| OCR Text |
Show needed for certain manufacturing processes may be exorbitant. Pollution has damaged the waters for recreation uses such as bathing, boating, and fishing. Bac- terial pollution from domestic sewage makes the waters unsafe for swimming throughout much of the basin. Oxygen depletion resulting from sewage and organic industrial wastes and acid mine drain- age have made many streams unsuitable for aquatic life. Waste disposal has been a principal water use of the streams of the basin. In many instances this use has been so abused that other water uses have been seriously damaged. Sources of pollution.-The pollution problem in the Ohio Basin has increased continuously over the past century or more; its seriousness has paralleled roughly the growth of industry and increases in population. Domestic sewage, industrial wastes, and acid mine drainage are the major sources of pollution. About 2,200 municipalities and 1,300 industrial establishments with separate waste outfalls dis- charge wastes into the streams of the basin. Or- ganic wastes emptied into the streams exceeded a population equivalent to 13 million in July 1950. From a municipal waste treatment standpoint, the greatest progress has been made on the small tributaries where pollution has created severe local nuisances. On the main stem and major tributar- ies, however, sewage treatment plants are lacking although corrective action is in progress at several municipalities. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, and several smaller communities have plans for treatment -works, and Cincinnati has started its construction program. Phenols are an industrial pollutant of basin-wide significance. Such wastes are not important from an oxygen depleting standpoint, but they give rise to obnoxious tastes and odors in public water sup- plies. It is difficult and costly to remove these wastes within water treatment plants and their ob- jectionable taste and odors in the public water sup- plies is of considerable public health significance since they cause people to seek more palatable sources which may be inferior in sanitary quality. Acid mine drainage constitutes the most serious pollution problem in the entire basin. In 1940, an estimated 1.8 million tons of acid a year were being discharged into the streams of the basin. Streams most seriously affected by acid mine drainage are the Allegheny, Youghiogheny, Monongahela, Kis- kimentas, MCuskingum, and the upper reaches of the Ohio. Lesser effects are felt throughout the bituminous coal regions of the basin. Acid pollution increases the corrosiveness and hardness of stream waters, damages public and in- dustrial water supplies, power plants, navigation structures and equipment, and destroys aquatic life. Domestic and industrial organic pollution control has been deterred, since there is little incentive to construct treatment works when the stream waters would still be unsuitable because of acid pollution. The magnitude of this problem can be recognized when it is realized that: approximately 75 percent of the Nation's coal supply comes from the basin, only about 7 percent of the coal reserves have been touched, and approximately 55 percent of the acid load comes from abandoned mines. Corrective action on abandoned mines presents a serious finan- cial and administrative problem because most of these mined out areas are now no longer under the control of responsible coal operators. No satisfactory and economical method of re- ducing this source of pollution has yet been de- veloped. The State water pollution control agen- cies in the basin are aware of the damages caused and the needs for control, although their powers are limited. Pennsylvania has spent over 2.5 million dollars on basic research and mine sealing during the postwar period. The coal industry has also contributed some financial support to basic research on the acid mine drainage problem, although not as much as the seriousness of the problem and its potential effects on the water resources and economy of the basin warrant. During the past year the coal industry has proposed to reduce its financial contribution. Because the present and potential effects of acid mine drainage are so great, the combined efforts of industry and all agencies of government inter- ested in either the coal or water resources of the region will be required to find an early and satis- factory solution to the problem. The problem is of sufficient national significance that the Federal agencies concerned with coal mining and pollution abatement should expand their research activities in this field. The Bureau of Mines has proposed the following research program: (1) development of methods for the recovery of pyrite, the source of acid discharged to streams; (2) development of sealing programs for worked-out sections of operating mines; (3) mechanical separation of sludge from, washery waters; (4) development of a system for diversion of surface waters from stripping operations; 670 |
