OCTOBER 1975
VOL. ONE, NO. NINE
THE RESEARCH MISSION
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
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THE SEARCH
The pollutants wedon't know much about could be
the most dangerous of all. Hidden in the shadows,
they may he the patient assassins whose lethal ef-
fect will not become apparent for many years.
One of the objectives of EPA's research program
is to shine a spotlight on these pollutants which
may be causing cancer and heart disease.
The role of EPA's researchers in ferreting out
these menaces to human life is discussed in an
interview with Dr. Roy Albert, Acting Deputy As-
sistant Administrator for Health and Ecological
Effects.
This work is part of the over-all effort by the
Agency's 1,800-member scientific staff which is
seeking the answers to the complex problems of
pollution.
While EPA is first and foremost a regulatory
Agency which must establish and enforce stand-
ards, these standards cannot be set and enforced
without an effective scientific research and
monitoring program.
If pollution cannot be detected, identified and
measured, it obviously cannot be controlled.
An over-all view of EPA's diversified research
programs is presented in an article by Dr. Wilson
K. Talley, Assistant Administrator for Research
and Development.
One of the major research projects being con-
ducted by EPA is the most comprehensive air pol-
lution study ever undertaken. An article in the
Journal explains that the study, though limited to
the St. Louis area, is expected to provide valuable
information on how to deal with metropolitan air
pollution problems generally.
Another article reports that what is probably the
largest water sampling field program ever
launched by EPA is drawing to a close. It is the
National Eutrophication Survey which has been
checking on the health of 800 of the country's
lakes and tributaries.
From Boston, the Journal has a story about the
testing of ultraviolet light and ozone gas to purify
drinking water in some Vermont communities.
One reason for the project is that many of the
ruggedly independent Vermonters feel that they
have the best tasting water in New England and
oppose chlorination on grounds of taste and odor.
Was EPA right or wrong in its findings when the
Agency banned the use of DDT in 1972 for almost
all domestic uses? An article in the Journal sum-
marizes a bulky report which in general supports
the 1972 findings and states that new research has
not invalidated the ban.
Other items in this issue include:
An article on what EPA research is doing to help
industry reduce water pollution.
A report from our laboratory at Ada, Okla., dis-
cussing the use of clams, fish, sunlight and soil,
and bullrushes and cattails to help cleanse waste
water. D
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UNITED STATES
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
AGENCY
Russell E. Train
Administrator
Patricia L. Cahn
"Director of Public Affairs
Charles D. Pierce
Editor
Staff:
Van Trumbull
Ruth Hussey
Cover: EPA scientists conducting
laboratory research work.
PHOTO CREDITS
COVER
PAGES
PAGE 9
PAGE 10
PAGE 1 2
PAGE 12,17
BiMShrout*
Randolph Arndi
Bureau of Sport
Fisheries & Wildlife
Mike Gordon
Don Moran
Ernest Bucci
* DOCUMERICA photos
The EPA Journal is published monthly,
with combined issues for July-August
and November-December, for employ-
ees of the U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency. It does not alter or super-
sede regulations, operating procedures
or manual instructions. Contributions
and inquiries should be addressed to the
Editor, (A - 107) Room 301, West
Tower, Waterside Mall, 401 M St.,
S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460. No
permission necessary to reproduce con-
tents except copyrighted photos and
other materials.
o
N
T
N
T
THE RESEARCH MISSION
PAGE 2
There must be full recognition that research serves a support function
within a regulatory Agency. By Dr. Wilson K. Talley
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS REVIEWED PAGE 4
Dr. Roy Albert is interviewed about carcinogens and other
environmental health threats.
ST. LOUIS STUDY YIELDING AIR DATA
PAGE 6
NATIONAL LAKE SAMPLING NEARS COMPLETION PAGE 7
EPA RESEARCH HELPS INDUSTRIES
PAGE 8
A LOOK BACK AT DDT by Ruth Hussey
PAGE 9
PHOTO ESSAY—EPA's FARM IN THE DESERT
PAGE 10
A CLEAN DRINK FOR VERMONT
by Paul Keough
PAGE 13
CLAMS, FISH, SOIL HELP PURIFY WATER BACK PAGE
by Eddie Lee
DEPARTMENTS
INQUIRY
PAGE 12
NATION
PAGE 14
PEOPLE
PAGE 16
NEWS BRIEFS
PAGE 21
PAGE
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THE RESEARCH MISSION
By Dr. Wilson K. Talley
The fundamental mission of the
Environmental Protection
Agency isn't hard to state: the
achievement and enhancement of a
quality environment. Our research con-
tributes to the development of effective
pollution control strategies and in the
promulgation of reasonable and scienti-
fically sound environmental standards
and regulations.
Some of the basic questions confront-
ing EPA's research program include:
When does a substance in the envi-
ronment become a "pollutant"'?
To what extent should a pollutant he
controlled'.'
What is the best way to eliminate or
control the pollutant?
EPA's Office of Research and De-
velopment needs the answers to provide
timely and valid scientific information
and necessary technical tools and con-
trol systems.
Phosphates provide a simple illustra-
tion of some of the basic questions we
are concerned with. As we all know,
phosphates are a widely used fertilizer
and can play a useful role for man.
However, excess phosphate in our
waterways can cause degradation of
water quality and lead to fish kills.
These results occur because too much
phosphate stimulates massive growths
of algae and other aquatic vegetation
which later die and absorb the oxygen in
the water.
So we have the responsibility of de-
termining how much phosphate a lake
can tolerate before it suffers from ex-
cess algae. Then we have to decide what
techniques can be used to deal with this
problem most effectively.
These are the types of problems we
have been dealing with in the case of
Lake Shagawa in northern Minnesota,
for example. We have been successful
in restoring this hadly polluted body of
water by drastically reducing the
amount of phosphates discharged in
wastewater from an advanced waste
treatment plant.
SEVEN ACTS
Our research program is authori/ed by
seven separate congressional acts: The
Clean Air Act; the Federal Water Polhi-
/>/'. WilxoH K. TaHev ix Assistant Ad-
ministrator for Research iintl Develop-
ment.
PACK 2
tion Control Act; the recently passed
Safe Drinking Water Act; the Solid
Waste Disposal Act; the Federal. Insec-
ticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act;
the Public Health Service Act; and the
Noise Control Act.
Through this legislation, we have
available $250 million for research this
fiscal year. Of this total, $66 million
will support the in-house activities of
our staff of 1800 professional and sup-
port workers in 15 field units and head-
quarters. The remainder of the money
will support an outside research pro-
gram—fully integrated with the in-
house research—that is carried out
through grants and contracts with the
academic, research, and industrial
communities, as well as through
cooperative agreements with other Fed-
eral, State, and local agencies.
The ties between the in-house re-
searchers and the EPA-financed exter-
nal programs are and must be close. The
research program exists to support the
regulatory role of the Agency, and
hence either the researcher or. if the re-
search is extramural, the research man-
ager, has to be available to assist the
Agency in developing appropriate regu-
lations and standards, to provide expert
advice to policy makers, to provide con-
tinuity and direction to the research, and
to testify, if necessary, at enforcement
actions.
Because of the manner in which the
Agency receives its authorizing legisla-
tion, the research program for budg-
etary purposes has been classified along
specific media or categorical lines such
as air, water, pesticides . . . But pollu-
tion problems seldom restrict them-
selves to such arbitrary boundaries -
pollutants often create spillover effects
in other media. And other factors -
costs, for instance, and feasibility of al-
ternative strategies — preclude focusing
solutions in only one medium. Con-
sequently, environmental research must
be integrated.
FIVE-YEAR PLAN
This integration must fit a time frame
suited to the schedule of problems and
responsibilities we face. So in working
out a new structure for the research pro-
gram, we have shifted our planning
from a year-to-year schedule to a 5-year
time frame. Each year, we will spell out
what we can foresee for the next five—
and thus revise this 5-year plan each
year. ORD's new organizational struc-
ture follows accordingly, and is or-
ganized by type of product.
ORD's short-term activities, primarily
quality assurance, monitoring, and
analytic responses to the immediate
needs of other Agency programs, were
grouped together under the Office of
Monitoring and Technical Support.
The relatively more stable long-term
activities, relating to the determination
of the human health and ecological ef-
fects of pollutants, were organized into
the Office of Health and Ecological Ef-
fects.
The third component of ORD's
mission—meeting legislative and
Agency mandates for control or abate-
ment technology — was, because of its
si/.c, organized into two groups: The
Office of Energy, Minerals, and Indus-
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try; and the Office of Air, Land, and
Water Use. Our main programs are or-
ganized within this framework.
These four offices plan and implement
research that can be broken into our 14
major program areas.
Health effects is a base research
program, where our scientists
work to determine and
evaluate health hazards that may arise
from pollution from a number of media
and categories including air, water, pes-
ticides and radiation. In taking en-
vironmental action to protect human
health, we regulate exposure to specific
contaminants, not their effects. In this
way, adverse health effects associated
with pollution may be reduced or elimi-
nated rather than treated after the fact.
In developing the data needed to estab-
lish exposure/response relationships,
we examine how pollutants reach man:
i.e. via air, water, food or a variety of
routes. In addition to laboratory studies,
one of the ways we investigate ex-
posure/response relationships is through
observing the health of different popula-
tion groups.
For example, we are assessing the in-
cidence of illness in swimmers at rela-
tively clean and relatively polluted
beaches to determine better how the ill-
ness can be correlated to chemical or
microbial indicators of water quality.
The information obtained will be used
to help us develop health criteria for
recreational water quality.
Similarly, we are carrying out studies
to assist in evaluating existing standards
and developing new ones for air quality.
Conducted in several locations across
the country, these studies are designed
to investigate the relationship between
air quality and health effects such as
respiratory disorders in children, as-
thmatics, and other population sub-
groups.
Ecological effects and proc-
esses is a research program
which determines the effects
of air and water pollutants on the struc-
ture and function of ecosystems and on
subcomponents of such systems. Work
is planned and organized along problem
area lines; it is directed toward target
media — freshwater, marine, and ter-
restrial — and conducted according to
the character of the problem.
Among the studies in progress are
those to define and characterize ecosys-
tems; that is, to unravel the myriads of
individual ecosystem components and
then to understand their dynamic, func-
tional relationships.
To do this, we carry out field studies
on natural ecosystems as well as attempt
to simulate ecosystems in the labora-
tory. With the knowledge gained, we
can enhance our capability for accu-
rately determining the impact of exist-
ing pollution on the ecological balance
and for predicting the damage of in-
creasing pollution.
For example, we are studying the ef-
fects of pollutants from a new coal-fired
power plant on the wildlife and on the
surrounding grasslands in Colstrip,
Montana.
We must answer questions such as:
what effect will pollutant X have on the
plant or animal organisms in an ecosys-
tem? Will the pollutant impair the or-
ganism's ability to reproduce or escape
predation? How will the ecosystem be
functionally altered if pollution renders
a species of plant or animal incapable of
surviving?
Transport and fate of pollutants
research produces empirical and
analytical techniques to allow re-
lating air and water pollution emissions
to ambient exposures. In the atmo-
sphere, we must identify sources, sinks,
and transport and transformation proc-
esses for gases and particulates. In
aquatic environments similar consid-
erations apply. This area also includes
effects on visibility, turbidity, rainfall,
water quality, and intermedia transfer of
pollutants.
To discover feasible control and
abatement technology, several pro-
grams address various aspects of this
complex work.
Waste management program re-
search focuses on the preven-
tion, control, treatment, and
management of pollution resulting from
community, residential or other non-
industrial activities. This area includes
municipal and domestic wastewater,
collection/transport systems, land sur-
face runoff, municipal solid wastes and
air pollutants. Current research includes
the development of improved methods
for the processing and disposal of sew-
age sludge. We are also looking at the
possibilities of incinerating the sludge
in combination with solid waste and at-
tempting to make use of heat generated
in this process.
Water supply activities include re-
search, development, and dem-
onstration necessary to provide
a dependable and safe supply of drinking
water, and to prevent health damage re-
sulting directly or indirectly from con-
taminants in drinking water.
For example, new and improved
technology is being developed for the
removal of infectious agents in drinking
water. The problem with using chlorine
as a disinfectant is that it produces sub-
stances which may be toxic, so we are
exploring alternatives to chlorination.
These alternatives include the use of
ozone and the use of ultraviolet light.
We are also looking at technology for
the removal of potentially toxic organic
contaminants from drinking waters.
One such technique for removal of these
organics involves the use of activated
carbon. Added to the water in powder or
granular form, the carbon acts as a sort
of sponge — the organic compounds at-
tach themselves to the carbon which is
then removed.
Mineral extraction processing
and manufacturing program re-
search is concerned with point
sources of air, water, and residues pol-
lution that may arise from the industrial
sector of the economy. It is focused on
those mining, manufacturing, service,
and trade industries which are involved
in the extraction, production, and proc-
essing of non-energy materials into con-
sumer products. In addition, the en-
vironmental problems that can arise
from accidental material spills are
studied. This research activity supports
the technical requirements of the Clean
Air Act and Water Pollution Control
Act by developing and demonstrating
new or improved, cost-effective abate-
ment technology.
Renewable resources program ac-
tivities encompass the develop-
ment of total management sys-
tems, including predictive methodolo-
gy, that are to control air, water, and
land pollution resulting from the pro-
duction and harvesting of food and
fiber. This area includes the assessment
of probable trends in the production of
renewable resources and their resulting
environmental impact. Major areas of
concern include crop production in both
irrigated and nonirrigated lands, forest-
ry practices, and animal production.
E
nvironnxental management re-
search looks at environmental
management strategies—various
CONTINUED ON PAGE 19
PAGE 3
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ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH PROBLEMS
REVIEWED
INTERVIEW: DR. ROY ALBERT,
ACTING DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR
FOR HEALTH AND ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS,
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
QUESTION: Which type of en-
vironmental pollution do you consider
the most dangerous?
DR. ALBERT: I would guess
those that we don't know about yet.
This may seem like a facetious an-
swer, but I think it probably is true.
For example, although there is evi-
Are environmental health
problems growing?
dence that a substantial amount of
cancer is due to chemical and physical
agents in the environment, the actual
definition of which of these is causing
cancer is really not clear. There needs
to be much more effort in determining
which materials are causing what
forms of cancer.
In the area of heart disease, recent
evidence has shown that ar-
teriosclerosis may be a benign form of
tumor of the walls of the major ves-
sels, and that these lesions themselves
may be influenced by environmental
agents as well as by dietary patterns.
These two diseases account for the
bulk of our death rate. Finding the en-
vironmental factors and agents that in-
fluence these diseases will be a major
contribution to the control of the coun-
try's public health problems.
QUESTION: Is the environmen-
tal health problem growing or reced-
ing, in your judgment?
DR. ALBERT: I think that it is
growing in the sense that we are com-
ing to appreciate more and more the
importance of environmental factors in
the causation of disease.
This is not to say that genetic factors
cannot make a person more susceptible
to disease. We know they can. Or that
biological agents are not important,
because we know they are. But it is
becoming more and more apparent that
the interaction of chemical agents in
the environment with these other fac-
tors is essential to the production of
diseases.
QUESTION: Which major indus-
tries have the most dangerous emis-
sions for their workers and the sur-
rounding populations?
DR. ALBERT: I think this is a
question which I find difficult to an-
swer. My guess is the chemical indus-
try.
There is a tremendous range in the
competence and attention paid by the
chemical industry to the control of
hazardous materials.
This is a particular problem with the
smaller chemical companies. And in
fact, we have a situation that emerged
recently in Hopewell, Virginia, which
calls itself the chemical heart of the
South. A company manufacturing
Kepone, an ingredient for an ant and
roach bait, has run into trouble. Some
of its employees were poisoned.
When I heard about this, I thought
the EPA ought to certainly be involved
promptly in terms of contributing to
Is EPA going to have a co-
ordinator for all cancer
matters?
the assessment of the degree of en-
vironmental pollution. We had a small
group of scientists go from the Health
Effects Research Laboratory in Re-
search Triangle Park, N.C., to
Hopewell to help evaluate the mag-
nitude of the environmental contami-
nation, and to see what they could do
in terms of assisting the local health
people and the regional EPA office in
the control of this problem. We also
wanted to see what could be learned
from a research standpoint which
would help us in similar problems in
the future.
QUESTION: Does EPA need to
do a better job in monitoring these in-
dustries?
DR. ALBERT: I think that there
is no question about that, and this
needs to be done in a variety of ways.
An important one, of course, would be
the passage of the Toxic Substances
Act so that agents which have an un-
warranted degree of toxicity with re-
spect to their usefulness can be han-
dled appropriately. And I think that
probably more attention should be
paid to the level of environmental con-
tamination from industrial production
facilities.
QUESTION: A news magazine
said in a recent issue that, "Physicians
smiled in disbelief when cancer re-
searcher Dr. John Higgenson of the
World Health Organization suggested
that as many as 80 percent of all can-
Does EPA need to do a better
job in monitoring industries?
cers were caused by agents in the envi-
ronment, but no one is scoffing any
more."
Can you comment on this?
DR. ALBERT: Well, I think that
it is a characteristic of scientists to
smile in disbelief when they hear
something new, and this is right and
proper.
My own experience is if you have
something really worthwhile to say,
that nobody will .believe you; and if
you have nothing to say, nobody will
listen to you.
But in this particular instance, I think
that there is a pretty solid reason for
the point that Higgenson was making,
and others have made it too. Essen-
tially the point is that if you look at the
cancer occurrence in different parts of
the world, you find that in some areas
certain cancers are very common, and
other cancers are rare. In other parts of
the world, you find that the cancers
which are rare in other places are
common there.
And also, you find that when you
look at people who migrate from one
country to another, for example, into
this country, the cancer experience of
PAGE 4
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Wearing protective clothing und with masks and goggles rend\. Administrator Russell E.
Train and Dr. Roy Albert. Acting Deputy Administrator for Health and Ecological Ef-
fects. Office nt Research and Development, are briefed before a tour of the Frederick Cancer
Center, Fort Detrick, Md., where experimental animals are tested with pesticides and other
chemicals suspected of causing cancer.
their first and second generation de-
scendants, and even amongst the orig-
inal immigrants, changes in such a
way as to take on the characteristics of
the people in this country.
For example, in Japan the incidence
of stomach cancer is extremely high,
and the incidence of intestinal cancer
Why do certain types
of cancer occur more
in one section of
the country than another?
is very low. When one looks at per-
sons who have migrated to this country
from Japan, the stomach cancer ex-
perience shows a substantial drop.
This has been shown also from im-
migrants from Europe. For example,
in Germany the incidence of stomach
cancer is very high, and in this country
it is considerably lower.
So this is the sort of evidence that is
behind the assessment that environ-
mental factors are the major con-
tributors to the cancer experience.
QUESTION: Is EPA going to set
up a new position of coordinator for all
cancer matters the Agency has to deal
with?
DR. ALBERT: Yes, it i.s. And I
am the one who has been designated.
The issue at the moment is the formu-
lation of a policy on carcinogens by
the EPA, and this is under vigorous
discussion. It is a complicated matter
because from one standpoint, it would
he nice to be able to ban all agents
which are carcinogenic, as in the case
of the Delaney amendment which pro-
hibits any food additives that cause
cancer in laboratory animals.
But the realities of life are such that
this is an impractical thing because
there are agents which show car-
cinogenic activity which can't be
eliminated from the environment in
any feasible sense, because these
agents are essentially irreplaceable.
So the problem is to control them to
minimize the risk of cancer, and yet
permit their use in a fashion which is
not economically prohibitive. So this
calls for a maximum intensity of effort
to define the relationship between ex-
posure level and risk, to weigh this as-
pect with the socio-economic impacts
of various degrees of control, and then
form a rational judgment of the best
balance of the positive and negative
aspects of the use of such materials.
QUESTION: Is EPA engaged in
any studies now on why certain types
of cancer occur more frequently in one
section of the country than others?
DR. ALBERT: Yes. There is a
growing amount of research in this
area. One of the recent findings that
has stimulated this type of work has
been the higher cancer incidence in
New Orleans and other cities along the
Mississippi River in relation to the
possibility that the chlorinated organic
materials in the drinking water may be
responsible.
The EPA has done a large survey in-
volving 80 cities to characterize the
amount of chlorinated organic mate-
rials in drinking water, and indeed,
there is a substantial amount of it.
Some of it occurs by the interaction of
chlorine with naturally present organic
material. Some of it is due to industrial
discharges. And there is a very active
program to define the importance of
these materials in terms of the health
effects and to develop and utilize
methods of controlling the levels of
these ugents in the drinking water.
QUESTION: Has EPA reached
any conclusions about the possible
health impact of asbestos fibers found
in the drinking water in Duluth, Min-
nesota?
DR. ALBERT: No. This issue is
still up in the air. There are animal
studies that are being launched, and
there are epidemiologic studies which
are going on to try to answer the ques-
tion. But this data hasn't matured suf-
ficiently to give any definitive
answers.
QUESTION: A news magazine
said in a recent article that Dr. Barry
Commoner has developed a test that
can quickly identify chemical com-
pounds which are carcinogenic. Is this
true?
DR. ALBERT. This article re-
ferred to the use of bacteria as test in-
dicators of mutagenic activity. The
story goes back to the growing body of
evidence that agents which are capable
of inducing mutations, that is. heredit-
ary changes in cells, are frequently
carcinogenic agents.
Which type of environmental
pollution is the most
dangerous?
It is a long drawn out procedure to
test agents for their carcinogenic activ-
ity in animals, and a very serious at-
tempt is being'madc to find quicker
test methods, because the animal
studies require several scars to com-
plete and are very expensive.
So the high degree of correlation be-
tween mutagenicity and carcinogenic-
it} has been used as the basis of a kind
of test that Commoner is doing. And
this approach has a rather long history.
The difficulty with bacterial systems
is that bacteria can have a different
range of susceptibility than humans,
and for that matter the same problem
holds for testing of carcinogens in
animals.
The second difficult) with bacterial
systems is that some carcinogens, in
fact, many carcinogens, have to be
converted by the natural metabolic
processing into the active form. This,
of course, is something which bacteria
can't do.
Bruce Ames, of the University of
California, has developed an inge-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
PAGE 5
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ST. LOUIS STUDY
YIELDING AIR DATA
St. Louis, Mo., sits at the junction
of two great rivers, the Missis-
sippi and the Missouri. They
have shaped the city's history and they
affect the lives of two and a half million
people within a 25-rnile radius of the
Gateway Arch.
But a third river at St. Louis is now
under intensive study by EPA. It is the
river of air that flows over the St. Louis
metropolitan area, picking up pollutants
from autos and factory smokestacks and
spreading them out over the area. This
river has no hanks, and its flow is some-
times smooth, sometimes turbulent. It
can move swiftly to carry away pollut-
ants emitted in the St. Louis region. Oc-
casionally it can come to a near
standstill, permitting pollutants to
thicken and become more hazardous.
Understanding and describing the river
of air over a metropolitan area is the ob-
jective of EPA's Regional Air Pollution
Study (RAPS, for short), a $22-million,
five-year research program now in its
fourth year.
The most comprehensive air pollution
study ever undertaken, RAPS seeks to
learn how pollutants move and change
under various weather conditions, what
makes them concentrate or disperse,
and thereby establish a basis for control
measures.
In effect, RAPS makes the St. Louis
area a gigantic test tube for both the sci-
entific study of air pollution and the
demonstration of ways to treat the prob-
lem, according to Dr. Francis Pooler,
who heads the RAPS Coordination Of-
fice of the Environmental Sciences Re-
search Laboratory in North Carolina.
There is close contact and interchange
between the RAPS field investigations
and the Laboratory, headed by Dr. A.P.
Altshuller.
Most of the field work at St. Louis is
being done by Rockwell International
Corp., of Thousand Oaks, Calif., as
prime contractor. There are several sub-
contractors for specific parts of the
study, and numerous special studies are
performed by grantees and other Federal
agencies, under the guidance of EPA
scientists. The pollution control agen-
cies of Missouri and Illinois and various
local governments are cooperating be-
cause of their interest in the study's re-
sults.
Gene D. Prantner is EPA's field direc-
tor tor the project, stationed in the St.
PAGH 6
Louis suburb of Creve Coeur with a
staff of three: James Reagan, facilities
manager; Frank Schiermeier, operations
coordinator; and Stanley Kopczynski,
physical scientist.
The RAPS project has spawned dozens
of scientific papers already, but they
have been concerned with small por-
tions of the over-all effort, for instance,
the behavior of pollution "plumes"
from factory stacks, the size and com-
position of aerosols (tiny particles sus-
pended in air), improved methods of
measuring local weather conditions,
and ways of detecting pollution from a
distance.
The real payoff in the complex study is
expected to start next year, when the
elaborate, automated system for collect-
ing and analyzing data will have been in
full operation for more than 16 months.
The central computer system was set up
by Rockwell International scientists just
a year ago. Feeding into it are 25
monitoring stations scattered through-
out the Greater St. Louis area. Each sta-
Air sampling station near Si. Louis with a
100-foot tower and monitoring equipment.
tion has automatic equipment to record
meterological data like wind direction
and speed, temperature, humidity, and a
wide variety of pollution meas-
urements. All these go directly to the
computer, and also to the RAPS data
bank in North Carolina, which is headed
by Robert H. Browning.
Additional monitoring stations, oper-
ated by local agencies, and a fleet of
mobile stations also contribute data.
Power plant and factory stacks are mon-
itored for pollutant emissions, and rec-
ords are kept of fuel consumption and
plant process schedules.
Two or three times a year EPA helicop-
ters from Las Vegas, Nev., sample the
air at various heights over each of the 25
RAPS monitoring stations to provide re-
searchers with a picture of the air mass
at various heights. Typically, a helicop-
ter will start its air sampling 3,000 feet
above the station, and then descend to
about 300 feet, taking periodic samples.
The pilot flies in a spiral to avoid having
the down-draft from the copter's rotor
interfere with the sampling.
In July the EPA helicopters logged 216
hours of air sampling. Mr. Prantner
said, working two at a time, with a third
craft in reserve. Aircraft operated by
contractors and grantees also take part
in these intensive study periods.
Other techniques for getting a vertical
profile of pollutants and weather are
also employed. These include radio-
sonde balloons, many-spectrum photo-
graphy, and "lidar" instruments.
(Lidar is a radar-like device that uses a
light beam instead of a radio beam to
detect an obstacle, in this case the air
layer where pollution particles accumu-
late.)
The RAPS program has been carefully
designed not only to collect vast
amounts of data but also to analyze and
correlate the information in many dif-
ferent ways, using computer methods
for fast calculation and automatic print-
out.
"RAPS is giving us information about
real pollution in real air over a real
city," Mr. Prantner pointed out. "It
goes a step farther than any laboratory
study, although the wealth of data and
variety of conditions approach those ob-
tainable in a laboratory.
"We expect to learn what pollutants
exist over each area, where they move,
and what chemical changes occur as
they mix and are exposed to sunlight.
We will learn how different winds dis-
perse them, how rain washes them to the
ground."
By analyzing measurements as they
change with time and weather condi-
tions, EPA scientists hope to accom-
plish two things:
CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
-------
NATIONAL LAKE
SAMPLING NEARS
COMPLETION
One of the largest water sampling
programs ever undertaken by
EPA. the S12-niillion National
Eutrophication Survey to check on the
health of more than 800 of the country's
lakes and their tributaries, is drawing to
a close.
Sampling activities will end in De-
cember and analysis of the thousands of
analyses will be completed in December
of 1976. The survey began in March.
1972, because of concern about the
damage being done by nutrients in
speeding up the aging of lakes.
In its normal life cycle a lake eventu-
ally is filled up with dead vegetation
and debris, becoming a swamp or a bog.
This process usually takes hundreds of
years.
However, the discharge of large
amounts of phosphorus and other nu-
trients in the wastes from sewage treat-
ment and industrial plants has acceler-
ated the lake aging process, formally
known as eutrophication, Water drain-
age from farm fields which have been
fertili/.ed also contribute to this condi-
tion.
The nutrients stimulate the excessive
growth of algae and other aquatic-
plants. When these plants die the decay-
ing process uses up the water's dis-
solved oxygen, killing fish and causing
foul odors and stagnation.
The National Eutrophication Survey is
presently coordinated by EPA's office
of Health and Ecological Effects and
carried out jointly bv the EPA Environ-
mental Research Laboratories in Cor-
vallis, Oregon, and Las Vegas. Nevada,
with the cooperation of the Department
of Defense.
To conduct the sampling. EPA used
helicopters loaned to the Agency by the
U.S. Army. The helicopter sampling
crews normally included a pilot, a sci-
entist and a technician. When the
helicopter landed on a lake electric sen-
sor instruments were lowered into the
water to check such indicators as tem-
perature, turbidity and dissolved oxy-
gen. Water samples were also taken
from various depths.
After this work was completed, the
helicopter moved on to a new site on the
same lake or flew to another body of wa-
ter.
In addition to this sampling work by
EPA, approximately 5.000 National
Guardsmen have cooperated with EPA
by sending in monthly water samples
from the tributary rivers and streams
flowing into these lakes. The operators
of sewage treatment facilities discharg-
ing into the lakes surveyed have also
given EPA samples of the treated waste
outflow from their plants.
All of this data is being analyzed and
studied at EPA's laboratories in Corval-
iis and L.as Vegas. The studies will pro-
vide information regarding the quantity
and source of nutrients present in the
lakes, the amount feeding into the lake
trom tributaries or cither .sources and
An EPA helicopter preparing to land on Lake Mead in Nevada to sample the water as
part of national lake study.
data on what happens to these nutrients
as they travel through the water system.
This information will be correlated
with geographical and climatological
factors and information from land use
and other studies.
The key officials involved in the sur-
\e\ are Kevin T. Mullen, National Eut-
rophication Survey Coordinator,
Washington, D.C.; Victor W. Lambou,
Environmental Research Laboratory,
Las Vegas; Dr. Jack H. Gakstatter, En-
vironmental Research Laboratory, Cor-
vallis; and Lt. Col. Louis R. Dworshak,
Secretary of Defense liaison officer.
Individual reports on the conditions in
more than 100 of the lakes sampled have
already been issued and reports on more
than 400 other lakes are now being
completed.
The overall report at the end of 1976 is
expected to include conclusions on such
subjects as improving treatment of
municipal and industrial waste dis-
charges, control of phosphates in deter-
gents and tightening land use practices
in tributary drainage areas. D
ST. LOUIS STUDY
C().\TI.\Ll-:i) FROM P
• Create more accurate "models," or
mathematical formulas, that simulate all
aspects of urban air pollution so what is
likely to happen can be predicted reli-
ably, and
• Test the effectiveness and associated
costs of different methods of controlling
pollution.
Dr. John N. Goulias of the Missouri
Department of Natural Resources re-
cently said: "We believe the potential
cost benefits to be derived nationwide
from RAPS to be in the billion dollar
category."
St. Louis was chosen as the site of the
RAPS project because it is a tvpical
large metropolitan area with typical air
pollution problems. It has a mixture of
pollution sources, both automotive and
industrial, and is reasonably isolated
from other major pollution sources.
There are no nearby oceans, large lakes,
or mountains, all of which can affect
pollutant production and dispersal.
The RAPS project is also an integral
part of tl>e interchange between the
United States and the Soviet Union on
environmental technology and pollution
control. Leningrad is the matching city
in the Soviet Union for regional air pol-
lution studies. Technical experts from
each nation have been exchanging visits
and sharing information with each
other, so that what is learned at St.
Louis will augment what is learned in
Leningrad, and vice versa. D
PAGE 7
-------
EPA RESEARCH
HELPS INDUSTRIES
What do these things have in
common: peeling peaches,
quenching hot coke,"pick-
ling" steel, and bleaching wood pulp?
if you guessed these operations use—
and pollute—a lot of water, you would
be right.
But few people know that EPA re-
search has been a leading factor in
showing American industries how to cut
down the water pollution for such proc-
esses. Not only have pollutants been re-
duced, but in most instances the indus-
tries find they can save money by:
• Revamping their processes to re-
quire less water,
• Recycling and reusing water where-
ver possible, and
• Extracting valuable waste materials
they used to pour down the drain.
Research aimed at these results began
under EPA's predecessor agency, the
Federal Water Pollution Control Ad-
ministration in 1967, and continued
under EPA's Industrial Pollution Control
Division, headed by William J. Lacy.
Industrial research is now part of Re-
search and Development's Office of
Energy, Minerals and Industry, headed
by Dr. Stephen J. Gage.
So far the program has funded nearly
250 different projects involving water
use and wastewater treatment for prod-
ucts ranging from apricots to zinc. The
projects are carried out by individual
industries, industry associations, uni-
versities, State and city pollution con-
trol agencies, and private research or-
ganizations, under the supervision of
EPA. project officers at the Industrial
Environmental Research Laboratories at
Cincinnati and Research Triangle Park.
Fifteen projects have received national
awards for their originality and effec-
tiveness in reducing industrial pollu-
tion. Mr. Lacy, who is now senior en-
gineering advisor to the Assistant Ad-
ministrator for Research and Develop-
ment, has an office wall covered with
plaques and citations from industry as-
sociations and from conservation and
sportsmen's groups interested in im-
proving the water quality of lakes and
rivers.
"Most industries want to stop pollut-
ing," Mr. Lacy said, "and not just be-
cause the new laws and regulations re-
quire it. Of course there are some nota-
ble exceptions.
"We try to encourage good environ-
PAGE8
mental practices for industries by sup-
porting research in water conservation,
recycling, and wastewater treatment. If
a proposal looks promising on paper,
that is, if it has some new and novel as-
pect and would be applicable to others
in that industry, we can furnish 'seed
money' to develop it. The EPA share of
the cost includes the cost of operating,
maintaining, and evaluating the system
over the period of the grant, which is
usually one year.
"If you are canning fruit you need an
awful lot of water for preparation: wash-
ing, peeling, sorting, and so on. This
water used to be all wasted. It was
drained away loaded with skins, pits,
dirt, and fruit puip—organic solids hav-
ing a very high 'oxygen demand' on the
receiving waters."'
Other industries that have high water
use include pulp and paper making, tex-
tile dyeing, metal finishing of all kinds,
cheese making, and brewing. Each has
different problems in wastewater treat-
ment; each has characteristic processes
where water use may be curtailed and
where particular materials may be re-
claimed from the wastewater stream.
"Saving and reusing process water can
mean money in an industry's pocket,"
Mr. Lacy explained. "Treating a mill's
effluent water to conform to its dis-
charge permit means that mill's en-
gineers have to rethink their whole
process; frequently they find better
ways to do things, and this means sav-
ing materials and energy, saving
money."
The division has made grants totalling
about $50 million in the eight years
since the projects began. Its budget for
the current year is about $6 million, Mr.
Lacy said. All projects result in techni-
cal reports which are made available to
the industries and to the public. Here
are some non-technical descriptions of
typical Division projects:
Zinc from rayon. In spinning viscose
rayon fiber,a zinc compound is needed,
although it does not become part of the
fiber. EPA helped American Enka
Corp., Enka, N.C., to develop a method
of reclaiming about 99 percent of the
zinc from the spinning bath waste and
using it over again, at a yearly saving of
nearly $400,000. Zinc in waterways is
extremely toxic to fish.
Rolling mill wastes. The giant rollers
that squeeze steel bars into thin sheets
for auto bodies, appliances, and other
products must operate in a constant
spray of oil, water, and chemicals to
cool and lubricate the steel. Working
with several steel companies and indus-
try groups, EPA has demonstrated ways
of removing 90 percent of the oil and
oxygen-consuming chemicals from rol-
ling mill wastewater.
Pickle liquor is the unappetizing name
of liquid used to clean a metal surface
before something else can be done to it.
Thin steel sheet must be pickled before
tinning or varnishing for making cans.
Wire must be pickled before rubber or
plastic insulation can be applied. Pickle
liquors are strongly acid and are bad for
rivers. Even worse are the toxic metals
dissolved in the liquor. Iron in the waste
water makes streams run red. Copper,
chromium, and other metals poison the
water, as do many non-metallic chemi-
cal compounds like cyanide. EPA proj-
ects have shown how to remove 99 per-
cent of the iron from a steel mill's pickl-
ing waste, iron that is returned to the
mill and doesn't redden the water, and
treatment for copper wire mill wastes
that recovers the valuable copper and
sulfuric acid.
Food canning and freezing. Many
water-saving techniques have been de-
veloped by food processors with EPA
support. Instead of dunking fruits and
vegetables in hot water or steam to
loosen the skins, and then tearing the
skins off with streams of water, many
packers are now using the "dry caus-
tic" process, developed under EPA.
After a hot alkaline dip, the peels are
gently wiped off by rotating rubber
rings. Water savings for apricots,
peaches, and pears are as high as 93
percent. And it is easier to -remove the
organic matter when it is concentrated
in a small amount of water.
Closed-loop systems. The ultimate in
any processing system is the closed
loop, with all material reclaimed and
used again, as with the zinc in the rayon
spinning mill mentioned above.
Closed-loop water systems have been
demonstrated by EPA-supported proj-
ects. One was the floatation transport of
beets in a sugar factory (though this did
not include other water uses). The other
was in a plant making glass fibers,
which have to be sprayed with a resin as
they are collected as a blanket on a con-
veyor. Later, water was used to wash
the resin off when it was no longer
needed. The resinous water is now
cleaned and reused, with new water
CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
-------
A LOOK BACK AT DDT
By Ruth A. Hussey
Ten years after Rachel Carson in
"Silent Spring" sounded the
tocsin of environmental alarm
against the threat of DDT to human and
animal life, an agency of the Federal
Government, EPA, banned the use of
this pesticide for almost all domestic
uses.
On June 14, 1972, William D. Ruck-
elshaus, EPA's first Administrator, is-
sued an opinion and a decision that
"DDT poses an unacceptable risk to
man and his environment" and there-
upon cancelled its major uses. He stated
"/ am convinced by a preponderance
of the evidence that, once dispersed,
DDT is cm uncontrollable, durable
chemical that persists in the aquatic and
terrestial environments . . .
. . .The evidence of record showing
storage in man and magnification in the
food chain is u warning to the prudent
that man may be exposing himself Jo a
substance thai mu\ ultimately have a
xerious effect on his health."
The data supporting this decision of
three years ago, and the consequences
of the ban recently have been reviewed
in depth at the request of the House Ap-
propriations Committee, which directed
EPA "to initiate a complete and
thorough review, based on scientific
evidence of the decision banning the use
of DDT." The committee instructed the
reviewers to take into consideration "all
of the costs and benefits and the impor-
tance of protecting the Nation's supply
of food and fiber."
This new look at the 1972 findings
generally substantiates EPA's action
then. It also shows that risks are declin-
ing since the ban, that alternative pes-
ticides are available and that economic
impacts have been nominal, and well
within the range of those projected.
The findings upon which Mr. Ruckels-
haus based his decision to ban DDT fol-
lowed a long and frequently acrimoni-
ous controversy over the use of the
chemical. DDT, a member of the
chlorinated hydrocarbon group, was
first synthesized in 1874 but its effec-
tiveness as an insecticide was not
known until 1939.
During World War II and immediately
afterwards the U.S. produced large
quantities of DDT for control of
insect-borne diseases such as cholera
Ruth Htisxey is a staff writer for EPA
Journal-
and typhus in the war-devastated areas.
In 1948 it won a Nobel Prize for Paul H.
Mu'ller, the Swiss scientist who discov-
ered the compound's insecticidal prop-
erties.
After 1945, agricultural and commer-
cial uses of DDT increased rapidly
throughout this country. Its popularity
stemmed from its cheapness, persis-
tence, effectiveness, and its versatility
in combatting a wide variety of insect
pests. In the 30 years before- its cancel-
lation about 1.35 billion pounds of DDT
were used in this country. In addition.
large quantities were manufactured for
foreign customers, the United Nations,
and the Agency for International De-
velopment.
The use of DDT declined after 1959,
dropping from a peak of about 80 mil-
lion pounds per year to just under 12
million in the early 1970's. Ironically,
the effective persistence of the pes-
ticide, that encouraged its early and
widespread use, later became the basis
of concern over the possible hazards of
its continued use. Although warnings
against its indiscriminate use were
voiced by scientists as eariy as the mid-
forties, publication of Carson's book in
1962 triggered wide public anxiety over
DDT. Throughout the past decade.
proponents and opponents have clashed
in a series of confrontations.
Proponents argued that no immediate
adverse effects upon man have been
proven and that alternatives are more
hazardous to the user and more costly.
Opponents argued that it is a persistent,
toxic chemical which easily collects in
the food web, posing a proven hazard to
non-target organisms, such as fish and
wildlife and ultimately to man—who is
at the very top of the food chain. From
1963 to the end of 1969, these argu-
ments were considered by four prestigi-
ous Government committees; all four
recommended an orderly phasing out,
over a limited period of time, of the pes-
ticide.
State regulatory actions placed restric-
tions on DDT use, and both the Depart-
ments of Interior and Agriculture in-
creasingly limited its application. Then
in December of 1970. major responsi-
bility for federal regulation of pesticides
was transferred to EPA, and DDT came
under the close scrutiny of the new
Agency.
In August 1971, upon the request of 3 1
DDT formulators, EPA began a hearing
on the proposed cancellation of all re-
maining federally registered uses of
products containing DDT.
When the hearing ended in March
1972, the transcript of 9,312 pages con-
tained testimony from 125 expert wit-
nesses and over 300 documents. The
principal parties to the hearings were
the DDT manufacturers and for-
mulators, the Environmental Defense
Fund, the Department of Agriculture.
and EPA.
Mr. Ruckelshaus based his decision on
findings of persistence, transport.
biomagnification, and resulting tox-
icological effects and on the availability
of less environmentally harmful substi-
tutes.
The effective date of the ban was de-
layed until December 31, 1972, to per-
mit an orderly transition to substitute
pesticides; EPA and Agriculture jointly
developed "Project Safeguard" a pro-
gram of education in the use of the toxic
organophosphate substitutes for DDT.
The report to Congress reviewing that
decision from the viewpoint of 1975
CONTINUED ON PAG I- 20
Young osprcys in the nest.
PAGE 9
-------
PHOTO ESSAY
ERA'S FARM IN THE DESERT
This is the 30-acre experimental farm, an
oasis in the Nevada desert, which is
managed by the Agency's Environmen-
tal Monitoring and Support Laboratory at
Las Vegas for study of the impact of
radioactive material in the environment.
The farm, which supports dairy and beef
herds and where vegetable and hay
crops are grown, is located in the
Nevada Test Site used formerly by the
Atomic Energy Commission and now by
the Energy Research and Development
Administration for underground nuclear
explosion tests. Data obtained by exam-
ining the farm's crops and herds has
provided a better understanding of the
complex behavior of radioactive material
in the environment and its effect on living
things.
Milking time for the dairy herd.
It's roundup time for the beef herd at
EPA's experimental desert farm.
-"*•'• -
(*V-a
:*%.:
'"
PACK 10
-------
This is Big Sam, who underwent an op-
eration in which a capped tube was in-
stalled into his forestomach through a
surgical opening in his left side. The
opening apparently causes no
discomfort and permits periodic removal
and examination of food the animal
has eaten as he grazes on the
Nevada Test Site.
Cattle feed is harvested while irrigation
is provided by a sprinkler system.
The reservoir in the upper center can
store one million gallons of water. The
water is pumped from a 5,400-foot-deep
well to a sprinkler system needed to
grow crops in this arid area.
*
PAGH
-------
Why were you interested
ingoing into research at EPA?
)r. Mildred Jean Wiester, Research mains the center of information ex- pli
Dr. Mildred Jean Wiester, Research
Physiologist, Health Effects Research
Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio: "While
attending the University of Cincinnati
College of Medicine, I became ac-
quainted with a number of physiologists
working in the field of environmental
health, and developed an interest in this
area of study. EPA in Cincinnati holds a
prominent place in this worldwide ef-
fort, and offered a variety of oppor-
tunities for scientific contribution. The
need for accurate, pertinent health ef-
fects information related to urban air
pollution has intensified over the last
few years as the smog level has in-
creased. A major part of this health-
threatening smog has been attributed to
automobile exhausts. It is satisfying to
know that our research on catalytic-
treated auto emissions will be used to
back up stringent EPA regulatory ac-
tions aimed at reducing the public
health hazards of smog, which is now
approaching crisis proportions."
Robert A. Olexsey, Mechanical En-
gineer, Municipal Environmental Re-
search Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio:
"At (his time it is difficult to envision a
more interesting involvement than one
in environmental research. For in-
stance, in my area of responsibility,
which is disposal of wastewater treat-
ment plant sludges, some crucial capital
investment decisions must be made in
the next three years. The impending
water quality standards dictate that
greater volumes of these sludges will be
produced right at the time when en-
vironmental concerns are limiting op-
tions for the disposal of this material.
There are very real pressures for de-
velopment of new, safe, and efficient
handling methods for these sludges. I
find that working in EPA research I am
able to get a very broad view of de-
velopments in my area, since EPA re-
mains the center of information ex-
change in the environmental field. I
previously worked in a large corpora-
tion, and, being such a minute part of
the company, it was often difficult to
see how the welfare of the organization
was affected by my activity. At EPA, on
the other hand, the subject matter is
challenging and the atmosphere condu-
cive to accomplishment."
Dr. Jack W. BJanchard, Office of Re-
search and Development, Washington.
D.C.: "The creation of EPA was a par-
ticularly fascinating challenge to me. Its
goal of protecting the environment re-
quired a national effort to reverse 200
years of abuse to the country's natural
resources. Doing this required a public
understanding of the intent of EPA in
backing up its rulings with reasoned
scientific data to document the extent of
the damage to the environment, I am in-
volved with the integration of Agency
efforts in health and ecological research
programs, so that their results are incor-
porated into the technical basis for the
establishment of standards, regulations
and guidelines, the major tools avail-
able to the Agency in protecting our en-
vironment. Hopefully, if I've done my
work well, the scientific findings of
these efforts will be upheld in the
courts. The end result will be a con-
tribution to the improvement in our en-
vironment, the basic reason why I
joined the scientific arm of EPA."
Steve Plotkin, Staff Engineer, Office
of Energy, Minerals, and Industry,
Washington, D.C.: "My work at EPA
involves gauging the social, economic
and environmental impacts of energy
development in the western states. I
find this work interesting and challeng-
ing for several reasons: it's interdisci-
plinary, requiring me to become famil-
iar with work outside of my field (which
is engineering); it's concerned with try-
ing to prevent ecological problems be-
fore they happen; and it applies what
we've learned in a variety of research
projects to important EPA policy deci-
sions. This kind of research asks ques-
tions which don't have hard answers.
Typically, we have to balance factors
that cannot easily be translated into dol-
lars or some other common factor. How
can decreasing visibility, drastic
changes in lifestyle, or destruction of
important wildlife habitats be traded off
against a distant city's demand for
energy? How can the seemingly ir-
reconciliable desires of opposing inter-
est groups—ranchers and coal miners,
for instance—be adequately represented
in an equitable solution? These are the
kinds of questions I wanted to try to
answer, and the type of work I wanted
to do when I joined EPA."
Dr. Jean French, Research Epidemi-
ologist, Health Effects Research Lab-
oratory, Research Triangle Park, N.C.:
"Preventive medicine has always been
of primary importance to me, and I am
firmly committed to the research charge
of EPA which is to identify and quantify
the health effects from exposure to en-
vironmental pollutants. EPA's research
program provides the opportunity to
work with a multidisciplinary team on
highly relevant problems, and research
findings are translated into action on
behalf of protecting the public health. In
my previous experiences as a faculty
member in schools of medicine and in
schools of public health, I was involved
in very interesting research projects, but
all too often the fate of research findings
was limited to publication in a journal.
Here at EPA one can see research find-
ings used as a basis for setting standards
designed to protect the public health."
Dr.Mildred Jean Wiester Robert A. Olexsey
PAGE 12
Dr. Jack W. Blanehard Steve Plotkin
Dr. Jean French
-------
A CLEAN DRINK FOR
VERMONT
By Paul Keough
The effectiveness of ozone gas
and ultraviolet light as disinfect-
ants for drinking water is being
tested in Vermont, a State where drink-
ing water quality problems are so severe
that several communities are required to
boil their water before drinking it.
Under a $123,000 contract from EPA,
the State Department of Health last
month began a two-year demonstration
program in six small municipal systems
whose raw water cornes from Lake
Champlain. The study will compare the
two unconventional disinfection
methods with chlorination, both with
and without prefiltering.
The ozone process involves creating
the short-lived form of oxygen by elec-
trical discharges in air and then dissolv-
ing the gas in the water. In the ul-
traviolet process, a thin film of water is
exposed to ultraviolet light.
Neither method has the residual action
of chlorine, which continues to kill bac-
teria long after it has been added to the
water. Chlorine, however, is suspected
water supplies have no disinfection at
all.
The finished water in many supplies in
Vermont fails to meet the bacteriologi-
cal standards of the State. For example,
in Vermont during May, 1975, 371 sys-
tems were under surveillance by the
State Department of Public Health. Two
hundred met the U.S. Public Health
Service bacteriological limits, and 171
did not. Vermont has 12 water systems
on permanent boil water notice and an
additional 14 systems on temporary boil
notices at the present time.
Despite this, most Vermonters feel
they have the best tasting water in New
England and have opposed the chlorina-
tion of their water because of taste and
odor problems, real or imagined.
Because of the poor bacteriological
record of many small water systems in
Vermont and the association of water
quality with aesthetic acceptance of
drinking water, EPA decided to fund a
demonstration project which began last
month to investigate methods other than
of contributing to the formation of cer-
tain harmful organic compounds in wa-
ter.
Public water supplies in New England,
for the most part, often are provided
with no treatment other than disinfec-
tion, with chlorine being the most
commonly used disinfecting agent.
Most New England large cities, as well
as numerous small water systems, use
surface water as their source of supply
and depend upon the raw water quality
of the source, together with disinfec-
tion, to provide safe water. Some small
Paul Keough is Director of Public Af-
fairs for Region 1.
chlorination.
All the water systems being tested use
a common surface water supply, Lake
Champlain, and each serves less than
500 people. Three of the systems pro-
vide treatment (filtration) and three pro-
vide chlorination only.
One treated system and one untreated
system will each be equipped with
ozonization disinfection and one treated
and one untreated with ultraviolet disin-
fection. The other two supplies will be
maintained with chlorination to serve as
controls.
Weekly samples are being collected
from each system of the raw water,
treated and/or disinfected water and at
distribution points. They are being
analyzed for total coliform organisms,
fecal coliform organisms, and total bac-
teria, as well as selected chemicals and
constituents pertinent to disinfection
(ozone residuals, dissolved oxygen,
temperature, turbidity, and acidity).
In addition, periodic samples will be
collected in the raw and treated water
for virological analyses. All bac-
teriological, physical and chemical
analyses will be performed by the Ver-
mont Department of Health Labo-
ratories Division. Virological analysis
will be performed under subcontract
with the University of Vermont, Infec-
tious Disease Unit.
Ozonization is not a new technique in
water pollution control. Ozone waste
water treatment processes have been
used in some sewage treatment plants.
Ozonization is relatively inexpensive,
but not as cheap as chlorine (although
improvements in taste, odor, and color
resulting from ozone purification will
often more than offset the slight differ-
ence in cost).
What ozone will not do is persist as a
residual germicide; in water it rapidly
decomposes to ordinary oxygen. Ozone
has about a 25-minute lifetime, and
therefore, if the process is to be com-
pletely effective in treating water, small
amounts of chlorine will have to be
added. Only two places—Whiting,
Ind., and Strasburg, Pa. are utilizing
ozonization for treating drinking water
although the process has been widely
used in Europe.
The other process being examined is
ultraviolet disinfection. In this process
the radiation from the light kills the bac-
teria. No present public water supply is
using this method. It has primarily been
utilized aboard ships as a method of dis-
infection and some industrial users have
experimented with the technique. It
should be noted that the ultraviolet
process for disinfecting water will not
change the chemical and physical
characteristics of the water. Ultraviolet
treatment does not provide residual bac-
tericidal action. Therefore, the need for
periodic flushing and disinfection of the
water distribution system must be rec-
ognized.
We hope the information gathered in
the Vermont study will be applicable in
other areas of the country having small
community water supplies.
It is especially important that alterna-
tives to chlorination be found. Recent
EPA studies have indicated that the
process of chlorination may be con-
tributing to the formation of certain or-
ganic compounds suspected of being
cancer causing, o
PAGE 13
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refinery for maine
The Maine Board of Environmental Pro-
tection has approved the application of
the Pittston Company of New York to
construct a 250,000-barrel-per-day refin-
ery, storage facility, and marine terminal
at Eastport. This is the first refinery pro-
posal in New England to win State ap-
proval. Other proposals have been made
by Occidental Petroleum, Atlantic
Richfield and Olympic Oil. Region I of-
ficials have met several times with
Pittston officials and their consultant to
discuss she kind of information the firm's
environmental impact statement should
contain.
paper mills fined
Civil penalties totaling $30,000 were re-
cently levied against two paper com-
panies in western Massachusetts for not
properly monitoring their wastewater
discharges. Each had reported to EPA
monitoring "data" that did not come
from actual testing, Region 1 officials
charged in complaints filed last February.
The violations of the companies' dis-
charge permits were discovered by EPA
engineers during routine monitoring
checks. The firms and their fines:
Baldwinville Products, Inc., discharging
into the Millers River, $20,000, and
Erving Paper Mills, discharging into the
Otter River, $10,000.
enforcement actions
Five municipalities on Long Island have
been ordered to curb emissions of panicu-
late matter from their incinerators. Re-
gional Administrator Gerald Hansler said
that Valley Stream, Freeport,'Garden
City, Long Beach, and Sanitary District 1
in Lawrence must either shut down their
plants and join Hempstead's waste dis-
posal system or upgrade or build new
facilities to correct the violations.
PAGE 14
The Bendix Corporation's plant at Green
Island, N.Y., was ordered to halt its
emissions of asbestos.
Two New Jersey municipalities were or-
dered to correct wastewater discharge
violations: North Bergen Township must
apply for cleanup permits for three pri-
mary sewage treatment facilities to con-
trol discharge of raw sewage into the
Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, and
Camden must provide adequate operating
staff at two of its sewage plants, repair
broken-down equipment, and halt all
bypass discharges into the Delaware
River.
Civil penalties totaling $2,835 were as-
sessed on three firms for shipping unreg-
istered pesticides: Givaudan Corp., Clif-
ton, N.J., $1,500; Jancyn Manufacturing
Corp., Central Islip, N.Y., $1,125; and
Brilco Laboratories, Brooklyn, N.Y.,
$210.
fugitive dust
Region officials recently halted scarify-
ing and sand-blasting operations on a
completed portion of an interstate high-
way in Philadelphia because of excessive
dust. Three contractors for the Pennsyl-
vania Department of Transportation were
removing a thin layer of concrete from
Route 1-95 so a special latex surfacing
could be applied. Windblown dust from
the machines caused many complaints
from nearby residents. The companies
were ordered to halt work until the
machines could be altered or replaced to
control the dust.
chemical sale halted
Region III has ordered Life Science
Products Company of Hopewell, Vir-
ginia, to stop the sale, use or removal of
the compound Kepone.
Life Science is the nation's sole manufac-
turer of the chemical and is under exclu-
sive contract to the Allied Chemical Cor-
poration. Kepone is used to fight fire ants
and roaches.
The order was issued in accordance with
the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and
Rodenticide Act. An investigation was
also begun to determine the health-
related effects of Kepone as well as the
extent to which it may be found in the
water and on the land near the plant.
Further manufacture of the product was
also prohibited since Life Science is not a
registered pesticide-producer establish-
ment.
award to eglin
Eglin Air Force Base in Florida has re-
ceived the Department of Defense's Na-
tional Environmental Award for the best
environmental program of any defense
installation in 1974. The citation, pre-
sented by George Marienthal, former
EPA official who is now Deputy Assist-
ant Secretary of Defense for Environmen-
tal Quality, noted the base's work in abat-
ing pollution, protecting natural areas,
and including environmental consid-
erations in decision making. Represent-
ing Region IV Administrator Jack Ravan
at the ceremony was Art Linton, Chief of
Federal Facilities.
energy seminar
Problems that will result from developing
new energy supplies in the Midwest will
be discussed at a seminar in Chicago this
month, sponsored by EPA, the Federal
Energy Administration, and the Chicago
District Council of the American Society
for Testing and Materials. "Energy De-
velopment and the Environment" is the
topic of the half-day session starting at
noon Oct. 16 at Sheraton Inn-0'Hare
South.
monoxide orders
Citing growing concern for public health
and the improvement of air quality in
downtown Chicago, Region V recently
issued four orders to.the city and Cook
County designed to reduce carbon
monoxide pollution in the Loop district.
The orders require the city to establish a
computer-controlled traffic signal system
and restrict parking to one side of 10 des-
ignated streets during business hours.
Both city and county were ordered to re-
quire inspection systems for monitoring
vehicle exhausts. The actions followed
formal notices of violation issued last
April to the city, the county, and the Il-
linois Secretary of State.
-------
train trip crowded
Administrator Russell E. Train's two
day-visit to Region VI in August was hec-
tic but productive, according to Regional
Administrator John C. White.
On the first day he addressed the regional
office staff, held a press conference for
Dallas and Fort Worth print and broad-
cast media, had a question-and-answer
session with the Dallas Chamber of
Commerce, gave a luncheon talk to the
North Central Texas Council of Govern-
ments, dedicated the Dallas White Rock
sewage treatment plant, met with city of-
ficials, and concluded with an evening
speech al a meeting of environmental and
conservation groups.
Mr. Train's second day, in Houston,
began with a live television interview.
After a meeting with Mayor Fred
Hofheinz and a press conference at City
Hall, he attended a meeting of the En-
vironmental Committee of the Chamber
of Commerce and spoke at a luncheon
meeting of the Exchange Club. Mr.
Train's Houston tour included a boat trip
down the Houston Ship Channel and a
visit to the San Jacinto Monument.
spill seminar
Representatives of six regions attended a
training seminar in Kansas City recently
on a new computerized data system for
keeping track of oil spills. The system,
used mainly as a reporting and enforce-
ment tool, was explained by headquarters
specialists from the Management Infor-
mation Systems Branch and the Oil and
Special Materials Control Division.
Any oil spill greater than 1,000 gallons or
any second spill within a year from one
source will trigger the data system to re-
quest review of that source's spill control
plan.
looking for ideas
EPA was on the listening end Sept. 11 in
Omaha, Neb., when citizens gave their
views on how to handle discharge permits
for small feedlots and municipal storm
sewers.
These two kinds of point-source water
pollution have been exempt from EPA's
discharge permit program, but a Federal
District Court ruling in Washington last
June ordered the Agency to draft permit
regulations for them and two other types
by Nov. 10.
"Inclusion of these categories would
make the paperwork monumental for
EPA and the States at a time when we are
undergoing manpower cuts," said Re-
gional Administrator Jerome H. Svore.
salty Colorado
By Oct. 18 seven States in the Colorado
River basin are expected to submit salin-
ity standards for their portions of the river
and its tributaries and also plans to meet
the standards. The States are Arizona,
California, Colorado, Nevada, New
Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
Serious efforts to control salt in the Col-
orado date back to the early '60s when the
Public Health Service began to study the
causes, effects, and possible control
measures. Salt in the river adversely
affects irrigated crops and municipal
water systems in the down-river States
and Mexico, and the United States has
agreed to guarantee that Colorado water
leaving this country will be of a quality
acceptable to Mexico.
After many interstate and interagency
conferences on the problem, the Bureau
of Reclamation has four projects under
way to develop ways of reducing
groundwater salinity (from salt rock for-
mations), salt and sediment in water that
drains back to the river from irrigated
land, and salt from geysers.
traffic control jam
EPA's plans for reducing urban air pollu-
tion by limiting auto use hit a snag re-
cently in the U.S. Court of Appeals,
Ninth District.
The court ruled that EPA has no authority
under the Clean Air Act to order a State to
make and carry out transportation control
plans and become liable to sanctions
under the Act for failure to do so. The
case concerned EPA's orders that
California implement programs for vehi-
cle inspection and maintenance, retrofit
of pollution control devices, car pooling,
and exclusive bus lanes.
The court said Section 113 of the Act
nowhere provides that enforcement may
be taken against a State for failure to
carry out a plan promulgated by EPA,
and it mentioned the delicate scheme of
the Act and the need for joint Federal and
State cooperation.
' 'The court told EPA to open its eyes and
look at the world as it is," Deputy Re-
gional Administrator Russell Freeman
commented. "This means that if we are
to solve environmental problems, we
have to treat State and local governments
as part of a team to implement the solu-
tion, rather than treating them as part of
the problem."
strings attached
Metropolitan Seattlfe recently got the
green light and Federal money for a big
sewer project only after impact statement
review and public hearings had caused
the municipality to alter its plans.
The S4.5-million grant to begin construc-
tion of a four-mile interceptor sewer line
was awarded with strings attached: the
line must go around instead of through 20
acres of wetlands in the Green River val-
ley.
Region X Administrator Clifford V.
Smith said the rerouting and other re-
quirements to protect the environment
followed suggestions made by the Presi-
dent's Council on Environmental Quality
and several local conservation organiza-
tions.
"This demonstrates that the environmen-
tal impact statement process works," Dr.
Smith declared. "It was a good project to
begin with, and the additional grant con-
ditions make it even better."
park sewers
Region X will prepare an environmental
impact statement on a proposal to build
sewage facilities in the Island Park area
of Fremont County, Idaho, Regional
Administrator Clifford V. Smith has an-
nounced.
"We want to examine carefully how
sewer lines and treatment lagoons pro-
posed by the county commissioner would
affect an area rich in wildlife and recrea-
tional opportunities," he-said. Island
Park is in the northeast corner of the State
and is considered similar to Yellowstone
and Grand Teton National Parks.
PAGE 15
-------
PEOPLE
William .J. Librizzi, Jr. has been
mimed Director of the Surveillance and
Analysis Division, Region II.
Based in Edison, N.J., the Surveillance
and Analysis Division directs, coordi-
nates and implements all field and labora-
tory studies for the Region.
Mr. Libri/./i has been with EPA and its
predecessors since 1966. For the past
year he has been Chief of the Emergency
Response and Investigations Branch, re-
sponsible for EPA activities during
emergency episodes such as oil spills,
ha/.ardous material exposure, and na-
tional disasters. He directed a national
watercraft waste research program and
was instrumental in developing legisla-
tion for treatment systems for sanitary
waste aboard ships and small vessels.
Before coming to EPA, Mr. Librizzi
was a public works engineer at McGuire
Air Force Base, Fort Dix, N.J. He has a
master's degree in Sanitary Engineering
from New York University and a
bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering
from the Newark College of Engineering.
He replaces Richard Dewling who is on
leave on EPA's Executive Development
Program doing graduate work at Rutgers
University.
Dr. Gerald R. Bouck, Aquatic Bi-
ologist at EPA's Western Fish Toxi-
cology Station, Corvallis, Ore., has been
elected president for 1976 of the Ameri-
can Fisheries Society's Western Divi-
sion, which includes the area from
Hawaii to Colorado and Alaska to
Mexico. He will serve also on the Inter-
national Executive Committee of the
American Fisheries Society during this
time.
Dr. Bouck has already served AFS as
chairman of the Board of Professional
Certification, and as chairman of the In-
ternational Committee on Pollution
Abatement and Water Quality. In addi-
tion, EPA has awarded him a silver medal
for superior service in the development of
the Western Fish Toxicology Station.
John A. Little, has been named Deputy
Regional Administrator of EPA's Region
IV in Atlanta.
Mr. Little, a native of Atlanta, has been
the director of the region's Surveillance
and Analysis Division for the past four
years. He succeeds John C. White, now
Region VI Regional Administrator.
In announcing the appointment of Mr.
Little, Regional Administrator Jack E.
Ravan said:
1 'We feel indeed fortunate to have a man
of Alec Little's caliber for this position.
He was selected from some 26 applicants
here in the region and across the nation.''
Mr. Little, who has been in pollution
control work with the government since
1939, began his career in Kansas City.
Training for his specialty came at Geor-
gia Tech and the University of California
at Berkeley. He received a bachelor's de-
gree in civil engineering and a master's
degree in sanitary engineering from
Georgia Tech. At Berkeley, Mr. Little
continued post-graduate work in sanitary
engineering for two years.
Art B. Williams has been appointed
Deputy Director of Administration for
EPA operations in Research Triangle
Park, N.C. A native of Memphis, Tenn.,
he spent the last two years as Director of
the North Memphis Community Health
Organization, and has also been as-
sociated with Richard Fleming As-
sociates, a management consultant firm
in Memphis.
Prior to that time Mr. Williams was with
EPA in North Carolina as the Equal
Employment Opportunity Officer and
Acting Personnel Director. His previous
experience was in personnel and labor re-
lations with Xerox Corporation in
Rochester, N.Y.
Mr. Williams received his bachelor's
degree in economics, with honors, from
Benedictine College, Atchison, Kansas.
He earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence
from the University of Notre Dame Law
School in 1969.
PACili 16
-------
Deputy Administrator John R.
Quarles, Jr., congratulates Olga
Qegg, daughter of Clara Williams of
the Headquarters Research and De-
velopment Office, upon receiving an
award from the EPA Scholarship Fund.
Miss Clegg, who was accompanied at
the ceremony by her mother, is a stu-
dent at Indiana State University and is
majoring in political science.
She is one of 30 children of EPA em-
ployees attending colleges across the
nation who received a total of $8,050
from the scholarship fund in individual
awards ranging from $100 to $500.
Money for the fund comes from hon-
orariums given to EPA officials for
making speeches to different groups and
writing articles for various magazines.
Since by law government personnel
cannot accept fees for speeches or arti-
cles connected with their work, such
money must be donated to charitable
causes. Thus, the EPA Scholarship
Fund was set up four years ago, Mr.
Quarles said, in order that any hon-
orariums collected "be used in the best
possible way we could think of, the ad-
vancement and education of our chil-
dren."
Requirements for the awards are that
the student be in attendance at a four-
year undergraduate college and be the
child of a current EPA employee.
Awards range in size from $100 to
$500, depending on financial need ami
academic achievement.
Because the fund grows each year, the
number and dollar amounts of the
awards increase also. Applications and
brochures explaining the scholarship in
detail are available at all EPA Personnel
Offices, and all EPA employees with
children attending college are encour-
aged to apply.
Other recipients of this year's awards
are: Mary Jo Poskin, daughter of Joseph
Poskin, Region VII; Theodore Jones.
son of John T. Jones, Cincinnati; Lynne
MacDonald, daughter of Eleanor Mac-
Donald, Corvallis; Debra Kaplan,
daughter of Bea Kaplan, Headquarters;
Teresa Stankis, daughter of Glenn Stan-
kis. Region VI; Joanne Bader, daughter
of Janice Bader, Cincinnati; Paul and
Thomas Gehring, sons of Robert Geh-
ring. Cincinnati; Alice Terry, daughter
of Abbie Terry, RTP; Gina Loretta Re-
galbuto, daughter of Constantino Re-
galbuto. Indiana District Office; George
R. Gillis, Jr., son of George R. Gillis.
Sr., RTP; June Fleming, daughter of
Patricia Fleming, Las Vegas; Tedi
Wright, daughter of Jean Wright,
Headquarters; Walter J. Kocal. Jr., son
of Walter Kocal, Sr,, Region V; Carol
McGowan, daughter of Anne Mc-
Gowan, Cincinnati; Karen Soper and
Albert Soper, Jr., daughter and son of
Albert Soper Sr., Narragansett Water
Supply Lab.; Barbara Rizzardi, daugh-
ter of Charles Rizzardi, Las Vegas; Kurt
Olsen, son of Agnes Olsen, Region VI;
Marc Armel, son of Gerald Doran, Las
Vegas; Eileen McGowan, daughter of
Anne McGowan, Cincinnati; Walter
Beasley, son of Alma Beasley, Head-
quarters; Arleen Braxton, daughter of
Herbert Braxton, D.C. Pilot Plant.
Headquarters; Cynthia Jones, daughter
of Johnnie Jones, Headquarters; Kary
Free, daughter of Eva McGough, Las
Vegas; Anita Williams, daughter of
Clara Williams, Headquarters; Connie
Quinlan, daughter of Frances Quinlan.
Cincinnati; Jacques Fleming, son of
Patricia Fleming, Las Vegas; Newell S.
Mastin, son of Newell J. Mastin, Cin-
cinnati, n
RESEARCH
HELPS INDUSTRIES
COXTINUED FROM PAGE 8
added only as the old water evaporates.
Plant engineers calculate they use the
water four or five times, cutting their
city water bill about in half.
In their own juice. A plan to float to-
matoes in their own juice has been pro-
posed by Mr. Lacy, and Dr. Walter
Mercer of the National Gunners' As-
sociation is looking for a plant to try the
method next year. The idea is for a
packer of both canned tomatoes and to-
mato juice to use the juice as a convenor
belt; at the end of the line the whole to-
matoes would go in one direction, and
the juice in another, to their respective
canning machines.
Dyes. One of the siubborncst of all
water pollutants is the dye that misses
the yarn or cloth in a textile factory.
When a mill's run is a single color the
waste stream is that color, purple, yel-
low, red, green, or whatever. When
many colors emerge at the same time the
result is like the mud you get when you
mix all the colors of a painting set. A
variety of ways to remove dye from
wastewater is being explored, and some
have achieved 98 percent removal. This
is welcome news to the industry, he-
cause dyes are very expensive, and any
dye that can be recovered will be used
again.
International. For the last two and a
half years the Polish Institute for
Meteorology and Water Economy has
been studying wastewater treatment at a
textile factory in Krakow, using
blocked currency funds—U.S. credits
in /lotys that can be spent only in Po-
land and are therefore outside EPA's
budget. The design of the experiments
is approved by EPA. The project offi-
cer, who makes periodic visits to Poland
to supervise the work, is Thomas N.
Sargent, of EPA's Athens, Ga., labora-
tory. D
1'AGK 17
-------
DR. ALBERT
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
nious system where he adds those cel-
lular components from the liver that
actually do the metabolizing into the
test dishes which contain the bacteria.
In this way, one can evaluate the ac-
tive form of the agent.
Commoner is utilizing this test sys-
tem, and I think this, of course, is an
important development in screening
for potential environmental carcino-
gens on the basis of their mutagenic
activity.
But I think there has to be a note of
caution here, because a test in a
simplified system such as this, while it
is most useful in raising the warning
flag of possible importance as an en-
vironmental carcinogen, has to be sub-
stantiated by other tests in order to
warrant actual intervention, at least at
the present time.
QUESTION: Was this work by
Dr. Commoner done under a contract
with EPA?
DR. ALBERT: Yes.
QUESTION: Is that work still
continuing?
DR. ALBERT: Yes, it is. And it
is only fair to say that there is work in
similar directions that is being sup-
ported by other agencies, both at Na-
tional Institutes of Health, and in uni-
versities.
I think this is an important area that
needs to be developed, and all these
different research efforts are highly
desirable.
QUESTION: What do you regard
as the top priorities in your new posi-
tion?
DR. ALBERT: The major pri-
orities that I feel are of importance are
of two sorts. One relates to the internal
management of the research program
in health and ecology; how we do our
research and how we plan for it. The
other priority is choosing our research
projects and deciding which of them
are the most important.
There is a great deal to be done in
improving the internal management of
the research program in the sense of
getting a better interaction with the
program offices, and making the re-
search more relevant to the actual reg-
ulatory needs of the Agency. And
when I say program offices, 1 should
also include the regional offices, be-
cause these are the cutting edge of the
Agency in terms of implementation,
and they have problems which also re-
quire solution by research.
1 have found in the short time I have
been here that there has been a lack of
adequate communication between the
research program and the other pro-
gram and regional offices in terms of
transmitting their needs, and translat-
ing them into the research that will
really contribute to the solution of
problems that relate to the setting of
standards and regulations.
There are also other problems that
require solution in terms of the man-
agement of the research program. I
think there has been inadequate in-
volvement of the university scientific
community in the formulation of the
research, and inadequate utilization of
outside talents in carrying out the re-
search program. And I think this needs
to be improved.
A second area has to do with percep-
tion of shifting areas of importance.
And I would guess that there is an in-
creased need for more research in car-
cinogens in the environment, and
other agents which produce long-term,
delayed deleterious health effects.
The issue of control of environmental
carcinogens has rapidly come to the
fore in EPA. There is a substantial ef-
fort to increase the scope of the EPA's
research program, both in characteriz-
ing carcinogens, developing a better
understanding of dose-response rela-
tionships, and improving methods of
determining what agents are car-
cinogenic.
QUESTION: Do natural sources
of smog from vegetation contribute
significantly to polluted air?
DR. ALBERT: There have been
air pollution episodes where there is
evidence thai hydrocarbons emitted by
vegetation played a substantial role in
formation of oxidants and other irrit-
ants in the atmosphere.
This is a research area which is just
beginning to emerge. We don't have a
really clear picture of the importance
of it. I would guess it will be found
that hydrocarbons released by vegeta-
tion provide a significant contribution
to the oxidant problem.
QUESTION: Does this mean that
we should be able to relax our controls
on auto pollution, for example?
DR. ALBERT: No, it certainly
doesn't mean that. It means that we are
going to have to deal with a complex
situation which will make the control
problem more difficult.
QUESTION: How much hard
proof is there that use of aerosol spray
cans destroy ozone in the upper atmo-
sphere, in your judgment?
DR. ALBERT: 1 am not an expert
in this field. I have heard presentations
of the interactions that would occur in
the stratosphere, and to me they seem
persuasive.
The issue of whether there is hard
proof is not exactly to the point here,
because by the time that we have clear
evidence that the ozone layer has de-
creased and consequently the ul-
traviolet radiation reaching the surface
of the ground has increased, it will be
a bit too late. So it is a particularly dif-
ficult situation in which there is strong
reason to believe that damage can be
done by an excessive amount of Freon
in the stratosphere.
It calls for some pretty close watch-
ing to avoid a situation where damage
has been done, and it is too late to cor-
rect it.
QUESTION: Why did this post at
EPA seem worthwhile to you?
DR. ALBERT: The way that the
matter was presented to me was that
the research program, particularly in
the health effects area, was in substan-
tial need of improvement. There has
been a lot of criticism of it both in
terms of the scientific aspects, and
also in terms of its relevance to the
needs of the Agency.
I was told by several of the directors
of the National Institutes of Health that
my coming here would be an important
contribution to the EPA and to the
country in what 1 could do to improve
the research program.
QUESTION: How many people
and how much money is available for
your program?
DR. ALBERT: The program that
is managed from this office includes
both health and ecology research. The
total budget is in the order of $60 mil-
lion, and the numbers of people in-
volved in the laboratories is in the
order of 700 to 800 people.
QUESTION: Are these resources
• adequate?
DR. ALBERT: I think this can be
answered in a number of ways. I have
never heard a bureaucrat say that he
'did have enough money, and even
though I am a novice bureaucrat, I will
join the crowd. So the answer is no.
1 think it is perfectly evident that the
amount of funds invested in research
in the EPA program in health and
ecology are being well spent. There
are areas of research that would be ex-
ceedingly valuable to encompass if we
had additional funds and people. The
lack of resources I think has a serious
impact on the contribution that the re-
search program can make to both the
EPA's tasks and to the health of the
country. D
PAGE 18
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RESEARCH MISSION
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
comprehensive approaches to integrat-
ing all environmental programs in an ef-
ficient manner, utilizing land use man-
agement as the basic integrating
mechanism. For example, methods are
being developed to assess the environ-
mental impacts of sewer and transporta-
tion systems on community growth.
Also, methods for integrating regional
air and water quality planning efforts
are under way.
Energy extraction and processing
technology covers the assess-
ment of problems and develop-
ment of control techniques to mitigate
the environmental impact of the mining
and processing of coal and other energy
resources. Solid, liquid, and gaseous
fuel as well as such non-fossil energy
sources as uranium and geothermal sites
are considered. The range of problems
considered spans the spectrum from as-
sessment of the socio-economic aspects
of resources extraction and good prac-
tice in off-shore drilling to abatement of
acid mine drainage and coal cleaning.
Energy conversion-utilization
technology assessments is the
category aimed at assuring
adequate energy production from fossil
fuels with minimum damage to en-
vironmental quality. After assessing
environmental impacts, this program
identifies, develops, and demonstrates
the required pollution control technol-
ogy for present and emerging energy
systems.
For example, our Industrial Environ-
mental Research Laboratory at Research
Triangle Park has been developing and
demonstrating flue gas desulfurization
technology, commonly known as stack
gas scrubbers, These units can be used
to control sulfur dioxide emissions from
stationary sources, with particular em-
phasis on coal-fired electric power
plants.
Integrated technology assessment is
required to identify significant technol-
ogy gaps and provide information for
important policy decisions. The as-
sessment must include environmental,
energy, economic, and social factors.
Energy health and ecological ef-
fects include those research ef-
forts necessary to determine the
environmental effects associated with
energy extraction, transmission, con-
version, and use. With this knowledge,
measures can be taken to protect human
health and welfare, the ecosystem, and
social goals while increasing energy
production.
Measurement, techniques and
equipment development re-
search provides methods which
serve as the Agency's "eyes, ears, and
nose." Some of the more immediate
needs of the Agency concern envi-
ronmental monitoring. After all, if we
can't be sure a pollutant is there, how
are we to control it?
In this program, physical, chemical,
and biological principles provide the
basis for development of procedures and
instruments to measure pollutants.
These procedures and instruments are
then used by the Agency in its monitor-
ing networks.
As an example of how this program
works, we may find that we need to
routinely measure a newly identified
environmental pollutant such as vinyl
chloride. Vinyl chloride is a colorless
gas which recently was identified as the
industrial chemical responsible for caus-
ing a kind of cancer in industrial work-
ers. A procedure to measure vinyl
chloride was developed by our monitor-
ing program in cooperation with the re-
gional surveillance and analysis lab-
oratories. This system was used by the
regions in a national monitoring survey
to evaluate the vinyl chloride problem.
The analytical procedure is currently
being refined in our laboratories under
the measurement, techniques, and
equipment development program.
Monitoring quality assurance
serves all environmental mon-
itoring activities of the Agen-
cy. Its purpose is to assure that mon-
itoring data used to support the Agen-
cy's regulatory programs are scientifi-
cally sound and legally defensible.
To illustrate this problem area, con-
sider a butcher weighing a piece of
meat. If he were to take the same piece
of meat and repeatedly weigh it, each
successive weighing would be different
from the others. If he used a good bal-
ance, these differences would be small
and there would be no cause for alarm.
However, if the differences were large,
the customer could become very dis-
tressed.
It is the purpose of the quality assur-
ance program to standardize the meas-
urement procedures to reduce the varia-
tions in such successive measurements
to acceptable differences. The quality
assurance program also provides stand-
ard reference materials of certified pur-
ity and reference samples of known
concentration so that analysts can check
the accuracy of their analyses. Quality
control guidelines and manuals are de-
veloped to assure uniform analytical
practices. Finally, the quality assurance
program provides for evaluation of la-
boratories for the adequacy of their
facilities and the competencies of their
technical personnel.
Technical support is also provided
by our research program to other
elements of the Agency. This is
usually not research per se; it is mainly
the application of our findings in all
fields, and the lending of our research
scientists and our research facilities to
other parts of the Agency for their im-
mediate or unusual needs.
These needs may be for technical in-
formation, for the evaluation of a par-
ticular pollution control problem, for a
surveillance or monitoring job in one of
the Regions, or perhaps for monitoring
and control of an emergency pollution
episode. Identification of this function
as a distinct activity reflects a determi-
nation that we will continue to be re-
sponsive to the immediate needs of the
Agency.
Taken together, these 14 program
areas are the totality of our research
program. The specific content of any
area is based on a number of fundamen-
tal factors.
First and foremost is the full recogni-
tion that research serves a support func-
tion within the regulatory Agency. Our
strategy, specific objectives and
priorities should not and cannot stand as
entities in and of themselves. Rather,
they must derive from those of the
Agency in the accomplishment of its
total legislative mandate.
The program, then, is one of mission-
oriented research and not one of so-
called basic research. This is not to say
that some very fundamental research is
not, in fact, an integral part of our pro-
gram. It is and must continue to be so
because of our responsibility to provide
the best scientific data and to develop
control systems for pollution problems
that are beyond the present state-of-
the-art. Further, a most important re-
search function is to anticipate the prob-
lems that will emerge in the future
and—if we cannot prevent them—tag
them so that they will not arrive un-
heralded. D
PAGE 19
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CONTINUED FROM PAG 1. V
data, centers on the key findings of the
Administrator's decision. The responsi-
bility for the initial assemblage and
evaluation of the information was given
to the Criteria and Evaluation Division,
Office of Pesticide Programs; within the
Division, the lead person was Dr. Ar-
nold Aspelin, Chief of the Economic
Analysis Branch, since much of the re-
view concerns economic and social mat-
ters.
The report assessed finding's from the
original hearing in terms of data from
available puhlished literature and also
data from scientists in various EPA of-
fices and laboratories and from other
agencies of government, including the
Departments of Agriculture and Interior
and the Hood and Drug Administration.
However, the completed document was
not circulated for review or clearance by
other agencies.
Multidisciplinary teams worked in
four major areas: fish and wildlife ef-
fects; human effects; residues of DDT in
the environment and rm>n; and economic
aspects. In each area, review was made
of the information available to the Ad-
ministrator in support of his findings in
1972, and information searches, using
relevant data banks, were made for
more recently published articles and
current research projects in EPA and
elsewhere. For example, in an effort to
obtain the most current data and re-
search results in the fish and wildlife
area, almost 500 articles, on the repro-
ductive, behavioral, lethal and sublethal
effects of DDT were reviewed. This lit-
erature survey was reinforced by inten-
sive field interviews with people en-
gaged in active research.
In general the study confirms the data
and basic findings upon which EPA
made its 1972 decision on DDT. Re-
ported studies show that human dietary
intake of DDT in the U.S. has declined
from 15 micrograms per day in 1970 to
1.8K per day in 1973. They confirm that
DDT is a carcinogen in mice and should
be considered a possible cancer agent in
man.
The cancellation in 1972 has contrib-
uted to a decline in DDT levels in fish
and wildlife. One study, on Lake
Michigan trout demonstrates that DDT
levels decreased from 19.19 parts per
million in 1970 to 9.96 ppm in 1973.
DDT levels in Coho salmon went from
I 1.82 ppm in 1969 to 4.48 ppm in 1973.
Other findings note that DDT residue
levels have declined in some birds e.g.
songbirds and ospreys, but are still high
enough to adversely affect other
species, especially flesh-eating birds
like eagles and hawks.
PAGE 20
The brown pelican, an intensely
studied species of wildlife adversely af-
fected by DDT and its derivatives, has
shown some improvement in its repro-
ductive capacity since the ban of DDT.
But according to James O. Keith, of the
Denver Wildlife Research Center, who
has been involved in the on-site study of
West Coast pelicans for many years,
"the average productivity of brown
pelicans in the Gulf of California during
the last five years appears to be in-
adequate to maintain their population."
American Bald Eagle
Despite the sharp decline in DDT use,
on!y a gradual levelling out of DDT res-
idues in soil can be anticipated, the
study concluded. Persistence in aquatic
ecosystems of DDT and its derivatives
(DDE and TDE) has been well
documented, and long-term studies
support the conclusion that contami-
nated waters and sediments will take
many years to purge themselves. The
simple food chain (soil—plant—
animal—human) accounts for most of
the DDT found in man where it is stored
in body fat. The average DDT level in
fatty tissue declined from 7.85 ppm in
1971 to 5.89 ppm in 1973, and this may
signal a downward trend, assuming no
return to the widespread use of DDT.
Assessing the economic impact of the
cancellation, the report concludes that
for most crops, including cotton which
formerly accounted for 80 percent of
DDT use, production has been main-
tained and the increased production
costs have been borne without severe
disruption of either the regional or na-
tional economy. It is estimated that na-
tionally the cost of switching to alterna-
tive pesticides has cost cotton farmers
slightly more than $1.00 per acre per
year. However, in the southern U.S.
this increases to an additional $6.00 per
acre yearly.'For the consumer, the cost
of cotton goods since discontinuation of
DDT, has increased approximately 2.20
per person per year.
At the time of the ban alternate pes-
ticides were available and since then
others have been identified. These sub-
stitutes include methyl parathion,
malathion, guthion, azodrin, cro-
toxyphos, methomyl, diazinon, meth-
oxychlor and others. In most cases, they
have been effective in controlling pests
and economical to use, according to the
report.
Substantial economic and environmen-
tal benefits can be obtained by use of the
least hazardous ones and by their use
only when the level of infestation actu-
ally justifies use. Recently, EPA and
the Department of Agriculture have de-
veloped and promoted "integrated pest
management" programs that combine
the improved use of chemicals with
non-chemical agents of control.
The report notes that the Agency has
attempted to administer the DDT can-
cellation with flexibility, paying special
attention to emergency situations. For
example, emergency uses of DDT were
granted by EPA in 1974 to safeguard
timber in the northwestern U.S. from
the tussock moth and to control the pea
leaf weevil on the dry pea crop in the
States of Idaho and Washington. Last
fall, in a separate action, substantial
amounts of Maine timber were saved
from spruce budworm damage by
EPA's quick registration of two DDT
substitutes.
This spring Administrator Train turned
down a request by the State of Louisiana
for emergency permission to use 2.25
million pounds of DDT to control the
tobacco budworm insect on 450,000
acres of cotton. In denying the petition,
Mr Train stated that the environmental
and public health risks that would result
from the DDT use would outweigh the
potential benefits, and that other con-
trols were available to Louisiana fann-
ers, including integrated pest manage-
ment procedures and alternative pes-
ticides ' (i.e., Galecron, EPN, and
methyl parathion).
DDT is of minor importance for public
health pest control in this country.
However, if an emergency arises, DDT
may still be used, under the EPA cancel-
lation order, to control disease-carrying
insects. The main use of DDT abroad is
as an inexpensive method of malaria
and typhus control.
A document of some 300 pages, the
report to Congress is entitled "DDT: a
Review of Scientific and Economic As-
pects of the Decision to Ban Its Use as a
Pesticide." In addition to the text mar-
shalling the evidence upon which its
conclusions are based, it contains four
appendices, and extensive bibliog-
raphies of the reference literature cited.
A limited number of copies are avail-
able, upon request, from the Publica-
tions and Technical Literature Research
Section (WH 569), Office of Pestic-
ide Programs, EPA, Waterside Mall.
Washington, D.C. 20460:
tel. 202-426-2432. D
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news briefs
EPA TESTS SHOW 12.8% MILEAGE GAIN FOR 1976 AUTOS
New automobiles tested in EPA's Ann Arbor, Mich., laboratory
averaged 12.8 percent more miles per gallon than 1975 cars.
Coupled with last year's gains, this will mean a 26.6 percent
improvement over 1974 models, or more than half way toward
President Ford's goal of a 40 percent gain in average miles per
gallon by 1980. Test results, by make and model, are listed in
the "1976 Gas Mileage Guide for New Car Buyers," available free,
after Nov. 1., by writing to Fuel Economy, Pueblo, Colo., 81009.
EPA SUPPORTS NATIONAL RETURNABLE BOTTLE LAW
Selling beer and soft drinks in refillable bottles rather in
throwaway bottles and cans saves energy and materials and reduces
waste, EPA believes. The Agency has also announced that while it
favors a nationwide mandatory deposit law for soft drink and beer
containers, EPA does not oppose State and local efforts such as
those in Oregon and Vermont which have dramatically reduced roadside
litter. In supporting a national returnable bottle law, EPA has
recognized that it should be implemented in stages to avoid adverse
employment and economic effects.
QUIETER LANDING RULES PROPOSED FOR AIRLINERS
New approach and landing procedures designed to reduce noise near
airports have been proposed by EPA to the Federal Aviation
Administration. They would require pilots of jet aircraft to use
a steeper glide path, so there is less close-to-ground flight, and
consequently less noise heard on the ground. The steeper-glide
approach is already used by certain airlines at certain airports.
MILLER NAMED TO A TOP ENFORCEMENT POST
Jeffrey G. Miller has been named Deputy Assistant Administrator for
Water Enforcement. He was formerly Director of the Enforcement
Division of Region I in Boston. Mr. Miller was graduated with
honors from Princeton University in 1963. He is a member of Phi
Beta Kappa. In 1967 he was graduated with honors from Harvard Law
School and is a member of the American, Massachusetts and Boston
Bar Associations. Prior to working with EPA, Mr. Miller was an
associate with the law firm of Bingham, Dana and Gould of Boston,
Mass.
PAGH 21
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U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS (A 107)
WASHINGTON. DC 20460
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CLAMS, FISH, SOIL
HELP PURIFY WATER
By Eddie Lee
Clams and fish, sunshine and soil, and
bullrushes and cattails are all being used
in the search for new and better ways to
cleanse wastewater in projects directed
by the Robert S. Kerr Environmental
"Research Laboratory, Ada, Okla.
One of the systems recently receiving
major attention is called the "overland
flow" method. Under the supervision of
Richard E. Thomas, the laboratory has
been operating two pilot-scale systems
for three years with excellent results and
has recently expanded the pilot opera-
tion.
"The overland-flow method is capable
of providing advanced treatment of
wastewater in an inexpensive, highly re-
liable fashion and is particularly suited
to small communities in mild cli-
mates," Mr. Thomas said.
Under the direction of Dr. William R.
Duffer, the experiments with clams,
fish, bullrushes and cattails are de-
signed to improve the effectiveness of
other treatment systems ranging from
the new overland-flow method to the
more conventional lagoon treatment.
The overland-flow method is simple.
Raw sewage is sprinkled in controlled
amounts along the top of a gently slop-
ing plot of land. The wastewater flows
slowly and evenly down the slope, ex-
posed to the sun and the action of soil
bacteria.
Suitable vegetation planted on the
plot, such as Bermuda grass, slows the
drainage, absorbs organic materials and
nitrogen, and probably speeds the
purifying action of the soil bacteria.
At the Ada field site, the experiments
Eddie Lee is a public information offi-
cer at the Kerr Laboratory in Ada.
with native fresh water clams are aimed
chiefly at the removal of suspended sol-
ids in ponds holding treated waste wa-
ter.
Dr. Duffer described the clams as "fil-
ter feeders" and explained that as they
feed they filter out such suspended
materials as algae and possibly nutrients
and microbial materials.
"The purpose of the experiments is to
determine just how useful they will be
for existing lagoon systems and the
overland-flow method in some situa-
tions," he said.
All of this research work under the
Wastewater Management Branch of
Ada is directed by Dr. Curtis Harlin Jr.
Working with Mr. Thomas and Dr. Duf-
fer on the projects are Bert Bledsoe, Dr.
Carl Enfield, Curtis Gillaspy, Kenneth
Jackson, Lowell Leach, Lowell Penrod
and Robert Smith, all stationed at Ada.
Talpia, a fish native to Africa which is
a prolific breeder and highly tolerant of
degraded water, is being used in a full-
scale overland-flow system being
studied at Paul's Valley, Okla., near
Ada.
Bullrushes and cattails are being tested
in a smaller overland-flow pilot-scale
system conducted under a grant in
Oshkosh, Wis.
The fish consume suspended solids
while feeding and the bullrushes and
cattails absorb organic materials.
The clams, fish, bullrushes and cattaiJs
are being tested to determine if they can
handle the final "polishing" work in
cleansing waste water, usually the most
expensive process in treatment opera-
tions. D
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