U.N. Launches International Water Decade; U.S. Role Uncertain
Over 13 million children die in developing countries annually, and a key factor in many of these deaths is the lack of both drinking water and safe human-excreta disposal. Two-thirds of...
Hazardous Waste Management in California: Lessons for the U.S.
California has what many say is the best hazardous waste management program in the U.S. In fact, the Federal government used the California program as the basis for a national plan for...
Hazadous Wastes Should be Destroyed by Incineration�Not Stored in Landfills; Cement Kilns Could do the Job
Presently, it is common practice to place in landfills various hazardous wastes. Yet, say some experts, landfilling these wastes is a mistake. Landfilling is not final disposal, but merely...
GAO Finds Massive Failure of Wastewater Treatment Plants
A year-long study by the General Accounting Office of 242 wastewater treatment plants in 10 states concluded that discharge permit violations are the norm, not the exception. The failures,...
The Deep-Shaft Process: Bright Future for Treating High-Strength Wastewaters
A Deep-Shaft wastewater treatment process may reduce by 10 to 30 percent the power requirements and land area needed for a plant. The technique is most attractive for treating high-BOD...
Ugly Dump Site Transformed into Recreation Mega-Facility
The civil engineering project selected as the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement of 1981 is described. While other communities bemoan the use and loss of land to refuse disposal,...
East Bay Waste Management: From Landfill to Park
A balancing act between public interests, government regulations, and a private concern evolved into a total waste-management system for the San Francisco Bay area cities. Civil engineers...
Can Clay Liners Prevent Migration of Toxic Leachate
According to recent research, low permeability clay barriers, used by landfill operators to contain hazardous wastes, can be rendered highly permeable by certain aggressive chemicals including...
The Future of Nuclear Power: A Global View
At ASCE's International Convention in New York City this past May, there was some lively discussion about nuclear waste disposal, the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, the...
Thermal Destruction Options for Controlling Hazardous Wastes
Incineration will play an increasingly important role in the management of hazadous waste in the United States. Properly designed and operated incineration systems are capable of destroying...
EPA Moving to control Industrial Toxic Pollutants with New NPDES Permits
To date, the main thrust of the nation's water pollution control program has been to abate traditional pollutants (biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, and heavy...
Industry Challenges EPA on Whether Certain Wastes are Hazardous or Not
Before the U.S. can clean up its hazardous wastes, it must first decide which wastes are hazardous, which not. The case histories presented here show that this decision is not always easy...
Four Options for Hazardous Waste Disposal
Landfills, land treatment, mine storage, and deep well injection are four options examined as solutions to the hazardous waste disposal problem. Statistics indicate approximately 40 million...
NYC Convention Highlights - Part II
More highlights from ASCE's International Convention held in New York City this past May are presented. (See CE, 8/81 pp. 68-9, 74-5). Among the topics discussed are, the...
Appropriate Technology in Resource Conservation & Recovery
Six contributions to proceedings of an October 1979 ASCE workshop deal with both developing and industrial countries. A review of debris accumulation in urban areas reveals archaeological,...
Multimillion-Acre Tea Bag
Just as pouring the same cupful again and again through a tea strainer makes bitter tea, so irrigating again and again with return-flow water concentrates salts in the water supply. While...
Willow Island Aftermath: The Limits of OSHA
In April 1978 a natural-draft hyperbolic concrete cooling tower under construction at Willow Island, W.Va. collapsed. Fifty-one workers, suspended on a scaffold supported mainly by a layer...
River Clean-Up Plan Developed with Citizens and Industry
In Wisconsin, a group of citizens has worked closely with industry and professional water quality planners to develop a plan to make a once polluted river fishable/swimmable. This plan,...
Duluth Sanitary District First in U.S. to Take Charge of Both Sewage and Refuse
The Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, serving Duluth, Minnesota and its suburbs, is the first sanitary district in the U.S. to be responsible for both wastewater and municipal refuse...
Efficiences of Advanced Waste Treatment Obtained with Upgraded Trickling Filters
Many or most cities and towns, and particularly the smaller ones, still use trickling filters in their wastewater treatment plants. The process is economical and reliable, but unfortunately...
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