More tankers collide

Sewage poses Threat In spite o f predictions of pestilential drinking water and fishless rivers there s e e m e d to be no i m m e d i a t e danger as the strike o f British sewage workers passed its f o u r t h week at the end o f October. The strikers were a m o n g several groups o f local a u t h o r i t y e m p l o y e e s w h o were d e m a n d i n g higher wages. As a c o n s e q u e n c e of their action some British rivers were receiving partly treated or even u n t r e a t e d sewage. The Thames suffered substantially, particularly near Swindon, but there was no threat to the p e o p l e whose drinking water is drawn f r o m this source, including 6 million inhabitants o f L o n d o n . Each day 350 million gallons of water is taken f r o m the T h a m e s b y the Metropolitan Water Board, but by the f o u r t h w e e k of the strike this was still within the n o r m a l limits o f purity. If c o n t a m i n a t i o n were to e x c e e d these limits the b o a r d w o u l d close its water intakes i m m e d i a t e l y and begin to draw on its reserves, which w o u l d supply L o n d o n with drinking water for 5 or 6 weeks. Only at this stage w o u l d it be time to worry a b o u t the i m m i n e n t danger of epidemics caused by agents carried in the polluting sewage. The future o f the fish of the Thames, at least in some places, was less bright, although predictions of a foul and fishless river were far f r o m being fulfilled. By the third week of the strike no fish had been r e p o r t e d to have died in the lower, tidal region o f the Thames, which reaches as far as Teddington. Roach, bream, bleak, bass, herring and various o t h e r species were thriving. Experts were h e a r t e n e d to see red mullett in the river near Grays in Essex. This fish is e x t r e m e l y rare in the Thames, and its appearance at this time was surely a sign that the g o o d w o r k o f cleaning up the river in the past few years had n o t been totally u n d o n e during the strike. In the upper Thames, however, p o l l u t i o n was m o r e serious, and thousands of fish died. Here the experts were less happy, and some felt that if the strike c o n t i n u e d m u c h longer this stretch of river could b e c o m e as fishless as it was 5 years ago.

Red Tide in Gulf At the end of August a large n u m b e r of fish w e r e killed in the Gulf o f Mexico while there was an a b n o r m a l l y large c o n c e n t r a t i o n of the dinoflagellate Gymnodiniurn brevis in the area. A c c o r d i n g to a r e p o r t received b y the Smithsonian Institution Center for Short-lived P h e n o m e n a the kill o c c u r r e d along the s o u t h e r n part of the Gulf of Mexico. B e t w e e n the estuaries o f Rio C o a t z o c o a l c o s and Rio Grijalva the shoreline was strewn with dead fishes o f various species, including a shark m o r e t h a n 1.5m long. Divers f o u n d that off Santa Ana, the site of the worst devastation, the sea b o t t o m was also covered w i t h dead fishes. Analysis of samples o f water showed t h a t the sea c o n t a i n e d a b o u t 700,000 cells of G. brevis per litre about 10 days after the deaths were first n o t e d .

More Tankers collide The spraying e q u i p m e n t developed recently by the British Board of Trade to c o m b a t oil p o l l u t i o n was well and truly t e s t e d after the collision on 23 O c t o b e r b e t w e e n the tankers Pacific Glory and Allegro near the Isle o f Wight. The Allegro was only slightly damaged and m o v e d on to Fawley to discharge its cargo, but the Pacific Glory was left stranded and burning on a shingle bank. The fire was extinguished by 25 October, b u t the battle against the oil c o n t i n u e d . Most of the oil which leaked f r o m

the tanker was diesel and engine oil, and tugs carrying the newly designed spray b o o m s on their sides p o u r e d detergent o n t o it. Local a u t h o r i t y workers were ready with spraying apparatus o n the beaches o f the Isle o f Wight and the mainland. By 28 O c t o b e r observers r e p o r t e d that the danger f r o m this p o l l u t i o n was minimal. A more serious threat was that the Pacific Glory w o u l d break up and disgorge its cargo of 77,000 tonnes o f crude oil. The salvage o p e r a t i o n began on 29 O c t o b e r , w h e n the Shell t a n k e r Halea b e r t h e d alongside and began to p u m p out oil f r o m the stranded ship. A spokesman for the D u t c h firm o f A. L. Smit, which was in charge o f the operation, said t h a t it w o u l d take 7 days of fine weather to p u m p out 20,000 tonnes of oil. When this had been achieved, he said, the vessel w o u l d be light enough to be pulled off the shingle bank.

Countryside in 1970 U n d e r the presidency o f the D u k e of Edinburgh, and with the Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister, Mr Edward Heath, a m o n g the speakers, the third Countryside in 1970 c o n f e r e n c e filled the Guildhall in L o n d o n from 26 to 28 October. As well as providing one of the highlights of the British e f f o r t for E u r o p e a n Conservation Year, this was the c u l m i n a t i o n o f 7 years of activity which the duke inspired w h e n he initiated the m o v e m e n t k n o w n as the Countryside in 1970. Delegates had been presented with t w e n t y reports on various aspects o f the e n v i r o n m e n t , prepared by a collection of c o m m i t t e e s and acl hoc groups. Faced with so m u c h literature m o s t speakers seemed to despair of trying to debate the c o n t e n t s of the reports, and instead restricted themselves to a reiteration of their own points of view. One group of delegates keen to have some debate was the National U n i o n of Students C o m m i t t e e o n the Environment. This group had presented a c o n t r i b u t i o n on refuse disposal, in which the official Countryside in 1970 report on this topic was taken to task. The NUS c o m m i t t e e t o o k particular e x c e p t i o n to the r e c o m m e n d a t i o n that 'the main use for refuse of all kinds (excluding toxic wastes) should be as a filling material to m a k e good the surface extraction of minerals - e x c e p t w h e r e an alternative use is justified, such as the d e v e l o p m e n t of water-filled working for sailing . . . . ' NUS opinion was that insufficient a t t e n t i o n had been paid to the dangers inherent in the tipping o f crude refuse. The students disagreed with the view o f the official ad hoc group on refuse disposal that water p o l l u t i o n w o u l d not be a danger w h e n waste was tipped into a f o r m e r sand or gravel pit. Official opinion was that the material lining the pit w o u l d filter out organic pollutants so that all risk w o u l d be e l i m i n a t e d within a few yards of the site. The NUS c o m m i t t e e , however, r e c o m m e n d e d that local authorities should e x a m i n e the feasability o f incinerating refuse, using appropriate safeguards against atmospheric pollution. A n o t h e r report which the delegates had b e f o r e t h e m was an appraisal of G o v e r n m e n t a l responsibility for the natural environment. This lost some of its novelty by appearing shortly after the a n n o u n c e m e n t of changes in the British G o v e r n m e n t , which included the f o r m a t i o n of the Departm e n t of the E n v i r o n m e n t , uniting the former Ministries of Housing and Local G o v e r n m e n t , Public Building and Works and Transport. In an a d d e n d u m to its report, the ad hoc group c o n c e r n e d with G o v e r n m e n t a l responsibility n o t e d that these changes m o v e d in the general direction which it was advocating. The group did not call for a new ministry c o n c e r n e d exclusively with conservation of the environment, but felt that ' m u c h greater c o h e r e n c e and intelligibility c o u l d and should be i n t r o d u c e d into the G o v e r n m e n t m a c h i n e r y in this field'. 165