SEPTEMBER 1975
VOL. ONE, NO. EIGHT
BILLIONS FOR CLEAN WATER
RESCUING A LAKE
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
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BENEFITS OF CLEAN WATER
Floating down a scenic river you can drift with the
current, watch a heron slowly beat its wings toward
a distant shore and forget the hurly-burly of the
urban world.
Swimming in a country lake you can see a turtle
basking in the sun on a nearby rock and feel the cool
current of an underwater spring.
Those are some of the delights of swimming in a
natural setting that no millionaire can capture with
the most fabulous artificial pool.
The opportunity to swim in rivers and lakes, and
many other beneficial water uses, are being made
more widely available because of EPA's construc-
tion grants program, one of the world's most mas-
sive pollution control efforts.
In this issue of EPA Journal, an article presents an
overall view of the construction grants program
which provides Federal financing to help build waste
treatment plants in cities and towns all over America.
An example of what the construction grants pro-
gram does is the huge new Detroit waste treatment
plant, which was financed with the aid of EPA
grants. The waste discharges from Detroit have long
been the most serious source of contamination in the
Detroit River and in Lake Erie, the most polluted of
the Great Lakes.
To tell the story of the recovery of the Detroit
River, we have reprinted an excellent article from
the Michigan Natural Resources Magazine. This
story is a reminder that the building of waste treat-
ment plants and correcting of water pollution prob-
lems are team efforts, involving local and State gov-
ernments as well as EPA.
Then we have an article on Lake Shagawa (Shag-
a-WAH) in Northern Minnesota, where an advanced
waste treatment plant is helping to bring this lovely
island-studded lake back to life.
A product of EPA's Research and Development
Program, the advanced waste treatment plant at
Shagawa shows what waste treatment technology
can accomplish.
How EPA is giving Eskimos and other Alaskan vil-
lagers clean water and non-polluting sanitary
facilities in a central location is the subject of
another article.
Other items in this issue include:
A report on the dedication of EPA's new $30 mil-
lion research center at Cincinnati by President Ford.
A profile of Stanley W. Legro, the new Assistant
Administrator for Enforcement.
An article about the proposed heating of a Min-
nesota greenhouse with warm water discharged by a
power plant.
A progress report on the program of the United
States and the Soviet Union to help each other solve
pollution problems.
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A
U.S.
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
AGENCY
Russell E. Train
Administrator
Patricia L. Cahn
Director of Public Affairs
Charles D. Pierce
Editor
Staff:
Van Trumbull
Ruth Hussey
COVER: Two youngsters are engrossed in
hailing the hook as (hey fish in
Minnesota's Lake Shas:awa, a body of
water which EPA is helping to restore.
PHOTO CREDITS
COVL.RS Donald N. Lmmcnch
PAGL. 4, Donald N. Lmmench
5. 6
PAGL 14 Don \1oran
PAGh 1? Aiieen Train
PAGl: 17. Don Moraii. Lrncs! Bucci
18,19
PAGL. 20 Skyvic\\s Survey. Inc.
L.PA Graphic
Arts Unit, Cincinnati
C O N T
E N T S
BILLIONS FOR CLEAN WATER
PAGE 2
Operation of one of the world's most massive pollution control efforts — the construc-
tion grants program — is reviewed. By John T. Rhett.
RESCUING A LAKE
PAGE 4
HPA scientists are showing — for the first time anywhere in the United States — how to
restore a body of water by removing phosphorus from wastewater flowing into a lake.
By Charles D. Pierce.
KEEPING CLEAN IN LAND OF SNOW AND ICE PAGE 7
RETURN OF A RIVER
PAGE 8
The recovery of the Detroit River, aided bv a huge new waste treatment plant which
EPA helped finance, is described in an article the Journal is reprinting from the Michi-
gan Natural Resources Maga/ine. By Gay Cowels.
SMOG MAY KILL FOREST. By Chris West PAGE 1 1
U.S. -SOVIET MEETING SLATED. By Peter A. Acly PAGE 15
PRESIDENT DEDICATES CINCINNATI RESEARCH
CENTER PAGE 20
WARM WASTE WATER TO HEAT GREENHOUSE BACK PAGE
THE
COMMON LOON
D E P A R T M E N T S
NATION PAGE 12
PROHI.l. PAGE 14
INQUIRY PAGl- 17
PEOPLE PAGE 18
NEWS BRIEFS PAGE 21
The HPA Journal is published monthly, with combined issues for July-August and November-December,
for employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It docs not alter or supersede regulations,
operating procedures or manual instructions. Contributions and inquiries should be addressed to the Editor,
(A - H)7) Room 209, West Tower, Waterside Mall, 401 M St., S.W. Washington. D.C. 20460. No
permission necessary to reproduce contents except copyrighted photos and other materials.
PAGH 1
-------
EPA is now funding one of the most
massive pollution control efforts
anywhere in the world—the multi-billion-
dollar construction grants program.
This program involves the awarding of
Federal funds to local government
agencies to help build sewage treatment
facilities to reduce pollution of the Na-
tion's waterways.
EPA's funding for this program in fis-
cal year 1975 totalled $3.6 billion, more
than double the amount obligated in the
previous fiscal year.
Il is the Agency's goal to obligate the
entire SIS billion authorized by Con-
gress for the construction grants pro-
gram by September, 1977.
One of the largest public works efforts
ever launched, the program now pro-
vides employment for about 125,000
people. This employment figure is ex-
pected to total about 200,000 by the end
of fiscal 1977. The total would be even
higher if the full impact of this employ-
ment on the economy were taken into
consideration.
The recent action by the President in
authorizing 300 addiiional EPA posi-
tions in fiscal 1976 for the construction
grants program will raise the number of
Agency employees working in this area
to 1,007.
In the fiscal year that ended June 30,
about 600 Agency employees worked
primarily on construction grants. In that
year HPA's budget authority for every-
thing else—research and development.
pollution abatement and control, en-
forcement, and management—was $696
million.
Ol course, our construction grants
people do not actually spend these bil-
lions in the same sense in which our
laboratories spend money for research
or Regional Offices spend money for
enforcement. We award the money in
the form of grants to cities or other local
government agencies, and the local
agencies use it to pay for planning, tie-
sign, and construction. The whole proc-
ess of building a sewage treatment
plant from preliminary planning to
completion—may take from two to six
years.
It is hard work to control the spending
of billions of dollars, to assure that the
funds are allocated fairly anil used
wisely and effectively. The task is com-
plicated by the need to handle different
kinds of payments under different laws.
Before 1972. the 1-ederal share of a
project's cost ranged from 30 to 55 per-
cent. The Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Act Amendments of 1972 raised
this tt) 75 percent ami expanded the activ-
ities that qualify for Federal assistance.
PAGE 2
BILLIONS
FOR CLEAN WATER
By John T. Rhett
Thus, while hundreds of projects arc
still being financed under the old law
(because of the long lead time involved)
and while reimbursements to States and
cities are still being made for funds ad-
vanced in anticipation of Federal fund-
ing, EPA has had to gear up to adminis-
ter construction grants under the new
law, on a vastly greater scale and at an
accelerated pace.
In the 1972 Act Congress authorized
$18 billion over the following three
years. Half that amount was held in re-
serve by White House action, and EPA
was authorized to allot $2 billion in fis-
cal 1973, $3 billion in fiscal 1974, and
$4 billion in fiscal 1975. Last spring,
alter the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
the Executive Branch could not with-
hold eongressionally authorized funds,
John I . Rhcti i\ I)e/)i
-------
little to achieve the objectives of the
Act: nationwide secondary sewage
treatment by July, 1977, and no harmful
discharges by 1985.
According to our long-term Survey of
State Needs, made last year, meeting
the goals of the Act will require $350
billion in municipal sewerage works.
Assuming a 75 percent Federal share,
this is far too great a sum for the Federal
budget to handle in the manner now pre-
scribed. EPA has proposed and held
hearings on revising the law to ease the
burden on the Federal budget and still
achieve the most important water cjual-
ity objectives of the Act.
But our work is laid out for us in this
fiscal year and for several years to
come, trying to assure that the balance
of the S18 billion already authorized is
well spent. Let's briefly review the
process.
HOW GRANTS ARE AWARDED
In the past EPA awarded a single grant
for the Federal share of each sewage
treatment project. Now we pay the
larger Federal share (75 percent) for a
three-step process: preliminary plan-
ning, engineering design and specifica-
tions, and actual construction. Pay-
ments are made early in the first two
steps, and as often as monthly as phases
of construction are completed.
Before an application can be submit-
ted, the project must be approved by the
State, an architect-engineering consul-
tant chosen, and conferences held with
EPA and State officials.
After construction is finished there are
inspections by EPA and the State and a
financial audit before the final payment
can be made. Periodic checkups on op-
eration and maintenance ensue through-
out the "•lifetime" of the plant. 25 to 30
years.
WHO MAY APPLY, AND FOR WHAT?
Cities, towns, districts. States, combi-
nations of these, or Indian tribes may
apply for construction grants. The first
hurdle for any applicant is State ap-
proval: the application must be on a
priority list established by the State.
Eligible projects include new treat-
ment plants, improvement or expansion
of old plants, interceptor lines to collect
sewage for treatment, outfall lines to
dispose of treated effluent, and neces-
sary power and pumping equipment.
Under certain conditions, projects to
control pollution from combined storm
and sanitary sewer systems may qualify
for Federal aid.
The law also authoriy.es aid for new
treatment technologies such as the ap-
plication of wastewaterdirectly on land.
Each applicant municipality and its
architect-engineering consultant must
answer some tough questions, for
This is the unique S845 million North River Water Pollution Control Plant being built in Ne\v
York City with the aid of approximately S321 million in KPA grants. The facility is being built
on ;i 30-acre platform over the Hudson River between 135th and 145th Streets. When finished
in the carls 1980s, the window less plant, which will have a tremendous forced air ventilation
s\ stem, w ill have a State park on its roof and will have the capacil) to treat 220 million gallons
of sewage a d;iy.
example: What alternative wastewater
management schemes are possible and
have they been evaluated? Is the design
cost-effective, that is, does it provide
required pollution control at minimum
cost? Is the project's design acceptable
environmentally? Has a wastewater dis-
charge permit been issued by the State
or EPA? Will the project attain the re-
quired degree of treatment? How will
sewage sludge be disposed of? What are
the plans for effective operation and
maintenance? Does the project conform
to the waste management plun(s) in its
area? Has a user charge system been
worked out? (The law requires all users
of a treatment system to pay propor-
tional shares of plant operation and
maintenance: industrial users of new
plants must also pay fair shares of the
initial, capital cost.)
SPREADING OURSELVES THIN
The law that multiplied the construc-
tion grants work load did not provide for
a proportionate increase in EPA em-
ployees to do the work. Each Regional
Office has interpreted the program's
guidelines in ways best suited to its
situation. Each has tried valiantly with
limited resources, and the result is 10
programs functioning well but spread
thin. In many cases all required program
reviews have not been adequately cov-
ered.
The number of applicants has in-
creased sharply, as States have adjusted
to the higher Federal funding levels. On
July 1 there were 784 applications in the
Regional Offices, compared to 502 one
year before. Since the new-law projects
arc more complex than the old-law
ones, the task of processing construc-
tion grants has increased more than the
project numbers would indicate.
To meet the rising work load action is
necessary on two fronts. The first is to
assign more people to work on construc-
tion grants to assure that all tasks are
performed satisfactorily and in lull
compliance with our regulations. This
problem has been addressed by the addi-
tion of the 300 new positions for the
construction grants program.
The second major avenue is to rely
more on (lie Stales. So far 2S Slates
have been certified to review plans and
specifications and 32 States have the au-
thority to review operation and mainte-
nance manuals. We expect to increase
delegations of responsibility to the
States in the future. However, legisla-
tive changes will be necessary to pro-
vide States with additional funds to
meet this increased workload.
Continued on Pane 20
PAC.I-: .1
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RESCUING AIAKE
By Charles Pierce
ELY, Minn.—The haunting cry of a
loon broke the stillness as dawn arrived
over Lake Shagawa at this gateway to
one ol America's vast wilderness areas.
Shortly after the call of the loon, an
aquatic bird known as the voice of the
Northland, a faint splash could be heard
as an eager fisherman launched his
canoe from a distant shore.
Otherwise, only a song bird chorus and
the rustling of birch and aspen leaves in
a slight breeze broke the early morning
silence on (his peaceful lake which is
beginning to attract national attention.
For here at Shagawa, Environmental
Protection Agency scientists believe
they are .showing how to restore a lake
suffering from excessive algae, the
plant cancer of water pollution, by re-
moving phosphorus, a fertili/.er, from
waste-water flowing to the lake. They
state this will be the first time this has
been done anywhere in the country.
As a result of EPA's efforts, a sick
lake is being nursed back to health.
While significant progress has been
made, minor algae problems can still
occur in hoi weather.
Construction and operation of an ad-
vanced sewage treatment plant at Ely
has slashed dramatically the amount of
phosphorus in the approximately one
million gallons of waste water dis-
charged daily into the lake.
An important reason for the selection
of Shagawa for this major experimental
project which started nine years ago is
that this 2,500-aere lake, 80 miles north
of Duluth. drains into the famed Bound-
ary Waters Canoe Area.
• Stretching approximately 200 miles
along the Canadian border, this bound-
ary wilderness area has some 1,200
miles of canoe routes snaking through
more than one million acres of land and
water in the northern part of the
Superior National Forest.
Lake Shagawa, which used to be
blighted by huge floating masses of
dead, putrifying and malodorous algae,
also drains into Canadian waters.
Flying in a seaplane over Lake
Shagawa and the southern part of the
boundary waters, one sees a huge water-
land in all direetions broken up by jig-
saw links of green forest land. This is
the lake country, a legacy of ancient
glaciers.
This is also the territory that the
French fur traders, the Voyageurs,
made famous in the 1700s as they pad-
dled their birch bark canoes over these
waterways.
C'htirles fierce ix i.iliior oj i.l'A
Journal,
In a deliberate attempt to maintain the
primitive character of this area, few
roads have been built.
As a result, the United States Forest
Service maintains a seaplane base on
Lake Shagawa and sends daily flights to
check for forest fires and campers in
trouble.
William "Chick" Beei. chief pilot at
this base, said in an interview that he
has lived near Lake Shagwa all his life.
"The lake used to get so filthy with
algae that it really sickened me. Scum
was everywhere. But now in the past
two or three years there has been a real
improvement in the condition of the
lake, no question about it.
"There are over 1,000 lakes you can
land on in Superior National Forest, but
I don't know one that is more important
than Shagawa with its location here in
Ely."
Dr. J.P. Grahek, mayor of Ely, said
that the swimming beach on Lake
Sagawa will be open for a full season
this year for the first time in many
years.
A visitor to Ely is immediately im-
pressed with the importance of outdoor
camping and the canoeing industry to
this small community.
The main street is lined with stores
with such names as "Wilderness Outfit-
ters" and "Canadian Waters." Canoes
are displayed much as new and used
cars are shown in other cities.
Sun-bronzed young men and women
carrying back packs and wearing hiking
boots are seen all over this city. A large
sign in the middle of Ely announces
"Welcome to Ely—Canoe Capital of
the World."
In the winter when Shagawa Lake
free/.es over, the All American Champ-
ionship Sled Dog Races are held on the
lake.
An ardent outdoorsman and former
long-time guide, Karl Rukavina, who is
now employed as a bio-lab technician at
the EPA Ely project office, recalled that
"at one time this lake was so bad you
could almost walk over it. The Shagawa
River which drains the lake was so
green with algae you could take a buck-
et of it and paint your house with it. The
odor from the dead algae was terrible."
Discussing the Shagawa as a center for
outdoor recreation, Mr. Rukavina said
that it's an excellent lake for walleye,
bass and other fish. "There are also all
kinds of wildlife around it such as mink.
beaver, muskrat, timber wolves, bald
eagles and ospreys," he added,
"You can hear the wolves howling
sometimes at night, especially in win-
ter. I've seen the remains of deer left on
PAC.l' 4
-------
the Shagiiwa ice by attacking wolves.
You could tell they were wolves from
the {rucks in the snow."
White other lakes and waterways have
been restored by diverting the flow of
wastewater to other areas, the im-
provement of Shagawa has been
achieved by cleaning the waste rather
than sending it somewhere else.
Robert Brice, director of EPA's
Shagawa Lake Eutrophication Project.
reports that the tertiary treatment plant
has reduced the amount of phosphorus
in the wastewater discharge from
15.000 pounds to 150 pounds annually.
A.F. Bartsch, Director of EPA's Cor-
vallis Environmental Research Labora-
tory which has provided direction for
this project, said that the technique
demonstrated at Ely has potential appli-
cation for restoring hundreds of other
lakes.
All lakes have a life span, extending in
some cases for thousands of years.
However, the rapid growth of algae
fertilized by phosphorus in sewage
effluent is hastening the death of
thousands of lakes all over the world.
These lakes die when they gradually arc
filled up with dead algae and other vege-
tation and debris.
Shagawa's problems began in the late
19th century when iron mining and log-
ging activities made Ely on the lake's
southeast shore a boom town.
Although the mining industry is still
important to Ely. tourism is an increas-
ingly important source of income. The
Ely Chamber of Commerce reports that
on summer weekends Ely's normal
population of 5.000 people balloons to
as much as 15,000 as outdoor en-
thusiasts arrive to enter the Boundary
Waters Canoe Area.
Since the turn of the century. Ely had
been discharging phosphorus-loaded
wastewater into the lake. The resulting
heavy algae infestation made the lake
unfit for drinking or recreation uses.
In 1912 townspeople built a primary
treatment plant to remove solids from
wastewater, but by 1932 the contamina-
tion in the lake was so serious that a
pipeline was installed to bring drinking
water from a neighboring lake, a few
miles upstream from Shagawa.
A secondary treatment plant was built
in 1954. but neither plant removed sig-
nificant amounts of nutrients.
To find out just how much phosphorus
was coining into the lake from wastewa-
ter and learn how it affected algae
growth, researchers began monitoring
and analy/.ing the effluent from the sec-
ondary treatment plant in 1967. They
found that the wastewater accounted for
t:PA scuba divers prepare lo take samples
at bottom of Sluigawa Lake.
View of interior of advanced u.ivic uoai
mem plant a! Sh.igaua Lake.
Aerial view of advanced waste (reatmeiil
plant a! Shasiawa Lake.
about 80 percent of the phosphorus en-
tering Shagawa Lake.
The Federal Water Pollution Control
Administration, one of LPA's predeces-
sor agencies, set up a pilot tertiary
treatment system at lily to remove
phosphorus and show that the treated
wastewater, when diluted by the river
water flowing into the lake, would not
support significant algae growth.
As a result of the pilot plant success.
EPA in 1972 awarded a $2.3 million
grant for the design and construction of
a tertiary wastewater treatment plant
and its full-scale operation until 1976.
This covers about 93 percent of the cost.
with the city of Ely providing the re-
maining funds.
The Wastewater Research Division of
LP.Vs Municipal Environmental Re-
search Laboratory in Cincinnati pro-
vides assistance for the operation of this
plant.
Now after two sears of experience.
EPA scientists feel confident that the
plant is working successfully. Phos-
phorus levels in water leaving (he new
plant have been consistently less than
.05 milligrams per liter (a level that will
restrict algae growth after it is mixed
\\itli water entering the lake from
natural sources).
1.1'A has several university scientists
studying and analy/ing all nutrient
sources in the lake and the impact on
plant and aquatic life of the reduction in
phosphorus,
Some scientists use special equipment
to pump on! the stomachs of fish to de-
termine the impact on the food chain of
the phosphorus reduction, A team of
LPA scuba divers descend to the bottom
of the lake several times a week to
check conditions there.
Mean\\hile. children splash happily at
the newly opened public beach and
enjoy fishing from some of the heavily
forested islands which do) this lake.
As evening falls, the voice of the loon
is heard once again sending its lonely
call across (he IO,()(X)-year-ohl lake.a
t'ACil s
-------
High jinks al I he hike.
Family out for a rov. .
SHAGAWA
Street scene in
dovvnUm i) I'.ly. Minn.
Sea plane lands in
a spray of water.
Mother coaxes hare bottomed
child into water.
About five \ears ago _ algae scum frequently
marred Lake Shugawa.
PAG!-
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KEEPING CLEAN IN
A LAND OF SNOW AND ICE
How can a village in northern Alaska
be assured of clean, safe water for
drinking and washing and a sanitary
method of collecting and disposing of
human wastes, garbage, and other hum-
able trash'.'
EPA scientists and engineers at the
College. Alaska, field station of the En-
vironmental Research Laboratory, Cor-
vallis, Oregon, have been working on
this problem for four years. They be-
lieve they have found an answer in the
"integrated utility system." a central.
prefabricated building with: Drinking
water treatment and storage, bathing
facilities. Laundry machines and
dryers. Treatment and reuse of hath and
laundry water. Airplane-type toilets that
use little water, and Sewage treatment
and incineration of sludge, garbage, and
trash.
All these services are designed to make
the most of scarce supplies of potable
water and costly oil for heating and
electric power. Both water and heat are
reused wherever possible in the build-
ing's complicated plumbing and proc-
essing equipment.
Two such units have already been
built, H. J. Coutts, Chemical Engineer,
reported at the Second National Confer-
ence on Water Re-use, held recently in
Chicago by EPA and the American In-
stitute of Chemical Engineers. Co-
authors ot the report were Barry H.
Reid, Sanitary Engineer, and Merritt A.
Mitchell, Chief of Technological Re-
search. Bertold Puchtler is head of the
demonstration project.
The first unit was built at Wainw right,
on Alaska's North Slope, hut \\as de-
stroyed by fire in November, 1973. The
second, in the village of Emmonak. on
the Yukon River delta, is now in full
use. A replacement for the Wainwright
system—with new design improve-
ments—is being built. If Congress ap-
proves the additional funds needed, it
will be completed in April 1976.
The Emmonak system serves about
450 permanent residents, a Federal In-
dian School, and transients that double
the village population during the sum-
mer fishing season.
It is operated jointly hy EPA and by
the village government and is heavily
used, according to Mr. Puchtler. "Al-
though the people are very poor, they
are willing to pay substantial fees to
help defray operating costs. Fees range
trom 7 cents for a gallon of drinking
water to $1.75 for the bathing facilities.
Washing machines, extractors, and
dryers arc paid for at rates comparable
to those in laundromats in Fairbanks and
Anchorage."
Ambrose Shorty and Donald Kedl'ox from
f.nmionuk with Dr. Ronald (iordon at the
Arctic Environmental Research Lahoratnrv
in Fairbanks, learning drinking water col-
itonn testing.
David Hodfish Jr. getting read) for the dav \
round of water deliveries in Wainwright,
Vehicle uus furnished hy the Indian Health
Sen ice.
The system replaces the most primitive
of sanitation conditions. Most rural
Alaskans obtain water from melted
snow or ice during most of the year and
from streams and ponds of doubtful
quality during the brief summer. Good
groundwater is seldom obtainable.
Human wastes are collected in "honey
buckets" and either dumped somewhere
on low ground or left on river ice to he
washed away when the ice breaks up in
the spring. Wastes that would decom-
pose in warmer climates are preserved
by the Alaskan cold, posing a long-term
health ha/ard.
In regard to public health. Mr. Coutts
told the Chicago conference, "condi-
tions in rural Alaska are as pout as any
in the western hemisphere . . . Much of
Alaska's soil is permafrost . . . fro/en
except for the first foot or so which be-
comes mud in the short, intense summer
of one or two months.
"Putting \\ ater or sewerage lines in the
permafrost is more expensive than try-
ing to dig into and bury them in rein-
forced concrete."
All processing and treatment are con-
tained within the central community fa-
cility, both to conserve heat and to
simplify operations. The onlv external
pipes are raw water intakes, heavily in-
sulated "iHiliducts" that convey all
services to the neaihv Indian schools.
and wastcwatcr outlets.
Wainwright's raw water is pumped
from a shallow lake via ordinary irriga-
tion pipe dining the shot! summer into a
million-gallon storage lank. The tank.
which was not destroyed in the tire, has
to serve the village's potable water
needs for about I 1 months ot the year
since the lake free/es to the bottom in
winter. Ai Emmonak there is a year-
round intake from the Yukon River
below (he greatest ice depth, sup
plementcd by a small storage tank tor
high-demand periods.
Dunking water is treated and purified
to Public Health Service standards and
supplied to villagers In tank truck or
self-service.
At Wainwright. where water is scarce.
the water thai has been used lor showers
and laundry—called graywater—is
treated and reused for all purposes but
drinking and showers.
The chemical toilets, similar to those
in aircraft and buses, use little water.
Continued on Pane 10
PACiK 7
-------
RETURN OF A RIVER
(This article tin the recover? of the
Detroit River is reprinted from the
January-February issue of Michigan
Natural Resources Magazine. Wastes
in this river have lung heen the main
source of pollution of 1.tike l-'.rie, the
most contaminated of the (irent Lakes.
Now strict curbs on industrial wastes
mill construction b\ the citv of Detroit
of an enormous municipal secondary
sewage treatment plant, with the aid of
$452 million in EPA construction
grants, has helped make a significant
improvement in the water quality of this
waterway.)
()iu' i>l I he l.irgest water pollution plants in the country is I he Detroit Metropolitan Water
Department's Sewage Treatment Plant shoun above. The estimated total cost of this plant
when it is finished in 1^77 is about $714 million, of uhieh EPA's construction grants program
will pa> about S-4.S2 million. The plant is now Hearing completion and serves 3.2 million
people. When it is completed, it will serve over lour million people.
PACih X
TBy Gay Cowels
lis river ... is scattered over.
from one lake to the other, both on the
mainland and on the islands . . . with
large clusters of trees surrounded by
charming meadows ... on the banks
and round about the clusters of timber
there is an infinite number of fruit trees,
chiefly plums and apples. They are so
well laid out that they might be taken for
orchards planted by the hand of a gar-
dener . . . Game is very common . . .
as are wild geese and all kinds of wild
ducks . . . There are swans everywhere;
there are quails, woodcocks, pheasants,
rabbits. There are so many turkeys that
20 or 30 could be killed at one shot . . .
there are partridges, hazelhens, and a
stupendous number of turtle doves. We
have fishing in great abundance. This
country is so temperate, so fertile, and
so beautiful that it may justly be called
the earthly paradise of North America."
That was the Detroit River Cadillac
wrote about in 1702, the year after he
founded the city of Detroit. Other, later,
writers saw the same abundance of
wildlife, handsome meadows, and
forests of fruit trees. A series of small
creeks emptied into the river where the
city grew and early residents used these
for fishing or for bathing and drinking
water. The power of those streams
turned water wheels and ground grain.
In Cadillac's time, the river was marked
by sandy shoals, but deep rapid currents
sliced along its length, loaded with fish.
In 1824. in fact. long after Cadillac's
little fort settlement had become a thriv-
ing city, a commercial fisherman re-
ported that "in the early part of the
week ending October 23, 1824, at the
fishery'on Grossc He, 30,000 whitefish
were caught in a single day." Another
fisherman three years later commented
that he had taken 15,000 whitefish with
a single seine in five hauls.
The river was still in excellent condi-
tion later in the 19th Century. "Those
who never saw the Detroit River in the
188()'s cannot reali/.e how beautiful it
was," wrote historian Walter Griffith.
"There were no large mills and fac-
tories pouring wastewater into the river.
Detroit had only a small amount of sew-
age. So the water of the upper Great
Lakes came down through the Straits of
Detroit almost pure. . .
"In the spring and early summer we
used to catch long strings of yellow
perch, pickerel, bass, and even that peer
of all freshwater fish, the whitefish.
Many sturgeon six and seven feet long
were taken in the river above Belle
Isle."
Hven as recently as 1896. the Detroit
Sunday News Tribune called the river
-------
"beautiful, warm, and clean," and
went on to lament the lack of beaches
where "ladies and children can enjoy a
river bath."
But soon after that was written, the
river began to suffer from pollution, and
for the next half century a mounting tide
of sewage, foul chemicals, waste oils,
acids, garbage, paper sludge, and gen-
eral trash began to pour into the river. In
1914, Henry Ford announced that pay
for an eight-hour shift in his Highland
Park auto plant would be S8 per day.
This drew a crowd of 10,000 that had to
be dispersed with fire hoses. Through
those early efforts by Ford, GM,
Chrysler, and dozens of small auto
companies now gone, the Detroit area
soon became a huge industrial center. In
World War I, Detroit industries built
enormous amounts of war machinery.
No one seemed to care about pollution;
jobs and growth were the aim of the
city, and it wasn't until the mid-1920's
that a few public health workers became
concerned over water quality.
In 1929, this concern for public health
resulted in passage of Public Act 245
-which created the Stream Control
Commission, whose task it would be to
stop the dumping of raw sewage into
waters of the state. A field crew of two
was assigned this monumental task, and
they spent most of the I930's traveling
around the state trying to get sewage
treatment plants built. Detroit's first
primary treatment plant was completed
in 1940—only 35 years ago.
During World War II, wide-open pol-
lution took over again. Detroit became
the "free world's arsenal," and the na-
tion centered ail its energies on arms
production. The SCC staff, all two of
them, joined the army and efforts to
control industrial pollution came to a
halt. Nobody, it seems, had time to
worry about the river, and that state of
mind continued for several years after
the war ended.
But then u wintering flock of water-
fowl changed everything. "January,
1948, was the toughest month of a tough
winter," says Francis B. "Jack" Frost,
retired chief engineer of the DNR's
Bureau of Water Management. "The
river froze over, leaving only a few
openings in the ice. Ducks wintering on
the river headed for the openings, which
were of course all full of oil. A few days
later we counted 20,000 dead ducks.
You might say that was the point where
people decided they'd had enough.
Angry downriver sportsmen collected
truckloads of the dead ducks, drove
them to Lansing, and dumped them on
(he Capitol lawn. During the following
year, the legislature revised the water
pollution control statute."
That amendment established the Water
Resources Commission, expanded the
definition of pollution, and set up a sys-
tem of controls by requiring State ap-
proval of all new uses of state waters.
By that date, the quality of the Detroit
River was at its worst. The Rouge
River, its most heavily industrialized
tributary, flowed a rich orange color
from the discharge of thousands of gal-
lons of "pickle liquor," an acid used in
steel processing. But the oil on the
river's surface was so deep that the
orange water showed only momentarily
in the wake of passing boats!
Two early staff members of the old
Water Resources Commission, Frost
and Blanchard Mills, set out to measure
the amount of oil—just oil—entering
the Detroit River from manufacturing
plants. Their equipment included a
small boat and a homemade contraption
composed of two small pontoons, a
boom, and a oil scoop—a gadget of
their own design. Simple as it was,
however, the little mechanism soon
brought forth plenty of discussion in
company board rooms. Frost and Mills
showed, for example, thai 10,000 gal-
lons of oil were being lost each day
from one steel plant. Another 10,000
gallons were being lost from one au-
tomobile plant, while another 15,000
gallons were coming from smaller in-
dustries and the Detroit city sewers.
Those amounts astounded everyone,
and the attitude toward pollution control
began to change suddenly—as the reali-
zation of all those lost dollars began to
sink in.
One company losing S500 worth of
ammonia into the river each day decided
it was time to search for the leak in the
system.
Another company was losing three
million pounds of fish oil a year, at a
time when fish oil cost 23 cents a
pound. "\Ve pointed this out to them on
a Friday," said Frost, "and by the fol-
lowing Tuesday they had started con-
struction of waste recovery facilities."
The ducks, meantime, decided to con-
tinue their efforts to help with the
clean-up. With the river so oily, they
had to go somewhere, so they began tOi
zero in on waste-holding ponds where
industries were trying to control other
pollutants. Employes of one chemical
company tried to scare the birds away
from a phosphorus pond by running an
empty motorboat round and round,
tethered to a post in the middle, a sort of
revolving scare-duck.
"After a short time," says Robert
Parker, another staff member who was
there, "the ducks took to riding around
on the boat." A company employe was
then dispatched with a shotgun and or-
ders to shoot into the air whenever
ducks began to settle on the pond. Un-
fortunately, no one notified the local
conservation officer, who arrived soon
after to arrest the employe for hunting
waterfowl out of season.
By I960, some dents had been made,
but Detroit River pollution was still so
severe that it had become an interna-
tional scandal. In fact, Lake Erie, which
receives all the Detroit River water, be-
came known nationally as the American
Dead Sea, and the river was an embar-
rassment to both Michigan and Ontario.
More and more calls for action arose,
both here and across the continent, and
by the mid-1960's, a series of tough
new State and Federal laws passed,
covering all waters that travel across in-
terstate lines. By 1968, water quality
standards in Michigan conformed to
Federal standards, and pollution abate-
ment orders were being set up for every
industry in the State—with high priority
being given to those heavy polluters
along the Detroit River. In 1970, a
unique "Truth in Pollution" law was
passed in Michigan which requires all
industrial and commercial users of State
waters to report amounts and types of
"critical materials" used in their work.
The list is long, and includes virtually
every substance that can reduce the
quality of a stream's water. In addition
to reporting on such use, each industry
must pay an annual surveillance fee,
money that's used by the State to watch
over all use of State waters. Anyone
discharging water into the Detroit
River, for example, can do so only
under terms of a wastewmcr permit.
Each permit is keyed into the "National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination Sys-
tem," and the tough requirements of
this system will be even tougher in the
years ahead.
Today, all oil formerly dumped into
the Detroit River is gone. Only occa-
sional accidental losses occur. The
more than 60 industries lining the shore
of the river have installed millions of
dollars worth of in-plani, pretreatment
facilities. All treatment plants must be
manned by trained operators certified
by the State. Monthly operating reports
are submitted to the State. Chlorides
(salts) in the river have been cut in half
since 1966, and phosphorus has been
cut even more, and will soon be only
about a third what it was ten years ago.
Continued on Page '6
PAGE 9
-------
SNOW/ ICE Continued from Paue 9
Eight gallons of \\ater with deodorant
chemicals added, provide about 150
flushes. At Hmmonak, the human waste
is incinerated. Villagers also bring
buckets of waste, together with garbage
and burnable trash, to be disposed of by
incineration. Blackwutcr extracted from
the toilet and "honey bucket" wastes
are treated and disinfected in the gray-
water plant and then returned to the
river.
At Wainwright, where treated graywa-
ler must be reused, blackwater and
L'raywater components are kept strictly
separate throughout treatment before
final disposal in the ocean.
Congress authorized construction oi
these prototype facilities in direct re-
sponse to the strongly-voiced need by
Alaskan native leaders for improved
utilil) services in villages. "Getting ac-
ceptance and support from the villagers
who will use the facilities has been no
problem at all," Mr. Puchtler reports.
At an early stage of planning, Plant
Managers wereappointed by the Village
Councils. These men have successfully
completed a challenging program of
formal and on-the-joh training. "In
fact, our association with Donald Red-
fox and Charles Nayakik. who rim the
1 mnuinak anil Wainwright operations,
and with the leaders of those com-
munities, has probably been the most
positive and productive aspect of this
whole venture," Mr. Puchtler said.
So far the residents have welcomed the
improved services and worked them
smoothly into their Eskimo-Indian cul-
tural heritage.
And there is no objection to coming to
a central facility to do the laundry and to
bathe. Improvements on the honey
bucket system in the homes are also
under way. In cooperation with the In-
dian Health Service, Department of
Health, Education & Welfare, low
water-use toilets with holding tanks are
being installed in some of the homes.
A major consideration of the EPA en-
gineers and sanitation experts is the cost
of the system. The prototype demonstra-
tion systems have been built with Fed-
eral funds, but the operating costs must
soon be borne entirely by the villages.
Other villages would have to bear both
capital and operating costs, though the
initial installations might well cost less
than the prototypes, since the basic de-
sign work and debugging has been ac-
complished.
The village councils of Emmonak and
Wainwright "will probably accept
ownership of the facilities whenever it
is offered," said Mr. Puchtler. "but un-
fortunately, they can ill afford it.
"Given the small size and low income
level of Alaska bush communities,"
Mr. Puchtler said, "Federal and State
aid will be needed if these communities
are to comply with discharge regula-
tions. Such akJ will be needed not only
tor construction of water and waste dis-
posal facilities, but also for their opera-
tion and maintenance.
"But any cultural barrier that may
have existed has been overcome. The
idea of coming to a community center to
wash clothes and bathe has been wel-
comed by the people of Wainwright and
Emmonak." D
Water hauling improvisation ,ii Emmonak.
I'AC.H 10
PRESIDENT
SEEKS COST
REDUCTION
President Ford has launched a special
campaign to encourage employee par-
ticipation in cost reduction with the
Federal Government.
The campaign is part of the Adminis-
tration's over-all effort to reduce spend-
ing in order to combat the problems of
inflation and recession. In an appeal to
all personnel, civilian and military, the
President called upon every employee to
become actively involved. He said:
"i.uch oj \<>u can make ti personal con-
Irihution h\- xiihmitiint; constructive
ideas ami wi»'kini> cooperatively to
eliminate waste, improve ec/nipment.
streamline operations or make more
productive use of time, facilities, and
enci'xv resources.''
During the past 20 years of the incen-
tive awards program the Federal Gov-
ernment has saved more than $4 billion
as the result of suggestions from Federal
employees.
During the balance of 1975 EPA em-
ployees whose suggestions, inventions,
or scientific or other contributions result
in first-year measurable benefits to the
Government of S5.000 or more will re-
ceive a personal letter of appreciation
and congratulation from President Ford
as well as any monetary or honorary
recognition that may be awarded under
EPA's existing Awards Program.
The EPA Awards Manual, issued in
February 1975, describes the types of
awards that can qualify tor a Presiden-
tial Letter of Recognition. Normally.
these are Special Achievement Awards
for a special act or service, or Sugges-
tion Av\ ards.
These are given for employee contribu-
tions which are beyond job require-
ments and which result in first-year tan-
gible benefits to the Government of
$5,000 or more. The contribution may
be from one individual or several per-
sons working together.
Administrator Train has urged his As-
sistant Administrators. Regional Ad-
ministrators and all heads of offices and
installations to strongly support this
cost reduction program and to promote
participation at all staff levels. All em-
ployees are encouraged to submit ideas
that will improve Agency productivity,
save money and facilitate the accom-
plishment of HPA's programs and mis-
sion.
Suggestions should be submitted to
local personnel offices.n
-------
Southern California's San Bernardino
National Forest, which is visited
by nine million persons each year, may
be dying a slow death from Los Angeles
smog, according to a three-year study
sponsored by EPA.
High levels of oxidant air pollution
turn pine needles in the forest yellow
and then brown (dead), weakening the
trees' resistance to fungus and insect
pests. Most of the damaged trees are
ponderosa and Jeffrey pines, but other
species are also affected. Dead and
dying trees are promptly removed by the
U.S. Forest Service to salvage the wood
and reduce the risk of exposing
neighboring trees to elevated insect
populations.
Oxidant levels exceeding .20 parts per
million have been increasingly frequent
in recent years. This level is regarded as
hazardous to both the forest ecosystem
and human health. The worst year on
record was 1974, according to the latest
interim report on an EPA study which is
being conducted on contract by the Uni-
versity of California at Riverside. Data
for 1975 are not yet available.
smog long suspected
Needle damage to ponderosa pines was
first noticed about 20 years ago, and
smog from the Los Angeles basin has
long been suspected as the principal
cause. Smog-laden air and the temper-
ature inversions that keep the polluted
air close to the ground often move east-
ward into the San Bernardino moun-
tains, especially^during the summer
months. The study estimates that 1.3
million trees have been affected in the
last five years, and in the surveyed areas
totalling 161,000 acres, about 100,000
ponderosa and Jeffrey pines suffered
moderate to heavy smog damage.
The EPA study is concerned with more
than just damage to trees and methods
of arresting it. The entire ecosystem of a
conifer forest—trees, other plants, ani-
mals, birds, insects, soil, bacteria, and
fungi—is being studied by teams of sci-
entists representing many specialties.
All parts of the ecosystem are being
scrutinized to learn their complex reac-
tions to oxidant air pollution, said Dr.
Raymond G. Wilhour, plant pathologist
at the Corvallis Environmental Re-
search Laboratory, and EPA project of-
ficer for the study. Dr. O. Clifton
Taylor, associate director of the
Statewide Air Pollution Research Cen-
ter, is in charge of the study.
Support is also being provided by the
Chris West is Director of Public Affairs
far EPA's Corvallis Environmental Re-
search Lahoratorv.
SMOG
MAY KILL
FOREST
By Chris West
U.S. Forest Service, which is making
available the resources of its Pacific
Southwest Forest Range and Experi-
ment Station.
The study is expected to continue
through 1979 and cost approximately
SI.6 million. EPA has invested about
$528,800 in the project during the first
two years, and the contract is expected
to be renewed this year for 5248,150.
pollutants in smog
Dr. Wilhour says the most damaging
pollutants in the complex smog mixture
from Los Angeles are ozone (a pungent,
colorless, toxic gas) and PAN
(peroxyacctyl nitrate). Both of these
photochemical pollutants are formed in
the atmosphere when nitrogen dioxide
and unsaturated hydrocarbons, both
emitted into the atmosphere principally
by automobiles, react in the presence of
sunlight.
While the production of photochemical
pollutants is common-place in many
large cities, such factors as climate and
geography determine the degree of pol-
lutant build-up and thus, the severity of
effects.
"Green vegetation," Dr. Wilhour
Oxichint air pollution weakened this Pon-
derosa pine tree in the San Bernardino Na-
tional Forest and led to ils eventual death
fI'D in disease and insect attack.
said, "performs the primary producer
function in an ecosystem, capturing and
storing solar energy in the form of
synthesized biochemical compounds.
The remaining biota of the forest com-
munity, from large mammals down to
the micro-organisms, are completely
dependent on green vegetation.
"When the vegetation declines, the
delicate balance between competing or-
ganisms is upset. There's a certain
amount of natural change in all forest
ecosystems, but the influence of man
and civilization often interfere in one
way or another. The result can be ex-
tremely undesirable."
damage possible elsewhere
Although the current study is in south-
ern California where there is already
a problem, Dr. Wilhour said similar
ecological damage could occur in other
parts of the United States where emis-
sions of photochemically active sub-
stances are increasing and where suit-
able geographical and meteorological
conditions exist.
These include such places as Oregon's
Willamette Valley and the San Joa-
quin-Sacramento Valley in Central Cal-
ifornia—areas which lie in natural
bowls, retain air masses, and experi-
ence temperature inversion patterns that
potentially lead to smog formation and
build-up of atmospheric pollutants.
Primary objectives in the San Bernar-
dino study include:
• Identification and measurement of
the chronic or long-term effects of oxid-
ant air pollutants on plants. Initially, at-
tention is focused on dominant species,
such as ponderosa and Jeffrey pines, in-
cense cedar, and white fir.
• Determination of the impact of oxi -
dant pollutants on the stability of a forest
ecosystem.
• Identifying possible "bio-indi-
cators"—plant or animal species that
react early to smog—for use as natural
warning systems in the future.
• Developing techniques, including
mathematical models, for predicting
long-term effects of air pollutants.
• Setting up criteria for analyzing the
benefits and costs of various strategies
for reducing pollutant impact on the
forest.
Although the Agency's main concern
in establishing national standards for air
pollutants is protection of human
health, man's general welfare is an im-
portant secondary goal. Both kinds of
standards depend on reliable research,
Dr. Wilhour said. If workable models
can be constructed for the ecological
study at the San Bernardino Forest, they
may prove valuable for land use deci-
sions in other areas. Q
PAGE 1 1
-------
environmental quality
Region I has completed the first Regional
Administrator's Annual Report on En-
vironmental Quality in New England.
The Report compares existing environ-
mental quality in air, surface water,
drinking water and solid waste manage-
ment with the officially adopted stand-
ards in these four areas. It is based on
analyses of both Federal and State agency
developed data.
The study presents good news and bad.
The most notable success is attainment of
the national air quality standard for sulfur
oxides at 159 of the 160 monitoring sta-
tions throughout the Region. However,
there is evidence that over half of the
major river mileage is in violation of the
1983 water quality goals for fishable-
swimmable water; that the national
standard for photochemical oxidants was
exceeded at all monitoring stations dur-
ing 1974; that only 30 percent of solid
waste disposal facilities meet State stand-
ards; and that lead contamination, poor
bacteriological quality, and high
chlorides concentrations in some water
supplies pose a threat to public health.
plant dedication
Deputy Regional Administrator Eric B.
Outwater participated in the dedication
ceremony for the 26th Ward Water Pollu-
tion Control Plant in Brooklyn. The plant
is the first major upgrading of a sewage
treatment facility to be completed with
Federal funding; EPA provided 40 per-
cent of the money for the S50 million
project.
test tank award
The New Jersey Chapter of the American
Concrete Institute recognized EPA's Oil
and Hazardous Materials Simulation En-
vironmental Test Tank in Leonardo, N.J.
as an outstanding example of a concrete
structure. The tank is longer than two
football fields and is used to test new
ways of controlling spills of oil and other
hazardous materials by simulating actual
ocean and stream conditions.
pesticide penalties
Six pesticide companies in Region II
were assessed a total of $31,250 in civil
penalties for violation of the Federal Pes-
ticides Act. Violations included failure to
register the product with EPA and failure
to state ingredients or display cautionary
warnings on the label.
workshops
Region 111, in cooperation with the
American Water Works Association and
State water supply agencies, has held a
series of regional workshops on the new
Safe Drinking Water Act this past sum-
mer. The sessions were designed to pro-
vide briefing on the Act's provisions to
all those concerned with drinking water.
construction award cut
Federal funding for construction of a
200,000 gallon-per-day tertiary wastewa-
ter treatment plant plus interceptor and
collection sewers for Washington Town-
ship, Erie County, Pa. has been reduced
by $408,750 from its original figure of
$1,398,300.
Funds were cut when Region HI inves-
tigators discovered that the collection
system was being constructed to serve
new subdivisions with very limited de-
velopment, and therefore was not in
compliance with EPA regulations, which:
1) prohibit Federal participation in con-
struction of a sewage collection system
serving an area of low population density;
2) require that the major part of the de-
signed flow through the collection system
come from settlements existing before
Oct. 1972; 3) prohibit Federal funding on
construction begun prior to approval of
the grant application. The Regional Of-
fice also has ordered the grantee to pre-
pare a study to determine the environ-
mental impact of construction in the area
for which Federal money was denied.
the canal, again
The U.S. Corps of Engineers recently
completed a series of public hearings on
resumption of construction of the Cross
Florida Barge Canal. Hearings were held
in Palatka, Miami and Tampa.
The canal, controversial from the start,
was authorized by Congress in 1942 but
work did not begin until 1964. In
January, 1971, however, President
Nixon, by Executive Order ended the
project, when work was about two-thirds
complete and roughly $50 million had
been spent. Environmental groups con-
sistently opposed construction of the
canal, and the President cited potentially
serious environmental damage as a rea-
son for cancelling the project.
Both opponents and supporters of the
Cross Florida Barge Canal say that they
will accept the findings of the new en-
vironmental impact study, provided that
they are "fair and impartial."
new reclamation plant
Region V has issued a final environmen-
tal impact statement recommending the
construction of the proposed Des
Plaines-O'Hare Water Reclamation Plant
and Conveyance System of the Met-
ropolitan Sanitary District of Greater
Chicago. If all grants are approved this
will mean over 153 million construction
dollars for the area.
Among other recommendations, the im-
pact statement requires the sanitary dis-
trict to install facilities to suppress
aerosols coming from aeration tanks at
the plant. This reflects the concern of the
Illinois EPA about the risk to public
health from aerosol transmission of bac-
teria and viruses.
83-city survey
Preliminary results of a study of organic
pollutants in the drinking water supplies
of 83 cities in Illinois, Indiana, Michi-
PAGE 12
-------
gan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin
have been released by the Regional Of-
fice. Cities surveyed represent a variety
of drinking water systems. Findings in-
clude:
— Highest amounts of chloroform were
found in systems with river water
sources. Fremont, Ohio, and Ramsey,
Mich., showed chloroform levels of
about 300 ppb; the mean for all the cities
tested was around 22 ppb.
— Raw water such as that from the Great
Lakes and groundwater produced
finished water with lesser amounts of
chloroform and related halo organics.
Although there are no established health
standards for chloroform, Joseph Harri-
son, EPA Regional Water Supply Direc-
tor, said that the concentration of
chloroform found in the study could not
be considered abnormal. He said that the
full significance of the findings cannot be
judged until a national risk assessment is
completed.
oxidant control
An oxidani control strategy for the con-
trol of hydrocarbon emissions in seven
Texas cities is in process of being
drafted. Speaking of the measures to be
applied to stationary and mobile sources,
Regional Administrator John C. White
said:
•'We believe that we have a responsibil-
ity to protect the public health. We will
propose a plan that will be designed to
achieve the goals of clean air and the pro-
tection of public health and that also will
be socially and economically reasona-
ble."
Measures being considered for Dallas,
Houston, San Antonio and the other cities
include cat-pooling incentives, exclusive
bus and carpool lanes on major roads, and
inspection and maintenance schedules.
planning grant
A $2,243,000 grant to cover planning
costs of solving the complex water pollu-
tion control problems in the St. Louis
area was announced to the East-West
Gateway Coordinating Council by Chuck
Wright, Deputy Regional Administrator.
Mr. Wright said:
''Plans will be developed for controlling
such sources of pollution as municipal
and industrial sewage discharges, as well
as runoff from construction activities and
stormwater sewers—all with the design
of eliciting participation by local gov-
ernments and the public throughout the
planning process."
The grant is made under Section 208 of
the 1972 Water Pollution Control Act
Amendments.
jessee retires
It was a bittersweet day for Randall S.
Jessee, Region VH's Public Affairs Di-
rector, when he received official notifica-
tion of approval of his disability retire-
ment request from the Civil Service
Commission on June 20.
Jessee, a widely respected EPA official,
began his career in environmental
control in 1968 when he became Public
Affairs Director for the Federal Water
Pollution Control Administration's re-
gional office in Kansas City. A veteran of
broadcast journalism, he entered the
radio field in 1936 at K.CKN in Kansas
City, Mo., and in 1949 he became the
first news director for the first TV station
in the metropolitan Kansas City area.
Consulting work and tinkering on his
30-acre farm at Roosterville, Mo. will
more than occupy Randall's time.
stauffer chemical fined
Stauffer Chemical Company was recently
fined $5,500 after the firm admitted
discharging pollutants without a permit
from their Leefe, Wyoming, facility into
Twin Creek. The civil court action came
as the result of a $20,000 complaint filed
against the phosphate rock mining com-
pany by EPA. The company states that it
has now stopped the unlawful discharge.
Under the Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Act Amendments of 1972, permits
are required for anyone discharging
wastes into the nation's waters from a
point source (i.e., a ditch, pipe, conduit,
etc.). Once a discharger has applied fora
permit, EPA and Stale pollution control
officials decide on effluent limits and
conditions after soliciting and consider-
ing public comments. In addition to meet-
ing effluent limitations, dischargers are
also required to monitor and analyze their
discharge continuously and report the re-
sults to the State Agency and EPA.
water programs
A regional task force has been formed to
handle the details involved in delegating
the construction grants program to the
State of California. Another task force,
one to implement the Safe Drinking
Water Act, has been set up in Region
IX's Water Division.
state enforcement
The State of Hawaii has assumed the pes-
ticide enforcement activities that were
formerly handled under an EPA grant.
Seven positions were authorized by the
Legislature in 1975 to enable the State's
Agriculture Department to carry out en-
forcement responsibilities and the pes-
ticides strategy plans initiated by an ear-
lier EPA grant.
logging roads
Region X has prepared a report, "Log-
ging Roads and the Protection of Water
Quality" that represents the latest state-
of-the-art technical reference on
methods, procedures, and practices for
the planning, design construction and
maintenance of logging roads. It was
published as part of EPA's national
strategy for tackling problems of non-
point sources of water pollution.
There are an estimated 250,000 miles of
logging roads in Washington, Oregon,
Idaho, and Alaska and some 12,000 of
these are built or rebuilt each year. Ac-
cording to Regional Administrator Clif-
ford V. Smith, these are a principal
source of sediment in the Northwest, and
"without good planning, there exists a
high potential for damaging the quality of
our rivers, lakes and streams."
PAGE 13
-------
f
I
LPA's new Assistant Administrator for
1 .ntorccment is "highly optimistic"
about the possibilities of protecting the
environment and correcting pollution
problems.
Stanley Legro saiil in an interview that
his confidence is based on what he be-
lieves is a growing recognition by the
American people of "the benefits of en-
vironmental quality" and an ever-
increasing "willingness" to join in the
effort to preserve it.
The 39-year-old attorney from -San Di-
ego, Calif., said that he was interested
in the top enforcement post at I.PA not
only because of the importance of the
environmental problem today but be-
cause of its increasing significance for
"our children and subsequent genera-
tions. "
"Because of the long lead limes in
many instances required to etlect cor-
rections and because of the difficulty of
foreseeing all the adverse consequences
ol certain types of activities detrimental
to the environment, it is critical that we
plan now for future maintenance of en1
vironmcnlal quality rather than react-
ing, often with limited options, to en-
vironmental crises as they occur."
Discussing the approach he plans to
take in directing the Agency's enforce-
ment program, Mr. Legro said that he
hopes "we can enforce the environmen-
tal laws and regulations with fairness
and sound judgment.
"Within the latitude given to us by
law, we will deal reasonably with those
who are proceeding in good faith with
best efforts 10 comply.
"With those who knowing!} flout the
laws, who act in bad faith or do not deal
with us truthfully, we will not hesitate
to seek vigorously the maximum civil
and criminal penalties provided by
law."
Asked what he expects from his em-
ployees in the enforcement program.
Mr. Legro teplied:
"I want them to be highly dedicated to
acluc\inu the intent of the environmen-
tal acts, to work hard, to be candid with
me, to exercise good judgment and to
have a tolerance for the viewpoints of
others."
A graduate of the United States Naval
Academy in 1959, Mr. Legro finished
first in his class of 800 and received a
B.S. in Engineering with distinction.
He then served four years as an officer
in the United States Marine Corps. Mr.
Legro attended Harvard Law School,
where he received his J.D. cum laude in
1966. He then went into private law-
practice in California.
Active in civic activities, Mr. Legro
served as a member. Board of Direc-
tors. Legal Aid Society of San Diego;
member. Board of Trustees, First
United Methodist Church of San Diego;
member. Board of Directors. Big
Brothers of San Diego County and
member, Select Committee to Review
STANLEY LEGRO
California Higher Education, which
made recommendations on the entire
system of public and private post-
secondary education in California. He
was named San Diego's Outstanding
Young Man of 1971.
His teaching experience has included
serving as a member of the faculty for
the California Bar Review Course, Uni-
versity of California and University of
San Diego School of Law.
Mr. Legro is the author of a movie
script and printed materials which are
now used in elementary and secondary
schools to teach students about the judi-
cial system and court procedures. He
was aw-arded the 1971 Certificate of
Merit of the American Bar Association
for "a distinguished contribution to
public understanding of the American
system of law and justice."
A former member of the San Diego
City Planning Commission. Mr. Legro
was awarded in 1973 the City of San
Diego's Certificate of Appreciation for
"exceptional service as a member of the
San Diego City Planning Commis-
sion."
At the time of his EPA appointment.
offices held by Mr. Legro included:
member. Board of Directors and Chair-
man of Committee on Continuing Edu-
cation. Associated Harvard Alumni;
member. Board of Directors, San Diego
Chamber of Commerce; and member,
Board of Visitors, University of San
Diego School of Law.
Married to the former Marcia Louise
West of San Diego, Mr. Legro and his
wife have two children.
Asked about his hobbies, Mr. Legro
replied:
"I have a daughter, Susan, who just
became seven, and a son Wayne, who is
five and a half. I have tried to spend vir-
tually all of my time that wasn't spent in
work or civic activities with my wife,
Marcia, and my children. Anyone who
has hud children in this age bracket will
surely understand the way our family
spends our time."a
I'Alili 14
-------
The science of earthquake prediction,
.echniques for building pipelines in
ureas where the ground is always fro-
zen, measuring the effects of pollutants
on life in the ocean, and methods for
protecting such endangered species as
the peregrine falcon and the musk ox.
These arc some of the subjects which
will be reviewed at the fourth annual
meeting of the U.S.-Soviet Joint Com-
mittee on Cooperation in the Field of
Environmental Protection, which will
be held at EPA headquarters October
28-31.
Administrator Russell E. Train, as
Chairman of the U.S. side of the Joint
Committee, will host the meeting. Mr.
Train's Soviet counterpart and Chair-
man of the Soviet side is Dr. Yuri A.
I/rael. Chief of the Hydro-
meteorological Service of the U.S.S.R.
The Joint Committee will meet to re-
view progress made in implementing
the 1972 agreement establishing a pro-
gram of cooperation between the two
countries in environmental research and
technology development. They will also
plan project activities for the coming
year.
The two Co-chairmen preside over
each meeting during which the Commit-
tee prepares two documents: A Report
outlining the activities of the preceding
year and a Memorandum of Implemen-
tation which sets forth the approved
work plan for each project during the
next year.
pollution knows
no boundaries
In stressing the need for cooperation in
finding common solutions to environ-
mental problems afflicting both coun-
tries. Mr, Train has stated that "the
facts tell us that pollution knows no
boundary, physical or ideological, and
that no country has a monopoly on solu-
tions to our common environmental
problems."
"EPA's part in the Soviet bilateral
program is unique among our fifty or so
cooperative agreements overseas," said
EPA Associate Administrator Fit/.hugh
Green, who directs the Agency's inter-
national activities. "This is demon-
strated by the number of personnel
involved and the sense of immediacy
and popular concern raised by the is-
sues, as well as by the variety and scope
of the individual projects."
EPA is involved in most of the 1 I pro-
gram areas outlined in the 1972 agree-
ment. Many other American gov-
ernmental agencies and industrial
Peter A . Ac/y is tin EPA press officer.
US.-SOVIET
ENVIRONMENTAL
MEETING SET
Bv Peter A. Aclv
Administrator Russell I:. Train aiul Dr. Yuri A. l/rael aboard a Soviet plane last June on their
v> LLY from Moscow to Central Asia. The two co-chairmen of the U.S. -Soviet Joint Committee
on Cooperation in the Field ot" Environmental Protection were engaged in their mkl-\ear rex ie\\
e joint program.
organizations are also taking part in
specific projects.
"The participation of private industry
is essential to the program's overall
success," said EPA's Richard E. Har-
rington, chairman of an air pollution
Working Group. "Both sides hope to
expand and strengthen their commercial
relationships by developing markets for
certain cleaner or more efficient proc-
esses.
study each others
technology
There are now 39 individual projects
under way. each designed to stimulate
joint research and the exchange of sci-
entific information and personnel. The
program to he adopted in October will
call tor work in the following environ-
mental areas, among others.
Prevention of Air Pollution: Projects
include joint research on the technology
of measuring pollutants and calculating
allowable emission levels. Work on re-
ducing the emission of gases centers on
the sulfur dioxide problem—two full-
scale multi-million-dollar flue-gas de-
sulfurization facilities will be built by
the Soviets, and U.S. experts will
evaluate a new limestone scrubbing
method developed in the Soviet Union.
Evaluation of these facilities will bene-
fit U.S. specialists now working on
similar problems in the United States.
Other projects concern evaluating and
improving paniculate removal equip-
ment, structuring a mathematical model
for electrostatic precipitators for use in
both countries, and improving proc-
esses for crude oil desulfuri/ation and
coal gasification. U.S. scientists also
will study a Soviet dry coke quenching
process; Soviet specialists uill, in nun.
observe U.S. air pollution control
methods used in the production of coke
and steel. Attention is also beim; given
to auto emission controls: joint research
is scheduled on catalytic control equip-
ment, automobile pollutants, and im-
proved fuel combustion.
Prevention of l\\ner Pollution: Proj-
ects in this area include evaluating the
use of mathematical models to improve
water quality management, uith em-
phasis on river basins, lakes and es-
tuaries. Studies will also be made of the
effects of pollutants on aquatic ecosys-
tems and of maximum allowable levels
for a variety of waterborne pollutants.
Controlling, water pollution from
municipal and industrial discharges is
receiving joint attention—teams from
each country are observing the other's
control methods for the pulp and paper.
chemical and petrochemical, petroleum
refining, and metallurgy industries. A
joint symposium on sewage sludge dis-
posal was also recently held in the
Soviet Union.
Continued on Patze Ift
PAGI; i?
-------
U.S.-SO VIET Continued from Page 15
A key goal of the joint research is to
develop effective techniques for manag-
ing large water bodies. "We have had
the opportunity to visit and observe
Soviet management practices at Lake
Baikal in southern Siberia," said
former EPA Working Group Chairman
John L. Buckley. "This lake contains
about one-fifth of the earth's supply of
fresh surface water, reaching depths of
up to 7000 feet. The Soviets' experience
there may help us to improve our own
techniques, which could then be applied
to solving problems in water bodies
such as the Great Lakes." Dr. Buckley
added that Lake Baikal is the habitat of
many unique species, including the
freshwater seal and large freshwater
sponges.
Protection of Nature and the Organi-
zation of Preserves: Methods to protect
certain endangered species such as the
wolf and the peregrine falcon are being
studied. A U.S. team will study the
Siberian polecat in its natural habiiat,
and a team from the Soviet Union will
study U.S. methods for breeding beav-
ers in captivity.
musk ox propagation
One of the projects dealing with
ecological problems peculiar to north-
ern regions centers on the musk ox,
which was thought to be extinct from
over-hunting until the species was re-
discovered in northern Greenland early
in the 20th Century. Several pairs of the
oxen were then shipped to an island off
the Alaskan coast, where the herd in-
creased to over 600 head.
Under the present agreement, 41 musk
oxen were flown from Alaska to a new
protected habitat in the Soviet Union.
Scientists hope that a new herd will de-
velop there, thus helping to insure the
survival of the species.
Two U.S. scientists recently partici-
pated in a research cruise in the South
Pacific to study marine mammals, in-
cluding whales. The United States is
curretly working through the Interna-
tional Whaling Commission to place
quotas on the taking of whales, some
species of which are in danger from
over-hunting.
Biological and Genetic Effects of Pol-
lution: Two projects are underway in
this area—one evaluates the role of pol-
lutants in causing mutations, disease
and psychophysiological effects in hu-
mans; the other involves a comprehen-
sive analysis of environmental pollut-
ants to determine accurately their
sources, dose/response relationships
and maximum permissible levels, as
well as their effects on human health
and the economy.
"Health effects form the basis for reg-
ulating many pollutants in both coun-
tries," said EPA's John Knelson, Act-
ing Director of the Agency's Health Ef-
fects Laboratory in Research Triangle
Park. "In some cases, the Soviets have
more stringent standards than we do. It
will be helpful for us to review the re-
search they conducted incident to set-
ting those standards."
Earthquake Prediction: The United
States and Soviet Union are exchanging
teams to study the physics of earthquake
sources and methods of predicting
quakes by measuring geophysical
phenomena. U.S. scientists will con-
tinue to participate in studies of the
quake-prone region of Tadjikistan in the
south-central Soviet Union; California's
San Andreas Fault is the subject of simi-
lar inquiries conducted by Soviet
specialists. Joint research is also being
launched into the origins of tsunamis,
which are popularly known as tidal
waves.
Protection of the Marine Environ-
ment: Projects in this area will explore
the issues of pollution from waste water
discharged from ships, treatment of
vessel sewage, prevention of spills of
oil and chemical cargoes and the im-
provement of methods to deal with such
spills wherever they occur.
Teams are also conducting joint
studies on the effect of pollutants on
marine organisms. Recently the Soviet
oceanographic vessel Moscow Univer-
sity conducted a joint research cruise in
the Gulf Stream. Dr. Sue Cheer of
EPA's oceanographic laboratory in Nar-
ragansett, R. 1., was aboard to partici-
pate in studies of microscopic marine
life, svhich is of basic importance in the
ocean food web.
Other environmental areas in which
work will be continued are: prevention
of pollution from pesticides and fertiliz-
ers; protection of arctic and subarctic
ecological systems; the urban environ-
ment; the influence of environmental
changes on climate; and legal and ad-
ministrative measures for environmen-
tal protection.
Air and water pollution, endangered
species, agricultural and marine pollu-
tion, earthquakes—although the list is
long, the projects address real problems
plaguing the Soviet Union, the United
States and a great many other countries.
Finding joint solutions to these prob-
lems will cause the two countries to
grow closer—as well as cleaner—and
will make a positive contribution to pro-
tecting and enhancing the global envi-
ronment. D
RIVER Continued from Page 9
State crews monitor the river by boat
and helicopter on a secret weekly
schedule, and are quick to report any
accidental losses of pollution fluids.
The possibility of stiff fines helps keep
everyone alert, but happily the reason
for the change runs deeper.
"Most of the big companies along the
river are really cooperative today,"
says DNR engineer Wayne Denniston,
based on the river south of Detroit.
"They're concerned about their public
image, and they know that any pollution
accidents will cost them both money
and bad publicity. Besides, they've in-
stalled expensive wastewater and re-
covery systems, and they want the
things to work. One company, for
example, installed a recycling program
that saves about $5,000 per month in
plant operating costs. You can bet they
keep a close watch on how that system
works."
The city of Detroit, meantime, has
constructed an enormous municipal
sewage treatment plant, and has led the
way in development of a regional sew-
age control plan. A number of Detroit
area communities are tied into the sys-
tem, which has received high priority
for Federal funding as a model that other
metropolitan areas should adopt.
Former general manager of the Met-
ropolitan Detroit Water Department
Gerald J. Remus, now retired, is cred-
ited with much of the development of
this sensible system. He also pioneered
the use of one pollutant to combat
another, after finding that pickle liquors
left over from steel processing could re-
duce the levels of phosphorus in sewage
effluent. He also introduced the use of
liquid oxygen to eliminate organic
material from wastewater, a practice
that has now been adopted by about 100
other sewage plants nationwide.
The result of all this Federal, State,
city, and individual action is a river that
has come back from the depths of oily,
foul dispair to a fver in which the De-
partment of Natural Resources can now
plant trout and salmon—as it has done
during each of the last two years.
Catches of these fish have startled some
oldtime anglers who daily line the riv-
er's shores, and the good word is now
making the rounds—fishing is getting
better on the Detroit River! And by the
end of next year, when even tougher re-
strictions against pollution go into ef-
fect, what's better now will change to
best. The Detroit River is on its way
back to being a clean stream once again,
and that's a story the people of this State
can be proud of.o
PAGE 16
-------
BOOSTING BICYCLING
Administrator Russell I:. Tram tries out a bicycle at ceremony marking the installation of .W
new compietel) enclosed bicycle lockers KPA has installed at ils headquarters parking lot.
Watching him is Nina Rowe, president of Bike-Commuters of I-PA. uho is standing in the
doorway of one of the lockers. The lockers were provided to help encourage KPA employees to
hike to work. The Administrator has said that he hopes more Americans \\ill help reduce
pollution by commuting by bicycling.
HOW DO YOU GET TO WORK?
Robert Simmons, Supervisor of Noise
Control Program, Region VIH, Denver:
"Daily I cycle from Coal Creek
Canyon to Denver and back. This is
-------
PEOPLE
Mrs. Margrit C. Adams, a daughter of
famed space pioneer Wernhcr Von Braun
is the first woman engineer to he
employed in Region IV's Water En-
forcement Branch. Her decision to go
into environmental work was the result of
spending two undergraduate years at
UCLA. "Living in Los Angeles." she
says, "will make you an environmental-
ist. You either have to give up, or do
something."
Her enforcement duties center around
municipal and coal mine permits in Ken-
tucky and Tennessee. Mrs. Adams is a
member of the Auduhon Society, the
Sierra flub, and the National Wildlife
Federation.
Dr. Roy K. Albert has joined EPA as
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator
for Health and Ecological Effects in the
Office of Research and Development. He
is responsible for providing an integrated
assessment of pollutant effects on the en-
vironment, as well as analyzing the way
in which pollutants are carried and trans-
formed in (he environment.
To provide the scientific information
necessary to support the issuance and en-
forcement of standards and regulations
concerning pollutants. Dr. Albert is in
charge of three technical divisions at
headquarters: Health Effects, Ecological
l-.lhvls and C'riteria Development and
Special Studies. He also directs the
Health Effects Research Laboratories in
Research Triangle Park, N.C.. and in
Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as the En-
vironmental Research Laboratories in
Corvallis, Ore.. I)ninth. Minn., Nar-
rasiansctt, R.I.. and Gulf Bree/e, Fla.
From 1966 to 1975, Dr. Albert was Pro-
fessor of Environmental Medicine at the
Institute of Environmental Medicine at
New York University Medical Center,
serving as Associate Director since 1968
and as Vice Chairman and Deputy Direc
tor since 1973. As Director of the Labora-
tory of Experimental Medicine there, he
was involved in epidemiological, car-
cinogenic and pulmonary research.
Dr. Albert was Associate Professor at
New York University Medical Center
from 1959 to 1966, and Assistant Clinical
Professor of Medicine and Assistant Di-
rector of the Radioisotope Laboratory at
George Washington University School of
Medicine from 1956 to 1959. He served
with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commis-
sion during the previous four years, first
in the Health Safety Laboratory in the
New York Operations Office and then in
1954 becoming Assistant Chief and then
Chief of the Medical Branch of the Divi-
sion of Biology and Medicine in
Washington, D.C.
A member of a number of National
Academy of Sciences—National Re-
search Council advisory committees. Dr.
Albert has also served on advisory groups
for the Department of Health, Education
and Welfare, the New York City Depart-
ment of Health and the Atomic Energy
Commission. He has authored or co-
authored over sixty papers and articles on
various medically related topics, such as
the effects of carcinogens and other con-
taminants on the respiratory system, lead
detection and analysis, occupational ill-
ness, radioactive substances and cancer
research, nervous system damage from
environmental agents, and cardiologica)
research.
Nathan Chandler, former Commis-
sioner of Agriculture for Massachusetts,
has been named as an EPA consultant for
agriculture. In announcing the appoint-
ment. Administrator Train said, "We
need to be increasingly concerned with
maintaining America's food production
capacity without sacrificing our long-
term environmental goals, Mr. Chand-
ler's services can be invaluable to the
Agency and to the public in this capa-
city."
Mr. Chandler, a Massachusetts apple
grower for many years, is completing a
term as President of the International
Apple Institute. He was also a Vice Pres-
ident of the National Association of State
Departments of Agriculture and is cur-
rently a farm property consultant for
Land/Vest Inc., a real estate planning
company that specializes in rural proper-
ties.
Arsen J. Darnay, Jr., Assistant Ad-
ministrator for Solid Waste Management,
Office of Air and Waste Management,
has resigned to join Carborundum. Inc.,
where he will he general manager of the
Solid Waste Conversion Division. At
EPA, Mr. Darnay directed the Federal
program related to solid waste manage-
ment and resource recovery, and is best
known for a number of reports in the
waste management and recycling field.
John Hough, Region II pesticides im-
port inspector, who is wearing special
equipment to protect himself from some
of the more dangerous poisons, extracts a
sample of Warfarin, a rodent killer, to be
sent to EPA's Manhattan pesticide lab-
oratory for verification. EPA can refuse
entry to a pesticide shipment for mis-
labeled or improper product ingredients.
A 13-year veteran with the Food and
Drug Administration, Mr. Hough joined
EPA over two years ago and has helped to
set up an import control program for Re-
gion II. Sixty-five percent of all the pes-
ticides entering the U.S. passes through
the air and sea ports of New York.
Steffen VV, Plehn has been appointed
Executive Assistant to the Administrator
to handle across-the-board, substantive
issues dealing with every aspect of en-
vironmental control. Before joining EPA,
he had been Assistant Staff Director for
the President's Council on Environmental
Quality, where his responsibilities in-
PAGH
-------
Kdu.ird T. Rhodes
eluded the coordination of Federal en-
vironmental policy and the review and
evaluation of Federal activities which
have a potential effect on the environ-
ment.
From 1968 to 1971, Mr. Plehn served
with the New Jersey Department of
Higher Education, first as Assistant to the
Chancellor and subsequently as Assistant
Chancellor for Planning and Develop-
ment and then as Vice Chancellor. He
also was a consultant to the New England
Board of Higher Education durme 1971
and 1972.
Working for the U.S. Bureau of the
Budget from 1963 to 1968, Mr. Plehn
held the position of Examiner, Staff
Assistant to the Director, and High-
er Education Examiner. In 1964 he re-
ceived the Director's Professional
Achievement Award.
A native of Reading. Penn., Mr. Plehn
graduated cum laude from Harvard Col-
lege in 1959, earned a Master's Degree in
public administration from Harvard Uni-
versity in 1961, and spent the academic
year 1971-72 at the University's Ken-
nedy School. He lives in Washington,
D.C., with his wife and two children.
Stanley K. Williams
Kdward T. Rhodes has been named
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Ad-
ministration at EPA, replacing Howard
M. Messner.Rhodes. 42. returns from the
Department of Health, Education and
Welfare where he had served as Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Grants and Proce-
dures Management since January.
Before joining HEW. Rhodes was Di-
rector of EPA's Contracts Management
Division lor tour years. He was with the
Federal Water Pollution Control Ad-
ministration, one of EPA's predecessor
agencies, as Chief of the Procurement
Branch and then as Director of the Divi-
sion of General Services.
In announcing the appointment. Ad-
ministrator Train said, "We are fortunate
to have Ed Rhodes back with us at EPA.
His experience and excellent record make
him well qualified to direct the Agency's
aciniinistrative activities."
Rhodes will be responsible tor person-
nel management, facilities and support
services, management and organization,
management information and data sys-
tems, contracts management, grants ad-
ministration and the security and inspec-
tion staff.
Rhodes served as contracting officer at
the Goddard Space Flight enter in Green-
belt, Maryland from 1961 to 1966 and
earlier was contract negotiator at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
He was on active duty with the U.S.
Army from 1955 to 1957.
Kenneth W. Smallwood, Director,
Civil Rights & Urban Affairs, Region II,
was honored recently by Fight Back, a
New York City civil rights group "which
places black and Hispanic construction
workers in jobs and unions," for his
"dedicated service to the cause of equal
employment opportunity."
At the testimonial dinner, Smallwood
was presented with a plaque and a cita-
tion which read, "Ken Smallwood stands
out as a dedicated civil servant who has
seriously attempted to make contract
compliance and the meaningful participa-
tion of minority workers in building
trades a reality. Hence. Fight Back sa-
lutes him for his contribution to the cause
of fair play for workers of color."
Stanley R. Williams, a career civil ser-
vant, has been appointed as EPA's Direc-
tor of Personnel.
In announcing the appointment. Alvin
L. Aim, Assistant Administrator for
Planning and Management, said:
"Stan has an excellent background for
his new responsibilities, and I know that
he will make a valuable contribution to
the future development of EPA's person-
nel management program."
Mr. Aim said that Mr. Williams will
carry out "his concept of providing
maximum personnel services and staff
assistance, reducing the amount of
paperwork and encouraging the expedi-
tious handling ol personnel actions."
Mr. Williams entered the Federal ser-
vice as a trainee in the field of personnel
with the Department of the Army. He
later transferred to the Federal Aviation
Agency, serving in the personnel man
agement evaluation and career develop-
ment areas. He also served as the Deputy
Director of the Division of Personnel
Mangement in the Federal Water Pollu-
tion Control Administration, Department
of the Interior, before coming to EPA.
With the formation of EPA, Mr. Wil-
liams became the Chief of the National
Staffing Branch and, in 1973, the Assist
ant Director of Personnel for Executive
Manpower and Personnel Evaluation. In
this latter capacity he planned, developed
and directed the first EPA Agency-wide
evaluation system and executive man-
agement development program.
Mr. Williams succeeds Charles S.
Harden Jr., who resigned to accept a posi-
tion with the Congressional Budget Of-
fice, a
PACiK
-------
PRESIDENT DEDICATES
CINCINNATI RESEARCH CENTER
President Gerald R. Ford joined HP A
officials and members of Congress at
the dedication July 3 of EPA's new
seven-story research building in Cin-
cinnati.
"The research facility we dedicate to-
day," President Ford said, "is a major
achievement in realizing an environ-
ment that will add to our life experience
rather than subtract from our life span...
"It is $30 million worth of laborator-
ies, research facilities, equipment and
training capacity, saying to our children
and their children: "We care. We care
about the air you will breathe, the water
you will drink, the land you will
need.'
Administrator Russell E. Train said:
''It is a great thrill for all of us to have
the President join us on this occasion
. . . an important day for EPA, for
Ohio, and for the Nation.
"Cincinnati is a keystone of EPA's na-
tional research effort, and I can assure
you it will retain a central role in the fu-
ture." He cited the need for "continued
strengthening of our research and de-
velopment effort, particularly in the
area of health effects," to provide
sound scientific data for the environ-
mental standards on which EPA's en-
forcement policies are based.
The new facility near the University of
Cincinnati was built on a 20-acre plot
acquired by the City and presented to
the Federal Government three years
ugo. It will house three major EPA lab-
oratories: Municipal Environmental Re-
search, Environmental Monitoring and
Support, and Health Effects Research.
plus the Agency's Cincinnati Training
Center and Office of Administration.
Attending the ceremonies were Reps.
Willis Gradison and Clarence Brown.
whose Ohio districts include the Cin-
cinnati area; Sen. Robert Taft; and Rep.
Gene Snyder of Kentucky, who repre-
sents Covington and Boone County,
across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.
Many of EPA's research programs in
Cincinnati that have been carried on in
leased facilities in various locations are
be in a moved to the new buildinii.a
Seals lor several hundred persons for the dedication of iiPA's new research building in
Cincinnati uere set up on the entrance pla/a.
. - ••".
Administrator Train ami President l;ord unveil the niinieplale stone.
PAGH 20
BILLIONS Continued from Page 3
We are working in every way we can
to inerea.se our efficiency in handling
construction grants. We have improved
our procedures for assessing cost-
effectiveness and for financial man-
agement and auditing. We are cooperat-
ing with the Office of Research and De-
velopment in innovative approaches to
sewage system problems, especially
new methods of disinfecting effluents
and making beneficial use of sewage
sludge, rather than simply disposing of
it.
If progress creates new problems.
maybe the number of our problems is an
indication of our progress! But other
progress indicators are more important
to us and to the public: better water
quality, advances in public health,
employment opportunities to spur the
economy, and wider recreational use of
the Nation's waterways.o
Construction Grants
Cash Disbursement History
oX fi9 70 71 72 73 74 15
Employment Generated By Construction
Grants Program
Estimated Number of Jobs
74 75 76 77 78
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news "brief s
Illlllllirilllmi
DDT RESIDUES ON DECLINE THREE YEARS AFTER BAN
Residues of the pesticide DDT are declining in the environment,
in foodstuffs, and in human tissue, EPA reported recently to
Congress. The decline was credited in large part to the Agency's
1972 ban on most uses of the hazardous, persistent chemical.
Risks to human health and wildlife have been reduced by the use
of alternate pesticides, the report said, and the economic impact
has been nominal.
NEW FACILITY WILL MAKE OIL FROM SOLID WASTE
A demonstration plant to convert municipal garbage and trash into
fuel oil is being built in San Diego County, Calif., with EPA
funding. It will handle about 200 tons of waste and produce about
200 barrels of synthetic oil per day. At a ground breaking ceremony
last month, Administrator Train said the new process, if widely
applied, could help meet the Nation's need for new sources of energy
EPA PROPOSES RADIOACTIVITY LIMITS FOR DRINKING WATER
Rules limiting the amount of radioactivity in public drinking water
supplies were proposed last month by EPA. The regulations, which
will apply to an estimated 40,000 community water supply systems,
become effective 18 months after they are promulgated in final
form. The interim regulations set maximum levels for both natural
and man-made radioactive contaminants.
AGEE MOVES TO WEST COAST, BREIDENBACH REPLACES HIM
James L. Agee resigned as Assistant Administrator for Water and
Hazardous Materials, effective Sept. 1, for personal and family
reasons. He will become Planning Advisor on area-wide wastewater
planning and non-point sources of water pollution. Mr. Agee will
be based in San Francisco. Dr. Andrew W. Breidenbach has been
named Acting Assistant Administrator to succeed Mr. Agee.
Dr. Breidenbach was Director of EPA's Municipal Environmental
Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio, and formerly headed the
National Environmental Research Center in that city.
PACih 21
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WARM WASTE WATER TO HEAT GREENHOUSE
An experimental greenhouse which
will be heated in winter by warm waste
water from an electric power plant is
being partially funded by EPA's Corval-
lis Environmental Research Laboratory.
The $250,000 grant to the Northern
States Power Co., Minneapolis, will be
used to begin construction of a half-acre
greenhouse at the company's Sherburne
County plant in Becker, Minn.
"The cost of the greenhouse project is
expected to be about $600,000, with
Northern States Power and the Univer-
sity of Minnesota providing the rest of
the funding.
Vegetables and flowers will be »rown
in the greenhouse starting this fall, but
its heating and cooling system will be
powered by an auxiliary boiler system
until the Sherburne plant starts opera-
tion in 1976.
Then part of the warm waste water
from its boilers will be piped to the
greenhouse at 85 degrees Fahrenheit
and circulated through the heating sys-
tem.
The greenhouse will be cooled in
summer by a water-evaporation system
which can use either warm waste water
or cool water from another source.
Alden Christiansen, an engineer at the
Corvallis laboratory who is serving as
EPA's project officer for the two-year
study, said that the study will focus on
the economic feasibility of the system
and the procedures that should be fol-
lowed.
Success of the project, he said, will be
gauged by crop production results,
energy costs and other economic fac-
tors.
The University of Minnesota has been
involved in preliminary studies leading
up to this large-scale greenhouse dem-
onstration.
EPA's thermal pollution research pro-
gram is aimed at providing a sound
scientific-engineering-economic base
for controlling—and ultimately finding
beneficial uses for—the Nation's waste
heat.
Heating and cooling a half-acre green-
house in Minnesota for a year normally
consumes 25,000 gallons of oil or 3.5
million cubic feet of nature! gas, ac-
cording to David F. McElroy, Northern
States Power Co. board diairman. If the
half-acre experiment turns out to be an
economic success, a commercially de-
veloped 100-acre greenhouse complex
could be in operation by 1985, with sav-
ings of 5 million gallons of oil or 700
million cubic feet of gas.
This substituting of the warm waste
water from the generating plant as fuel
should yield "potential energy savings
that are extremely significant in light of
the growing scarcity of oil and gas,"
McElroy declared.
Besides saving fuel, "the project will
provide a local supply of salad vege-
tables, such as tomatoes, during the
non-growing season in Minnesota,"
points out Landis Boyd, assistant direc-
tor of the University's Agricultural Ex-
periment Station.
"The quality of these vine-riped lo-
cally produced tomatoes would be far
superior to those picked green and
shipped in from out of the region."Q
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