ASPECTS OF WATER POLLUTION IN THE COASTAL AREA OF THE GULF OF MEXICO 1 Prepared in the DIVISION of WATER POLLUTION CONTROL and SHellfish BRANCH, DIVISION of SANITATION, Public Health Service, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Principal natural resources of the Gulf that appear susceptible to damages from water pollution are sport and commercial fin fisheries, shellfisheries, wildlife, and recreational areas that are utilized by local people or attract tourists. Through the Mississippi River alone, the Gulf receives drainage from 1,244,000 square miles, or 41 percent of the land area of the United States. Water comes from points as far distant as Bozeman, Montana, and Jamestown, New York, and from land fronting on the Gulf itself. Damaging pollution occurs locally at many upstream points of this and other long river systems. Because of natural purification and great distances of flow to the Gulf such pollution need not be considered here. With the exception of sediment loads, which may be carried great distances with little. change in character, significant sources of pollution are those located near the Gulf. The data upon which this report is based relate principally to sources of pollution lying within 50 miles of the Gulf. Pollution sources lying outside this zone are considered only if they are particularly significant by virtue of their specific quality or quantity. The land area so defined includes parts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Except with respect to shellfish sanitation, very few water pollution studies have been published. As a result, most information on this subject is found unpublished in the files of State health departments and water pollution control agencies. The most intensive investigations have been conducted by private organizations and were initiated by allegations of damages to oyster resources by petroleum industry wastes. Pending litigation and threatened litigation have kept reports of most of the findings from publication. A number of studies conducted 1 Assistance was given by State water pollution control agencies and shellfish sanitation agencies in the preparation of this report. by various agencies have been published (Gunter 1942; Anonymous 1949; Specht 1950; Phelps and Barry 1950; Anonymous 1952; Galtsoff et al., 1935; Galtsoff 1936). The accuracy of data on water pollution is necessarily short-lived, principally because progress is continually being made as more municipalities and industries take action to abate pollution. This chapter is based on information available in 1953. Up-to-date information for specific areas may always be obtained from appropriate State agencies. NATURE OF POLLUTION AFFECTING THE Wastes of various kinds enter the Gulf waters by direct discharge from coastal municipalities and industries or through tributary streams that serve as transmission media for wastes from con siderable areas. Included are raw and partially treated municipal sewage, industrial wastes characteristic of a great variety of manufacturing processes, and sediment loads from soil erosion. Municipal sewage is a complex mixture of the liquid-carried wastes that result from modern human existence. Although it is about 99.9 percent water, the solids making up the remaining 0.1 percent are the cause of the problems of sewage pollution. The discharge of untreated sewage to watercourses is objectionable mainly because of three of its characteristics: (1) actual or potential presence of pathogenic bacteria that threaten the health of persons using the water and cause economic losses to the shellfish industry by making the product unsafe for human consumption, (2) organic constituents that have a biochemical demand upon oxygen resources of the water so that aerobic organisms suffocate, and disagreeable odors and appearance from putrefaction become a nuisance, and (3) a solids content that makes the water unsightly and blankets the bottom and its population of organisms with layers of putrescible particles. Industrial wastes vary in character with the nature of the industrial process in which they originate. Organic wastes, such as those from food processing, sugar refining, or pulp and paper making, are similar to sewage in their ability to diminish oxygen resources. In most cases, however, the oxygen demand per unit volume is greater than that of sewage and the pollution. effects more drastic. Various chemical plants, metal industries, and oil field operations have wastes with high inorganic content. Discharges of such wastes cause damaging pollution if they make aquatic environments uninhabitable for desirable organisms, or if the receiving water becomes less suitable for any human usage. Once in the water, some wastes of this kind are dissipated appreciably only by dilution. Sediment loads, which have their origin principally in soil losses from the land, enter the Gulf, its estuaries, lagoons, and contiguous lakes in some degree through every tributary stream. Data on sediment loads are available only for the principal contributors. The annual load of the Mississippi River alone is some five hundred million tons (Matthes 1951), and the load from all sources may bring the total to a billion tons or more. Aside from the losses of valuable soil resources, deposition of sediment loads along the coastal zone has raised serious problems in development and maintenance of navigation channels and harbor installations and has destroyed valuable shellfish growing areas. WATER POLLUTION CONTROL AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, AND LAWS Under provisions of the Water Pollution Control Act (Public Law No. 845, 80th Congress), the Division of Water Pollution Control of the Public Health Service participates, along with the States, in water pollution control activities; however, the primary rights and responsibilities in controlling water pollution rest with the States. For the purposes set forth in the act, the country has been divided into major river drainage basins, and 9 field offices have been established to permit close, effective cooperation with State water pollution control agencies. Three such drainage basins have frontage on the Gulf of Mexico. A river basin office in Atlanta, Georgia, is concerned with water pollution activities in Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. Another in Little Rock, Arkansas, has corresponding functions in Louisiana and Texas. The ultimate aim of the cooperative activities is to abate and prevent water pollution in the United States. One step toward accomplishing this is the development of comprehensive programs for eliminating or reducing pollution. Basic in such development is recognition that a number of interests such as public health, wildlife and conservation, industry, municipalities, and agriculture have a stake in formulation of the program, its execution, and its cost. Each program will apply to an entire watercourse, or significant part as a unit, and will set down the pattern of remedial and preventive measures that will permit full utilization of the water resources for all present and potential water uses. Evaluation of the present problem in each major drainage basin on the basis of presently available information has been completed. Reports on three of these areas contain data of significance with respect to the Gulf.2 The Water Pollution Control Act authorized the appropriation of funds for grants-in-aid to official State water-pollution control agencies to be expended by them in the conduct of investigations, research, surveys, and studies related to the prevention and control of water pollution caused by industrial wastes. Each of the Gulf States now has an active program along these lines. Encouragement of cooperative activities by the States and in the enactment of uniform State laws relating to water pollution, the collection and dissemination of information on the subject, provision of technical assistance with specific problems, and participation in the formulation of water-quality objectives are other phases of the overall program. Pollution control activities of the individual Gulf States are related to and largely dictated by provisions, powers, and duties set forth in their existing legislation. Pertinent facts for each State follow. 2 Summary Reports on Water Pollution: (1) Western Gulf Drainage Basin, (2) Southwest-Lower Mississippi Drainage Basin, and (3) Southeast Drainage Basin 1951. FLORIDA Authorization to control water pollution is vested in the State Board of Health by legislative act (Ch. 381.43 and 387.08, Florida Statutes, 1941) and is implied by the enabling act authorizing the creation of a Sanitary Code by the State Board of Health (Ch. 381.50, Florida Statutes, 1941). Two other State agencies have limited authority in this field. The Commission of Game and Freshwater Fish has the power and authority to enforce the prohibition against the placing of certain deleterious substances or forces into fresh waters whereby fish are or may be injured. The State Board of Conservation is given authority to promulgate regulations to prevent action in one watershed area or location which will adversely affect the surface or underground water supply in another area. ALABAMA Responsibility for water pollution control activities in Alabama is vested largely in the Water Improvement Commission with comprehensive powers of enforcement, including the issuance of permits for the discharge of waste into the waters of the State. The State Department of Health has general authority with respect to enforcement of laws relating to public health and specific authority with respect to protection of drinking water. The State Department of Health also has responsibility for cooperating with the Water Improvement Commission in conducting investigations, inspections, and related activities. MISSISSIPPI Water pollution control is administered in Mississippi by two State agencies. The State Board of Health has authority to control water pollution through its general public health powers. The Game and Fish Commission has pollution control powers which specifically include the authority to hold hearings, issue regulations and final orders, and provide for judicial review of such orders, and is enabled to control pollution for the protection of game, fish, and wildlife. LOUISIANA Authority in Louisiana relating to water pollution control is vested in the Stream Control Commission, State Board of Health, and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. The Stream Control Commission has the general power and duty of administering all pollution control laws of the State that are broad and comprehensive. It may adopt standards, make investigations, hold hearings, and has enforcement powers. The State Board of Health has pollution control authority relating to public health. The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforces the Commission's orders, rules and regulations relative to pollution. TEXAS Water-pollution-control authority is vested in the State Board of Health and the Game and Fish Commission. The Office of the Attorney General acts as legal counsel to the enforcement agencies. The General Land Office, in cooperation with the Game and Fish Commission, establishes rules and regulations to prevent pollution on State-owned lands including tidelands. The State Board of Health has general pollution-abatement functions with specific emphasis on public-health aspects. The State Board of Health may set standards for drinking water, may review plans and specifications, make investigations, and hold hearings. Enforcement is by writ of injunction under civil statute and fines under penal code as issued by court. The Game and Fish Commission deals with matters protecting fish and oysters. A Water Pollution Advisory Council serves as a consultative and advisory body to other agencies, affected groups and industries. FEDERAL-STATE SHELLFISH CONTROL PROGRAM The sea-food products most affected by pollution of tidal waters, particularly from the publichealth point of view, are the edible bivalve mollusks, oysters, clams, and mussels. During feeding these mollusks may retain from the overlying waters any pathogenic organisms which may be present along with their normal food materials. Since the commercially valuable edible mollusks are fixed by biological factors to those waters along the coast which are more or less diluted by fresh-water runoff from adjacent land bodies, it is obvious that some pollution of these shellfishgrowing beds is unavoidable. Adequate administrative controls over shellfish production must exist if outbreaks of typhoid fever and other enteric diseases carried by shell |