The History of Environmental Research in Cincinnati, Ohio: (From the U.S. Public Health Service to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

Abstract

A 1982 audiotape interview of Gordon G. Robeck, Director of the EPA Drinking Water Research Division in Cincinnati, conducted by James M. Symons (with the EPA in 1982) provided much of the following historical information. The PHS Drinking Water Standards began with the 1893 Interstate Quarantine Act under Treasury because of inspection of immigrants for disease. The 1912 PHS law included funds for establishment of a field Ohio R. unit to determine how stream pollution by waterborne diseases (typhoid fever and cholera) was endangering drinking water supplies. The Field Investigation Station (FIS) was located in the former Kilgour Mansion and in a PHS Marine Hospital in Cincinnati, converted for water research. At the Field Investigation Station, Ohio River water was pumped to a pilot plant for studies on water treatment and on septic tanks. The 1913-1914 Drinking Water Standards for Interstate Carrier Water Supplies preceded the 1925 Streeter and Phelps equations for Ohio R. dissolved oxygen levels. Research started on the effectiveness of sand filtration and chlorination for the protection of public health. In 1953, when the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) was created, the PHS was included. In 1954, the water laboratory in Cincinnati moved out to Columbia Parkway to the newly constructed Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center, consolidating PHS offices from seven locations. Engineering and treatment studies received funding from the Navy and Civil Defense to counteract the possible sabotage of drinking water with planned treatment. The Cincinnati water lab moved administratively through federal changes from 1965 to 1970. In 1965, the Federal Water Quality Administration was formed, and in 1966 the pollution control staff (both civil service and Corps) was transferred to the Department of Interior. Starting in 1967, the PHS began rebuilding drinking water research. EPA, created in 1970, took over environmental programs among various federal agencies. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 (commonly called The Clean Water Act) led to the EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which controls discharges and construction grants. Funding under the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 led to research that supported drinking water regulations. At EWRI 2013, the Cincinnati Field Investigation Station Centennial will be held (1913-2013).