Sewage Disposal Facilities Research Articles

Waldo Lake, Oregon: Eutrophication of a Rare, Ultraoligotrophic, High-Mountain Lake

ABSTRACT Waldo Lake, Oregon, was described in 1970 as one of the most oligotrophic lakes in the world. But limnological data collected since then indicate that the lake has shifted toward a higher trophic status. This finding is based on three sets of evidence: (1) the spectral distribution of downward irradiance has changed, with blue light now being attenuated more rapidly, while the penetration of both green light and red light has increased; (2) phytoplankton primary production rates have increased 20-fold; and (3) zooplankton have become many times more abundant, and species composition has changed entirely. Although the cause of limnological change is uncertain, investigators believe that it has resulted largely from management and use of the lake. Accordingly, lake visitors have increased dramatically over the past 30 years, from a few hundred visits in 1967 to around 170,000 visits in 1994. Moreover, stocking the lake with 20 million fish between 1938 and 1990 may have disrupted the lake's seemingly fragile ecosystem. Remedial action to save the lake is now being proposed, including (1) repair or removal of sewage-disposal facilities that are possibly defective; (2) tighter restrictions on various lake and watershed uses, and (3) a permanent ban on fish stocking.

Monitoring progress towards Hong Kong's water quality objectives

Abstract Hong Kong has suffered from gross water pollution, as a direct consequence of the territory's rapid growth in population and in industrial and commercial prosperity. In 1989, the government of Hong Kong adopted a comprehensive strategy for water pollution control. Water quality monitoring is essential to the success of this strategy. The monitoring programme was designed rationally to provide the information required to detect progress towards (or away from) water quality objectives. Practical constraints have prevented the ideal implementation but the programme gives comprehensive coverage of marine waters, including bathing beaches and inland waters. Sampling and analytical methods are an important part of programme design, to ensure that the programme yields accurate and consistent data. Presentation and interpretation also need to be taken into account. More effort on interpretation of a well‐designed survey can reduce the effort required for sampling and analysis. Examples show how the monitoring programme has been used for practical environmental management purposes, including the control of dredging operations, the justification of new sewage disposal facilities, and the control of waste from the livestock industry.

Septic Tanks Can Be Dangerous to Your Health

^ ~ Journal, I don't recall a discussion of the significance o of septic tanks for public health. Yet in certain areas of the country this method of sewage disposal has aroused serious concern and some passion. Septic tanks are Wev99 necessary in many regions where sewage treatment plants are not practical because of low population density. In addition, many urban communities rely on them far more frequently than most people realize. For example, in the city of Miami, 40% of the residents are dependent on septic tanks. This occurs also in many of the most prestigious suburbs of the United States, especially those developed with a good deal of acreage allotted to each residence. In the state of Florida alone there are close to 2,ooo,ooo septic tanks, and whole communities are being built with as many as I00,000 of these units covering an area of 25,000 to 30,000 acres. The first policy issue that this suggests is the effect of the demand for new housing on the need for sewage disposal facilities. This is particularly evident in states like Florida where the population is growing at the rate of I,ooo new residents each day, and where it is swollen further each winter by the influx of visitors. The second policy issue stems from the fact that the land in Florida is surrounded by and underlaid with water. This is true of many states which pride themselves on the availability of waterfront property. I have encountered septic tank problems along the Chesapeake Bay and the Tennessee Valley Authority lakes. A similar situation exists up and down the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as in waterfront communities elsewhere. Florida's water table is close to the surface and this presents a serious

Wastewater Disposal in the Rijeka Region

This paper emphasizes the need for detailed analysis of wastewaters and their impact on the environment in physical plans for urban/tourist coastal areas, as a significant contribution to environmentally sound development, especially the development of tourism in these areas. The paper describes an analysis of this kind, prepared as part of the Regional Physical Plan for the Rijeka Region to the Year 2000. (The Rijeka Region is a major part of the Yugoslav Upper Adriatic.) The existing situation regarding sewerage systems, sewage treatment methods and disposal methods of the communes of the Region is presented. The quantities of wastewaters generated by the residential and tourist populations and by industry are given (by sub-regions) as calculated in 1981 and as estimated for the year 2000. A survey was made of the impact of wastewater on receiving rivers and coastal waters, and the quality of the receiving waters is given, in grades as compared with those prescribed by the Yugoslav legal regulations. Based on urban development concepts, and on the estimated wastewater quantities, alternative forecasts are made of the future impact of wastewater on coastal waters. General guidelines are presented for the provision of adequate sewage disposal facilities in order to achieve the optimum situation.

HISTORICAL EVIDENCE FOR FLUCTUATION IN LEVELS OF HYBRIDIZATION.

Evolutionary biologists have long researched the dynamics of hybrid zones to determine how reproductive barriers between species originate and become established. It is unknown, however, to what extent hybrid zones persist through time. Do hybrid zones eventually disappear with perfection of isolating mechanisms or by fusion of the taxa, for example, or do they continue to exist, perhaps stretching and shrinking with environmental fluctuation (Wallace, 1889; Dobzhansky, 1951; Grant, 1963; Mayr, 1963; Lewis, 1966; Remington, 1968; Harrison, 1983)? Clearly, historical information is necessary for an adequate understanding of the evolution of isolating mechanisms, but such information has only been available on a scale of decades. Here, fossil evidence is used to propose that two freshwater bivalve species that now hybridize readily did not do so about 200,000 years ago. Isolating barriers are hypothesized to have been perfected in sympatric populations in the past, but then to have been lost when these adapted populations were eliminated by advancing glaciers. Reproductive isolation between related species could therefore have been a transient phenomenon. North America contains one of the richest freshwater clam faunas (family Unionidae) in the world (Burch, 1975; Davis and Fuller, 1981; Kat, 1984), but fossils necessary for interpretation of the origins and species diversity of this fauna through time are scarce (Simpson, 1895; Baker, 1920; Henderson, 1935; LaRoque, 1966; Kat, 1983a). Unionacean fossils are uncommon in the Interior Basin (IB), a faunal region that essentially covers the entire Mississippi River drainage, and very rare on the Atlantic Coastal Plain (ACP). For example, of the 122 Pleistocene freshwater molluscan faunas described by LaRoque (1966) from seven IB states, only six faunas contained unionid fossils. One exception to this trend occurs in the Fish House fauna from Camden, New Jersey (Fig. 1). This ACP fauna contains bivalves morphologically resembling ten extant species, at least three of which are presently restricted to the IB (Kat, 1983a). The Fish House fauna was first described by Lea (1868) and Whitfield (1885) and appears not to have been examined since the turn of the century. Lea and Whitfield both assumed the fossils to be of Cretaceous age, but more recently the Fish House clays have been correlated with the Accomac beds on the Delmarva Peninsula and with beds near the mouth of the Rappahannock River in Virginia as deposits 187,000 ? 20,000 years old (J. P. Owens, pers. comm.; see Cronin et al., 1981; McCartan et al., 1982). No radiometric dates are available directly from the Fish House clays. The climate at that time, as inferred from pollen analyses and plant remains, was warm temperate and suggestive of interglacial conditions (Woolman, 1896; see also Cronin et al., 1981). A sewage disposal facility at the Fish House site prevents further collection from this locally exposed deposit, but a number of Lea's type specimens as well as specimens from subsequent collections are housed at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP). In the Fish House fauna, fossils phenotypically similar to recent IB Anodonta grandis and ACP A. cataracta (Fig. 2) occur in the same stratum (Whitfield, 1885). Collections at the ANSP consist of 22 specimens preserved as articulated valves or interior casts, and while there is no information about orientation of the specimens in the sediment (i.e., if they were found in life position), the presence of articulated specimens suggests that postmortem transport, if any, was minimal. Ofthe 22 specimens, 7 resemble A. cataracta and 15 resemble A. grandis. Shell shapes of unionids can be quantified by analyses of curvature along the shell outline. Shell outlines are digitized, and the coordinates of 300400 points stored in a computer. Circles are then fit to sets of points along the outline of the shell using the best-fit criterion of Bookstein (1978), involving a multiple linear regression of X2 + y2 as the dependent variable against x and y as independent variables (Kat, 1983a). Centroids of point clusters along the outline were determined by the points of intersection of lines, rotated through predetermined numbers of degrees from the umbo, and the shell edge. The results of such analyses indicate significant differences in curvature at several points along the shell edge when specimens of Recent Anodonta cataracta and A. grandis are compared (Fig. 3A). Previous analyses unequivocally classified all fossil specimens as either A. cataracta or A. grandis (Kat, 1983a). Use of soft-part, shell microstructural, and electrophoretic data has clarified the taxonomy of Recent ACP and IB anodontines (Kat, 1983b, 1983c, 1985), and the cataracta and grandis phenotypes cannot be confused with other extant species. Today, Anodonta cataracta and A. grandis hybridize extensively where their geographic ranges, newly expanded after the retreat of Wisconsinan

Village Water Supply: Economics and Policy in the Developing World

The great majority of persons in rural areas of the developing world do not have access to a safe and convenient source of water, and where this is available, acceptable sewage disposal facilities are normally lacking. The authors examine a wide range of factors - physical, social, and economic - that are involved in improving the adequacy of water supply and sanitation in the coming years. Among the principal topics covered in detail are: (a) the character and extent of the problems connected with water supply and sanitation; (b) the goal of improved health, with specific reference to the relation between water supply and water-borne disease, on the one hand, and social and economic activity, on the other; (c) the effects of improved water supply and sanitation on productivity, incomes, rural-to-urban migration, and overall development; (d) problems of, and strategies for, program planning and administration; (e) the special problems of operation and maintenance; and (f) the importance of recovering program costs from beneficiaries. The book also contains a summary of findings of the study and lists a number of recommendations for improving rural water supply and sanitation.

A Simple Method for Predicting the Capacity of a Lake for Development Based on Lake Trophic Status

A general technique is presented for calculating the capacity of a lake for development based on quantifiable relationships between nutrient inputs and water quality parameters reflecting lake trophic status. Use of the technique for southern Ontario lakes is described. From the land use and geological formations prevalent in a lake’s drainage basin, the phosphorus exported to the lake in runoff water can be calculated, which, when combined with the input directly to the lake’s surface in precipitation and dry fallout, gives a measure of the natural total phosphorus load. From the population around the lake, the maximum artificial phosphorus load to the lake can be calculated and, if necessary, modified according to sewage disposal facilities used. The sum of the natural and artificial loads can be combined with a measure of the lake’s morphometry expressed as the mean depth, the lake’s water budget expressed as the lake’s flushing rate, and the phosphorus retention coefficient of the lake, a parameter dependent on both the lake’s morphometry and water budget, to predict springtime total phosphorus concentration in the lake. Long-term average runoff per unit of land area, precipitation, and lake evaporation data for Ontario provide a means of calculating the necessary water budget parameters without expensive and time-consuming field measurements. The predicted spring total phosphorus concentration can be used to predict the average chlorophyll a concentration in the lake in the summer, and this, in turn, can be used to estimate the Secchi disc transparency. Thus, the effects of an increase in development on a lake’s water quality can be predicted. Conversely, by setting limits for the "permissible" summer average chlorophyll a concentration or Secchi disc transparency, the "permissible" total phosphorus concentration at spring overturn can be calculated. This can be translated into "permissible" artificial load, which can then be expressed as total allowable development. This figure can be compared to the current quantity of development and recommendations made concerning the desirability of further development on the lake.

Cholera

Cholera, an acute infectious disease characterized by massive gastrointestinal loss of isotonic fluid, is prevalent throughout large parts of the world today. Although this disease can be effectively treated under ideal conditions, the mortality rate in most cholera-affected areas remains quite high. The only certain protection against this disease is provided by adequate water supply and sewage disposal facilities. In the absence of such facilities, careful personal hygiene can provide a very high level of protection. Chemoprophylaxis is potentially effective only for small,relatively isolated population groups. Currently available commercial cholera vaccines provide only limited protection for a relatively short period of time. Although experimental data suggest that a new toxoid vaccine, currently being tested in the field, may provide a higher degree of protection, the duration of immunity provided by this vaccine will probably also be of relatively short duration.

Control of Schistosomiasis (Bilharziasis) in Brazil, Past, Present and Future

Abstract Schistosoma mansoni was first recorded in Brazil in 1908, currently official estimates are that schistosomiasis is endemic in 1,000 municipalities and possibly ten million individuals are infected. Infection foci are rural communities and irrigated areas without sewage disposal facilities. In the past The Servicio Especial de Saude Publica: The Servico Nacional de Malaria and later the Department of Rural Endemic Diseases (DNERu) attempted with some success to control the intermediate hosts, Biomphalarla spp., and improve sanitation and water supplies. Following examination of past policies DNERu in 1965 authorised the organisation of pilot projects for the control of schistosomiasis in 4 states: Pernambuco, Bahia, Minas Gerais, and Gaunabara. In 1970 the results of the pilot projects were evaluated and recommendations made regarding drug treatment and snail control for immediate use by the Superintendencia de Campanhas of the Federal Ministry of Health, involving the use of the drug Hycanthone, ...

Similarity between computer control systems and community planning

The planning of a community's development and opera tions, whether for a small town or an international project, requires the allocation of resources to various areas of endeavor. These resources can best be allocated if a reasonably accurate estimate is made of the needs for corrective action and the effectiveness of it as a function of the type and amount of expenditure. For example, an estimate may be made of the amount of pollution and social conflict which may develop and of the effectiveness of various physical and human countermeasures (sewage disposal facilities, air pollution control, police, hospitals, etc.); on this basis a reasonable allocation may be made. Such a procedure forces one to establish value systems in order to assess social costs on a basis compatible with real costs. This is difficult. Few planners understand the philosophical and long- term implications of their actions. The approach adopted in this paper bears great similarity to optimal process control by computer, but it cannot solve problems unless suitable value systems can be established. Even when values cannot be adequately established, however, this approach to examining community problems allows decision- makers to better understand the implications of their actions. This approach helps educators to better plan programs which differ from the tradi tionally narrow engineering curricula and to intro duce the concept that technical tools and techniques have important applications in politics and philosophy.

Urban Planning for Environmental Health

U RBAN PLANNING for a healthful environment involves water, sewage, refuse, air, roads, churches, schools, open spaces, houses, money, and, last but not least, it involves people. People demand healthful facilities only to the extent that they are educated. Too few, for example, are sufficiently educated to demand sewers in a housing development rather than septic tanks. And who is to educate them? County commissioners, mayors, councilmen, sanitary district commissioners, and similar public officials have not been trained as environmental hygienists, as planning experts, or as educators, even though they are saddled with such responsibilities. The talents of educator and community leader are needed urgently to help in promulgating water, sewage, and refuse disposal facilities, and well-planned housing. To provide for these facilities in a master plan of development is to use today's decisions to protect the interests of a city's children and grandchildren, as well as the living generation. An organized plan of public improvement clearly and logically presented, so as to be understood by civic leaders and the public, has an infinitely greater chance of achievement than an unorganized approach. A classic result of inadequate planning is the widespread use of septic tanks and private wvells in housing areas. More are being installed every day with the knowledge of engineers, yes; but with their consent, no. Why does this happen? Consider a hypothetical situation: Suppose a large development is being constructed on the fringe of a city. The usual services will be needed. The community's water and sewer mains at the corporate limits may be inadequate to serve the fringe area. How are financial arrangements made to provide service equitably? Sometimes the community will refuse to talk about extension of services unless the fringe area agrees to annexation. Or the community agrees to provide water-supply service but cannot or will not provide sewer service, with the result that septic systems make enemies of neighbors, even though the drinking water is safe. In this situation, the engineer-planner, who doubles as a salesman with a major in public relations, will strive, if extensions of services are feasible, to satisfy the city that it is not giving something for nothing and to convince the fringe-area people that they are not being fleeced. Many fringe areas which a few years ago were rather sparsely settled are now booming communities, with large, modern shopping centers. Where water and sewerage facilities are inadequate for present structures, it is reasonable to require that the facilities be expanded before authorizing new construction. Such a decision may be predicated on (a) individual well-water supplies being threatened by pollution, (b) individual sewage disposal systems either overflowing and causing visible hazards or contaminating ground water supplies, or (c) areas having sewers but no sewage treatment. An editorial, entitled Day by Day, in The Salisbury Times, Salisbury, Md., May 30, 1963, had this to say: The health department is conducting an antipollution campaign that will be effeictive Mr. Brown is chief, bureau of environmental hygiene, Maryland State Department of Health. This article is based on his speech at a workshop session of the Conference of State Sanitary Engineers in Washington, D.C., June 26, 1963.

County and Township Government in 1947

Rural local government received considerable attention during 1947 at the hands of state legislatures and the general public. The legislative sessions in many states were the first regular meetings since the end of the war, and therefore afforded the earliest opportunity to deal at length with various postwar problems and with certain problems of a peacetime nature on which action had been deferred during the war period. Perhaps the most significant phase of the year's developments was the conferring upon counties and townships, or special districts serving unincorporated areas, of numerous powers of a regulatory or service nature traditionally possessed only by municipalities. Another subject which received major attention was that of finding new and increased revenues to finance expanded programs of local services at rising price levels. Widespread interest was also displayed in such matters as areal readjustments, the modernization of local-government structure in the interest of efficiency and economy, and intergovernmental coöperation in the performance of local functions. In reviewing the events of the year, a topical arrangement similar to that used in previous summaries will be followed.I. AreasNew Areas. State legislation authorizing the establishment of special-purpose districts was more extensive in 1947 than for several years past. Problems of water supply, sewerage, and refuse disposal frequently overlap political boundaries and sometimes involve suburban and rural areas as well as incorporated communities. Several states authorized the creation of special districts to deal with these and related problems. In some instances the districts are permitted to include only unincorporated territory, while in others they may embrace two or more municipalities or both incorporated and unincorporated areas. Nebraska and South Dakota authorized the organization of sanitary districts to provide sewage-disposal facilities in areas outside municipalities. Boards of county commissioners in Utah were empowered to establish improvement districts to provide water supply and sewerage for unincorporated areas. Special districts for supplying water, sewerage, or both, were authorized in Idaho. A Nevada law permits the establishment of districts for supplying water, sewerage, and garbage disposal, singly or in any combination.