environmental currents Hickel proposes federal funding plans for waste treatment
Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel has sent Congress the Nixon administration’s proposal for long-term financing of waste treatment plants, but it arrived too late for inclusion in the omnibus water quality bill. Under the new proposal, direct grants of $214 million would be made available in fiscal year 1970 to pay from 30-5.556 of construction costs incurred by municipalities and sanitary districts. For projects started at a time when full federal funding was not available, the new financing arrangements would permit states to use up to 2.5% of the new contract authority. The present cutoff date for federal reimbursement for projects started after June 30, 1966, is July I , 1971, and would remain the same under the new proposal. NAPCA requires certification labels on new autos
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New regulations proposed by the National Air Pollution Control Administration ( N A P C A ) require that 1970 model automobiles and motor vehicle engines be labeled by the manufacturer as conforming to federal emissions standards. The identifying label will list the vehic!e identification number, make and model, engine size, type of exhaust control system, and engine tune-up specifications to assist mechanics with correct maintenance procedures. One reason for the new regulations, cited by NAPCA commissioner Middleton, is that some imported vehicles have been represented as being in conformance with federal standards, when, in fact, they have not conformed.
...and registration of motor fuel additives Other regulations proposed by NAPCA would require makers of motor gasoline fuels which contain additives to notify NAPcA that they are engaged in selling these fuels. NAPCA would then request from the maker details of concentration, purpose of the additive, etc., and all available information on air pollutior, emissions resulting from its use. The additive will be registered if sufficient information is submitted. If inadequate information is submitted, the regulations provide for a one year period in which the manufacturer must conduct research to obtain information on emissions and toxicity. 1967 amendments to the Clean Air Act provide that fuels may not be introduced into interstate commerce unless the additives in these fuels have been registered. Aviation gasoline is not included in the proposed regulations, although it and other fuels may be included later. Project Stormfury chases hurricanes
Tiros satellite view-Hurricane 1964
Ethel,
During the 1969 hurricane season-June through November-Environmental Science Services Administration’s Weather Bureau, branches of the U.S. Navy and Air Force, and state and local agencies are participating in a continuous weather watch on the notorious storm-breeding areas of the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico. As Hurricanes Eve, Francelia, and others come along, the weather watch personnel will try to seed them with silver iodide crystals, in an attempt to learn whether seeding can lessen the violence of such storms. At press time, hurricane Debbie is being seeded, with inconclusive results. The vast destruction wrought by Hurricane Camille has added urgency to the project.
t-Circle No. 36 on Readers’ Service Card
Volume 3, Number 9, September 1969 791
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Ultraviolet NO2 Analyzer: measures NOz emissions. in automotive exhaust.
SOz.Analyzer: analyzes and records trace concentrations of SO2 i n ambient air.
Infrared Analyzers: determine the atmospheric concentration of CO or SO2 emissions from a source
Hydrocarbon Analyzers: detect and measure trace concentrations of hydrocarbons i n the air.
Circle No. 52 on Readers' Service Card 792
Environmental Science and Trcl~~~olor?
Vehicle Emissions Analysis System: analyzes vehicular exhaust emissions
environmental currents California tightens up on waste water discharges
In a move which adds muscle to the state‘s water quality control program, the California Assembly on July 14 passed, and Gov. Reagan signed, a tough water pollution control law. The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act of 1969-which updates the previous 20 year old law-will be administered by the California State Water Resources Control Board (Sacramento) and the nine regional water quality control boards. California’s new law is effective retroactively to Jan. I , 1969, and specifies: Fines up to $6000 per day may be imposed for violation of a cease and desist order relative to a water discharge. Reports on changes in waste discharges must be accompanied by a filing fee not to exceed $1000. Enforcement power is placed in the hands of the state attorney general. New Jersey court shuts down plastics plant
Southbridge Plastics Co. (Clifton, N.J.), a manufacturer of plastics and vinyl-coated fabrics, has been permanently shut down, fined $5000, and held in contempt of an earlier court order of the New Jersey Superior Court. Richard J. Sullivan, director of the New Jersey Division of Clean Air and Water, said that, to the best of his knowledge, the action is only the second time in the history of the state’s air pollution control effort that a plant has been shut down by court order. A division of W. R. Grace and Co., Southbridge employed 138 persons, and, last October, was fined $I3,OOO-the largest fine ever imposed in the U.S. in an air pollution case. The company violated Chapter 6 of the state air pollution code, the chapter usually cited in cases involving neighborhood nuisance complaints. In the two day trial which resulted in the shutdown, 15 Clifton area witnesses testified that strong plastics odor4 came from the plant. Proposed Alabama strip-mining law receives TVA backing
A spokesman for the Tennessee Valley Authority ( TVA) has expressed strong support for a legislative proposal (Senate Bill 305) which would, if enacted, require reclamation of all strip-mined areas in Alabama. Speaking at a hearing of the Alabama Senate Committee on Finance and Taxation, James A. Curry, supervisor of TVA’S Strip Mine Reclamation Section, said “We think effective strip mine legislation is needed now in Alabama . . . . Whatever bill the legislature adopts, please be assured that T V A is ready to assist in implementing its enforcement in any way we can.” Chicago plant has till November to abate odors
After previously being fined for odor emissions. American Asphalt Co. (Chicago, Ill,) has submitted to the Chicago Department of Air Pollution Control a corrective plan to abate odors from its south side plant. In June, the company was fined $800 in two suits based on nuisance odor complaints, one filed by the citizens of Chicago Memorial Park Community and the other by the Department of Air Pollution Control. American Asphalt now plans to treat its malodors with a counteractant type material, and has until Nov. 1 to install the equipment and have it working effectively. But failure to comply with certain conditions laid down by the Department of Air Pollution Control (which include the submission of monthly progress reports) could result in “immediate enforcement.” according to a department statement. \‘oliiiiic
3, Number 9, September I969
793
You can judge some brooks by their covers! For others you need Technicon's totally automaked system for water quality analysis. The Technicon CSM% water analysis system will determine the concentrations of six important pollution parameters (to be selected by the user) in rivers, lakes, drinking water, or water-treatment plants. A mobile CSM 6 system set up on site will perform six analyses simultaneously on a continuous basis for a period of hours, or for as long as one week, virtually without
human attention. The CSM 6 Laboratory Model is designed to perform analyses of individual samples in the lab. Techniques employed in the CSM 6 automated analysis system are based on "Standard Methods for Water and Wastewater," accepted internationally. The system's range of sensitivity is variable, permitting detection of pollutants in terms as low as parts per billion. To get below the surface with your water quality analysis, let Technicon's CSM 6 system do your brook reviewing.
i Department 64
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Circle No. 7 on Readers' Service Card
794 Environmental Science & Technology
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!El Johns-Manville Circle NO. 4 on Readers’ Service Card
Volume 3, Number 9, September 1969 795
You can regulate oxygenationto suit sludge requirementswith a Bird-Simplex Aerator System
In a Bird-Simplex System, cone immersion depth can be regulated to provide a 300% variation in oxygen supply, to match fluctuations in strength of incoming waste. No other mechanical aeration system provides flexibility like this. You also get exclusive aeration-in-depth. It can be a real space-saver. Specially engineered aerating blades and unique draft tube design make it possible to aerate not only in standard size tanks, but in tanks as deep as 30 feet. (Existing lmhoff tanks have been used.) Highintensity mixing, aeration, and circulation keep even the bottommost contents of deep tanks continuously turned over. “Dead spots,” stratified DO levels, and anaerobic conditions are eliminated. To assure reliability, drive units are designed for 100,000 hours (over 10 years) of continuous service. In aerating efficiency, low maintenance, and maximum power utilization, Bird-Simplex Aerators are providing lowest-cost BOD removal in over 1000 plants world-wide. You can get full information from your Bird Application Engineering Office. Just call or write. Bird Machine Company South Walpols Mass., 617 668-0400 Application Englneerlng 6 f f i c e s : Park Rid&, Ill., 312 692-3303 * A t l a n t e , Ga., 4 0 4 892-2123 Lafayette, Callf , 415 335-8200
Circle No. 26 on Readers’ Service Card
796 Environmental Science & Technology
environmental currents Two grants for carbon treatment
Activated carbon treatment of municipal waste water is the subject of two recent development grants. The Federal Water Pollution Control Administration (FWPCA) has awarded $43 1,000 to Eimco Corp. (Salt Lake City, Utah) for lab studies on chemical clarification and powered activated carbon adsorption and construction of a 100 g.p.m. pilot plant; the investigation will also include applications to phosphate removal. The other grant, for $70,000, is from the New York State Department of Health to Ecolotech Research, Inc., for construction of a mobile prototype carbon adsorption plant. After testing at New Rochelle, the unit will be moved to Waterford, N.Y., where the Pure Waters Authority is seeking $2.2 million from FWPCA for a full-scale plant. (For more on activated carbon, see page 809.) Pesticide makers ante up for Michigan study
Three leading pesticide manufacturers-Shell, Montrose, and Velsicolhave pledged financial support to a Warf Institute study of pesticides in Lake Michigan. The study, already in progress, emphasizes sampling of water, sediment, plankton, and fish to determine the extent of product residues and appraise their significance, and supplements efforts of eight federal and state agencies in Lake Michigan pesticides work. Chemical company turns sewage plant operator
For three and a half months, Dow Chemical will operate the City of Cleveland’s (Ohio) Westerly sewage disposal plant. Under the contract with the city, Dow also will conduct pilot tests on advanced treatment for Westerly, now a primary plant. Phosphate removal studies via ferric chloride and anionic flocculants will get first priority, but other studies will cover biological oxidation media, sand filtration, carbon treatment, and chemical sludge conditioning. Pilot data will be used by Cleveland engineers to design full-scale secondary facilities. Sodium bicarb tested for SO, control
A new dry additive process for control of flue gas SO2 has been announced by Precipitair Pollution Control (Bound Brook, N.J.) . The mineral nahcolate-which is mostly sodium bicarbonate-is introduced into the flue gas stream to convert SO, into sodium sulfate, which can be removed from the gas stream along with the fly ash by fabric filters. Pilot tests at Southern California Edison’s Alimitos station indicated about 70% removal of SO, and complete removal of SO:,; additional testing of the process is planned at a U S . Gypsum plant in Clark, N.J. New air monitor gets Los Angeles trial
Monitoring NO-L.A.
Freeway site
Telescopic correlation spectrometry will get a three month trial in monitoring NO2 levels in the Los Angeles basin under a NAPCA contract to Barringer Research, Inc., the Toronto, Ont., firm that developed the method. The technique is based on the spectral characteristics of gases; light passing through the atmosphere is dispersed by a grating against a mask engraved with the spectrum of the pollutant being measured. Only light matching the mask spectrum is observed, and its intensity is a measure of pollutant concentration. Volume 3. Number 9, September 1969 797
environmental currents Driving study will aid future auto emissions tests
System Development Corp. (Santa Monica, Calif.) is conducting a six week study of auto driving patterns in the New York metropolitan area. The study employs 300 cars, driven by volunteers who traverse typical urban
