BOOKS Ground Water Quality Protection: State and Local Strategies. National
by the U.S. Geological Survey to collect basic hydrogeological data for use Research Council. National Academy by state and local officials in the develPress, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., opment of their programs. These are Washington, D.C. 20418. 1986. 328 sweeping recommendations that can be pages. $24.50, paper. pursued only with the concurrence and support of officials at the highest levels Reviewed by Douglas Mackay, School of the federal government. of Public Health, University of CaliforAside from the important political nia, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Cali$ role of the NRC report, is it useful in 90024. any other capacity? Clearly, it is not In late 1984, EPA requested a commit- intended for use as a textbook, nor will tee of the National Research Council it win any awards for expository writ(NRC) to review selected state and lo- ing. Nonetheless, Chapters 1 and 2 are cal groundwater protection programs helpful to readers interested in a sucfor their scientific soundness, their per- cinct review of the subject of preventformance over time, and their legal and ing contamination and of the commiteconomic ramifications. The value of tee’s findings and recommendations. the resulting report is in its documenta- They outline the components committion of several conclusions: The details tee members believed necessary for of groundwater protection are handled comprehensive state and local groundbest by states and localities, and there water protection programs. The committee endorsed the develare programs in place that contain innovative and apparently effective fea- opment of standards for groundwater tures. Nevertheless, state and local of- quality that vary for different settings ficials need to improve their programs, and planned groundwater uses. It also in part by creating a means of informa- recommended that each state develop a plan for treatment, storage, or disposal tion exchange. Furthermore, “Ground Water Qual- of hazardous wastes within its own ity Protection: State and Local Strate- boundaries (for some states, this will be gies” plays a crucial political role of a formidable task). Moreover, the comreminding federal decision makers that mittee recommended that states adopt although much of the responsibility for programs comparable to one in New groundwater protection can and should Jersey that requires industries or “other be delegated to state and local govern- significant polluting activities” to clean ments, the federal government has ma- up sites before selling the properties to jor and continuing obligations. Accord- new owners. The reader who seeks substantive deing to the report, federal activity in the tail regarding state programs or specific following areas is inadequate: determination of the health effects of management approaches should have groundwater contaminants and es- patience with the third and fourth chaptablishment of drinking-water stand- ters and the appendixes. The summaries in the NRC report are uneven and, ards, research on source reduction, con- at times, so laudatory that they fail to trol methods, and contaminant trans- impart a sense of completeness and impartiality to the work. port, Nevertheless, useful information is technology transfer, and oversight of the exchange of infor- to be found in these pages. For example, in a discussion of pesticide contammation among state governments. With regard to drinking-water stand- ination, the committee notes that there ards, the report recommends that EPA is a great need for improved analytical promulgate Recommended Maximum screening methods that can detect nuContaminant Levels and subsequently merous pesticides simultaneously to reMaximum Contaminant Levels for “all duce the costs of monitoring. This point inorganic and organic chemical com- should have been emphasized more and pounds commonly found in ground- generalized; there is considerable conwater.” It also calls for expanded efforts cern that standard analytical protocols, 430 Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 21, No. 5,1987
expensive as they may be, are not identifying all of the important groundwater contaminants, especially near complex sources such as municipal landfills and hazardous-waste depositories. The largest difficulty faced by the committee was that the effectiveness of reviewed or recommended state and local programs is still largely unknown. This is because of the normally slow movement of groundwater. In some cases, the effects of cleanup programs conducted over the past few years on the deeper groundwater zones will be unclear for years to come. Despite these uncertainties and the unevenness of the report’s treatment of a broad range of complex topics, it is certainly an important first step in highlighting promising state and local programs for the protection of a valuable resource. Perhaps more important, the NRC report makes a clear and strong statement of the necessity for increased federal financial and technical support to aid the states in the continued improvement of their groundwater protection programs.
Rethinking Tort and Environmental Liability Laws: Needs and Objectives of the Late 20th Century and Beyond. In Houston Law Review, Vol. 24, No. 1, 1987; University of Houston Law Center, University Park, Houston, Tex. 77004. 219 pages. $10, paper. The January 1987 issue of the Houston Law Review is devoted entirely to a conference on environmental liability and tort law that convened at the University of Houston in April 1986. It discusses the current crisis in tort litigation involving toxic substances, the insurability crisis, and applicable hazardouswaste laws. Former EPA administrator William Ruckelshaus gave the keynote address on environmental risks and liabilities, and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia presented a paper on the responsibilities of regulatory agencies under environmental laws. The panel of responders to the papers included Gene Lucero, EPA’s enforcement officer for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
