Statement Submitted to Environmental Protection Agency for the Public Meeting, February 22, 1978, San Francisco Regarding Modification of Secondary Treatment Requirements

The principal technical reason for having a waiver provision for secondary treatment for municipal discharges is that for some outfall systems the dilution is so high that very good ambient water quality can be achieved with less than secondary treatment. Therefore, the criteria for a waiver of the secondary treatment requirement must give full consideration to the dilution obtained by the outfall system. In a high performance outfall diffuser, such as those used by major dischargers in California and Hawaii, initial dilutions are typically 100:1, and may range up to 1000:1 in very favorable circumstances

Environmental Quality Laboratory Research Report, 1985-1987

The Environmental Quality Laboratory at Caltech is a center for research on large-scale systems problems of natural resources and environmental quality. The principal areas of investigation at EQL are: 1. Air quality management. 2. Water resources and water quality management. 3. Control of hazardous substances in the environment. 4. Energy policy, including regulation, conservation and energy-environment tradeoffs. 5. Resources policy (other than energy); residuals management. EQL research includes technical assessments, computer modeling, studies of environmental control options, policy analyses, and research on important components of the large-scale systems. Field work is also undertaken at EQL, some in collaboration with other organizations, to provide critical data needed for evaluation of systems concepts and models. EQL's objectives are as follows: 1. To do systematic studies of environmental and resources problems. The results of these studies, including the clarification of policy alternatives, are communicated to decision-makers in government and industry, to the research community, and to the public. As an organization, EQL refrains from advocating particular policies, but seeks to point out the implications of the various policy alternatives. 2. To contribute to the education and training of people in these areas through involvement of predoctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting faculty members in EQL activities. This educational effort is just as important as the results of the studies themselves, and should make lasting contributions to the nation's ability to solve its environmental and resources problems. The work at EQL goes beyond the usual academic research in that it tries to organize and develop the knowledge necessary to clarify society's alternatives by integrating relevant disciplines. EQL works on solving problems of specific localities when there is a strong element of public interest or educational value, or the concepts and results are applicable to other places. The research of EQL during this period was done under the supervision of faculty members in Environmental Engineering Science, Chemical Engineering, and Social Science. This research report covers the period from October 1985 through September 1987. The publications listed under the individual project descriptions are the new ones for the reporting period

Statement to Water Resources Subcommittee of House Committee on Public Works and Transportation for a Hearing, May 24 and 25, 1978, Washington, D.C. regarding Secondary Treatment Waivers and Ocean Outfalls

The principal technical reason for having a waiver provision for secondary treatment for municipal discharges is that for some outfall systems the dilution is so high that very good ambient water quality can be achieved with less than secondary treatment. Therefore, the criteria for a waiver of the secondary treatment requirement must give full consideration to the dilution obtained by the outfall system. In a high performance outfall diffuser, such as those used by major dischargers in California and Hawaii, initial dilutions are typically 100:1, and may range up to 1000:1 in very favorable circumstances

Assessment of waste heat management issues

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (P.L. 92-500) defined the discharge of cooling water, e.g. from once-through power plant cooling systems, into natural water bodies as a form of pollution. Furthermore, P.L. 92-500 directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop a policy for controlling this "pollution" with "best available technology economically achievable" by 1983 for old sources and with "best available demonstrated control technology" taking "into consideration the cost of achieving such effluent reduction, and any non-water quality environmental impact and energy requirement" for new sources. In addition, the law provided for special exemptions, Section 316(a), from these regulations for waste heat sources which could show that they have had or will have no appreciable effect on the ecology of the water body. The purposes of this project element are (a) to assess present EPA policy and administrative actions regarding waste heat management and (b) to determine if this policy is really protecting the aquatic environment with the least possible increase in other social costs, including energy use, pollution in other media, and administrative effort

DETERMINANTS OF IRRIGATION TECHNOLOGY CHOICE

Two discrete choice models relate the probability of choosing two water-saving irrigation technologies - —sprinkler and tailwater recovery pits- —to the underlying physical and economic attributes of the farming using a national cross section of farm level data. The results show that small farm size, high water or labor costs, and soils with low water-holding capacity increase the likelihood of adopting sprinkler irrigation. For gravity irrigators, large farms, high water costs, and solid with high water-holding capacity increase the probability of recirculating field runoff. In both models soil characteristics and, to a lesser extent, climate dominate the selection probabilities.Farm Management,

Report on Mini-conference on Sludge Disposal Alternatives in the Ocean off Southern California, 8 September 1976

The purpose of the conference was to review the status of our capability to predict the environmental effects of the disposal of digested sewage sludge in the ocean off the coast of Southern California. At present, the ocean disposal of sewage sludge is prohibited by State and Federal regulations. Ocean disposal of sludge, however, is a complex of many alternative combinations of what, where and how; and the environmental consequences of all such combinations have not yet been determined. There is, in fact, some evidence that at least one environmentally sound mode of sludge disposal in the ocean off the Southern California coast may exist. This is the trapping of sludge in the sediments of deep, nearshore ocean basins. such as the Santa Monica Basin. Details of this method are given in Section 3.3. p. 12. It is the philosophy of the Environmental Quality Laboratory to study and evaluate policy alternatives but not to be an advocate of one alternative or another. Some of the policies studied may be contrary to existing laws or regulations, but it is believed that there is a better chance for improvement in the laws or regulations if alternatives currently outside them are also studied. The conference was sponsored by the Environmental Quality Laboratory in the belief that sufficient information is now available to begin making reasonable estimates of the environmental consequences of existing or alternative ocean disposal methods in order to compare them to land-based disposal methods. The purpose of this report is not to publish the actual proceedings of the conference. but rather to act as a communications aid. It is intended to publicize the issues that were raised at the conference, to give the names and addresses of people who are involved in these issues, and to present abstracts and literature citations. The schedule of the conference is presented in the next section. It is followed by a section containing abstracts of current research by conference attendees along with reference lists supplied by them. The fourth section is a summary of the afternoon discussion sessions. The final section is a list of conference attendees with their mailing addresses