Sample intake position and loading rates from nonpoint source pollution

Paired water samples were simultaneously activated from two different vertical positions within the approach section of a flow-control structure to determine the effect of sample intake position on nonpoint runoff parameter concentrations and subsequent event loads. Suspended solids (SS), total phosphorus (TP) and organic plus exchangeable nitrogen [(Or+Ex)-N] were consistently higher throughout each runoff event when sampled from the floor of the approach section as opposed to those samples taken at midstage. Dissolved molybdate reactive phosphorus (DMRP) and ammonium (NH₄-N) concentrations did not appear to be significantly affected by the vertical difference in intake position. However, the nitrate plus nitrite nitrogen [(NO₃+NO₂)-N] concentrations were much higher when sampled from the midstage position.Although the concentration differences between the two methods were not appreciable, when evaluated in terms of event loads, discrepancies were evident for all parameters. Midstage sampling produced event loads for SS, TP, (Or + Ex)–N, DMRP, NH₄-N, and (NO₃+NO₂)-N that were 44,39,35,80,71, and 181%, respectively, of floor sampling loads. Differences in loads between the two methods are attributed to the midstage position, sampling less of the bed load. The correct position will depend on the objective; however, such differences should be recognized during the design phase of the monitoring program.This work was supported by the Soil Science Department, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region V., Chicago, Illinois (Grant No. G005139-01).     

Technetium: A toxic waste product of the nuclear fuel cycle: Effects on soybean growth and development

Technetium-99 (⁹⁹Tc) is formed in significant amounts (6.2% fission yield) during fission in both nuclear reactors and nuclear bombs. The effects of technetium on soybeans (Glycine max) were studied in relation to (a) cytochemical events in the apical meristems of germinating seedlings; (b) growth responses to 0, 0.04, 0.2, 1.0, 5.0, and 20.0 ppm Tc; (c) growth responses to varying levels of Tc after a prior 5-day germination on Tc-free media, and (d) response to Tc in the presence of added manganese.By 20 days, reductions in growth were evident at all levels of Tc except 0.04 ppm (Experiment 2). Root growth was most severely affected, and seedling abnormality at 20 ppm was fivefold greater than that of the controls. The effect of 20 ppm Tc was evident at 10 days when the accumulated absorption dose was approximately 25 rads. The first evidence of damage at this dose was a delay in the initiation of the first trifoliate leaf. The shoot meristem size was 1.2-fold smaller than that of the control; however, there was no cytological evidence of radiation-induced damage. Observation of mitotic figures did not reveal any chromosome aberrations, micronuclei, or chromosome bridges. The lowest level of Tc showing toxicity was 0.2 ppm which resulted in a 31% reduction in growth at 20 days. The accumulated dose was 0.5 rad (0.025 rad/day) and thus it seems unlikely that the rapid inhibition of growth and development is due to radiological toxicity. It is quite probable that the growth effects are due to chemical toxicity possibly due to nutrient competition and/or substitution in uptake or metabolism. However, extremely low doses of radiation have been shown to delay the onset of DNA synthesis (possibly by membrane effects) inTradescantia and until the actual mechanism of Tc inhibition is determined a radiation effect cannot be totally ruled out.This research was partially supported by ERDA Contract EY-76-S-02-4139     

WATER MANAGEMENT IN ONTARIO1

ABSTRACT: The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has based its water quality management approach on a set of guidelines published in 1970. In light of the changing societal and economic background, advancement in technology and scientific knowledge, and philosophical attitudes towards water management, the water management program was recently revised. Factors influencing the revised approach, including federal-provincial interrelationships and international commitments under the Canada-U.S. Agreement, are summarized. The revised program consists of a goal statement, policies to implement this goal, revised water quality objectives, and detailed implementation procedures for field staff use. Rather than promulgating regulations to impose arbitrary effluent or receiving water standards on a province-wide basis, the revised approach involves the imposition of legally enforceable effluent requirements on a case-by-case basis. Although the paper emphasizes the surface water quality program, it also outlines the Ministry's goals, policies, and procedures for the management of surface-water quantity, as well as ground water quality and quantity.     

Materials innovation—key to economic survival

For years now, there has been a growing consensus that US national economic problems, such as inflation and industry down-turn, are closely linked to innovation and technology; and there has been growing concern that US capability in both these areas has been steadily declining, particularly the propensity for innovation. Accordingly, the sixth Henniker National Materials Conference (held in Henniker, New Hampshire, 28 July–1 August, 1980) was designed to face the problem of innovation in the materials field.     

WATER QUALITY FROM TWO SMALL FORESTED WATERSHEDS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS1

Two intermittent streams on oak-hickory watersheds in southern Illinois were gaged with a V-notched weir and sampled with an automatic water sampler. For three years data were collected on flow volume and water quality. Flow volumes show large variations between years and watersheds. Samples were analyzed for Na⁺, K⁺, Ca⁺⁺, Mg⁺⁺, P, and NO^-₃. Water quality was consistently high, although there were significant differences between watersheds. A baseline for water quality has been established for comparison after one of the watersheds is clearcut at a later date.     

CAPITAL COST OF RURAL WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS1

ABSTRACT: The cost of water service to rural residents is very high compared to urban areas. This is true even after subsidization by Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) loans and grants. Capital cost data on 44 projects financed by the Ohio office of the FmHA during the period August 1968 to January 1977 are used to derive cost equations for 26 components of rural water distribution systems. These components represent 92 percent of the capital cost of the pipeline distribution systems studied. The data can be used to economically design rural water supply systems from a capital cost viewpoint. More data are needed on operation and maintenance costs as well as central and cluster well costs before totally economic system designs can be undertaken.     

EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS FROM USER FEES IN MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT1

ABSTRACT: The Environmental Protection Agency administers a construction grant program to encourage abatement of wastewater pollution by sharing with municipalities the costs of wastewater treatment facilities. The enabling legislation (P.L. 92–500) specifies that EPA's cost share will be 75% of construction costs. It further requires municipalities to collect user fees from industrial users of the facilities to repay that part of the federal grant allocable to the treatment of industrial wastewater. The municipality must return half of the user fees collected to the U.S. Treasury; the municipality is allowed to retain the remaining half. Retention by municipalities of these user fees lowers their effective cost shares and results in the following consequences: (1) a bias for municipalities to select certain kinds of abatement techniques regardless of whether or not they are the least-cost techniques from the national perspective; (2) a bias for municipalities to select larger-than-optimal scales of abatement facilities; (3) a hidden federal subsidy to industry; and (4) grants that favor industrial communities. This article examines the legislative and regulatory requirements for user charges, derives the algebraic expressions for calculating the real federal, municipal, and industrial cost shares with user fees; computes municipal cost shares for selected values of the determinant factors; evaluates efficiency and other consequences of current user fee arrangements; and concludes that the efficiency distortions brought about by the impacts of user fees on cost sharing could be eliminated by requiring that all user fees collected from industry against the federal cost share be returned to the U.S. Treasury.     

REGIONAL PLANNING FOR LAND DISPOSAL OF WASTEWATER1

ABSTRACT This paper describes the development and use of a mixed integer programming model for the planning of land disposal wastewater treatment facilities. Consideration is given to relevant construction and operating costs for land sites, transmission arteries, land acquisition costs, tangible benefits from land use, controls on aquifers, and various other engineering and technical constraints The model is used to determine which land disposal sites should serve which treatment plants, when initial construction should be initiated and completed, and when capacity expansion should occur. The model's application to the St. Louis Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area is illustrated and discussed.     

The interaction between some human obstacles and birds

Some of the literature pertinent to the interactions of birds of flight and man made obstacles, such as transmission lines is reviewed here. Some birds use these towers, poles, and buildings for nesting and perches. They also collide with them. Original observations presented here suggest that the environmental impacts of these types of obstacles on birds, and vice-versa, seem not due to the inability of the birds to perceive the obstacles, but rather that the birds are apparently distracted from a safe flight pattern by their own species, or by others. Editor's Note: Although this paper is quite specialized in comparison with many other articles published in Environmental Management, I feel it is a very useful overview of the problems and the literature related to bird collisions with manmade obstacles. It is hoped that the information presented by the Willards will be helpful to other workers who are perhaps engaged in preparing environmental impact statements concerning structures that could invite bird collisions.