AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOClATlON

HYDA T A W a t e r News and Views

by Mary Marsh

u IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME before the Atchafalaya River will become the principal distributary of the Mississippi River and the current main-stem will become an estuary of the Gulf of Mexico. The authors of a report, “If the Old Structure Fails?,” Raphael G. Kazmann and David B. John- son state that fact as the niost important conclusion of a study which is reported in Bulletin 12, Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute, Louisiana State University. To prevent this from happening, the Army Corps of Engineers is making plans to build an auxiliary structure near the Old River Con- trol Structure which is the device that now controls the dis- tribution of flow between the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. This low-sill structure was almost undermined and destroyed in 1973. The authors believe, however, that ulti- mately the river will take over and find the shortest available route to its outlet. The Mississippi has changed its course several times since its formation near the end of the Ice Age, including six times in modern history. A Corps of Engineers spokeman, Brucc Sossanian, says, “We can’t let it happen . . . We are charged by Congress not to let that happen.” Sossa- man coinnients that the costs to industry, to families, and to the entire nation would be too great.

C A REVIEW OF THE EPA RED BOOK: QUALITY CRI- TERIA FOR WATER has been published by the Water Quality Section of the American Fisheries Society. Approximately 150 scientists provided scientific and technical advice on the adequacy of the criteria proposed by EPA. Copies of the 328- page Review are available for $14.00 from the American Fisheries Society. 54 I0 Grosvenor Lane, Bethesda, Maryland ?no14

.:: THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY has announccd a major refinement in processes to increase the dissolved oxy- gen levels in water discharged from dams in its reservoir sys- tem. The feasibility of the improvement was confirmed in the suiiinier of 1980 at TVA’s Norris Dam, 25 miles northwest of Knoxville. Norris has the fifth most severe dissolved oxygen problem among the 17 agency reservoirs where levels are low enough to damage aquatic life and lower assimilative capacities for waste. Engineers say performance tests on “hub” baffles,

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welded at an angle above a small air vent in the cone-shaped hub around which water flows through the turbine, produced an average 100 percent increase in the oxygen levels of water released from the dam. The use of the baffles produces less than a one percent decrease in generating capacities. Thc cost of retrofitting TVA’s existing high dams with the baffles is estimated to be $1 5,000 per unit.

0 Progress has been made in the USE OF REMOTE SENSING FOR THE STUDY OF WATER RESOURCES AND HYDRO- I.OGY, but the potential remains largely unfulfilled, according to a National Research Council panel. A major factor in the slow progress in this area is the lack of assurance that current services for acquiring remote sensing data will continue to be available. The panel recommended that dcliberate efforts be made to transfer the capability to use remotely Fensed data from federal agencies to a wider community, and particularly to state and local agencies, universities, industries, and private consultants. Leonard T. Crook, of I.eonard T. Crook & Asso- ciates, Ann Arbor, Michigan, chaired the panel. The report of thc Panel on Water Resources is available from the Space Applications Board, Assembly of Engineering, National Re- search Council, 2101 Constitution Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 1,041 8.

0 ARTIFICIAL TURF, the plastic grass for covering football fields, is being used beneath the surface of Lake Superior as a nest for lake trout eggs. About 175,000 eggs arc nested 45 feet beneath the surface at Devils Island Shoal near the Apostle Islands. They are in five wooden frames contain- ing seven layers of turf. Biologists hope to get trout to repro- duce naturally in Lakes Superior and Michigan, as they did before the sea lamprey invasion and heavy fishing pressures. The frames, anchored to railroad ties to help them withstand the lake’s waves and currents, will be raised in the spring to count the dead eggs and thus determine how many hatched. If the project succeeds, i n eight or t en years trout born in the turf will return to reproduce. The program is being conducted by the U’isconsin Department of Natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Marine Studies Center.

WATER RESOURCES BULLETIN

WATER NEWS AND VIEWS

0 THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY has had a film produced to aid in the understanding of renovation and re-use of waste water and the recycling of organic matter and nutrients. The half-hour 16mm color film, WATER PASSAGES, examines the use of land treatment in five com- munities throughout the United States. The film is available for loan without cost from Modem Talking Picture Service, 5000 Park Street North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33709.

0 LEGIONNAIRES DISEASE ORGANISMS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN EVERY WATERWAY STUDIED by researchers in the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest, but normally in an inert form. Biologist Daniel Pope of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who has studied the disease for the past three years, says, “Anytime you have the organism, you have the poten- tial for the disease, but I would have to say the potential is very low. What we don’t know is what factors kick it off.” The organism has been associated with cooling towers. Iso- lating the bacteria, legionella pneumophilia, has proved diffi- cult, but recent work indicates the organism forms a mutualistic link with algae, each providing substances needed by the other to survive. Researchers hope that this link will aid in labora- tory studies directed towards finding a means of eventually eliminating the potentially harmful organism.

0 Two Navy engineers say they have DEVELOPED A PORT- ABLE AND LESS EXPENSIVE METHOD OF CHANGING SALT WATER INTO FRESH WATER. Wayne Adamson and Joseph Pizzino of the Taylor Naval Ship Research and Develop- ment Center say the device produces fresh water at the rate of about 1% gallons per hour, costs about $500, and can be stowed on life boats. Called a reverse osmosis desalinator, it filters the sea water through cellophane that separates the salt from the water. Other machines do the same thing, but none are as small (2 feet long) or as proficient (30 gallons a day), according to the engineers. Experts say a person needs a gal- lon of water a day to survive on the open sea. Current desalina- tors do not meet this requirement, and navy lifeboats can store only about 1 % quarts of water per passenger.

WETLANDS: OUR PARTNERS IN WASTEWATER MAN- AGEMENT is a new 40-minute 16 mm sound and color film produced for NSF’s Engineering and Applied Science Direc- torate. The film explains how natural wetlands may be used to provide communities with the equivalent of advanced or tertiary treatment of their wastewater. It is intended for use by communities considering the wetlands concept as an alter- native technology for advanced water treatment. The film is available for loan without cost from Modern Talking Lecture Service, 1901 L Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.

0 DETAILED STUDIES OF TWO WASTEWATER AND TWO WATER TREATMENT PLANTS for the State of Michi- gan found potential savings could amount to one-fourth of the $62.5 million spent each year for electricity and natural gas at the 1,100 plants in the state. The analyses were performed at wastewater plants in East Lansing (18 mgd) and Big Rapids

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(2.4 mgd) and treatment plants in Ann Arbor (50 mgd) and Marysville (9.2 mgd) for the Michigan Department of Com- merce’s energy administration. The consultant, Ayres, Lewis, Norris & May, Inc., of Ann Arbor, identified a total of 93 energy conservation opportunities at the four plants. If a l l measures were implemented, the energy savings were estimated at 64 billion Btu per year, worth about $355,000. The total cost of all the system changes was figured at $2.3 million. About 16 percent of the total conservation potential at the four plants could be achieved by modifications costing less than $500 each to implement. Another 6 percent of the savings could come through investments of from $500 to $2,000, and the remaining 78 percent would cost over $2,000.

0 IN EARLY DECEMBER THE U.S. SUPREME COURT ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency can enforce water pollution standards without taking into account whether an individual factory can afford to comply with the regula- tions. The decision reversed a ruling by a federal appeals court that would have required the EPA to consider a plant’s economic condition when deciding whether to exempt it from industrywide pollution standards. The decision was an im- portant legal victory for the EPA, upholding the agency’s view of its regulatory power under the Clean Water Act of 1972. Under that law, the agency has set initial water pollution limits for about 40 industries, with the limits scheduled to be niade stricter by 1987. The challenge to the EPA interpreta- tion of the law came from the National Coal Association, the National Crushed Stone Association, and a number of com- panies.

0 A DEPLETION ALLOWANCE similar to that granted oil well owners now is available to landowners living over the Ogallala aquifer as a result of a federal District Court decision in Wichita. It is hoped that the tax break will encourage the growing of less water-intensive crops. During the intense heat wave and drought in the summer of 1980, some towns and many farmers on the High Plains experienced losses in water pressure and pumpage.

0 THE COST TO THE NATION OF LOSSES FROM ACID RAIN are estimated to be $5 billion a year, and costs to future generations, while hard to estimate, could be much larger. Scientists and economists testifying before two Senate com- mittees noted the $5 billion losses include damage to forests, crops, aquatic ecosystems, and water supply systems. The thousands of lakes made devoid of life by acid rain in Minne- sota, Wisconsin, and the Northeast show the most evident effects of acid rain. Dr. Orie Loucks of the Institute of Eco- logy in Indianapolis said future loses would include long-term decreases in forest productivity, loss of nutrient stock in shal- low or sandy forest soils, and chemical alterations of ground water.

AROUND THE TURN OF THE CENTURY the city of Los Angeles bought nearly 500 square miles of land on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada to get the water rights

WATER RESOURCES BULLETIN

WATER NEWS AND VIEWS

that went with the land. The city then built an aqueduct to channel the water south, and that water today constitutes 80 percent of the supply for the two million people of Los Ange- les. The pioneers in the area of Owens Valley did not like this development, and hostile feelings, which never fully sub- sided, have resurged in recent years as the city’s increasing use of water has renewed concern about threats t o the valley’s ecology. Last summer Inyo County, where the land is lo- cated, raised the property tax on the land owned by the city. Los Angeles retaliated by increasing the rent paid for the use of its land by farmers. Several other actions followed, and in November lnyo County voters approved a referendum creating a local commission to control the pumping of underground water. Los Angeles’ right to the surface waters is now generally conceded, but ground water is another issue. Natural wbteranean reservoirs in the valley, which are estimated t o contain enough water t o supply Los Angeles for many years, have been tapped only to a small extent. Several law suits have been filed to resolve several issues in the disputes.

0 A 36-PAGE REPORT ENTITLED “ACID RAIN” has been published by EPA’s Office of Research and Development. The booklet includes information on how acid rain is measured, what the acids are that make it up, its transport characteristics, and the forms it takes. It explains acid rain effects such as dis- appearing fish in the Adirondacks, leached soils, and cities’ gradually eroding buildings. I t also offers a prognosis for the future and mentions the laws designed to govern emissions t h a t cause acid rain.

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