will be provided on characterizing wastes, geology,
hydrology and soil conditions as they pertain to the feasibility of
alternative approaches to conducting remedial action. Design
plans, feasibility studies and performance specifications devel-
oped as the basis for remedial action will be reviewed.
Research addressing the issues identified in this chapter is likely
to continue for several years. Monitoring and analytical
techniques and procedures will continue to be improved,
thereby lowering detection limits while reducing the costs of
sample analysis. Improved monitoring and analytic procedures
will facilitate implementation of both the RCRA and Superfund
programs by allowing more state and private laboratories to
participate in the programs, increasing the overall analytic
capacity available and improving the overall ability to detect the
presence of problem chemicals before they threaten human
health or the environment.
Research supporting implementation of the National Dioxin
Strategy will continue, but the magnitude of the effort will be
largely dependent on the findings of the initial phases of the
program. Specifically, the Agency will adjust its level of effort
depending upon the extent to which dioxin contamination is
found and the significance of its health and environmental
effects. Additional research support will be undertaken to assess
the risks associated with dioxin isomers other than 2,3,7,8-
TCDD, as well as on some of the homologs, such as
dibenzofurans.
As a result of Subtitle C of RCRA, EPA will promulgate
standards for monitoring existing underground storage tanks.
Monitoring systems will be developed to determine the location
and extent of leaks from these tanks. In addition, remote sensing
imagery will be utilized to conduct an inventory of the existing
tanks.
Summary of Long-Term Trends
Research to characterize the potential exposure and effects
posed by hazardous wastes will not only continue into the next
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HAZARDOUS WASTES 43
decade, but will likely be an area of significant growth. In order
to come to grips with the hazardous waste problem and to be
able to answer the questions and concerns of the general public,
much will have to be learned regarding the behavior of
hazardous wastes released into the environment and their effects
on human health. Initial emphasis will be on assessing the
potential for exposure via air, water and subsurface routes that
result from various disposal practices. Although land disposal
of many compounds could ultimately be banned, other options
will pose different risks that must be identified and quantified.
Also, health tests for predicting specific effects from waste
streams will be essential to the regulatory program.
Development and evaluation of alternatives to land disposal of
wastes will remain a high priority for the Agency and private
industry. Exploration of alternatives is only in the beginning
stages and much more research is needed in order for them to be
available on a large scale to replace conventional disposal.
Alternative treatments and disposal technologies will require
extensive testing and performance information which will
require research well into the next decade.
Research support for remedial actions and removal of hazardous
materials accidently released into the environment will continue.
The complexities involved in assessing hazards, choosing
cleanup options, overseeing cleanup operations and ensuring
the safety of public health demand that highly capable and
knowledgeable technical support staff be provided through the
duration of the Agency's emergency response activities.
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45
Multimedia Energy
The overall goal of the multimedia energy research and
development program is to provide the scientific and technical
information necessary to support the Agency's permitting and
standard-setting processes, and to allow for the development
and utilization of energy sources in an environmentally
acceptable manner. Research will be conducted to better
understand the phenomenon of acid deposition and provide
information upon which mitigation decisions may be made,
expand EPA's knowledge of the performance, reliability, and
cost of the limestone injection multistage burner (LIMB)
control technology, and characterize and evaluate synthetic
fuels discharges.
Research on acid deposition is coordinated through the National
Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP), which is
administered by the Interagency Task Force on Acid Precipita-
tion. EPA is one of three joint-chairs of the Interagency Task
Force, and has the lead role in the aquatic effects, control
technology and policy assessment research areas. The term
"acid rain" means the atmospheric deposition of acidic or acid-
forming compounds in either their dry or wet form. These
compounds exist in the atmosphere as gases or aerosol particles
containing sulfur oxides (SOX), nitrogen oxides (NOX), hydrogen
chloride, sulfuric acid, nitric acid and certain sulfate and nitrate
compounds. While scientists generally agree that these com-
pounds are responsible for deposition of varying degrees of
acidity, many questions still remain about the causes, effects,
and methods of mitigating or controlling acid deposition. The
objective of acid deposition research is to develop the necessary
data to fully understand the sources and characteristics of acid
deposition as well as the extent of damage or potential damage.
This information is essential to develop effective corrective
strategies.
A second major research area is the promotion of innovative
cost-effective energy-related pollution control technologies. A
promising area is the development of the "limestone injection
multistage burner"(LIMB) emission-reduction technology. The
LIMB combines SOX control with simultaneousNOXcontrol by
using a mixture of pulverized coal and limestone in a low-NOx
burner. This technology may lower the capital cost of SOX
control by a factor of 3 to 4 and annual operating costs by 50
percent.
To be accepted as a possible acid rain mitigation control
technology alternative, LIMB has to be demonstrated by the
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46 MULTIMEDIA ENERGY
end of this decade. The EPA-sponsored cooperative test
programs with industry and the State of Ohio on a 105 mw
wall-fired boiler will be completed in 1989.
The third research area is the development and evaluation of
data on synthetic fuel processes, including the characterization
of discharges, and the assessment of emission-reduction
technologies for mitigating these impacts. These efforts assist
industry and permitting officials in identifying problems which
might impede the commercialization of the industry while
ensuring the quality of the environment.
Major Research Issues
Emissions Inventories of Acid Precursors
How can emissions inventories be made more responsive to acid
rain modeling and assessment needs?
Current emission rates for major categories of man-made acid
deposition precursors are known with reasonable accuracy at
the national level. However, atmospheric transport models
under development will require improvements in spatial and
temporal resolution of emissions estimates to be consistent with
the detailed atmospheric chemistry treated by these models. The
emission of ammonia and alkaline dust from natural sources
and man-made environments must be quantified in order to
properly use transport models. Without emissions data that
match the model resolution, these models cannot be validated
and used with confidence. Carefully validated emissions
inventories for individual states would be required for future
implementation of any additional emissions-control strategies.
Depending upon the form future emissions controls may take,
additional work would be required to better define the relevant
emissions from each affected state in a specified baseline year.
Even greater uncertainties exist in any attempts to project future
emissions, the effect of possible emissions-control requirements
and their probable costs. The mix of emissions sources in any
specific region may also change with time. The capability exists
to predict such changes over the next decade or two.
Substantially more precise quantification of emissions rates will
require the creation of new data bases on emissions factors (rate
of emissions per unit of economic activity) developed through a
concerted measurement program. For some source categories, it
will be necessary to make these measurements independently for
different regions of the country to account for climatic and
technological variations. Compilation of emissions activities
will be combined with the improved emissions factors to
calculate emissions with the requisite resolution. Natural-
emissions studies will focus primarily on the basic sciences
governing the emission and transport of all chemical precursor
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MULTIMEDIA ENERGY 47
species, and on improving the quantitative emissions estimates
of ammonia and alkaline dusts.
Efforts to project future emissions rates and to estimate the cost
of alternative emissions-control strategies are dependent upon
the development or improvement of models which replicate the
behavior of each important "emitting sector" of the economy.
Resolution of these questions will give policy-makers more
insight into the relative urgency of the demand to control
emissions. Improved models will also reduce confusion over the
cost of any specified emissions-control strategy. These cost
estimates need to be made consistently, with methods which
have been fully reviewed by the engineering and economic
communities. Emissions estimates will shift towards more
reliance on actual data and detailed emissions models than on
emissions-inventory development.
Atmospheric Processes Affecting A cidDeposition
How can the transport, chemical transformation, deposition
processes and the exposure of ecologically sensitive areas and
man-made materials be determined? The transport, chemical
transformation, and deposition processes associated with acid
deposition must be investigated on both the regional and local
scales. These processes and the resultant source-receptor
relationships are not so well defined that reliable estimates of the
impacts of a given source or control strategy can be determined.
Both an understanding of these processes and reliable numerical
representation of the cause/effect relationships must be
developed.
Source-Receptor Relationships. The development of control
strategies to mitigate acidic deposition requires a means of
determining source culpability. Significant uncertainties exist in
the present understanding of the transport, chemical trans-
formation, and deposition processes associated with the delivery
of acidic substances to ecologically sensitive areas. Methods are
required to assess the relative importance of local versus distant
sources of emissions.
A Regional Acid Deposition Model (RADM) is currently being
developed using both laboratory and field data. RADM is being
developed as an assembly of model components (modules or
submodels) to simulate transport, dispersion, chemical trans-
formation, precipitation scavenging and dry deposition. These
modules will be updated and revised as the uncertainties in the
processes become better understood and characterized.
Local/Distant Deposition from Sources. The objective of this
area of investigation is to determine the relative importance of
local as opposed to remote impacts of major point and area
sources. Currently, there are limited data on the influence of
frontal storms, convective storms and urban areas on acidic wet
deposition. Thus, it is necessary to assess the processes relating
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48 MULTIMEDIA ENERGY
to the transport, chemical transformation, precipitation scav-
enging, cloud chemistry and deposition of acidic substances and
their precursors on the region.
Comprehensive sampling of air quality and precipitation
chemical quality of frontal storms around a large urban area will
be conducted. To develop information that can be used to
provide assessments of materials damage, measurements of the
distribution of gaseous sulfur dioxide and wet deposition of
hydrogen ions as well as the location and magnitude of
maximum concentrations of chemical species in ambient air and
precipitation will be determined. These mesoscale modeling and
assessment efforts will be coordinated with the development of
the Regional Acid Deposition Model (RADM) such that the
regional and mesoscale models are both consistent and
compatible.
Measurements of Chemical Characteristics of Cloud and
Mountain Forest Exposure. Throughout the primary regions
affected by acid deposition, there are no routine measurements
in the vertical dimension of gases and particles either in clear air,
or of these constituents plus droplet chemistry in clouds. The
uncertainties caused by the lack of data for mountain ecosystems
hamper the investigations of the mechanisms of tree dieback
and of reduced growth rates at higher elevations. These
observed effects are very pronounced at higher elevations in the
East, and appear to increase in severity with increasing elevation.
If possible, monitoring stations will be established on the slopes
and summits of selected mountains and will be co-located with
forestry research stations. Samples from the network of forestry
research and monitoring stations will be analyzed and archived
by a central laboratory. Development and standardization of
monitoring instruments to perform reliably under the physically
demanding conditions at these elevations will be required. A
quality assurance and control program will be implemented to
ensure the long-term usefulness of these data and their
intercomparability among sites.
Measurements of air and cloud droplet chemistry will be
provided as functions of time, geographic location, and
elevation. Such observations will provide information on trends
with time and will be used to address the effects observed upon
mountain forest ecosystems. The observations will provide a
means of estimating the exposure of mountain forest ecosystems
to acid deposition by cloud droplets and other pollutants that
may affect such ecosystems.
Dry-A cid Deposition Monitoring
What is the best method to obtain dry deposition monitoring
data comparable to that from the existing National Trends
Network (NTN) which concentrates on wet deposition?
The acid rain research programs are compiling a large volume of
deposition data from wet precipitation. There is also some
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MULTIMEDIA ENERGY 49
evidence that dry sources of acid deposition in the form of dust
and humidity constitute a potentially significant component of
total deposition. However, very little data exist on dry deposi-
tion due to the difficulty in developing and deploying accurate
monitoring instruments. Another problem is that the dry
deposition rate varies with surface cover and topography, as
well as with environmental variables such as wind speed and
humidity. As a result, the actual contribution of dry deposition
in most areas is only estimated within an order of magnitude.
The prototype monitors now being evaluated do not measure
dry deposition fluxes directly. Instead, they measure ambient air
concentrations and use empirical factors to estimate the dry
deposition rate. These monitors will be deployed in a network,
in many cases co-located with wet deposition collectors. The
samples will be collected and analyzed in a central laboratory.
The first few years will be dedicated to installing the network
and making it fully operational. Once this is accomplished the
research emphasis will be developing direct methods of
measuring the dry deposition rate.
A quatic Effects of A cid Deposition
What future changes in surface water chemistry will occur
assuming current levels of acid deposition remain constant, and
what is the extent and rate-of-change to aquatic resources
stemming from acid deposition?
The effects of acidification are most pronounced in sensitive
aquatic systems. Acidic deposition is believed to be a major
contributing factor in episodic depressions of pH resulting, in
some cases, in fish kills and other biological disturbances.
Historical assessments have been uneven and of limited utility
due to differences in sampling and analytical methodologies,
potentially biased selection of samples, variable effects among
different aquatic systems and a relatively small data base. The
scientific uncertainties surrounding the aquatic effects of acidic
deposition can be divided into several major categories: the
extent of sensitive or acidic surface waters in the U.S.; the
detection of long-term trends in surface water chemistry;
modeling changes in surface water chemistry; and the biological
effects associated with surface-water acidification. These
uncertainties can be translated into questions of extent, rate,
and magnitude of change attributable to acidic deposition.
National Surface Water Survey. In order to decrease the
uncertainties related to the aquatic effects of acidic deposition,
the EPA, in cooperation with the NAPAP Aquatic Effects
Group, is undertaking a National Surface Water Survey
(NS WS). The NS WS is a field project in three distinct phases to
document the chemical and biological status of lakes and
streams in regions potentially sensitive to acidic deposition. The
Survey also will select regionally representative surface waters
based on chemical, physical, and biological parameters to
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50 MULTIMEDIA ENERGY
quantify future changes in aquatic resources through a long-
term monitoring program.
The first phase of the NSWS is designed to quantify the
chemistry of lakes and streams in areas now believed to contain
the majority of low-alkalinity waters. This phase of the survey
will determine what percentage of lakes and streams in the
susceptible regions are acidic or have low alkalinity. Phase II
will quantify the biological components and the seasonal and
spatial variability of a regionally representative subset of lakes
and streams. These data should explain what percentage of
lakes are devoid offish, what chemical characteristics of surface
waters are associated with the presence or absence of fish and
what temporal variability can be expected in representative
surface waters. The final phase will define those representative
lakes and streams as regionally representative sites for a long-
term monitoring program to quantify future changes in the
chemistry and biology of aquatic ecosystems. The primary
objective of this phase is to determine what chemical or
biological changes are occurring in regionally representative
surface waters and at what rate.
Long-Term Trends. The detection of long-term trends in surface
water chemistry is critical to understanding the response rates of
natural systems to acidic inputs from the atmosphere and how
fast natural systems might acidify due to natural causes. EPA's
long-term monitoring sites have been placed in areas in which
there is little or no disturbance from human activities and which
are remote from point sources of air pollution. However, their
regional representativeness is not currently known. The National
Surface Water Survey will establish the criteria for regional
representativeness and in coordination with existing monitoring
sites will improve regional tracking of the responses of surface
waters to changes in acidic inputs.
Surface Water Chemistry Models. The production of reliable
models of the temporal changes in surface water chemistry due
to acidic inputs is one of the most important goals of the
aquatic-effects research program. These models must be closely
coordinated with the research in the terrestrial effects program,
under whose auspices most of the watershed-level and soil
processes work will be conducted. The most important effort in
the modeling of surface water chemistry will be the estimation of
the extent of direct response and delayed response systems in the
U.S. This difference between response times is expected on the
basis of soil, bedrock and hydrological differences among
systems. Therefore, some watersheds will be in dynamic
equilibrium with acidic inputs from the atmosphere and will
respond quickly, while others will exhibit significant sulfur
retention or contain appreciable buffering capacities and will
respond only after long delays. If direct response systems prevail
in sensitive areas of the country, then no additional changes in
surface water chemistry would be expected, given no change in
present acidic loading rates. However, if delayed response
systems predominate, then more waters may become acidic due
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MULTIMEDIA ENERGY 51
to acidic deposition even if current loading rates do not change.
This research effort will have a clear impact on the immediacy of
the need for possible additional controls on sulfur emissions.
Biological Effects. The biological effects of acidified surface
waters have historically been one of the issues driving the debate
over acid rain. Initial research will establish the correlations
between surface water chemistry and the status of fish popula-
tions. Fish populations may decline or disappear for many
different reasons, however, so these correlations must be
accompanied by the necessary research to establish cause-and-
effect relationships. In order to do that, EPA will continue work
that has already begun on the dose-response relationships
between fish populations and concentrations of toxic metals
(such as aluminum) that are thought to be elevated in acidic
waters. EPA will also pursue work on the response of fish
populations and other ecological endpoints in artificially
acidified lakes as part of several large-scale on-going or planned
studies. These studies will increase the certainty of the actual
extent of declines of fish populations and other ecological
effects associated with acidic deposition.
Terrestrial Effects of A cid Deposition
What is the extent, rate, magnitude and cause of observed
effects to watersheds, soil properties and forests as a result of
acid deposition?
Studies in the terrestrial effects of acidic deposition include
effects on watersheds and soil properties and effects on forests.
The major issues have to do with whether effects can currently
be shown or suspected, their extent, their magnitude and the
rate at which they occur.
Watersheds and Soil Processes. Many processes within water-
sheds affect the rate and final magnitude of the acidification of
surface waters. Watershed bedrock and surficial geology,
system hydrology and biological processes are all important
determinants of the response of surface waters to acidic inputs
from the atmosphere. Acidification of surface water is a
watershed-level phenomenon, and full understanding of all the
biogeochemical processes involved in watersheds is not expected
for some years. However, EPA does expect to expand its
knowledge of the processes to the point of more accurately
predicting the effects of changing acidic inputs. EPA's research
strategy for the next five years is two-fold. First, it will accelerate
the process-level research in the geochemical and physical
characteristics of soils that are important in the response of
surface waters. Second, EPA, in collaboration with other
agencies participating in NAPAP, will establish a network of
carefully monitored watersheds in sensitive regions of the
country. Data will be collected on all the relevant physical,
chemical and biological parameters associated with surface
water quality.
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52 MUL TIM EDI A EN ERG Y
One result from this research effort will be improved predictive
capabilities for the responses of watersheds to acidic inputs from
the atmosphere and better ability to forecast the magnitude and
rates of change in any relevant watershed due to changes in
acidic inputs.
A second result will be the establishment of a network of
carefully monitored watersheds for the purpose of detecting
trends in watershed responses, especially changes in surface
water quality that may be due to acidic inputs. However, natural
systems are so variable that statistically reliable trends in surface
water quality will take a much longer period than will
improvements in predictive capabilities.
Forests. Preliminary data on foliar damage and growth
reductions in several species of trees in different forest ecotypes
reveal surprising similarities to more severe conditions that
currently exist in Germany and central Europe. However, there
is no clear indication of which of many possible mechanisms is
most important. To establish cause-and-effect mechanisms will
require a significant research effort and will likely continue into
the 1990s.
EPA will be implementing a survey of forests in the U.S.
designed to measure the extent of currently unexplained forest
dieback and decline. While this survey cannot determine the
causes, it should provide some estimates of the current and
potential impacts of this problem.
EPA will also accelerate research designed to identify the cause-
and-effect mechanisms of forest changes and the interactive
effects of air pollutants associated with acidic deposition in
order to fully understand the relative contribution that acidic
inputs themselves have.
Near-term results will be limited to an improved understanding
of the extent of unexplained changes in U.S. forests. In the
longer term, EPA hopes to identify the roles acid deposition and
associated air pollutants have in affecting forests, and what
additional air quality controls might be needed, if any.
Materials Damage from A cid Deposition
What is the quantitative relationship between acid deposition
and damage to structures, buildings, and other materials?
Qualitative relationships between acid deposition and resulting
damage have been identified for a few materials under various
conditions of exposure. The issue now is to quantify the rate of
damage as a function of acid deposition, and to extend the
development of damage functions to other materials. The
assessment of the overall impact of acid deposition on materials
also requires knowledge of the distribution of exposed building
components.
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MULTIMEDIA ENERGY 53
The damage functions are being compiled from existing
literature, retrospective analysis of exposed materials, physical
chemistry theory, chamber studies and field exposure studies.
As the basic mechanisms of these damage functions become
better understood, the effort will shift to predictive models of
materials damage that will allow accelerated studies in
controlled-climate chambers. The studies will also be extended
to more complex systems of materials, such as reinforced
concrete, brick and mortar, and roofing systems.
A mathematical model of materials distribution will be
developed from actual samples in several urban areas. To
complete this inventory, materials associated with special uses
such as transmission towers and high-rise buildings will be
compiled from other data sources.
Acid Deposition Control Technologies
What current and emerging technologies exist for reducing
emissions of SOX, NO* and other acid deposition precursors
from fossil fuel combustion sources and industrial processes?
What are the costs and benefits of these technologies when they
are applied to new and existing emission sources?
The National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program, Control
Technologies Task Group (H) has designed a program consisting
of (1) monitoring of relevant Federal control technology
developmental research activities of the EPA, the Department
of Energy (DOE), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA);
and (2) implementing selected studies to assess the cost and
performance of candidate control technologies for reducing
emissions of acid deposition precursors. EPA's research efforts
will be focused on developing and assessing methods and
information on reducing emissions. This effort will include:
1. Developing engineering cost and performance information
for current and near-term emerging SOX and NOX control
technologies that could be applied to existing and new fossil
fuel sources.
2. Assessing the current status of commercial coal cleaning
(sulfur and ash removal) efforts as well as the potential and
cost for further reductions in SOX through expansion of this
technology.
3. Developing a methodology for evaluating the feasibility of
control technology options for the 50-100 major SOX
sources in the United States.
4. Developing engineering cost and performance information
on current control technologies that could be applied to
existing and new industrial processes such as non-ferrous
smelting and iron and steel manufacturing.
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Assessment
54 M UL TIM ED IA ENERGY
5. Assessing the technical considerations and engineering
costs associated with retrofitting the limestone injection
multistage burner (LIMB) process to existing coal-fired
boilers, including an evaluation of boiler type and particu-
late control requirements.
6. Developing engineering cost and performance information
for technologies which will control volatile organic com-
pound (VOC) emissions which may contribute to acid
deposition.
What existing mechanism(s) would best integrate acid deposi-
tion research information to provide policy-makers with the
ability to formulate timely and cost-effective decisions for
dealing with the acid deposition issues?
The goal of the assessment research program is to develop
methods for comprehensive assessments of acid deposition
evaluation and control strategies. These methods will deal
quantitatively with the range of uncertainties around various
data and their use. Developing methods to organize scientific
results and applying them early in the program will ensure that
the research results will be relevant to policy decisions.
Major acid deposition assessments are scheduled for 1985,1987
and 1989. The 1985 report will encompass an assessment of
current damage, an uncertainty analysis of key scientific areas,
the implications of these uncertainties to policy alternatives, and
a framework for the integrated assessment methodology to be
used in the 1987 and 1989 assessments.
Methods for an Integrated Analysis of Acid Deposition. The
integrated analysis of acid deposition research in 1987 and 1989
requires a framework that will incorporate the following
elements into one comprehensive analysis: changes in emissions
and costs associated with alternative emissions strategies;
changes in deposition of substances in receptor regions of
interest; changes in effects related to changes in deposition; costs
and impacts of mitigation strategies; economic value of changes
in effects; systematic uncertainty analysis; and methods for
conveying the results of this analysis to policy-makers and
interested parties. The 1987 report will incorporate all of these
elements and linkages. It should be noted that the analysis may
still be limited in coverage and quality. Data and scientific
relationships may not be available to include all relevant
pollutants, types of effects, and regions in all steps of the
assessment. The 1987 assessment will, however, demonstrate a
methodology which links the best available information in all of
the areas in a consistent framework.
Estimating the Costs and Benefits of Reducing Acid Deposition.
Research is being conducted to estimate the direct and indirect
costs of emission control and mitigation strategies. Work is also
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MULTIMEDIA ENERGY 55
underway to add emissions and cost information for industrial
processes, mobile sources and residential and commercial
sources. Integration of these policies will be conducted using the
Emission Strategy Integration Model (ESIM) which will accept
cost-emission curves and solve for the minimum-cost fuel-
technology mix that is consistent with region-specific emissions
targets.
Benefits of Reduced Acid Deposition. The valuation of natural
resource changes is a challenging task due to the complexity of
theoretical and applied problems that will need to be addressed.
Studies will be conducted to set values on the effects of acid
deposition on forests, crops, recreational fishing, materials,
natural ecosystems, regional economic impacts, and ancillary
impacts such as effects on visibility.
Limestone Injection Multistage Burner (LIMB)
What demonstrations of LIMB technology are needed to
document its effectiveness in reducing emissions of sulfur and
nitrogen oxides?
Large coal-fired steam generators are major emissions sources
of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and sulfur oxides (SO*). The EPA has
successfully developed and demonstrated advanced low-NOx
burner technologies applicable to this class of sources. Many
manufacturers are offering advanced burner technology for new
and/or retrofit applications. An outgrowth of the low-NOx
burner development is an approach to achieve potentially lower
reductions of SOX and NOX at a significantly reduced cost (3 to 5
times less than flue gas desulfurization) for retrofit applications.
This LIMB (Limestone Injection Burner) approach involves
SOx-sorbent injection around the low-NOx burners or at other
points in the boiler. To bring the technology to commercializa-
tion will require a full-scale demonstration on a utility boiler of
representative design. A demonstration of the technology is
scheduled to be completed by 1990. This demonstration will be
conducted on a 105 MW wall-fired boiler that will be modified
to accommodate the LIMB technology. To support this
demonstration, research will be conducted to determine what
effects the process parameters have on sorbent activation and
sulfur capture. Methods for obtaining highly reactive sorbents,
for optimizing reaction conditions to achieve maximum capture
and for minimizing sorbent costs continue to be developed.
Synthetic Fuels
What information or new technologies are needed to analyze or
mitigate potential environmental impacts associated with the
synfuels industry?
The entire synfuels energy area is in a state of change as a result
of erratic fluctuations in world petroleum supply and demand.
It appears that shifting national priorities will result in limited
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56 MULTIMEDIA ENERGY
near-term plant construction, but federal and private support
has already placed a number of large facilities in operation.
Depending on action by the U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corporation
(SFC), more commercial plants may be constructed. EPA is
assisting the SFC and project sponsors in the development of
plans for the environmental monitoring of unregulated pollu-
tants, as well as in the compliance monitoring of pollutants
required by permits.
Data from S FC plants could be a primary source of information
for future control technology assessments. However, the
proprietary nature of developing technologies raise questions as
to the availability of certain data to the EPA. This uncertainty
requires that a continuing research effort be made to develop the
requisite information by other means. Such activities as small-
scale testing of controls, evaluations of controls on similar
facilities (refineries) and engineering analyses of available
control data shall have to be instituted.
There are potentially serious environmental impacts from
synthetic fuels development including air and water pollution
and solid wastes.
Air Pollution. Air pollution mitigation research will be
principally focused on the development or transfer of appropri-
ate sulfur control technologies. Because of the relatively high
cost of sulfur control in synfuels operations, the level of
emissions control may determine the total production capacity
in certain regions, especially in the prime oil shale areas of Utah
and Colorado. EPA's research will concentrate on innovative
combustion approaches which may spur private sector initi-
atives. Other significant air quality issues requiring further
research include particulate-organic-matter emission during
startup and shutdown and the extent to which hazardous
volatile-organic-carbons can be controlled through the addition
of surface-active agents.
Water Pollution. The primary water pollution concern associ-
ated with synfuels is with the optimal treatment of wastewaters
including the possibility of zero discharge. Standard wastewater
treatment approaches such as activated sludge can be affected
by a variety of extraction processes that include solvent
stripping. When treated wastewater is used in cooling towers,
there is the further potential of contributing additional air
emissions. EPA is conducting research on organic constituents,
but more study is required to reduce the chance of unacceptable
emissions from cooling towers.
Solid Wastes. Further study is required to determine the
potential for hazardous conditions arising from the leaching or
evaporation of pollutants from synfuel wastes, especially'where
co-disposal of untreated wastewater with coal ash or oil shale
residues is being considered. Oil shale processing produces
tremendous volumes of solid waste, exacerbated by difficult
stabilization and reclamation conditions. Development and
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MULTIMEDIA ENERGY 57
demonstration of technologies for effective cleanup and energy
recovery from abandoned coal gasification waste sites is another
solid waste priority.
Summary of Long-Term Trends
The research to understand the phenomenon of acid deposition
and to provide a data and information base for policy-makers
could take a number of different directions as the next decade is
entered. The on-going interagency research program has a ten-
year mandate from Congress which carries through 1990.
However, both researchers and policy-makers realize that the
phenomenon is one of the most complex and challenging
scientific problems. They generally recognize that, although the
accelerated research program will bring forth a multiplicity of
significant scientific findings by 1990 that will assist in policy-
making, it is very unlikely that all needed information could be
generated by that time.
The long-term goals of the acid deposition program are to
develop a number of products for policy-makers including:
• inventories and maps showing the magnitude and extent of
receptors that have been affected or could be affected by acid
deposition;
• estimates of the rate at which the magnitude and extent of
effects or potential effects might be changing;
• "target loadings" of acid deposition for different receptors in
different regions of the country;
• quantification of the contribution of local versus long-range
sources to acid deposition;
• source-receptor models that can indicate which long-range
sources or source regions contribute to acid deposition; and
• an operating methodology for quantifying in physical and
economic terms the effects from acid deposition under future
scenarios and for performing cost-benefit analyses of control
and mitigation strategies.
One of the major obstacles which has delayed the scientific
understanding of the acid deposition phenomenon and the
formulation of control or mitigation options for acid deposition
is the lack of high quality data from long-term monitoring
programs and from continuously-monitored intensive research
sites. The acid deposition research program has set up such
monitoring networks for wet deposition. Currently, dry
deposition monitoring, monitoring of lakes and streams,
mountaintop cloud and forest exposure-monitoring and water-
shed-monitoring programs are being initiated. These efforts will
be continued well into the future.
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58 MULTIMEDIA ENERGY
Scientific or policy developments could change the long-term
direction of the research program. Some possible developments
include: the scientific finding that part or all of the problem is
minor; the scientific finding that part or all of the problem is
getting rapidly worse or much more widespread; and/or
congressional or executive action requiring emissions reduction.
Such developments could bring about a considerable shift in
emphasis in the research effort increasing the focus in one or
more areas.
Most of the energy-research control-technology issues in this
chapter focus on increased combustion of coal in an environ-
mentally acceptable manner. These activities will continue with
changing degrees of activity for individual technologies. In
addition, some activity will continue to focus on new technol-
ogies needed to analyze or mitigate environmental impacts
associated with the synthetic fuels.
A significant near-term issue is the determination of how
current control technologies can be adapted for acid deposition
applications. Technologies currently being utilized to achieve
NSPS compliance are costly and have a limited capability to be
used in existing facilities on a retrofit basis. If additional acid-
precursor-emission reduction from existing sources is legislated,
improved lower-cost technological approaches will be required.
The use of the Limestone Injection Multistage Burner (LIMB)
technology is one of the approaches which is being investigated.
EPA will develop information necessary to analyze or mitigate
potential environmental impacts associated with the synthetic
fuels industry. These impacts include air and water pollution
and solid wastes disposal. All of these pollutants will be assessed
and further study performed if problem areas are identified.
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59
Pesticides and Toxics
EPA research in pesticides and toxic substances is directed
toward fulfilling the current and future needs of the Agency to
meet the provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act
(TSCA), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act (FIFRA) and, to a limited extent the Federal Food, Drug,
and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). The research program discussed
below will assist in the scientifically valid yet cost-effective
evaluation of the risks associated with pesticides and the
manufacture of new chemicals, as well as those currently in use.
While several of the issues scientifically overlap with other
programs, the research described here specifically relates to
pesticides and toxic substances.
EPA's pesticides and toxics research will continue to evaluate
health and ecological test methodologies, procedures to improve
the predictability of human risk estimates, exposure monitoring
systems,environmental fate and effect methods, and environ-
mental risk assessments. Additional research will develop and
evaluate release and control methods for new and existing
chemicals, structure activity relationships as predictors of
chemical fate and biological effects, and procedures for ensuring
the human and environmental safety of the products of
biotechnology. The potential for contamination of ground
water discussed in the Water research chapter will be another
area of interest to the ongoing pesticides and toxics research
program.
Major Research Issues
Test Method Development
What new procedures or tests are needed to ensure that
industry's data on environmental or health effects are accurate,
reproducible and consistent?
The toxic substances and pesticides programs are unique in that
under TSCA and FIFRA, EPA must provide industry with
guidance to test chemicals and pesticides for potential hazards
to the public health and environment.The soundness of the
Agency's regulatory decisions on a chemical depends on qualita-
tive and quantitative scientific data from industry regarding
potential adverse environmental and human health effects of
exposure to the chemical. Although there are a variety of test
systems that could be employed to screen for potential toxicity,
the sensitivity, reliability, cost and time constraints of these tests
vary widely. In order to base regulatory decisions on the best
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60 PESTICIDES A ND TOXICS
possible data, carefully screened methods are developed and
approved by the Agency. These methods are incorporated into
regulatory guidelines for use by industry and others who must
evaluate the safety of chemicals.
ORD's health test methods research will focus on toxic hazards
in five areas: reproductive effects, neurotoxicity, immuno-
toxicity, mutagenic or carcinogenic effects, and genetically
inheritable disorders.
Research on methods for predicting environmental effects will
include the evaluation of existing methods and field studies.
This research will determine the sensitivity of available tests and
identify species for potential future test methods development.
The field tests will assist in relating present test methods to
impacts observed in ecosystems. However, major advances will
be required in our ability to relate single-species and generic
microcosm test data to actual ecosystem effects. In addition, our
understanding of comparative toxicology must be improved to
adequately relate observed effects on one species to probable
effects on other species.
Human Health and Exposure
What new techniques can be developed to improve the
predictability of human risk from exposure to pesticides and
other toxic substances?
EPA will conduct research to evaluate newly developed
techniques for biological monitoring and chemical screening in
epidemiology, neuro-behavioral testing, radio-immune assays
and genotoxic measures of DNA damage. This includes the
development of measurable indicators at the molecular level, as
well as studies on metabolism to improve both dose estimates
and extrapolation techniques. These biological "markers" will
link chemical exposures to biological effects in an individual,
and will offer a powerful tool for biochemical epidemiology.
This technique will provide information on the amount of
chemicals absorbed, stored, and excreted by the body, and will
permit the development of dose-response relationships. Where
possible, biological monitoring techniques and markers found
to be promising in animal studies will be evaluated by epidemi-
ological studies done on occupationally exposed populations.
One of the primary goals of the program is to enable quantitative
extrapolations of chemical concentrations from animals to
humans. This effort will include research to improve the
precision of mathematical dosimetry models by providing
experimental data to use as factors in the model.
Reproduction. Laboratory and clinical studies will develop
methods to identify chemicals affecting reproduction. These
efforts will focus on reproductive dysfunction caused by
hormonal imbalance and its possible link to environmental
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PESTICIDES A ND TOXICS 61
chemicals. In cooperation with the National Academy of
Sciences/National Research Council, EPA will assess current
knowledge of biological markers of reproductive dysfunction in
order to develop critical hypotheses concerning the inter-
relationships between reproductive health, biological markers,
and toxicity.
Inheritable Mutations. The sensitivity of germ cells to toxic
materials potentially can affect future generations. EPA will
expand its research to identify chemicals which are capable of
damaging the gene structure of human chromosomes with
resultant effects on fertilization, early pregnancy or implanta-
tion. This may contribute to understanding why human embryos
fail to develop normally.
Certain hereditary disorders associated with chromosomal
damage have been linked to chemical exposure. Rodent model
systems for evaluating chemically induced gene alterations or
chromosome imbalance during the fertilization cycle will be
developed and evaluated. Using these techniques, efforts will be
made to identify chemicals that have the potential to induce
chromosomal or inheritable mutations. The genetic basis of the
altered trait will be sought to allow identification of mutated
sperm in the laboratory. Tests for mutations will be developed
to enable the Agency to identify and evaluate the genotoxic
potential of environmental chemicals and perhaps to account
for the incidence of spontaneous abortions in humans.
Neurotoxicity. The development of biological indicators and
tests for neurotoxicity is divided into three interrelated parts: (1)
development of radio-immunoassays of proteins specific to the
nervous system as potential biochemical indicators of neuro-
toxicity; (2) development of methods to evaluate the neuro-
behavioral integrity of the new-born which will include both
learning capability and electrophysiological thresholds; and (3)
field testing of a behavioral test battery for assessing neuro-
behavioral functions in human populations.
Extrapolating from High-Dose Exposure to Low-Dose
Exposure. Animal toxicity testing generally is conducted at
concentrations greater than the concentrations to which humans
are normally exposed. This research will allow more plausible
estimates of the dose-response curve at the lower concentrations.
These studies will initially focus on cancer and mutagenicity.
Efforts will be made to establish the relationship between
incidence of cancer and mutations with the amount of a
chemical or its metabolites attached to the cells'genetic material
(i.e., DNA).
Epidemiology. The epidemiological research program will
provide information to assist in identifying and regulating
existing chemicals which may increase human health risks.
EPA's research will focus on identifying potentially hazardous
substances, evaluating biological measures and developing new
epidemiological and biostatistical methods. These efforts will
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62 PESTICIDES AND TOXICS
provide sensitive measures of adverse effects to organ systems as
well as a means of evaluating proposed risk-assessment models.
Existing records will be evaluated to identify occupational and
demographic groups which appear to be at increased risk of
birth defects, cancers and other environmentally related
disorders. Subsequent studies will determine if specific chemicals
may be responsible for observed increases in disease rates.
Epidemiological comparisons of traditional exposure and
response measures to newly developed biological methods will
also be implemented. Risk estimates extrapolated from animal
models will be compared to observed hazard levels in appro-
priate human populations.
Exposure Monitoring
What monitoring methods are needed to provide information to
estimate human exposures?
Methodologies for measuring human exposure to environ-
mental pollution continue to evolve. Most of the Agency's
previous monitoring efforts have focused on data collection to
document ambient conditions for enforcement purposes or on
conducting laboratory toxicological tests to determine human
health effects. In the past few years, however, some progress has
been made in determining the actual exposures of humans to
environmental pollutants. A modest exposure monitoring
program has been initiated, and methods development research
has become more sophisticated.
The objective of the exposure monitoring research program is to
develop the appropriate methodologies. This includes personal
monitoring instrumentation, analytical methods, population
sampling schemes, questionnaires and diaries, exposure models,
activity pattern data bases, quality assurance procedures, and
pilot field studies to determine, with known accuracy, the
distribution of the population's exposures to environmental
pollutants of concern to the Agency.
The data generated by these methodologies can be used to
improve both the quality of public health risk estimates and the
meaningfulness of conventional data collected by existing
monitoring networks. The resulting exposure data also can be
used to develop and validate exposure models which allow the
Agency to evaluate the impact on exposures of alternative
regulatory strategies and national standards.
The Total Exposure Assessment Methodology (TEAM)
approach includes data collected on the exposures of a popula-
tion to all environmental media (air, drinking water, food),
including estimates of "body burden" as measured in blood,
urine, and breath. TEAM methodology uses a respresentative
random sample of the population, stratified to reflect important
attributes with respect to pollutant exposure, that makes it
possible to extrapolate the findings to the much larger popu-
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PESTICIDES A ND TOXICS 63
lation of a city or a region. Since 1979 TEAM studies have
successfully demonstrated the use of personal monitors to
measure the air exposures of people to over 50 organic
compounds with particular emphasis on about 20 target
compounds, including several important carcinogens. In the
future the TEAM methodology will be adapted to other
chemicals by undertaking field studies to determine the exposure
of the general population to a variety of chemicals.
Planning also is underway for a long-range field monitoring
program that seeks to consolidate the Agency's exposure
monitoring research capability and expertise into one metro-
politan area, called a Human Exposure Assessment Location
(HEAL). This program is international in scope, with each of
several participating nations designating its own HEAL study
area and funding its own exposure monitoring field programs in
that area. In each HEAL, similar statistical designs and
measurement methodologies would be applied, thus permitting
the findings from different countries to be compared. Co-
ordination of this program is being supplied by the World
Health Organization in Geneva, and each HEAL will be
designed to meet the sponsoring nation's most critical exposure
monitoring research need. By pooling scientific resources from
several nations, the HEAL's program has the potential for
significantly advancing our understanding of the actual expo-
sures of the population to toxic chemicals, thereby increasing
the meaningfulness of data from existing monitoring programs
and improving the quality of estimates of the risk of these
pollutants to public health.
The Exposure Monitoring Test Site(EMTS) is being established
to provide opportunities for exposure methods testing (testing
the methods and instrumentation) at a well-characterized
geographical location. Use of a single site is economical and
provides for important background information regarding
industrialization, routine environmental and public health
monitoring, demography, and geography to be considered in
methods evaluation. In 1984 the site criteria were defined and
several candidate sites selected for consideration. In 1985 a
candidate will be selected and verified as being suitable for use as
the EMTS. Efforts to conduct projects at the site will begin after
the characterization process.
Research is being conducted to develop a quantitative analytical
method to detect azo dyes in environmental media. This method
will be used to determine how well industrial and municipal
water treatment systems deal with these dyes and whether or not
there is human and environmental exposure. In 1984 analytical
methods were evalauted. Modifications in extraction procedures
will be made in 1985 to improve these methods. Concurrently,
joint efforts will be made to provide analytical support to
environmental engineers using these dyes to evalaute the
efficacy of water treatment systems to deal with these chemicals.
This cooperative research may be expanded to research for
other chemicals in 1986.
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64 PESTICIDES AND TOXICS
Environmental Fates and Effects
What new laboratory capabilities must be developed and
validated to assess the environmental effects or risks from toxic
chemicals?
Ecosystems are composed of multiple populations which differ
throughout the continental U.S., making it difficult to establish
protocols for well-defined environmental risk assessments.
While health risk assessments are targeted to human popu-
lations, environmental risk assessments have no single, definitive
populations upon which to focus. Moreover, if the populations
at risk are identifiable, there may not always be applicable
toxicity data for those particular species. Instead of obtaining
toxicity data on the exact populations at risk, toxicity data from
surrogate laboratory or test populations are used. In such cases,
uncertainty may arise over the applicability of data from the
surrogate populations.
To determine whether ecologically or commercially important
organisms are in jeopardy from new chemicals in the environ-
ment, basic information must be provided on chemical
transport, transformation, habitat alteration and biological
effects. EPA's research is directed toward predicting levels of
exposure by determining where new chemicals may exist in the
environment and describing their movement through air, soils,
sediments, fresh and estuarine surface waters and ground water.
Thus, the program must determine potential pollutant distribu-
tions in ecosystems, the relevant ecological, physical, chemical
and biological processes and ascertain the physical, chemical
and biological parameters which affect chemical fate. Field
studies in experimental and natural ecosystems will provide the
necessary data for further model development as well as the
verification of existing hazard assessment techniques.
Studies to improve the reliability of models to predict
environmental concentrations of pesticides or toxic substances
will be conducted through development of mathematical
descriptions of phenomena, such as sorption onto particulate
matter, followed by validation through a program of field
testing and laboratory studies. Analyses of mathematical models
will further determine the sensitivity of model outputs to
environmental parameters.
Field tests of some fate and exposure models have been
conducted, and additional field verifications will be initiated. In
partial support of the biological effects needs, ecological effects
testing approaches must be improved and field-tested. Small-
scale controlled environments of sufficient reliability for
regulatory evaluations, e.g., microcosms, are also being studied.
Fate and effects microcosm research will include scaling and
model fitting; using specific types of microcosms to evaluate
risk-assessment processes; and evaluating specific microcosms
to assess conditions in varied geographical situations.
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PESTICIDES AND TOXICS 65
The present course of improvement and application of mathe-
matical models will emphasize precision, incorporation of new
field data when available and use of improved theory where
applicable. Exposure models and hazard assessment techniques
will be developed or modified for a range of aquatic and
terrestrial situations to yield an estimate of environmental risk.
Chemical Release and Controls
What engineering and technological information is needed to
identify the release of and exposure to toxic substances and to
determine alternatives for control of these substances?
Under the premanufacture notification process, the manu-
facturers of new chemicals or proposers of significant new uses
of existing chemicals are required to submit information to EPA
for prior review. EPA uses existing data to predict the risks of
and from the release of new substances, and, under the existing
chemicals control program, evaluates technological alternatives
to reduce the release of and exposure to chemicals that are
already in use.
Predictive Capabilities. Models to predict the release of and
exposure to different classes of new chemicals will be developed
to assess different chemical-unit operations and processes, the
physical and chemical properties of chemicals, to predict the
potential exposure and release levels,. and the best control
measures to control release and exposure of new chemicals.
Pilot-scale testing for the treatability of classes of potentially
toxic chemicals will be conducted to validate these predictive
models.
Control Alternatives. Alternatives to mitigate the release of and
exposure to specific existing and new pesticides and toxic
substances will be defined through the evaluation and adapta-
tion of control measures related to the release in the workplace
and into the environment of the chemicals. Technologies,
management practices, and personal protective equipment to
limit the release into the environment and exposure of pesticide
applicators will be evaluated.
Structure-A ctivity Relationships
What additional information and techniques are required to
estimate the environmental behavior of new chemicals through
their chemical or physical similarities to known compounds?
EPA's Office of Toxic Substances evaluates human and
environmental risks associated with the introduction of new
chemicals under TSCA. Since little, if any, relevant toxicity
information is submitted for new TSCA chemicals under
development, decisions regarding their potential health and
environmental risk must rely heavily on existing knowledge
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66 PESTICIDES AND TOXICS
about similar chemicals and on estimations of physical and
chemical properties. The use of structure-activity relationships
(SAR) is a promising technique to estimate the environmental
toxicity and behavior of a new substance based upon its
chemical or structural similarities to other known compounds.
SAR has been applied with some success in the pharmaceutical
industry where interactions with very specific biological
receptors are necessary, although application of this technique
to predict the broad range of potential health effects resulting
from exposure to chemicals with diverse properties is limited.
EPA will investigate the use of structure-activity relationships in
estimating health effects in the areas of systemic toxicity and
genetic activity. A SAR method using molecular-electrostatic-
interaction-potential as a premanufacture screen for predicting
chemical toxicity is also being evaluated as a possible regulatory
tool.
To enhance the Agency's ability to utilize SAR, SAR health
effects data bases will be expanded by conducting bioassay
studies on a series of structurally related chemicals which
represent chemical classes frequently encountered by EPA's*
new-product evaluators. This approach may allow the devel-
opment of SAR methods specifically tailored for the types of
chemicals EPA might be regulating in the future. Thus, methods
for predicting toxicological effects of chemicals based on a
variety of physiochemical parameters may be developed,
including their transport, metabolism, ability to bind to critical
cellular macromolecules and DN A-repair characteristics. Addi-
tionally, work will be continued to relate the genetic activity of
specific compounds (and/or classes) to chemical structure.
The health risk assessment research program will emphasize
three aspects: determination of qualitative effect and quantita-
tive dose response data on specific, high-concern compounds
and chemical classes; development of systematic procedures,
beginning with genetic toxicity, for integrating individual
toxicological test results and SAR predictions into an overall
risk estimate; and expansion of quantitative animal test data
into human disease-susceptibility models.
SAR research is also developing correlations for predicting the
environmental toxicity of new chemicals to freshwater, marine
estuarine and terrestrial species, as well as for predicting the
behavior and fate of toxic chemicals in the environment.
Considerable progress has been made in predicting the chemical
and physical properties of chemicals. Future chemical fate
estimation techniques will emphasize the prediction of rates of
transport (e.g., volatilization from water) and rates of trans-
formation (e.g., sunlight photolysis and biodegradation), and
rates of uptake of chemicals into living organisms. Environ-
mental effects tests will continue to develop estimation
techniques for predicting the potential for narcosis, ehoJines-
terase inhibition and respiratory uncoupling, which appear to
be major toxicity mechanisms in animals.
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PESTICIDES A ND TOXICS 67
Biotechnology
What methods and technologies are needed to ensure human
and environmental safety from microbial agents and products
of biotechnology?
Data, methods and models are required for EPA to assess the
public health and environmental risks associated with bio-
technology products. Many steps in assessing risks of genetically
engineered organisms are similar to those used to assess the risks
of chemical substances. However, additional complexities are
encountered because of the potential for organisms to grow,
infect, transform, spread and exchange genetic information
resulting in the potential acquisition of pathogenic traits. These
engineered organisms may also have the capability of out-
competing and thus replacing natural organisms. EPA's research
efforts in biotechnology constitute a comprehensive effort to
deal with the potential problems posed by the release of
bioengineered products into the environment.
In the monitoring research program, efforts will be directed to
develop capabilities to identify and monitor genetically engi-
neered organisms, their products, and their genetic material in
the environment. This research will result in a manual for use by
EPA and others engaged in environmental monitoring to assure
data quality. Identification of gaps in methods for monitoring
and requirements and validation limits for quality assurance
will be addressed.
Environmental processes and effects research will determine the
survival and fate of genetically engineered organisms released
into the environment and assess their potential impacts. Short-
term needs for this area will include the development of specific,
sensitive methods to identify and track genetically engineered
organisms in the environment, and rapid qualitative and
quantitative screening of fate and effect techniques. Long-term
studies will assist in understanding and predicting the impact,
exposure, hazard, and environmental risk of genetically
engineered organisms in the environment.
Health research efforts will develop predictive in vivo and in
vitro tests for adverse health effects to human populations. This
research will assess the application of guidelines for microbial
pesticides to general use in testing genetically engineered
organisms for adverse health effects. Also, this effort will
identify additional sources of available test methods, assess their
applicability for EPA use and incorporate them into a data base.
Engineering and control technology efforts will improve
containment, control and destruction measures and produce
alternative engineering methods which may be used for the
containment and destruction of organisms, containment in field
tests, and reducing worker exposure.
Assessments of environmental risk will incorporate data from
monitoring, environmental impact and health effects studies
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68 PESTICIDES A ND TOXICS
into effective, predictive assessments of potential harm to
human health or the environment. Initial emphases in this area
will be towards the preparation of guidelines for developing test
methods, assessing data and evaluating test results on potential
hazards of biotechnology. Further, biotechnology exposure
guidelines will be developed to assess potential hazards resulting
from exposure to genetically altered organisms. Workshops will
also be held in relevant disciplines of biotechnology such as the
environmental aspects of genetically engineered microbial and
viral systems. Recommendations from these workshops, com-
bined with expert panels and relevant research, should provide a
sound background for biotechnology guidelines.
Summary of Long-Term Trends
The toxics and pesticides research program focuses primarily on
the intentional or unintentional release of new and/or existing
chemicals into the environment. To protect human health and
the environment adequately from unreasonable risks, a wide
array of research issues must be addressed to support the
regulatory needs. Each of the research issues which has been
discussed within this chapter will continue into the next decade,
with varying degrees of emphasis.
Test methods development will continue at a relatively level
pace to provide methods to measure chemicals in the environ-
ment and determine their hazard. As currently available
methods are standardized, efforts will continue to develop and
evaluate new sensitive yet cost-effective techniques for potential
use in test guidelines. In the health area these new methods will
involve greater reliance on endpoints other than carcinogenicity
and thus will be an area of increased activity. By utilizing these
new techniques, the health assessment activities will be better
able to provide the data necessary to conduct quantitative risk
assessments. To this end, research will increase on extrapolating
from effects at high to low doses and from animals to man. This
will reduce the level of uncertainty associated with the use of
laboratory data in predictions of human health risk. The
development and increased use of biological markers also will
assist in this area by providing a more accurate measure of
actual human exposure levels. These techniques may provide
new tools for epidemiological studies. In conjunction with these
studies, the development of exposure monitoring systems will
initially increase with subsequent leveling off as improvements
are made in monitoring methods, systems, and analyses.
While these studies relate primarily to human risk assessments,
a relatively new area is environmental risk assessment. Ecolog-
ical hazard assessment methods will continue to be developed to
determine the environmental fate and effects of chemicals. This
effort will culminate in the development of ecological hazard
models. While effects and exposure methods will provide
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PESTICIDES A ND TOXICS 69
information to evaluate risk, developing more definitive
techniques for conducting environmental risk assessments will
undoubtedly be a long-term process.
As the list of new chemicals continues to grow, research to
provide information on the release and control of these
chemicals will allow the rapid and accurate prediction of how
much and where chemicals will be released into the environment,
and with increasing accuracy, an estimation of their environ-
mental effects.
To address the expected growth of genetic engineering, EPA
will provide methods to protect public health and the environ-
ment from the potential adverse impacts of microbial agents and
the products of biotechnology. EPA's research will help to
determine containment facilities for bioengineered organisms
and means of monitoring the survival and distribution of those
intended for release. The initial emphasis will be on developing
methods to assess survivability and ecological effects.
The structure-activity research program will continue as the
methods for predicting fate and effects of parent and degrada-
tion compounds become more available.
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71
Exploratory Research Program
Solutions to environmentally related problems often require a
more basic or fundamental understanding. A primary goal,
therefore, of the Office of Research and Development is to
develop new knowledge and principles that can be used to
address and resolve environmental problems. ORD is particu-
lary interested in long-range strategic research issues addressing
emerging environmental problems. Consequently, in addition
to the research conducted through the laboratories, ORD
supports exploratory research through its research grants and
centers programs.
Exploratory Grants Program
The research grants program is designed to elicit investigator
initiated proposals to meet the following Agency objectives:
improve the quality of science and scientific information in
areas important to the Agency's programs and mission;
stimulate investigation of emerging environmental problems
and identify steps which can predict their occurrence; enrich
basic research with long-range objectives to provide extended
direction to the scientific program of EPA; expand the
innovative and creative base of the mission-oriented research
which makes up the bulk of the EPA research programs; and
bring new investigators into environmentally-related research
areas.
The competitive peer review research grants program was
initiated in 1980 through an annual national solicitation designed
to highlight specific areas of inquiry. Although all valid
proposals are considered, the solicitation typically emphasizes
research needs in five areas: environmental health; environ-
mental biology; environmental engineering; chemistry and
physics in air; and chemistry and physics in soils and water.
The grants selection process combines the most successful
features of the dual review systems used by the National Science
Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Ad hoc
panels, chaired by scientists or engineers from outside EPA,
meet at least twice annually to discuss reviews of each proposal
conducted by at least three experts in the relevant field.
Applications that pass the scientific panel review are then
reviewed by Agency personnel for their relevancy in meeting
Agency needs. The combined dual-review recommendations are
rank-ordered and the grants are awarded based upon the
availability of funds.
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72 EXPLORA TOR Y RESEA RCH PROCRA M
The grants program uses those issues identified by the five
research committees as guidance in determining priority
research needs. Exploratory research focuses on projects which
might provide information or solutions in the long term. The
specific projects which may be supported by this program,
however, depend upon the proposals submitted in response to
the solicitations. Thus, while the basic issues addressed will be
similar to those described in previous chapters, the actual nature
of the research undertaken cannot be predicted.
Environmental Health. The environmental health research
program looks at the identification, assessment, control and
management of risks to health from anthropogenic and natural
alterations of the environment. Factors to be studied will
include: principle modes of transmission; critical modes of
exposure factors governing susceptibility and resistance; cate-
gories of biologic response, methods for detecting exposure,
early biological responses and the consequences of long-term
exposure; relationship of acute to chronic toxicity; modes of
biologic prevention and treatment; and isolation, elimination,
or dissemination of agents.
Air Research. The air research panel is concerned with the study
of the sources, transport, transformation and fate of air
pollutants. The program is concerned with applications pro-
viding time-space patterns of pollutant concentrations, detailed
chemical and physical descriptions of pollutants, mathematical
models connecting air pollutants with probable sources, and
procedures for investigating the impact of pollutants on human
health, the environment, visibility, climate and materials. It
draws heavily upon the concepts and procedures of physics,
chemistry and meteorology using models and measurement
methods to develop quantitative description of these phenom-
ena.
Environmental Biology Research. The environmental biology
effects research panel receives applications on the study of
effects of pollutants and pollution abatement practices on biota
and on ecosystems of varying complexity and spatial extent. A
major objective of this program is to provide information that,
in combination with exposure data, allows the prediction of the
environmental risk of pollution on individual organisms and on
ecosystems. The risks include the reduction of productivity in
agricultural areas, wetlands, and freshwater and coastal marine
ecosystems as well as human exposure to toxic substances
through accumulation in the food chain. This research area also
includes studies on biotechnology.
Aquatic and Soils Research. The major objective of this
research is to provide the basis for predicting the time-space
patterns of pollutant concentrations in aquatic and soil systems.
This ability to predict concentration patterns is important in
exposure assessments and in determining the capacity of the
environment to assimilate pollution. The research also fre-
quently provides possible approaches to treatment of wastes
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EXPLORATORY RESEARCH PROGRAM 73
and management practices to minimize the environmental
impact of waste sources. The research is broadly based on the
concepts and techniques of physics, chemistry and micro-
biology. It includes small-scale laboratory studies and large-
scale field projects relating to the transport and transformation
of pollutants in the aquatic and soil environments.
Environmental Engineering Research. The environmental
engineering research program emphasizes new, innovative
pollution control and waste management techniques in air,
water, and soils. These include source monitoring characteriza-
tion, cost-effective production process modification, pollutant
emission abatement, residuals control, and mitigation of acid
rain. While hazardous wastes will receive particular attention in
future solicitations, research on air, wastewater, and toxics
control technologies and drinking water and multimedia tech-
nologies will be supported.
Exploratory Research Centers
The exploratory research centers program is designed to achieve
four major objectives: address long-term exploratory research
needs of importance to EPA's mission that require multi-media
and multi-disciplinary approaches; promote and maintain a
critical research mass by providing stable and continuing
funding; extend the capabilities of EPA's laboratories; and
establish links between EPA and the scientific and technical
communities.
There are now eight centers, seven of which were the subject of a
national competition. The proposals received were peer-
reviewed for scientific and technical merit and reviewed by
Agency personnel to ensure they supported Agency needs. All
centers are funded through cooperative agreements which allow
interactive design and implementation of research programs of
mutual interest. In general, each center began its operation by
conducting a series of assessments of the high-priority research
needs that subsequently formed the basis of their activities.
Advanced Environmental Control Technology Research Center
(University of Illinois). The objective of this center is to increase
scientific knowledge of the chemical, physical and biological
principles underlying the technologies used to control air and
water pollution. Emphasis is placed on technologies which are
innovative or not yet commercially available and which will
develop faster with additional scientific research or improved
dissemination of technical information.
Industrial Waste Elimination Research Center (Illinois Institute
of Technology and Notre Dame University). The mission of this
center is to reduce or eliminate industrial pollutant discharges
through innovations in industrial processes and development of
recycle/recovery strategies. Rather than focusing on "end-of-
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74 EXPLORA TOR Y RESEA RCH PROGRAM
pipe" controls, the center emphasizes research on in-plant
controls that include methods for recycling, recovery, and reuse
of by-products of industrial processes; modifications of manu-
facturing processes to avoid or reduce generation of wastes; and
developing "clean" manufacturing technologies that minimize
or eliminate the generation of pollutants.
Hazardous Waste Research Center (Louisiana State University).
The focus of this research center is the development of advanced
technologies for the destruction, detoxification, recovery or
containment of hazardous wastes including incineration,
alternate methods of treatment, and waste/ materials inter-
action.
National Center for Intermedia Transport Research (University
of California-Los Angeles). This center studies the important
physical and chemical processes associated with the transport of
particle or gaseous environmental pollutants from one
medium—the atmosphere, land and water—to another. Key
problems being addressed include determining the organic and
inorganic chemicals that are deposited as a result of dry and wet
fallout; the influence of temperature, humidity, vegetation
growth, and other factors on the pollutant condensing process;
the transport mechanisms of chemicals placed on land by man
into the atmosphere; the mechanisms of action which control
the exchange of pollutants between the land, atmosphere, and
large bodies of water; and the accumulation of previously
unidentified new chemicals in the atmosphere.
National Center for Groundwater Research (Rice University,
University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University). The
objective of groundwater research at the center is to improve the
understanding of the subsurface environment and its interaction
with pollutants. Directly or indirectly, groundwater is the major
source of the Nation's drinking water, but it may be contami-
nated with pollutants from a wide variety of sources. Efforts to
mitigate this contamination are complicated by the extremely
slow movement of pollutants underground. Priority research
issues include transport and fate processes; study of subsurface
and pollutant characteristics which play a key role in those
processes; and development of methods to assess and protect
groundwater quality.
Ecosystems Research Center (Cornell University). The primary
objectives of the center are to identify fundamental scientific
principles and concepts of ecosystems and determine their
importance in understanding and predicting the responses of
ecosystems to stress; to describe basic mechanisms that operate
within ecosystems and the stability of ecosystems stressed by
pollutants; and to evaluate the applicability of those theoretical
concepts to problems of concern to EPA including retrospective
and other case studies. The center will conduct studies of
particular ecosystems to characterize ecosystem responses to
stress, comparative studies to classify the responses of different
ecosystems to a variety of stresses and make recommendations
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EX FLORA TOR Y RESEA RCH PROGRA M 75
for appropriate ecotoxicology methods and studies to test the
applicability of ecosystem concepts to problems of special
concern to the EPA.
Center for Environmental Epidemiology (University of
Pittsburgh). The primary objective of this center is to improve
the understanding of the human health risks associated with
environmental pollution, especially chronic disease epidemi-
ology. The priorities for the center include problem definition
and feasibility assessments for epidemiology studies, develop-
ment and improvement of epidemiological methods related to
environmental health, research on exposure assessment relevant
to epidemiological investigations, and support to EPA on
epidemiological studies. Five task groups have been established
to identify research needs and priorities in airborne particulates,
indoor exposure to hazardous materials, drinking water and
wastewater, cardiovascular diseases, and methods for evaluating
exposure and health endpoints.
Marine Sciences Research Center (University of Rhode Island).
The objective of this center is to develop methods for predicting
the behavior of estuarine systems. The center provides fourteen
large-scale (3,500 gallons each) simulations of estuarine systems
to test ecosystem effects of pollutant discharges. Emphasis is on
ecosystem-level studies of the behavior and effects of selected
pollutants associated with natural and introduced particulates,
including the dispersive behavior and effects of low-level
radioactive soils disposed in marine waters.
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77
Appendix A: Resource Options
Water
The law requiring the submission of this research strategy
document to Congress is Section 5 of Public Law 94-475. The
same law also requires that a five-year projection be provided
indicating the potential research response to different resource
levels.
The following section on resource options includes, as required
by law, descriptions of conditions for high, moderate, and no
growth. The growth rates associated with these options are zero
for no growth, three percent for moderate growth and six
percent for high growth. No additional resources are required or
expected as a result of this submission. Rather, these growth
scenarios are intended, as required by the law, to indicate
potential program increases in EP A's research and development.
1985 Current Estimate $52.0 Million
1986 President's Budget $52.1
Projections
Growth 1987 1988 1989 1990
None
Moderate
High
52.1
53.6
55.3
52.1
55.3
58.6
52.1
57.0
62.1
52.1
58.7
65.8
No Growth: The program will proceed as described in this
Agenda.
Moderate: Efforts to develop a greater understanding of the
transport and fate of pollutants in groundwater will be
accelerated. Additional efforts will be made to determine the
potential health effects of those substances found in drinking
water.
High: The additional efforts cited under the moderate growth
option above will be augmented and accelerated.
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78 ^ PPEND1X A: RESOURCE OPTIONS
A ir and Radiation
1985 Current Estimate $69.2 Million
1986 President's Budget $65.6
Projections
Growth 1987 1988 1989 1990
None
Moderate
High
65.6
67.6
69.6
65.6
69.6
73.7
65.6
71.7
78.1
65.6
73.8
82.8
No Growth: The program will proceed as described in this
Agenda.
Moderate: Additional work will be directed toward the
improvement of health effects information; particularly in the
area of the development of models to permit the extrapolation
from high dose to low dose, and animals to man.
High: Additional efforts will improve the characterization of
ambient atmospheres with emphasis on potential hazardous air
pollutants. Source characterization and mitigation will be
expanded for specific industries.
Hazardous Wastes
1985 Current Estimate $40.9 Million
1986 President's Budget $49.6
Projections
Growth 1987 1988 1989 1990
None
M oderate
High
49.6
51.0
52.5
49.6
52.6
55.7
49.6
54.2
59.0
49.6
55.8
62.6
No Growth: The program will proceed as described in this
Agenda.
Moderate: Additional efforts will investigate alternate disposal/
destruction technologies to provide disposal capacity for wastes
banned from land disposal.
High: Additional effort will be invested in the development of
advanced alternative disposal/destruction technologies. Tech-
niques to detect and monitor subsurface movement of hazardous
waste leachate will be further investigated.
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APPENDIX A: RESOURCE OPTIONS 79
Multimedia Energy
1985 Current Estimate $58.1 Million
1986 President's Budget $67.2
Projections
Growth 1987 1988 1989 1990
None
Moderate
High
67.2
69.2
71.2
67.2
71.3
75.5
67.2
73.4
80.0
67.2
75.6
84.8
No Growth: The program will proceed as described in this
Agenda.
Moderate: Additional efforts will be made to accelerate acid
deposition research to identify cause/effects mechanisms of
forest changes. Evaluations and assessments of a variety of
utility boiler control technologies will be expanded.
High: Additional efforts will be made to understand the linkages
between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems as they relate to acid
deposition impacts. Research on utility boiler controls will be
accelerated.
Pesticides and Toxics
1985 Current Estimate $36.2 Million
1986 President's Budget $50.0
Projections
Growth 1987 1988 1989 1990
None
Moderate
High
50.0
51.5
53.0
SO.'O
53.1
56.2
50.0
54.7
59.6
50.0
56.3
63.1
No Growth: The program will proceed as described in this
Agenda.
Moderate: Additional efforts will be devoted to accelerating
research in ecotoxicity, structure-activity relationships and
issues related to biotechnology.
High: The efforts described under moderate growth above will
be augmented and accelerated.
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SO APPENDIX A: RESOURCE OPTIONS
Exploratory Research
1985 Current Estimate-$21.2 Million
1986 President's Budget $13.9
Projections
Growth 1987 1988 1989 1990
None
Moderate
High
13.9
14.3
14.7
13.9
14.7
15.6
13.9
15.2
16.5
13.9
15.6
17.5
No Growth: The program will proceed as described in this
Agenda.
Moderate: Additional efforts in the grant program will be
devoted to environmental health and biology. Increases in the
centers program will be equally divided among existing centers.
High: Additional increases as indicated under moderate growth.
•&U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1985/559 111/10843
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