A Study of the Disposal of Chemical Waste at Sea. Report of the Committee for Investigation of Waste Disposal,
Abstract
The pollution of the Raritan River and Raritan Bay by industrial wastes and domestic sewage has led to active measures to improve conditions in these waters. These included an order restraining the National Lead Company from continuing to discharge certain wastes from its titanium plant at Sayreville, New Jersey, into the Raritan River. This Company proposed and prepared to carry out a plan to barge the material to sea. After consultation with many interested agencies, the Company secured permission from the Captain of the Port of New York to discharge the waste in an area thirteen miles from Scotland Lightship and ten miles off the New Jersey coast. Serious opposition to the proposal developed on the part of the commercial and sport fishing interests, who felt that the operations would seriously interfere with their activities. In order that the facts be fully and impartially developed, the National Lead Company requested the National Research Council to sponsor an investigation of the operation and its consequences, and made the necessary funds available. The Council contracted with the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. to conduct studies. At the present time sewage sludges are being discharged at sea in the offing of New York and are the subject of complaint by fishermen and others. In the future, pressures will arise to dispose of other industrial wastes offshore, and it is important to know what consequences are to be expected and what regulations are required to best serve the public interest. The investigations have involved the problems of pollution, the disposal of waste products and their control, survey of the sport fishing of the region, biological studies, the drift bottle program, hydrographic and chemical studies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1951
- Accession Number
- ADA319842
Entities
People
- Alfred C. Redfield
- Lionel A. Walford
Organizations
- National Research Council