The Chemistry of Allelopathy: Biochemical Interaction Among Plants

Committee on Ocean Waste Transportation, Marine Board, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, National Research Council. National Academy Press, Washington, DC. 1984. 126p. $13.95. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA In zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA 1981, the National Research Council conducted a symposium to assess the state of knowledge of ocean use for waste disposal. One of the results of the symposium was a request by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to the Marine Board to identify concepts for the processing and transport of domestic wastes for ultimate disposal in the ocean. The committee established by the Marine Board considered treated sewage sludge and effluent and its transport to, and release into, the sea from coastal USA communities. This book is the final report of the committee which included experts in ship and undersea pipeline engineering, municipal waste treatment design and operation, physical oceanography, environmental sciences, ocean geochemistry, ocean engineering, and naval architecture. The four major chapters include: “Wastewater Characteristics” which details concentrations of chemical constituents found in wastewater and sludges and primarily focus on Los Angeles’ Hyperion sewage treatment plant which discharges into the Southern California Bight; “Analysis and Design Objectives for Disposal Systems” which gives an excellent overview of ocean processing of sludge and wastewater constituents; “Transportation Systems: Comparative Cost Analysis and Research”, an economic study of several methods of transporting sludge to the ocean disposal site which considers self-propelled ships, barges-in-tow, articulated tug-barges, and rubber barges-in-tow and computes costs zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA as a function of travel distance; and “Application to Two Coastal Areas” which demonstrates how the information presented in the previous chapters can be applied to two ocean disposal cases: (i) a wide and shallow continental shelf, as found along the midAtlantic or Gulf states, and (ii) a narrow, rapidly deepening shelf, characteristic of the West Coast. This book will be of interest o anyone in the waste disposal field, but will be particularly useful to planners and those in government agencies involved with ocean disposal of wastes. As indicated in the Preface, the study reported here did not use risk assessment to evaluate the relative merits of ocean disposal vs. other options. However, the reader will find the book useful in understanding the scientific, engineering, and economic realities and constraints of ocean disposal of wastes and this knowledge can aid in the risk assessment process which ultimately must be conducted if ocean disposal is to become an acceptable disposal practice.-TERRY J. LOGAN, Agronomy Department, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210.