snail's hepatopancreas may be the detoxification site.
TECHNOLOGY Upgrading sewage water to meet drinking water standards is the goal of Israel's Water Planning and Research Authority (Tahal). Tahal spokesman Jehoshua Schwarz explains that a plant will use a multistage system—"almost like a refining process"—to achieve this goal. The plant is being built near Tel Aviv. Israel also has a program of replenishing wells. During the normally rainless summer, water for this program is taken from the National Water Carrier, which carries water from the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee. In the winter, rainwater is collected in catchments and pumped into aquifers. The aim is to counteract water mining. A facility for sterilizing dried sewage sludge with cesium-137, a highlevel radioactive nuclear plant byproduct, got the go-ahead from Albuquerque, N . M . , city officials. The 137 Cs gives off gamma rays "strong enough to kill bacteria, weed seeds, and contaminants in the sewage, but not strong enough to make the sludge itself radioactive," says Paul Noland, Albuquerque's director of water resources. EPA has sanctioned this technology, and Albuquerque hopes that the facility will provide usable fertilizer products, initially for city parks. l 3 7 Cs treatment would not remove heavy metals. Modularized equipment to convert raw landfill gas to salable mediumBtu or even pipeline gas and then,
perhaps, to steam or electricity is now being marketed by John Zink Company (Tulsa, Okla.). Landfill gas is compressed and treated to remove carbon dioxide, water, and malodorous hydrocarbons. The gas is then recompressed to required specifications. The company estimates that a landfill producing about 2 million scf/d of raw waste gas will pay for itself in 2-14 months, depending on the equipment used and the type of product gas made. To minimize risk of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the National Electric Manufacturers Association ( N E M A , Washington, D.C.) suggests certain remedial actions. Alternatives include moving a PCB-contaminated item to a place where it does not present a risk or, for transformers or electromagnets, reducing the PCB concentration to below 500 ppm. Other remedies involve isolating or containing the item or replacing PCB-containing equipment with equipment containing less than 500 ppm of PCBs. Any PCB-containing equipment near food or feed should be moved to a location where there is no contact risk.
INDUSTRY Management of the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI, Golden, Colo.) will remain in the bailiwick of Midwest Research Institute ( M R I , Kansas City, Mo.). MRI has managed SERI since SERI's inception in 1977. The new contract extends M R F s management responsibilities from July 1, 1983, to July 1, 1988. A new field test
laboratory is now under construction at SERI. The main research areas there are solar electric conversion, solar fuels and chemicals, solar thermal processes, support research, and research on materials. Will residential solar systems be good or bad for utilities? In an attempt to answer this question, Synergic Resources Corporation (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) was retained by Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO) to study effects of active solar water heating and passive solar space heating in homes. Using a computer model, the study assessed performance, projected future markets, and computed the overall impact on VEPCO's peak load demands. S R C believes that a nationwide study would yield uneven results and that statewide studies present a truer picture of the impact of solar energy and related effects of federal and state tax credits. And à propos solar energy, the day might come when prices of solar and conventional electricity would be comparable, in the view of Elmer Kaelin, president of Potomac Edison Company (Hagerstown, Md.). At present, conventional power is cheaper, but Kaelin believes technological advances could bring down solar electric costs sharply, while the costs of conventional energy continue to rise. According to Kaelin, the cost of solar and of conventional will eventually cross "and when they do, it will be possible for an individual homeowner to buy and install a solar system, and disconnect from a conventional power supply." EPA estimates that organic chemical and plastics manufacturers face about $1.7 billion in capital costs over the next two years if its proposed rules for such facilities go into effect. EPA's proposals follow a court-ordered schedule for the installation of "best available technology" nationwide by 1985. More than 2000 plants would be affected. Substantial pretreatment would be required for facilities discharging to publicly owned treatment works. The proposed regulations will cover plants making almost 25 000 products, running the gamut from fertilizers through industrial chemicals to synthetic fibers. Such plants are reputed to be the largest toxic material dischargers.
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Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 17, No. 5, 1983
