To relate basal nutrients in the water and on the bottom of a warm, fresh water stream to their ability to support growth and multiplication of pathogenic and nonpathogenic enteric bacteria, three studies were designed including a river water quality analysis, respiration experiments, and continuous culture experiments. The presence of coliform bacteria primarily not producing intestinal disease, serves as indicators for potentially infectious microorganisms. Any growth by either coliform bacterial group or the disease producing organisms in the natural aquatic environment could significantly alter our present concepts of detection and surveillance of these organisms. Tests in detecting and analyzing polluted waters, and from levels of the self-purification potential, showed that Oconee River, a typically non-polluted stream of the North Georgia piedmont, is capable of supporting bacterial growth including coliforms.

Full-scale tests were conducted on two variable-slope test sewers (12- and 18- inch diameters). During the tests, solids were first allowed to build up in both test sewers by passing domestic sewage through the sewers for durations of 12 to 40 hours and then were removed by hydraulic flushing. Formulas were developed which gave satisfactory predictions of several cleansing efficiencies and wave depths for the flush waves and sewer sizes studied. A prototype flush station developed can be inserted in a manhole to provide the functions necessary to pick up sewage from the sewer, store it in a coated fabric tank, and release the stored sewage as a flush wave upon receipt of an external signal. An estimate of costs of periodically flushing combined sewer laterals are given.

Synthetic acid mine drainage (AMD) water was prepared by draining tap water through waste coal, and the resulting AMD was treated on a laboratory scale by an electrolytic oxidation process. Tests of fluidized bed, packed-bed, and annular flow prototype reactors demonstrated the packed-bed reactor to be most efficient. Oxidation of Fe² to Fe³ takes place on a carbon electrode at a mass transport limited rate, while hydrogen evolution occurs on a polished 316 stainless steel cathode, limited by a slower electrochemical kinetic step. Preliminary economic analyses, using a packed-bed reactor are given. The electrolytic process is free from both the safety hazards associated with radio isotope-induced oxidation and the temperature dependence of biological oxidation methods.

Coal mining produces a variety of environmental problems -- acid drainage, sedimentation, surface subsidence and surface scars. The study reviews the response of legal institutions to those problems in Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Technological and economic concerns are also taken into account. The study discusses the antecedents of today's Appalachian coal industry and the environmental problems it has created. It examines the way in which the property system allocates rights in coal and coal lands, the efficacy of litigation and present laws and regulations for preventing environmental damage, and constitutional limitations on the ability of states to effectively respond to the problems. A case study of the economics of the Maryland coal industry is also presented. Model legislation giving the states the necessary powers to respond to environmental problems, is proposed.

Operational criteria, design and operations costs for a treatment facility to remove nitrogen from agricultural tile drainage in the San Joaquin Valley were further investigated during 1970 at the Interagency Agricultural Wastewater Treatment Center near Firebaugh, California. The year-long study period is identified as Phase II. Based on projected nitrate-nitrogen concentrations for valley tile drainage water, the research in this phase extended earlier Phase I studies on the feasibility of bacterial denitrification by filters and covered ponds.

A systems evaluation was made to determine the feasibility and economics of treating selected steel mill and sanitary wastewaters in a municipal sewage treatment plant. The project was Phase I of a three phase program to demonstrate that industries and municipalities through cooperative action can combine their wastewaters and attain their individual treatment goals in an efficient and economical manner. Detailed field work was carried out at the steel plant and the total sewage plant treatment system. Selected steel plant wastes were combined with municipal wastes and evaluated in both batch and continuous treatability bench scale studies. The investigation revealed that it is technically and economically feasible to co-treat selected steel plant wastes with municipal wastewaters.