University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Water Current Newsletter Water Center, The 8-1970 Water Resources News, Volume 2, No. 7, August 1970 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/water_currentnews Part of the Water Resource Management Commons "Water Resources News, Volume 2, No. 7, August 1970" (1970). Water Current Newsletter. 48. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/water_currentnews/48 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Water Center, The at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Water Current Newsletter by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. WATER RESOURCES NEWS NEBRASKA WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE 212 AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING BUILDING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 68503 Volume 2 Number 7 August 1970 NEW PROTECTION AGENCY PROPOS~& Nixon may well combine what's left of Interior with some ele­ ments of the Agriculture Depart­ President Nixon recently pro­ ment -- the Forest Service, for posed the creation of a new instance, and maybe the Army's Environmental Protection Agency Corps of Engineers -- to form a which would consolidate the Department of Natural Resources." Federal government's major air and water pollution control programs. So far the widespread ~fW OCEANIC GROUP speculation that the Corps of Engineers' civil works functions President Nixon has also recom­ would be transferred to some mended creation of a National other agency or department did Oceanic and Atmospheric Admini­ not pan out. stration (NOAA) to be located in During hearings before the the Department of Commerce. House-Government Operations This new agency would combine Committee, Administration spokes­ m,n indicated that additional all government oceanic programs -- which are located in six changes would be recommended in the government's natural different department and agencies -- and handle such far-reaching resources program. proposals as coastal zone manage­ President Nixon in his trans­ ment and regulations. mittal message stated: "1 The only opposition to the NOAA think *** it is better to plan has come from conservation­ proceed a step at a time.*** ists. Some oppose the transfer As we see how these changes of the marine sport fish program work out, we will gain a better to the new agency from thp Bureau understanding of what further of sport Fisheries and ltI.ildlife changes -- in addition to and others don't want NOAA in these -- might be desirable." the Commerce Department because It has even been suggested they claim it represents the that the Corps' civil works "industrial & economic viewpoint". functions might be transferred to the Interior Department. Congr. Alton A. Lennon, chair­ man of the HOuse Subcommittee Chemical and En~ineering News reports: "Some l'!hite House on Oceanography, contends NOAA would champion and conserve the obse~ver~ predi6t that Mr. environment. --2- humus (organic matter) washed down­ hill by the rains that fall upon A recent statement by a committee the land.' of the Soil Conservation Society of America said change is inherent in the conservation of natural resources. "If conservation is to be effective, changes must occur When sulpher dioxide and carbon in the use of such resources as dioxide in the air are dissolved land, water and air:', the comm.i.ttee by fog or rain, the result is a said. Changes in the environment weak air-borne acid which may can be helpful as well as harm­ eventually eat away at the stone, ful. concrete and even metal founda­ tions of buildings. Par Pond in Aiken, South Caro­ lina is a good example which Limestone, marble and colomite receives the water discharged by are particularly susceptible to a nuclear plant. corrosion by sulphates. The Wall Street Journal reports Calcium in these rocks combines this: "T'her-rnaI pollution may with sulpher from the air to form be bad, but the fish in nearby gypsum, which is 32 times more Par Pond donft seem to know it.'; soluble than limestone. In fact, scientists here say they The changes in humidity in dry are finding that the very thermal climites are sufficient to cause pollution that threatens fish in a shrinking and swelling of gypsum some bodies of water seems to make subjecting the pores and cracks them grow faster and bigger in to high pressures and eventually Par Pond. II weakenin~ the stone in the building. ~lYT;-1 (8 I TIC p';-T"' '-'l\oVr:~TI"'G i\U~I\r: Dr. William T. Pecora, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, A West German Company has de­ delivered a message stating that veloped a low-cost method for the current concern over air and transforming a green variety of water pollution is caused by man. algae into a power product that can be used as a protein source in Dr. Pecora stated: lilt is food having between 50 and per­ believed by many people in this 56 cent protein content. country that it is man who is degrading and polluting his The product can be used in soup environment because of our modern powders, cookies and pastas. industrial society. Some myths, Early reports indicate that a hcwever , need to be destoryed." medium size plant, in a sub­ Dr. Pe cora also added: lIThe tropical climate, producing 200 rivers of our Nations are being tons of algae a year on 7.6 acres called dirty because of the works can be built for $300,000. of man". liWe must understand indi~ - - It is estimated that an that rivers are the natur-al trans- V~§fi~i§ prof§ifl2heeds-d~nfb@ m~t port systems for sediment and tor as little ~§~n~8ac~fi~s a day. -3- OSW Director, Dr. Chung-ming Wong, said that the program will include According to federal health tests of irrigation return flows, officials, millions of pounds of saline mineral springs and com­ mercury may be flowing undetected munity water supplies with a high in the nation's waterways. The level of undesirable constraints, health officials also suspect that such as selenium. Water to be userl cases of mercury poisoning do exist in the Potomac tests contain up to but have escaped correct diagnosis 4,000 parts of dissolved solids because of the relatively recent per million parts of water. detection of the problem. Tests by the Food and Drug Administration have s hovrn "signi­ }'/ATER POlLllIJQ'_GQrlTROL.RUL:$ ficant amounts of mercury contam­ ination in some waters of Alabama, New regulations applying to Georgia, New York, Louisiana, federal water programs require that: Kentucky, New Jersey, Michigan, (1) New treatment facilities for Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, West comprehensive river basin-wide Virginia, Tennessee, Vermont and Drograms for pollution abatement Wisconsin. ~ust be devebped before projects Onondaga Lake near Syracuse, N.Y. become eligible for federal aid; has been closed to fishing and (2) In evaluating new applicants warnings have been issued for parts the FWQA may demand detailed data of Lake Champlain, Lake Erie, the on pollution in the entire basin, St. Lawrence River, the Tennessee, volume of discharge from each source, the Wisconsin, the Tombigbee, effluent types, treatment, and the Mobile and the Tensaw Rivers. water quality effect; Federal officials originally (3) No new federal grant may believed that mercury would not be made to any system designed for dissolve in water. However, fur­ industrial wastes only. Industry ther tests have shown that the must pretreat wastes going to muni­ metal rlissovle~ into a toxic chem­ cipal systems; ical that is immune to the destructive effects of other (4) Industries will assess a chemicals in water and is said to share of the operating costs and costs of amortizing the debt in last 100 years before becoming proportion to their contributions harmless. to the total cost of waste treat­ ment; .. POTO~AC RIVF.R SITES FOg (5) Once a year for the first DESALTI: 'G TESTS_ three years the State Water Pollu­ tion Control Agencies must inspect Fer the next six months the Office new federally aided facilities for of Saline Water will run desalting efficiency and economy; tests on Potomac River Water as (6) Design of any new treatment part of a project designed to plant must be aODroved in advance determine the role of 13salination in the rehabilitation of the ~s economical, efficient and nation's surface water supplies. effective under FWQA requirements. -4-· These regulations, offered by r':~ouljtai.f'li National Psrk~ 7Ur President Nixon in February, were Force Academy and the Colorado first published in March with a 45­ Springs area, the Colorado-Big day period allotted for changes. Thompson Irrigation Project, and tours in Denver and surrounding area. PRIer: I'lc.rEAsrs TO LR(Y\'~1r:rIT Inquires are to be sent to: Ir"1P ROVr.: r.r 'V General Chairman, A.I. Johnson, A recent survey of the cost of Chief, Water Resources Division Water Quality Control shows that the Training Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Federal Center Denver, nation's leading chemical manu~ facturing companies spent approxi­ Colo. 80225. mately $140 million last year with 50 percent invested in the purchase of equipment to do the job. Information from 14 companies Project Title: "Physiological showed that they spent more money and Biochemical Responses of Plants on water quality management than on any other environmental improve­ to Different Internal Water Poten­ tials tT ment. A few companies reported price jncreases were due to pollu­ Principal Investigators: Dr. tion control spending, but several E. J. Kinbacher, Dr. C. Y. said that increased plant effj­ Sullivan, Dr. Jerry D. Eastin ciencies due to more rigid process control offset some of the cost of Dates: July, 1969 to June, 1972 environmental improvement projects.