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Israel
Volume 8/Number 5/May 1977
Greece A study of marine pollution in coastal waters receiving untreated sewage from Athens is to be carried out by UK consulting engineers J.D. & D.M. Watson. The project will help formulate plans for improving sewage treatment and outfall disposal to handle the liquid wastes of a region holding one third of Greece's population. Current problems include the concentration of heavy industry around Elefsis Bay and Piraeus and the inadequate existing sewerage and sewage treatment facilities. At present a dry weather flow of 2.5 mVs of mainly untreated sewage from the 70070 of Metropolitan Athens served by collector sewers is discharged close to Piraeus harbour through six 100m-long outfalls.
Canada What is claimed to be the world's first pollution-free paper mill has started operating in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The pulp mill, owned by the Great Lakes Paper Company, has a closed-cycle system which re-uses all water containing toxic waste. Effluent is produced a number of times during the pulping process, when the logs are debarked, chipped, and when the chips are cooked, pressed and then bleached. The pulp is washed after each process. With the new mill all pi'ocessed water which contains suspended solids or materials which have biological oxygen demand or colour or are toxic to marine life is reused. Only the cooling waters free of contaminants are discharged. The plant designers claim that the mill is not only pollution-free but is actually cheaper to run than the old style mills. They say it costs only about 5°70 more to build a mill with the new system. The new process will be widely welcomed by environmentalists. One fifth of water pollution, it has been estimated, comes from the pulpand paper industry. Each ton manufactured produces around 200 m' of toxic effluent.
USSR The NovostiInformation Service has reported that the world's first crab preserve is to be set up off the Kamchatka shores, around Ptichy island in the Okhotsk Sea. The preserve, which will cover an area of more than 1 million hectares, will create conditions to ensure the stocks of crabs, also in the surrounding areas.
During a recent expedition scientists found large accumulations of young crabs in an area near the planned preserve. The Pacific Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography is now investigating the artificial breeding of crabs. Scientists believe that Ptichy island will be a good location to establish crab 'incubators'.
United States Polluted water can cause cancer in oysters, clams and mussels, according to a survey carried out in the United States by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Six independent studies have found that bivalve molluscs growing in polluted estuaries and bays can develop tumours. The research showed that as many as 15 07oof the molluscs collected were affected. The study suggests that rising pollution levels are resulting in increased incidence of tumours.
Israel Fifty tons of crude oil were accidentally discharged into the Gulf of Aquaba at the Eilat Oil Terminal, when a connecting hose ruptured following a sudden build up of pressure inside the 150 000 ton tanker Sagitta. Despite immediate detection and subsequent shut down of pumping the spillage could not be prevented. Eight kilometres of shoreline were extensively polluted and the clearance operation took five days to complete at an estimated cost of over Israeli £250 000. Considerable criticism has been directed against the Eilat Sea Pollution Control Station because of the damage to local amenities. In its defence the Pollution Control Station has stated that they were unable to quickly contain or remove the oil because of a serious deficiency of manpower and equipment. Existing of floating pumps and 5OOm booms are now obsolete. At least Israeli £2 million is required to purchase new equipment which has been requested for the last 4 years. Consequently it has been suggested that fines levied on shipping companies for oil spillage should be directly distributed as compensation to all parties, instead of being channelled to the Central Government. The incident once again draws attention to the problems surrounding the operation of an oil terminal in an ecologically sensitive and recreational coastal area, reported inMar. Pollut. Bull., 6, 70-72, 1975.
TREVOR R. D I X O N
Erratum The authors of the article"Bioaccumulation factors of chlorinated hydrocarbon between mussels and seawater" (Mar. Pollut. Bull., 7, 225-228, 1976) wish to point out that the units of water concentration shown in Table 1 should be 10-9 g/l and not 10-~2g/l.
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Greece A study of marine pollution in coastal waters receiving untreated sewage from Athens is to be carried out by UK consulting engineers J.D. & D.M. Watson. The project will help formulate plans for improving sewage treatment and outfall disposal to handle the liquid wastes of a region holding one third of Greece's population. Current problems include the concentration of heavy industry around Elefsis Bay and Piraeus and the inadequate existing sewerage and sewage treatment facilities. At present a dry weather flow of 2.5 mVs of mainly untreated sewage from the 70070 of Metropolitan Athens served by collector sewers is discharged close to Piraeus harbour through six 100m-long outfalls.
Canada What is claimed to be the world's first pollution-free paper mill has started operating in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The pulp mill, owned by the Great Lakes Paper Company, has a closed-cycle system which re-uses all water containing toxic waste. Effluent is produced a number of times during the pulping process, when the logs are debarked, chipped, and when the chips are cooked, pressed and then bleached. The pulp is washed after each process. With the new mill all pi'ocessed water which contains suspended solids or materials which have biological oxygen demand or colour or are toxic to marine life is reused. Only the cooling waters free of contaminants are discharged. The plant designers claim that the mill is not only pollution-free but is actually cheaper to run than the old style mills. They say it costs only about 5°70 more to build a mill with the new system. The new process will be widely welcomed by environmentalists. One fifth of water pollution, it has been estimated, comes from the pulpand paper industry. Each ton manufactured produces around 200 m' of toxic effluent.
USSR The NovostiInformation Service has reported that the world's first crab preserve is to be set up off the Kamchatka shores, around Ptichy island in the Okhotsk Sea. The preserve, which will cover an area of more than 1 million hectares, will create conditions to ensure the stocks of crabs, also in the surrounding areas.
During a recent expedition scientists found large accumulations of young crabs in an area near the planned preserve. The Pacific Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography is now investigating the artificial breeding of crabs. Scientists believe that Ptichy island will be a good location to establish crab 'incubators'.
United States Polluted water can cause cancer in oysters, clams and mussels, according to a survey carried out in the United States by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Six independent studies have found that bivalve molluscs growing in polluted estuaries and bays can develop tumours. The research showed that as many as 15 07oof the molluscs collected were affected. The study suggests that rising pollution levels are resulting in increased incidence of tumours.
Israel Fifty tons of crude oil were accidentally discharged into the Gulf of Aquaba at the Eilat Oil Terminal, when a connecting hose ruptured following a sudden build up of pressure inside the 150 000 ton tanker Sagitta. Despite immediate detection and subsequent shut down of pumping the spillage could not be prevented. Eight kilometres of shoreline were extensively polluted and the clearance operation took five days to complete at an estimated cost of over Israeli £250 000. Considerable criticism has been directed against the Eilat Sea Pollution Control Station because of the damage to local amenities. In its defence the Pollution Control Station has stated that they were unable to quickly contain or remove the oil because of a serious deficiency of manpower and equipment. Existing of floating pumps and 5OOm booms are now obsolete. At least Israeli £2 million is required to purchase new equipment which has been requested for the last 4 years. Consequently it has been suggested that fines levied on shipping companies for oil spillage should be directly distributed as compensation to all parties, instead of being channelled to the Central Government. The incident once again draws attention to the problems surrounding the operation of an oil terminal in an ecologically sensitive and recreational coastal area, reported inMar. Pollut. Bull., 6, 70-72, 1975.
TREVOR R. D I X O N
Erratum The authors of the article"Bioaccumulation factors of chlorinated hydrocarbon between mussels and seawater" (Mar. Pollut. Bull., 7, 225-228, 1976) wish to point out that the units of water concentration shown in Table 1 should be 10-9 g/l and not 10-~2g/l.
101