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Sewage treatment: Basic principles and trends
research reports in future issues, but there are none in the current number. So far as marine pollution is concerned, the first issue includes a paper on the prediction of disturbances to the near and offshore sedimentary regime from marine mining by W. C. Ebersole and another on species diversity and water quality in Galveston Bay. Tcxas. by B. J. Copeland and T. J. Bechtel. A theoretical analysis of intermediate mixing of thermal discharges into a uniform current by J. E. Edinger and E. M. Polk and methodological papers on the colorimetric determ. ination of trace nitrates in the presence of chloride by G. L. Petriconi and H. M. Papee and the removal of methyl mercury acetate from wa,.ers by chromatography on chelating pol.vmers by R. A. A. Mazzurelli and A. Isolati are also of some interest. There is also an account of water pollution in Lake Michigan by trace elements from aerosol fallout by J. W. Winchester and G. D. Nijong which has some pertinence for marine pollution studies. R. B. CLXRK
Sewage Treatment Disposal of Sewage and Other Waterborne Wastes, by Imhoff, K., MOiler. W . . J . , and Thistlethwayte, D. K. B. 2nd edition. 405 pp. Butterworths, Lon. don. Price £7. This is a comprehensive review of the waste water control field based on Imhoff's famous Taschenbuch der Stadtentwasserung, whose popularity can be gauged by its 22 editions. The book begins with two brief chapters on sewerage followed by a more extended coverage of the chemical and biological testing of waste waters. There is also an extensive section on the preliminary considerations involved in disposal to streams. This covers the usual ground on oxygen sag calculations but also takes a wider view on aspects like reclamation and reuse. Unfortunately it covers only the aspects of river pollution relating to organic waste and health consideration in any detail and deals with disposal to seas and estuaries in a cursory, manner. The main body of the book is devoted to methods of waste treatment and because of the extensive nature of the subject and the comprehensive nature of the coverage the treatment of the subject matter is on a rather pragmatic level. For example, there is not space tO discuss the complexities of the phenomena involved in sedimentation and flocculation. The discussion of biological processes is equally at an elementary level. However, operating within this space constraint, the authors present a comprehensive coverage of the technology of waste treatment and give an indication of the basic phenomena on which the processes and equipment depend. The book is particularly useful for British readers in that it deals with Continental practices which are not well known in this country. A. JAMES Sewage Treatment: Basic Principles and Trends, by Bolton, R. L.. and Klein. L. 1971.2nd Edition. 256 pp. Butterworths, London. Price £5. This book attempts to explain the chemical, physical
and biological principles underlying waste treatment to an audience ranging from sewage works operators to public health engineers. On the whole t h e attempt is successful, especially in the sections relating to chemical principles and the practical details of operation. In particular, this applies to Chapter 2. which provides an excellent introduction to the chemical principles involved. Unfortunately the following chapters dealing with treatment methods do not maintain such a high standard and tend to be rather superficial in their explanation of the basic phenomena, particularly in relation to biological processes. There is. however, an adequate coverage for a non-specialist of waste treat. merit technology. Chapter 12 of the book, dealing with Trends. seems a little dated and cannot be said to be a fair reflection of the future problems in water pollution control. For example, it ends with a discussion of the surface-active components in detergents without men. tioning the now more serious problem of the polyphosphate additives. The book ends with some useful notes on chemical calculations and conversion tables. A. J~vws Politics of Pollution
Water Pollution as a World Problem, the Legal,. Scientific and Political Aspects. Report of a conference held at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. 11,12 July, 1970. Published for the David Davies Memorial Institute of Internationa~ Studies by Europa Publications, London. ix+240 pp. Price £3.50. The objectives of this conference were to examine the problems arising from water pollution, by nuclear and thermal waste, oil, chemicals and pesticides from the scientific, legal and administrative viewpoints. The re. suiting book is composed of trios of reviews on each main subject together with the full discussions which followed their presentation at the conference. In the chairman's opening address, Lord Hodson set the scene for the conference with a general review of the recent concern for the growing evidence of serious water pollution. Unfortunately. this review contains errors of both emphasis and fact. one at least of which cannot be left without comment. In discussing nuclear waste Lord Hodson states that the accident that occurred when the Windscale reactor went critical in 1957 emitted more radioactivity than was released at Hiroshima. Windscale in fact released 10,000 times less radioactivity than the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a fact that was emphasized by Dr W. G." Marley during discussions later in the conference. In these days when the activities of the lunatic fringe movement denude the creditability of the responsible and balanced real conservation movement, such loose statements are liable to be misused and would have been better corrected in the final printed record of the conference. The main papers of the conference are informative and. while not presenting new information, do present comprehensive, balanced accounts of the problems of water pollution in a readable form intelligible to the layman. The authors are acknowledged leading authorities. The legal aspects of pollution problems seldom receive much attention in the mass media, where comment
Sewage Treatment Disposal of Sewage and Other Waterborne Wastes, by Imhoff, K., MOiler. W . . J . , and Thistlethwayte, D. K. B. 2nd edition. 405 pp. Butterworths, Lon. don. Price £7. This is a comprehensive review of the waste water control field based on Imhoff's famous Taschenbuch der Stadtentwasserung, whose popularity can be gauged by its 22 editions. The book begins with two brief chapters on sewerage followed by a more extended coverage of the chemical and biological testing of waste waters. There is also an extensive section on the preliminary considerations involved in disposal to streams. This covers the usual ground on oxygen sag calculations but also takes a wider view on aspects like reclamation and reuse. Unfortunately it covers only the aspects of river pollution relating to organic waste and health consideration in any detail and deals with disposal to seas and estuaries in a cursory, manner. The main body of the book is devoted to methods of waste treatment and because of the extensive nature of the subject and the comprehensive nature of the coverage the treatment of the subject matter is on a rather pragmatic level. For example, there is not space tO discuss the complexities of the phenomena involved in sedimentation and flocculation. The discussion of biological processes is equally at an elementary level. However, operating within this space constraint, the authors present a comprehensive coverage of the technology of waste treatment and give an indication of the basic phenomena on which the processes and equipment depend. The book is particularly useful for British readers in that it deals with Continental practices which are not well known in this country. A. JAMES Sewage Treatment: Basic Principles and Trends, by Bolton, R. L.. and Klein. L. 1971.2nd Edition. 256 pp. Butterworths, London. Price £5. This book attempts to explain the chemical, physical
and biological principles underlying waste treatment to an audience ranging from sewage works operators to public health engineers. On the whole t h e attempt is successful, especially in the sections relating to chemical principles and the practical details of operation. In particular, this applies to Chapter 2. which provides an excellent introduction to the chemical principles involved. Unfortunately the following chapters dealing with treatment methods do not maintain such a high standard and tend to be rather superficial in their explanation of the basic phenomena, particularly in relation to biological processes. There is. however, an adequate coverage for a non-specialist of waste treat. merit technology. Chapter 12 of the book, dealing with Trends. seems a little dated and cannot be said to be a fair reflection of the future problems in water pollution control. For example, it ends with a discussion of the surface-active components in detergents without men. tioning the now more serious problem of the polyphosphate additives. The book ends with some useful notes on chemical calculations and conversion tables. A. J~vws Politics of Pollution
Water Pollution as a World Problem, the Legal,. Scientific and Political Aspects. Report of a conference held at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. 11,12 July, 1970. Published for the David Davies Memorial Institute of Internationa~ Studies by Europa Publications, London. ix+240 pp. Price £3.50. The objectives of this conference were to examine the problems arising from water pollution, by nuclear and thermal waste, oil, chemicals and pesticides from the scientific, legal and administrative viewpoints. The re. suiting book is composed of trios of reviews on each main subject together with the full discussions which followed their presentation at the conference. In the chairman's opening address, Lord Hodson set the scene for the conference with a general review of the recent concern for the growing evidence of serious water pollution. Unfortunately. this review contains errors of both emphasis and fact. one at least of which cannot be left without comment. In discussing nuclear waste Lord Hodson states that the accident that occurred when the Windscale reactor went critical in 1957 emitted more radioactivity than was released at Hiroshima. Windscale in fact released 10,000 times less radioactivity than the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a fact that was emphasized by Dr W. G." Marley during discussions later in the conference. In these days when the activities of the lunatic fringe movement denude the creditability of the responsible and balanced real conservation movement, such loose statements are liable to be misused and would have been better corrected in the final printed record of the conference. The main papers of the conference are informative and. while not presenting new information, do present comprehensive, balanced accounts of the problems of water pollution in a readable form intelligible to the layman. The authors are acknowledged leading authorities. The legal aspects of pollution problems seldom receive much attention in the mass media, where comment