Perspectives in Running Water Ecology

836

Book Revie~ s

such as zinc. nickel, chromium, copper, lead and mercury over comparatively short stretches of the same coastline. How to interpret such information is a problem which the authors recognise is formidable. They draw comfort from the fact that they have made as thorough an analysis of the samples as possible in order to avoid the fear that faces every monitoring team that full advantage may not be taken of rare opportunities to obtain information which might be useful even its immediate value appears to be doubtful. When the authors have digested and interpreted the information they have so laboriously accumulated over a 17-year period it will be of interest to know the contribution their work will make towards the control of pollution in the Mediterranean. S. H. JexKIxs,~

Recycling Rural and Urban Nightsoil in Thailand, by C. Polprasert. P. Edwards. C. Pacharaprakiti, V. Singh Rajput and S. Suthirawut. AIT Research Report No. 143, Asian Institute of Technology. Bangkok, 1982, 180 pp. In the absence of waterborne sewerage systems, the collection and treatment of faecal matter from sanitation systems is the main problem for most communities in the tropics. Financial constraints, lack of piped water supplies and the vast effort that would be needed to change this situation almost guarantee its continuance. Hence the support that the World Bank has given to low-cost sanitation schemes of acceptable standards that meet public health requirements. The present report deals with a scheme to treat sludge from septic tanks or, alternatively, pretreated night soil in fish ponds in order to use the nutrients for the growth of Tilapia nilotica. The nightsoil was either composted with water hyacinth and rice straw or anaerobically digested with vegetable matter. The fish ponds were 20 x 10m and I m deep; the digesters 3.5 m 3. Care was taken to construct the digester units in a way that would allow comparable units to be built elsewhere at reasonable cost. An upflow anaerobic filter could be used to treat the digester overflow. Compost was made under cover in a compost house using finely chopped material and taking precautions to conserve heat and moisture. In addition to chemical and bacteriological examinations being carried out on the sludges before and after treatment and of the pond contents, determinations were made of bacteriophage, parasitic helminth eggs z,nd snails. Pathogens were determined on sludges, slurries, fish liver and spleen in samples sent to Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. Temperatures attained in the centre of the compost heaps did not rise much above 5WC in spite of precautions being taken to maintain aerobic conditions in order to encourage exothermic microbiological activity which would inactivate parasitic helminth eggs. Although the report contains a wealth of analytical data on the conversion of sludge or night soil into compost, some of its most useful parts concern the operation of small digesters. It is interesting to learn that trouble with scum was experienced after 2 months' operation. The results in this report partly meet the need for information on the performance of small digesters operating on sludge and household waste. The bulk of the report is devoted to the growth of fish and here it is important to note that although compost is only a slow acting fertilizer, because the nitrogen it contains is present as protein it proved to be capable of raising the yield of Tilapia nilotica grown in the absence of compost by a factor of four or five. The results of the work carried out are reported in great detail and profuse illustrations help to bring out the fact

that compost making in~,ol~es considerable use or manpower. For this reason and because of the importance of obtaining long term operating data on :terobic composting. small scale anaerobic digestion and fish cultivation, it would be of interest to see a permanent demonstration plant operating according to the methods described in this report. S. H. JENKINS,~

Perspectives in Running Water Ecology, b~ M. A. Lock and D. D. Williams. Plenum Press, New York. 1981, x + 430 pp., US $49.50. This book was written as a tribute to Professor H. B. N. Hynes. on the occasion of his retirement from university teaching, by some of his former post-graduate students and research fellows. This was a worthy reason but. because of the different interests of the contributors, one that has resulted in a very mixed bunch of subjects which the editors have, despairingly I should think, attempted to arrange in thematic sections. There are some strange bedfellows. For example in Section III headed "'Aspects of aquatic environment perturbations: management and application", there is "Man's impact on tropical rivers", followed by "Aquatic invertebrates and palaeoecology'" followed by "'Organizational impediments to effective research on running waters". It appears that this book has arisen from what was conceived initially as a personal tribute to Noel Hynes. Perhaps because of this, there is an obvious lack of editorial rigour: most of the contributions are overlong and lack the fluency in the use of English and the lucidity which are the hallmark of Hynes' own publications. The best part of the book is Section I ~hich comprises six articles concerned with the processing of particulate and dissolved organic matter in streams. There is some overlap of content but overall the series provides a useful review of the recent literature although I would have welcomed a more critical approach. I particularly enjoyed the contribution by M. A. Lock on the river epilithon and that by G. A. Bird and N. K. Kaushik on coarse particulate organic matter in streams. A disappointing article in this section is that by D. W. Dance which deals with seasonal aspects of transport of organic and inorganic matter in streams--this would have benefited particularly from more rigorous editing. There is little continuity to the remainder of the book. Section II is concerned with benthic invertebrates. I particularly enjoyed D. R. Barton's review of the effects of hydrodynamics on the distribution of lake benthos but D. D. Williams clearly attempts too much in his contribution which reviews the factors influencing the migration and distribution of stream benthos, An extensive subject this and it is dealt with too superficially here. The other contributions in this section are about lotic ciliates and Gammarus ecology. The contents to Section Ill have already been mentioned. I enjoyed R. R. Wallace's thoughtful discussion of the effects of changes in the organization and funding of research in Canada, there being a shift in emphasis from long-term fundamental research to short-term applied research. A similar shift is also occurring in Britain. The importance of the long-term accumulation of data has recently been highlighted by the Director of the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA Annual Report No. 50, 1982J. The final section of the book is devoted to regional riverine ecology. One contribution deals with streams at high latitudes Iprincipally Canadian). another with African rivers and a third with Australian rivers. This latter by W. D. Williams is by far the best not so much because of

Book Reviews its content but because of its refreshing style. I wish the other contributions to the book were as readable. Overall, I found this an unsatisfactory book although many freshwater ecologists viii probably find something in it of interest. I do not recommend it for personal purchase but it could be usefully acquired by institutional libraries ~ herever a substantial interest in freshwater ecology exists. M. A. LEARNER

Industrialised Embayments and their Environmental Problems. A Case Study of Swansea Bay, edited by M. B. Collins. F. T. Banner, P. A. Tyler, S. J. Wakefield and A. E. James. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1980, 616 pp., £33.50.

S3"r

Aquatic Chemistry. by W. S t u m m and J. J. Morgan. Wiley. New York. 2nd Edition. 1981, -S0 pp.. £35.25 ihardbackL £18.65. The first edition of this book. subtitled ' A n introduction emphasizing chemical equilibria in natural ~aters". appeared in 1971. It immediately established itself as an authoritative text ~hich did more than an~ other to nurture a new branch of academic study. This branch blossomed profusely during the 1970s and has generated more fruits of wisdom to be incorporated in the re~ised 1981 edition. The length of the book has increased from 583 to 780 pages, largely because of the inclusion of t~o ne~ chapters on organic c o m p o u n d s in natural waters and an assessmen, of water pollution problems and their control. Sections on marine chemistry,, kinetic considerations, the solid:solution interface, metal ligand interactions and the use of stable and radioactive isotopes in the study of processes in natural waters have either been expanded or introduced. The chapter on organic compounds, though brief, gives an original presentation of the chemistry of organic carbon in natural waters without the usual emphasis on toxicity and bioaccumulation of pesticides and related compounds. The chapter on water pollution control is a more radical departure from the concepts of the first edition, but because it is tackled from first principles it presents a fresh and stimulating approach to the subject which prevents it from resembling a token gesture towards political and economic issues, The main topics covered are the effects of h u m a n populations on water quality, water quality' criteria. eutrophication, ecotoxicology and atmospheric dispersion of metals and gases ( C O , , SO_,. NOz, from fuel-burning and industrial activity) and their effects on x~aters. The structure of most of the chapters is similar to those in the first edition. The most revised is the long chapter introducing the principles of chemical thermodynamics, illustrated by examples of relevance to reactions in natural waters, and expanded by greater emphasis on kinetics. This is followed by chapters on acids and bases, dissolved carbon dioxide and solubility and precipitation. Next there is a long chapter on the complexation of metals in natural waters which wits probably the most influential section of the first edition. The remaining chapters [except for the new ones already referred toj deal with oxidation and reduction, processes controlling the chemical composition of natural waters and reactions of the solid solution interface. The revision and updating ensure that the book ~ill remain pre-eminent in its field. ,",lost tirst edition copies will by now be showing signs of heavy use. If an.~ criticism should be levelled at the book it is the lack of a comprehensive introduction which could do more to caution against the cavalier use of the concepts so successfull? propounded in later chapters. This can lead to false con,,donee in conclusions based on the use of incomplete or inaccucate data, for example in situations which are inappropriate because the system does not approach equilibrium or its composition is only partiaI[y known.

As indicated by its sub-title, this volume is a case study of a specific near-shore marine environment, rather than an overall review of the environmental problems associated with industrialised embayments. It is a substantial publication, arising from a s y m p o s i u m held at University College, Swansea, in September, 1979, presented in the form of 37 papers together with material from discussion sessions, and one appendix. Following accounts of the geological evolution. geomorphological setting, archaeological and historical influences, there is a sequence of papers divided about equally between the physical oceanographic, sedimentological, chemical and biological aspects; the voh, me coneludes with several contributions on economic aspects. Swansea Bay is a fairly shallow bay, with an unusually large tidal range, receiving freshwater inputs from five rivers. The bay is bounded to the west by the non-industrial,sod Gower Peninsula, but the city of Swansea, a major port, and the coastal region to the east, are urbanised with extensive industrial developments. Some areas inland also have a legacy of earlier industry in the form of wastes left by old mining and smelting activities. As a result of the indt.strial and urban development (the catchment area of the bay hlis a population of about half a million people) a wide range of effluents enters the bay, including m a n y sewage discharges which are untreated or only partially treated; sludge d u m p i n g also occurs. The region therefore presents many of the problems relevant to the m a n a g e m e n t of industrial,sod e m b a y m e n t s generally and as it result of the existence of several dedicated groups with interest in and access to the area, a considerable a m o u n t of research has been undertaken into the processes occurring in the bay and into specific aspects of the effects of past and present urban and industrial development. There has by now been a considerable n u m b e r of accounts of particular near-shore regions, especially estuaries. They vary considerably in emphasis, from detailed presentations of original findings to reviews and syntheses of such work. The present volume, representing the efforts of over 50 contributors, leans towards the former approach, although many of the papers provide useful reviews. The material gives an excellent idea of the impressive range of the studies which have been undertaken on the region. It is not possible at reasonable length to give a balanced assessment of so many individual contriJ. GARI)INER butions. The editors are, however, to be congratulated on having assembled much useful material effectively and promptly, and the publishers likewise c o m m e n d e d for the speed v, ith ;vhich a well-produced book was off the press. New Concepts and Practices in Activated Sludge Process The volume ~ill certainly be an essential reference work Control, by Robert M. Arthur. Arthur Technology and for all future workers on this area. Many contributions are, Ann Arbor Science, Ann Arbor. ,'vii, 1982, 125 pp. however, of much more general interest for those concerned with scientific and managerial problems in near- The ideas and concepts presented in this book are based on the following observations made by the author in his shore environments and the book deserves wide attention. study and experimentation with activated sludge systems. (I) To understand the activated sludge process, it must be recognized that activated sludge is a living system and, J. D. BURTON