Stumm and Morgan win Stockholm Water Prize In March, Werner Stumm and James Morgan learned that they had won the 1999 Stockholm Water Prize for their "outstanding contributions to aquatic chemistry." Because the prize will not be officially presented until August, the family of Stumm, who died in April, will receive his share of the $150,000 award. Both researchers' work has resulted in fundamental discoveries about the physical and chemical processes that take place in the water environment, according to the Stockholm Water Foundation, the organization that awards the prize. "For decades, Professors Stumm and Morgan have been the paramount scientists in the field of aquatic chemistry," the members of the prize's nominating committee wrote, crediting Stumm and Morgan's research with improving wastewater and drinking water treatment techniques diroughout the world. "Our water environment is the product of very complicated interactions between chemical, biological, and physical agents. Nature, as usual, is far more complicated than the laboratory, where most classical chemistry is practiced," said Rafael Bras, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the nominating committee. "Stumm and Morgan tackled that complicated reality and gave credibility to the field. Thefieldis truly in mourning because of the passing of Dr. Stumm." "As a colleague, Werner Stumm will be sorely missed," said Bill Glaze, editor of ES&T. "But because of his work and his prolific writings, he will never be forgotten." Stumm was a professor emeritus at the Swiss Federal Institute for Water Resources and Water Pollution Control in Zurich, Switzerland, where he previously served as the agency's director. Environmental Science & Technology dedicated its October 1998 issue to Stumm's work, calling him "the father of aquatic
Werner Stumm
James Morgan
(1924-1999)
chemistry." Morgan, currently the Marvin Goldberger Professor of Environmental Engineering Science at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, was the founding editor of Environmental Science & Technology in 1966. The two award recipients first met at Harvard University in 1960, where Morgan was Stumm's first Ph.D. student. Their collaboration continued over the years, producing three versions of the well-known Aquatic Chemistry textbook. "Aquatic Chemistry [has] been used by almost every environmental scientist and engineer in the world, and its influence has been enormous," said Jerry Schnoor, associate editor of ES&T. Stumm and Morgan were among the first to recognize the
importance of phosphorus in eutrophication, and they provided a scientific basis for the development of processes to remove phosphorus from wastewater streams. Their contributions to the basic understanding of how iron and manganese cycle through aquatic systems have resulted in important methods for removing these metals from drinking water and coping with problems such as acid mine drainage. "I was very happy to learn that Werner Stumm and I would be sharing the prize for joint contributions to aquatic chemistry," Morgan said. "He was my 'doctor father,' my colleague, and my friend." The Stockholm Water Foundation was established in 1990 to encourage research and development of the world's water environment. Considered by many to be the "Nobel Prize of water," the Stockholm Water Prize is presented annually to an institution, organization, individual, or company that has made a substantial contribution to the preservation, enhancement, or availability of the world's water resources. —KELLYN BETTS
Belated acid rain report may trigger legislation, investigation Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) blasted the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP) for holding back release of a report that was to show the environmental improvements resulting from the 1990 Clean Air Act (CAA) acid rain program. The tardy report concludes that acid rain continues to harm lakes in New York and is a looming threat across the country. The NAPAP Biennial Report to Congress: An Integrated Assessment was due in December 1996. But it was not until August 1998 that 16 draft copies trickled out to select members of Congress. Mike Uhart, NAPAP's director, claims that this initial distribu-
tion fulfilled the report's mandate. But Sweeney, who introduced legislation this year to curb acid rain emissions, requested a General Accounting Office investigation of the report's delay in March. NAPAP finally distributed the report broadly in late April. It is expected to lend support to a host of bills aimed at reducing releases of sulfur and nitrogen. The NAPAP report shows that even though sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants have been reduced below mandated levels—at half of the initially anticipated $1.3 billion annual cost—further cuts in sulfur and nitrogen emissions will be
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