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Disposal of industrial and domestic wastes: Land and sea alternatives
285 impact of metal input is to be adequately modelled. This theme is further taken up b y a discussion on adsorption--desorption equilibria, with surface complexation models being seen as a basis not only for interpreting laboratory-derived data b u t for modelling large ecosystems such as lakes or oceans. This is not new, but succinctly summarised. Also not new are the views expressed on biological availability, which confirm that no simple rules apply. It appears that one of the biggest problems in this respect is that of suitable analytical techniques. But whether the organic material be living or dead the organic--metal interactions are basic to metal cycling. One of the most useful chapters in the b o o k for the environmental biologist is that which summarises an often confusing literature on the subject, and describes the various models which have been developed to describe ligand--metal interactions of increasing complexity. The chapters dealing with separate ecosystems are necessarily selective and one might have expected more thorough overviews. Perhaps these will be the subject o f a later volume. There is a concluding chapter and its last paragraph addresses what the general reader is most anxious to learn: do we know enough to regulate our current interference with metal cycles in the environment? The answer appears to be " n o " . The built-in regulatory capacities of the environment are limited and the author concludes that we "have lost control". This is something of a premature statement b u t the point needs to be taken seriously. The main utility of the b o o k is that it demonstrates that the basic approach to the problem has been tackled. What is n o w required are large ecosystem models which utilise the basic information.
Lowestoft (United Kingdom)
R.J. Pentreath
Disposal of Industrial and Domestic Wastes: Land and Sea Alternatives, National Academy Press, Washington DC, 1984, 210 pp. Price: £19.00. Those who are concerned with the disposal of radioactive wastes often take pride in the detailed and sophisticated techniques which they employ and, in spite of the difficulties encountered, are c o m f o r t e d in the knowledge that their approach is well in advance of those applied to other forms of industrial wastes. That this is n o t always necessarily the case is illustrated by a b o o k which derives from a workshop set up by the Ocean Policy Committee of the (U.S.) National Research Council, although admittedly this workshop was co-chaired by E.D. Goldberg and S.I. Auerbach, two figures of major standing in radioecological fora. Its subject is a comparison of land and sea alternatives for the disposal of industrial and domestic wastes, a subject which has also attracted considerable attention in the world of radioactive waste disposal. As anyone involved with the subject already knows, it is impossible to compare these alternatives in a generalized manner; it must be done at national level. In this case, two practices were considered: the 106-Mile
286 Ocean Waste Disposal Site (Dumpsite-106) o f f the New Jersey coast, the largest U.S. ocean site for disposal of industrial wastes, and the sewage sludge disposal problem in Los Angeles and Orange counties, California. Originally eight panels were set up but records of their deliberations have been condensed into chapters on sludge management and public policy, marine sciences, land disposal, and biological effects. The two case-studies are then considered in detail. The Dumpsite-106 has, in recent years, primarily been the recipient of acid-iron waste-water left over from the manufacture of titanium dioxide. In the first instance a number of possible choices for the disposal of such wastes were identified and the necessary information on environmental and institutional matters listed. The second step was to compare, numerically, the short and long-term impacts on man, the environment, and on property, in the media of air, surface-water, groundwater, land and the sea. This exercise was repeated for the 'institutional considerations' of attitudes, services, e c o n o m y and safety, and in all of these cases the numerical aspect consisted of deriving an environmental evaluation factor (EEF). The EEF was the p r o d u c t of the relative importance of the environmental variable, on a scale of 1 to 3, and the magnitude of the impact, estimated on a scale of --5to+5. And the result? Different methods of managing wastes from a sulphateprocess titanium dioxide manufacturing plant were examined and a number of them gradually eliminated leaving two alternatives: neutralization of the acid-iron waste with limestone, including disposal of the resultant solid waste on land but releasing the treated effluent to the river, or disposing the waste into the sea at the currently-used dumpsite. The results were overwhelmingly in favour of sea disposal having the least impact on man, the environment and society -- it was also the cheaper of the two options. With regard to sewage sludge, the text is less illuminating. It carefully considers all of the many issues and concluded that decisions based on relatively simple scientific, technical and economic analyses were impossible to make because of the considerable body of law, regulations and judicial decisions already surrounding the issue. In this respect there are important lessons to be learned. Once the 'institutional' aspects have a solid grip on the subject then it gradually slips b e y o n d all hope of being solved in a rational, scientific and technical manner. Indeed such a grip actively prevents such a solution being derived. But if the development of a rational solution is obfuscated then, because the problem merely gets worse, a decision may ultimately be made in a hasty, ill-considered and expedient manner, possibly to the detriment of man and the environment and thus the opposite of the objectives of those who constructed the laws and regulations, in the dark, to begin with. Which brings us back to radioactivity, because radioactive waste disposal is already being forced along this path. Those who take environmental matters seriously should read this b o o k -- in spite of its unattractive title.
Lowestoft (United Kingdom)
R.J. Pentreath
Lowestoft (United Kingdom)
R.J. Pentreath
Disposal of Industrial and Domestic Wastes: Land and Sea Alternatives, National Academy Press, Washington DC, 1984, 210 pp. Price: £19.00. Those who are concerned with the disposal of radioactive wastes often take pride in the detailed and sophisticated techniques which they employ and, in spite of the difficulties encountered, are c o m f o r t e d in the knowledge that their approach is well in advance of those applied to other forms of industrial wastes. That this is n o t always necessarily the case is illustrated by a b o o k which derives from a workshop set up by the Ocean Policy Committee of the (U.S.) National Research Council, although admittedly this workshop was co-chaired by E.D. Goldberg and S.I. Auerbach, two figures of major standing in radioecological fora. Its subject is a comparison of land and sea alternatives for the disposal of industrial and domestic wastes, a subject which has also attracted considerable attention in the world of radioactive waste disposal. As anyone involved with the subject already knows, it is impossible to compare these alternatives in a generalized manner; it must be done at national level. In this case, two practices were considered: the 106-Mile
286 Ocean Waste Disposal Site (Dumpsite-106) o f f the New Jersey coast, the largest U.S. ocean site for disposal of industrial wastes, and the sewage sludge disposal problem in Los Angeles and Orange counties, California. Originally eight panels were set up but records of their deliberations have been condensed into chapters on sludge management and public policy, marine sciences, land disposal, and biological effects. The two case-studies are then considered in detail. The Dumpsite-106 has, in recent years, primarily been the recipient of acid-iron waste-water left over from the manufacture of titanium dioxide. In the first instance a number of possible choices for the disposal of such wastes were identified and the necessary information on environmental and institutional matters listed. The second step was to compare, numerically, the short and long-term impacts on man, the environment, and on property, in the media of air, surface-water, groundwater, land and the sea. This exercise was repeated for the 'institutional considerations' of attitudes, services, e c o n o m y and safety, and in all of these cases the numerical aspect consisted of deriving an environmental evaluation factor (EEF). The EEF was the p r o d u c t of the relative importance of the environmental variable, on a scale of 1 to 3, and the magnitude of the impact, estimated on a scale of --5to+5. And the result? Different methods of managing wastes from a sulphateprocess titanium dioxide manufacturing plant were examined and a number of them gradually eliminated leaving two alternatives: neutralization of the acid-iron waste with limestone, including disposal of the resultant solid waste on land but releasing the treated effluent to the river, or disposing the waste into the sea at the currently-used dumpsite. The results were overwhelmingly in favour of sea disposal having the least impact on man, the environment and society -- it was also the cheaper of the two options. With regard to sewage sludge, the text is less illuminating. It carefully considers all of the many issues and concluded that decisions based on relatively simple scientific, technical and economic analyses were impossible to make because of the considerable body of law, regulations and judicial decisions already surrounding the issue. In this respect there are important lessons to be learned. Once the 'institutional' aspects have a solid grip on the subject then it gradually slips b e y o n d all hope of being solved in a rational, scientific and technical manner. Indeed such a grip actively prevents such a solution being derived. But if the development of a rational solution is obfuscated then, because the problem merely gets worse, a decision may ultimately be made in a hasty, ill-considered and expedient manner, possibly to the detriment of man and the environment and thus the opposite of the objectives of those who constructed the laws and regulations, in the dark, to begin with. Which brings us back to radioactivity, because radioactive waste disposal is already being forced along this path. Those who take environmental matters seriously should read this b o o k -- in spite of its unattractive title.
Lowestoft (United Kingdom)
R.J. Pentreath