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A McCRONE ASSOCIATES CASE H I S T O R Y . .
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HOW ONE COMMUNITY DETERMINED WHICH OF FOUR POLLUTER SUSPECTS WAS GUILTY
Water quality in Missouri
DEARSIR: It is with feelings of disappointment that I am writing to you in regard to the article “Water standards near approval” in the March 1970 issue of ES&T (page 199). For a publication of the caliber of ES&T, statements like the ones made concerning Missouri’s Water Quality Standards are extremely misleading. For example, the article stated that “Missouri’s compliance date of 1982 turns out to be the latest specified in any standard. . . .” Compliance of what?-for what?-and where? The date of December 31, 1982 was established as the latest possible date that secondary treatment facilities, o r the equivalent, could be placed into operation for all discharges going to the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Effluents going to any other streams in the state already receive secondary treatment as a minimum, and in many cases advanced treatment units are being planned. Also, the present single exception to Department of the Interior approval is the dissolved oxygen level on the Missouri River. Present standards set a minimum value of 4.0 mg./ 1. at all times, and the Missouri Water Pollution Board was asked to consider 5.0 mg./l. as the minimum. A revision is currently being considered. The dissolved oxygen level in the Missouri River drops 5 mg./l. during and after periods of high river flow caused by flooding and/or heavy rains in the basin. Any change in the existing wording of our standards must take into consideration the as yet unexplained reasons for the prolonged and repeated drop in dissolved oxygen in the Missouri River. In closing I would like to point out that on February 27, 1970, the Missouri Water Pollution Board advanced
the date for requiring secondary treatment, or the equivalent, for all discharges to the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from December 31, 1982 to December 31, 1975. We hope that ES&T will always retain the high quality that has been present in the past and will refrain from using terms such as “compliance,” “complete treatment,” etc., without providing definitions for them.
PROBLEM: A residential community was being inundated by dense gray, noxious fumes. There were four possible pollution sources: a steel mill, a slag crushing plant, an asphalt plant and a concrete plant-all i n t h e s a m e n e i g h b o r h o o d . Which was guilty of damaging health and property? McCrone Associates was asked to investigate the case and testify in court.
Jack K. Smith Executive Secretary Missouri Water Pollution Board Jefferson City, Mo. 65101
More on the auto as public enemy
DEARSIR: I read Dr. O’Connor’s letter (“The automobile-enemy of the people,” ES&T, March 1970, pages 177 and 178) with great interest. I believe that there is an even more important dimension than the economic and physical aspects so ably described in the letter. I refer to the fragmentation of our people into even smaller, noncommunicating units. Having left the larger brick and wooden box or cell in an apartment-hive, the family, or a part of it, enters a smaller metal box which isolates them even further. They proceed to leave that metal box only under duress, as witness drive-in banks, drive-in hamburger stands, and outdoor movies. The ever-present car radio serves to enhance our isolation from actual physical awareness of real people. Anyone who has associated with all varieties of people on foot, in the marketplace, in parks, and in streets will testify to the very real feeling of personal participation and involvement which this commingling engenders.
(Continued on page 364)
M ANALYSIS: Dust samples in the vicinity of the four possible polluters were coilected and analyzed. H SOLUTION: Microscopical examination of specific particles identified the pollutant as steel mill slagpresent at ail four suspect sites. Size measurement of the siag particles and correlation with wind rose patterns singled out the slag crushing plant as the offender. RESULTS: The poilu:er had to cease operations until an effective dust collection’ device was installed. The community had much better air to breathe, cleaner homes, and was awarded several thousand dollars in damages. The steel mill, the asphalt plant and the concrete plant were found blameless.
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Solve your pollutlon problems be they envlronmental or Internal. Phone McCrone Assc, , the laboratory’s laboratory lo ciates identify the type and the source of pollutants for air pollution equipment performance k i n g , specification testing, code conformance testing, stack sampling, speclaiized pollution problems.
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WALTER C. McCRONE ASSOCIATES, INC. 493 EAST 31st STREET CHICAGO, ILLlNOiS 60616 PHONE (312) 842-7100 CABLE: CHEMICRONE
MEET US IN ST. LOUIS AT THE 1970 AIR POLLUTION CONTROL ASSOCIATION EXPOSITION BOOTH 115 No. 2 on Rnrderr’ Snnici Card Volume 4, Number 5. May 1970 363
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