Harry P. Kramer
Ofice of Program Planning and Evaluation Bureau of Disease Prevention and Environmental Control, Washington, D.C. 20201
ENVIRONMENT
THE FIRST THIRD OF THE 20TH CENTURY WITNESSED IMPORTANT EFFORTS I N ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH.
(IEstablishment of the Lawrence Experiment Station (ICreation of a federal water program Elucidation of stream p 11r i ficat i on phenomena Discovery and development o f biological waste treatment (IIntroduction of rapid sand filtration and chlorination (IDevelopment o f drinking water standards (IExtensive expansion of municipal sanitation facilities (IControl of coal-burning in large buildings (1Establishment of state and local environmental programs Standardization of laborator) methods for identification of pollutants
a
a
602
Environmental Science and Technolog)
A
preliminary by the Or. report ganization lor Economic Cooperation and Development is extremely respectful of American accomplishments in science and technology. It states that our success is unchallengeable. However, it suggests that the policy-making machinery that has helped our country attain its lead in this field may not be adequate to serve the needs of the future. This doubtful situation is expressed in the first of the two major themes that run throughout the critique: Instead of a single coherent science policy, the U. S. has a number of policies that have evolved from attacks on specific problems, such as the atom bomb and the Soviet space challenge. While the results have been fruitful, the work often has been disorganized and wasteful. American science policy has engaged the support of the country’s citizens. In contrast, public indifference or even hostility is encountered in Europe. In the U. S. the system succeeded not because of its built-in strengths. “but in spite of defects which are no doubt tolerable and even profitable in a society of plenty, but which would be unacceptable in a European society with limited resources.” Examiner C. D. Waddington. professor at Edinburgh’s Institute of Animal Genetics, points out that urban problems, environmental pollution, and competing pressures for funds have combined to confront the U. S. with a need for a grand strategy for research. He sees little indication, however, that U. S. scientists concerned with grand strategy have been thinking about “how we can ever develop a really sci-
entific approach to creating an environment and social organization in which human living will be at the best level of physical well-being of which it is capable. ”If Europe can take the lead in the technology of insuring that life is biologically enjoyable,” writes Waddington, ‘*itmay be under less necessity to keep up with the Joneses in the advance of existing technology, such as supersonic travel, which has no obvious merit except that of being more of what we have already.” These remarks speak forcefully of the growing concern with which we view our relationship with our environment-our ecosystem. Our cities have become the habitat of the vast majority of our population. The trend continues. Within our human ecosystem we witness a breakdown in our cultural values. Major crime has tripled in 30 years and is still growing rapidly. Our health picture, as revealed by the President, is shocking, and its worst aspect is the continual rise in the incidence of chronic disease. Without hard facts capable of revealing immediate and direct causeeffect relationships, we increasingly realize that we are immersed in an overwhelmingly complex system; we sense that our health and well-being are becoming ever more dependent on the successful management of the quality of our environment. Such success depends, among other factors, on how we use and manipulate our natural resources. The how. in turn, brings fresh awareness of the magnitude and dynamic nature of these problems. At present, we find concern for and involvement with solutions to environmental quality-management
FEATURE
Past, Present, Future
problems almost universally in our institutions, with public agencies at all levels playing a central role. However, what we seem not yet fully to realize is that effective protection of our environment calls for a new kind of partnership, one that will join public agencies in a dynamic relationship with industry and universities. The onward rush of technology brings not only social change but concomitant changes in our social and individual values, for example: mobility due to jet, automobile, and expressways; instant communication by radio, television, and satellite; immediate problem analysis by computer; unused labor due to automation; leisure derived from cheap energy. But what of change in our political capabilities? Here we lag in recognition and acceptance of change, and in accommodation to change. We can achieve real benefits from our new technology only by reshaping our political attitudes as well as our social and economic habits. Early developments
The 20th century is a century of change. At no time in history has the rate of change been as great. At no place in the world is change taking place as rapidly as in the U. S. And the effects on our environment are climactic. To illustrate this change I shall briefly summarize the accomplishments in environmental technology achieved thus far in this century and the events that produced them. Then I shall offer a view of probable eventualities that may occur during the last three decades. I have divided the century into three
A century survey of environment
approximately equal segments. Our American era of environmental control actually began in 1886 when the Massachusetts State Board of Health created the Lawrence Experiment Station. The board’s report of 1890 on the purification of water and sewage stands as an outstanding contribution to the art of sewage treatment. The general principles established at Lawrence underlie all later processes of sewage treatment developed in the first part of this century, and dominate conventional practices even to this day. Studies on the longevity of typhoid, cholera, and dysentery bacteria in polluted waters by Jordan, Russell, Zeit and Frost in 1904 revealed the bacterial phenomena involved in stream self-purification. In 1910, Black and Phelps studied the tidal waters in the vicinity of New York City. This study led to development of a procedure for estimating the oxygen requirements of polluted waters, and provided a foundation for accurate evaluation of self-purification. In 1912. Congress extended the functions of the Public Health Service to include investigation of “the diseases of man and conditions influencing the propagation and spread thereof, including sanitation and sewage, and the pollution, either directly or indirectly, of the navigable streams and lakes of the U. S.” In 1913, PHS established a field station for this purpose in Cincinnati. The field station was used to make comprehensive studies of pollution and self-purification in the Ohio River. Much progress ensued during the two decades, 1920-39, in development and application of biological wastes treatment, in understanding of related
THE SECOND THIRD OF THE CENTURYBROUCHTNEW PROBLEMS AND EXPANDED EFFORTS I N RESEARCH, PROTECTION, AND CONTROL.
q E x p a n s i o n of m u n i c i p a l and industrial w a s t e s t r e a t m e n t Introduction of r a d i o l o g i c a l health p r o g r a m s (IE x t e n s i o n o f food p r o t e c t i o n researc’h (IPassage of the Federal Water Pollution C o n t r o l .4ct 0 Construction o f the R o b e r t A . Taft Sanitar). Engineering Center Q P r o g r e s s in a d v a n c e d waste t r e a t m e n t m e t h o d s P a s s a g e o f federal acts to control air p o l l u t i o n and f o r
a
c
(IE s t a b l i s h m e n t of water and air quality s t a n d a r d s (IAvailability of demonstration a n d constrltiction grants D e v e l o p m e n t of r e s e a r c h and training programs in u n i v e r s i t i e s (I,T r a n s f e r o f the federal water p o l l u t i o n control program from t h e P u b l i c Health S e r v i c e to the Department o f the Interic,r Publication of the G r o s s . PSAC, NRC. a n d DHEW’ Reports
solid wastes
q
Volume 2, Number 8, August 1968 603
biological phenomena in lakes and streams, and in development of university research and training programs. As early as 1931, Thorndike Seville expressed this prophetic warning: "The complexity of the problems of water pollution is well indicated by the fact that, with all the advance in the sciences related to industry and government. with the notable increase in stream pollution everywhere consequent upon industrial development and growth of urban populations, no country has yet worked out any scheme satisfactorily reconciling the conflicting interests of public water supply versus waste disposal; of industrial interests versus those of the sportsman; of public welfare as opposed to private or corporate gain: or, in short, the true conservation of water resources by maximum judicious use for the greatest public benefit.'' The complexity of the problem so ably expressed by Seville nearly 37 years ago continues to challenge us today, but with mounting intensity. It finds expression, for instance, in the competitive manner in which environmental quality standards are established. In large measure. they are set by contest. To correct this wholly unscientific procedure. to the advantage of overall environmental improvement, requires a heavy research investment. Hopefully, such research will develop a rational, scientific basis for establishment of effective quality standards. Mid-cen tu ry developments
During the middle third of the century-a period that spawned the careers of most present-day environmentalists-urban problems intensified tremendously. These problems have deep interrelationships with environmental quality. In response to these chal-
604 Environmental Science and Technolog)
lenges, Congress passed a number oi acts dealing with water and air pollution and with the menace of solid wastes. The reports of a number of distinguished committees voiced national concern. The Federal Government started to support universitb-based research and training in en\wo3' mental protection. Federal and state governments, often in cooperation with universities, made specialized shortterm training widely available to practicing professional personnel in both public and private agencies. Two young activities, though at different stages of development, deserve special mention. Air pollution control has made remarkable progress in a short span of years. Solid wastes control is off to a vigorous, renewed start. Both activities represent critical aspects of our urban problems. And it is the urban problems for whose management the stage has been set for the action that will occur during the crucial last third of the century. Looking ahead
As we enter the final third of the century, we believe that we comprehend the nature and scope of the environmental quality-management problem in a ne&-perspective and can identify the correlative social, behavioral. economic, political. technological, and scientific aspects as never before. But we also see the difficult struggle ahead if we are to make significant advances in solution of this management problem. Rene Dubos has given us sharp insight into an important aspect of the problem: "The delayed effects of air pollutants constitute a tragic model for the kind of medical problems likely to arise in the future from the various forms of environmental pollution. The course of events can unfortunately be
predicted with a measure of confidence. “Whenever it is convenient, chemical pollution of air, water, and food soon will he sufficiently controlled to prevent the disabling toxic effects that are immediate and obvious. Human beings will then tolerate without complaint concentrations of environmental pollutants that do not constitute an obvious nuisance and d o not interfere seriously with social and economic life. “But it is probable that continued exposure to low levels of toxic agents will eventually result in a great variety of delayed pathological manifestations, creating much physiological misery and greatly increasing the medical load. The point of importance here is that the worst pathological effects of environmental pollutants will not he detected at the time of exposure.” This statement indicates that many chronically ill people today may he suffering from long-term exposure to environmental insults received during previous decades of this century, Though we now see the problem in the totality of its complex iuterrelationships, we may well ask if we have sufficient knowledge, talent, resources, and capability to change our environmental pattern. Do we-that is, does the public-have the will to make the change? Can we make realistic decisions with respect to environmental quality? How can we accurately qnantify social values? A broader view
Can we extend the century’s tremendous developments in chemical measurements into truly effective monitoring systems? If environmental management is to he based upon fact, we need to know not just what is present, where it is present. and how much is
present, but in what chemical form it is present as it is taken into the body. Is it a molecule, a free-radical, an ion, a complex, or what? I believe that we must take a more inclusive view of environmental protection: We must learn to regard as a complex interrelated system such environmental components as the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. * W e must develop practical, economical methods for effective protection of these components against contamination. Such protection must become an inherent aspect of original design, whether it be for an urban community, a private vehicle or transportation, a new plastic, a new highway, or a new industry. .We must provide the mass public with clearer, more comprehensive understanding of environment and its relation to themselves. Such education will have to hegin in the primary grades and continue through all educational levels. Ways must he discovered to create a new partnership with industry, public agency, and university. This concept of partnership is not limited to the development of environmental quality standards. It must be pervasive. It is a call for change. Perhaps universities can spark this enormously important partnership, These institutions are becoming aware that their traditional product-the oarrowly trained specialist-is of limited value in dealing effectively with problems of elaborate inherent complexity. Increasingly, universities recognize that they must provide an educational framework to bridge the gaps among specialists and equip them for intensive collaboration on environmental
Harry P. Kramer is Resource Development Officer,Office of Program Planning and Evaluation, Bureau of Disease Prevention and Environmental Control, U S . Public Health Service. Previously ( 1 9 4 9 4 5 ) , he was with the Roberf A . Taft Sanitary Engineering Center and ( 1 9 3 4 4 9 ) the City of Chicago as a sanitary chemist. He received his B.S. ( 1 9 3 0 ) f r o m St. Mary’s College (St. Mary’s, K a n . ) , his M.S. (1932) f r o m Creighton University (Omaha, Neb.), and an honorary Sc. D . f r o m the University of Cincinnati (Ohio). Dr. Kramer has published numerous articles in the fields of sanitary engineering, chemistry, and microbiology. He is a member o f many professional, educational, and honorary societies including ACS, AAAS, American Public Health Association, Conference of Federal Sanitary Engineers, Inter-American Association of Sanitary Engineering, National Society of Professional Engineers, Nafional Society for Programmed Instruction, Water Pollution Control Federation, American Water Works Association, American Academy of Environmental Engineers, and Environmental Engineering Intersociety Board, Inc.
problems. Some are taking interdisciplinary approaches addressed to real problems in real places. Leaders in science and technology are making statements regarding the need for and the justification of mission-oriented applied research in universities. These incidents give promise of a future outlook that will carry the intricate problems of environmental quality management to unique levels of interest and challenge.
Volume 2, Number 8, August 1968 645
