BOOK R E V I E W S

Ocean Disposal Systems for Sewage Sludge and Effluent, John Wiley and Sons Ltd., Boffins Lane, Chichestev, West Sussex, England P019 IUD, 1985, pp. 126, paper- book, £ 16.00.

In the United States, over 400.000 metric tons of dry digested sewage sludge and 13 millon cubic meters of liquid effluents are disposed of at sea every year. A multi- disciplinary committee organized by the U.S. Marine Board has prepared this report to examine engineering approaches to the ocean disposal of these wastes. The authors point out that their study focused on the release of treated sewage effluent and sludge into the sea from U.S. coastal areas and did not address the growing concern regarding ways to dispose of such wastes on a worldwide basis. However, the transportation and disposal system engineering principles discussed in the report have universal appli- cation. The Introduction of the report gives a quick overview of the problem of sewage production and disposal, with emphasis on alternative ocean disposal techniques. No presumptions are made respecting the desirability of ocean discharge versus land disposal or incineration. Chapter 2 deals with wastewater characteristics, including sources of trace contaminants in sewage, effect of wastewater treatment, and composi- tion and changes in coastal urban sewage, with particular reference to the Southern California area. Analysis and design objectives for disposal systems is the subject of Chapter 3, in which an engineering systems approach is presented with the wastewater as the input and the water quality in the region of the discharge as the output. Disposal techniques commonly employed are described and a discussion of the main concepts on the distribution, fate and effects of sewage sludge in the ocean is given. Model calculations of initial sludge dilution at sea, visitation frequency, background concen- tration and deposition of sludge particles yield criteria to select areas for sludge disposal. Although the report emphasizes the important relationship that exists between monitor- ing and public confidence in the disposal of treated water and sludge in the marine environment, it gives a somewhat meager coverage of ocean monitoring systems. Chapter 4 presents a parametric economic analysis of the two more common transporta- tion systems used to take sludge from the treatment plant to the dumping site: modification of submarine pipelines and surface transportation techniques. Other systems were disregarded due to their negative environmental effects or undesirable cost/benefit ratios. According to this study the costs of surface transport are lower for smaller throughput and longer distances, while pipeline costs are lower for higher throughput and shorter distances. This chapter also includes a summary of the areas of research needed to enhance the usefulness of disposal systems, improve the ability to measure performance, and understand the fate of pollution in the ocean. Chapter 6 offers examples of the application of several systems to coastal areas with wide and narrow shelves. In short, this book contains comprehensive information about the design and cost of ocean disposal systems of interest to sanitary, civil, and environ- mental engineers, as well as to public works management.

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424 BOOK REVIEWS

Oil in the Sea: Inputs, Fates, and Effects, National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avc., N.W. Washington D.C. 20418, U.S.A., 1985, pp. 601, $47.50

This comprehensive, multidisciplinary report deals with inputs, analytical methods, fates, and effects of hydrocarbons in the marine environment. It was prepared by a steering committee appointed to that effect by the U.S. Ocean Sciences Board, and includes a thorough revision of a significant number of publications and contributions by experts from several countries, mainly the U.S. and Canada. It is divided into five sections, the first of which highlights the main compositional characteristics of the hydrocarbons present in the sea, by source (crudes, products, oil seeps, biogenic, diagenetic, and anthropogenic hydrocarbons). Section 2 analyzes the contribution of each source of petroleum hydrocarbons to the marine environment. The total input of

petroleum from all sources varies from year to year and is estimated to range between 1.7 and 8.8 mty (metric tons/year). The best estimate of 3.2 mty is about half the figure given in 1975 by the National Research Council (6.1 mty), and results from a better accounting of industrial inputs rather than a real decline in the amount of petroleum reaching the sea. The report also reveals that, despite increases in the amount of crudes and products transported by sea, as well as in offshore production, only an estimated 39~o of the input derives directly from oil and gas production and transportation, while more than 45 ~ originates from other shipping activities, industrial, municipal and urban wastes, and river runoff. Section 3 discusses sampling procedures and analytical methods for hydrocarbons and other fossil fuel compounds in environmental samples, as well as methods to study the uptake and effects of petroleum on various organisms; almost one third of the pages of the report is devoted to these subjects. However, it is recognized that relatively few field experiments have been conducted to validate the results of laboratory tests by exposing organisms to petroleum hydrocarbons under controlled conditions. Section 4 covers the fate of petroleum in the sea, including physical and chemical alterations, biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons, and the amounts of hydrocarbons present in the water column, sediments, and marine organisms. Modeling of the eventual fate ofoil spills in the sea is scarcely treated, which is somewhat surprising since accidental spillage may cause significant deleterious effects despite being a relatively small percentage of the total petroleum input. Section 5, about the impact of petroleum hydrocarbons on marine biota, is perhaps the most interesting of all. Subjects such as toxicity, oil metabolites, photochemical reaction products, effects of oil (on biological processes, the marine food web, communities and ecosystems, and on tropical and polar environments) are covered concisely. The report emphasizes the advances made in the understanding of the toxicities of various petroleum components, their effect on organisms, and the relative vulnerability of different marine ecosystems. It is accepted that petroleum may adversely affect local environments; some compounds are carcinogens and certain metabolic products of petroleum degradation are potentially hazardous. However, no data are available to indicate that harm to populations in affected areas has taken place and, where oil has had an effect, subsequent monitoring has shown that biological recovery has occurred. Special concern is merited in areas

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with: local chronic oiling where there is continuous exposure, as in waters near industrialized or heavily populated coastal regions, not only because of the intrinsic toxicity of petroleum, but also because of its poorly understood though suspected synergistic impact with other contaminants. In general, this report is an important source of information on this timely subject. Each section includes recommendations concerning possible further research. Appendix A gives a clear account of the extent and impact of some major oil spills.

CORPO VEN, Apartado 613 73,

Caracas, I 060A, Venezuela

JUAN CARLOS SANCHEZ and LuIs E. HERRERA

J. H. Heiken (ed.), Atmospheric Tracer Technology and Applications, Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, New Jersey, U.S.A., 1986, 368 pp., US $42.00.

This volume is based on an atmospheric tracer technology workshop sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Health and Environmental Research, and held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, May 21-24, 1984. Among the objectives of the workshop were: to summarize the status of atmospheric tracer technology; to define areas for future tracer applications; and to identify requirements for new tracer techniques. The workshop consisted of a program of eight invited lectures on tracer related topics and then the examination of five topic areas by discussion groups. The discussion group summaries as well as the invited presentations are presented in this volume. In many respects this volume could be subtitled 'most of what you ever wanted to know about tracers, bud did not know who to ask'.

It seems likely to me that most readers will find the invited eight expert papers and their extensive reference lists to be the most useful part of this volume. The topics covered by the invited papers include the tracer aspects of: transport and diffusion (Sumnar Barr); gaseous tracers (R. N. Dietz and G. I. Senum); particle tracers (D. F. Gatz); dry deposition and resuspension studies using tracers (J. A. Garland); air pollution tracers of opportunity, e.g. receptor models, (G. E. Gordon); tracers and atmospheric physical and chemical transformation processess (S. E. Schwartz); tracers in precipitation process studies (R. G. Semonin); and pollution transport in the Rocky Mountain area (E. R. Reiter). To my surprise these various sections were all relatively short considering the material that might be presented. For example Barr's presentation on tracers in transport and diffusion research, a basic and long standing reason for tracer studies, took only 21 pages of which three were figures and four were references.

The summaries of the workshop discussions are in many cases an elaborate 'wish list' for further research as well as a summary of the current (1984) state of information in selected topic areas. As such these workshop discussions could provide very useful

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information to prospective investigators (or graduate students) who are trying to assess prospective research areas related to the tracer topics covered in this book.

With regard to the overall volume, researchers using tracers or engaged in areas where tracers are sometimes applied, e.g., deposition and resuspension, will probably find this a useful reference volume because of the large number of topics that are touched on and the extensive references given in most of the invited papers. Newcomers to the field of tracers will probably find answers to their questions of 'why not do that?' and 'has anyone thought of this?'.

There are several things that seem to be left out of this book. One thing missing is a clear definition of what the organizers define as a 'tracer'. While it is true that there was probably a general consensus among this audience of experts as to what was meant when something was labeled a 'tracer', a clear definition is not given in the text. Perhaps

one was initially set down by the program organizers but when various tracers were described as being natural, or artificial, or industrial, or organic, or inorganic, or nonreactive, or reactive, or soluble, or insoluble, or gaseous, or particulate, etc. it was probably determined that a tracer would be something that fits the purpose of a given experiment. Another missing, or at least subordinated, factor in the various discussions is a critical assessment of various tracer technologies. For example the heavy methane tracer developed by Los Alamos Laboratories is claimed to be an economic material for release but little is said about the high degree of sophistication (i.e., cost) required in the analytical phase of an experiment using this tracers technique. Also it is not always clear that a given tracer experiment serves as a single snapshot of a unique meteorologi- cal system and that the analysis of experimental results must be done with a high degree of sophistication in order to obtain the generalized models that are usually a goal of a tracer program. It also would have been nice, I think, if there had been a short historical discussion of some of the tracer schemes that were used, by necessity, before the present highly sophisticated methods became available. We need to give credit to the highly inventive investigators who devised ways to use thistledown, dandelion fluff, a child's soap bubble machine, and other adapted methods to study atmospheric turbulence and transport. We would not have as good an understanding of our field as we do if it were not for the earlier work of resourceful and inventive investigators, and this should not be forgotten, even in our high-tech environment.

This is a hard cover volume using photo offset from typed manuscript, probably all prepared in the editor's office. The figures and tables are clear and well presented; however I wish they had been interleaved in the text rather than gathered at the end of a section The occasional typos are innocuous. As mentioned above, the reference lists with the invited presentations are excellent. There are no references in the workshop summaries. There is no index, but a detailed Table of Contents serves as a partial substitute. A list of attendees is included, but the usual, almost obligatory group photograph is missing.

BOOK REVIEWS 427

On balance, this volume should prove to be a very useful book to individuals and research groups working in diffusion and applied meteorological fields. Students will be able to get a rather complete overview of tracer technology.

Mauna Loa Observatory,

P.O. Box 275,

Hilo, H I 96721, U.S.A.

ELMER ROBINSON

L. Kaufman and K. Mallory (eds.), The Last Extinction, The MIT Press, 1986, pp. 208, U.S. $16.95.

This book grew out of a public lecture series held in Boston, at the New England Aquarium with the intent to awaken the general public to the issues underlying the notion that we must prevent a 'last extinction'.

The first chapter examines philosophical, scientific and practical stumbling blocks to conservation of biological diversity, the nature of mass extinction and the role of people causing this one.

In the second chapter, a paleontologist explores the nature of extinction in the fossil record - ending with the late cretaceous extinction seventy or so million years ago. It is regrettable that the great quaternary extinction is mentioned (by another contributor and in a subsequent chapter) in a mere 1½ lines. With a distinct peak around 11000 BP, 40 ~o of the African genera of large mammals and 70~ of the North American genera became extinct. Hypotheses of the causes of this paleontologically recent mass extinc- tion abund, however the main suspect is the progress of a new carnivore moving opportunistically into the ecological niche of predatory animals. Man with his small canines, flat molars and lack of claws is an inefficient carnivor. Our ancestors, by supplementing their biological equipment with sharp-edged stone tools to begin with, acquired the equivalent of canines and carnassials while heavier rocks served as bone-crunching 'jaws'. Once the first tool has been invented, a crucial feedback loop

between tool use and brain expansion may have begun. Destruction of the Amazonian forest-habitats (the topic of the next chapter) is a mere sequel in this feedback loop.

The tool-developing-intelligence spiral now seems finally to break: reason points out that man taking over, directly or indirectly all available ecological niches cannot go on for ever. Observation and laboratory experiments show that mono-species communities are fragile, and now homo sapiens could well be on their way to become the exclusive global species - perhaps their pets, parasites, cattle and bacteria will stay. Not only esthetic, moral, altruistic and similar lofty sentiments dictate preserving life's diversity, our own survival as species is at stake at the same time.

A final chapter presents a last-ditch effort at captive preservation of species left homeless by habitat destruction: a global zoo ark known as the Species Survival Plan. The hope is to reestablishing them into the wild once their habitats have been restored.

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This is well-intended, courageous book mainly oriented towards enlightened lay people. My narrow empiriocritical mind found only the very last chapter rather transcendent. The body of the book makes good reading.

12, rue de l'Yveline, 91220 Brdtigny-sur-Orge , France

MICHEL BENARIE

J. O. Nriagu and C. I. Davidson (eds.), Toxic Metals in the Atmosphere, John Wiley and Sons Ltd., New York, 1986, pp. 635, $102.25.

This is the 17th volume in the Wiley Series in Advances in Environmental Science and Technology. Each current volume in the series focuses on a particular theme and the author(s) of each section are expected to review critically the literature and the most important recent developments; to evaluate new concepts, methods, and data; and to focus on unresolved or controversial questions and on probable future trends. Accord- ingly this volume presents papers containing information on the types of toxic metals released into the atmosphere by industrial activities and their distribution in the atmos- phere. The overall objective of the volume is to describe the origins, behaviour, and fate of airborne metals, their physical and chemical characteristics, and their interactions with, transport in, and removal from the ambient air. Routine and special monitoring and rates of atmospheric input of metals are also considered.

Many of the papes consider a particular aspect or situation reflecting the special interests of the author(s). Thus separate papers deal with, in order, emission factors, natural and anthropogenic sources, sampling and measurement from particulate control devices, smelting operations, air quality relationships, receptor models, rural and remote areas, Arctic aerosol, tracers of transport, speciation and reaction pathways, density characterization, sizes, solubility, hydrospheric cycle, snow and ice layer deposition, bog vegetation and peat profiles, mercury vapor, organic lead biogeochemical cycling, and airborne lead. Much of the overall strength of the volume lies in the context of the authors' responsibilities and geographic locations. The utilization of each paper is greatly assisted by a contents list. These papers will be of interest, as detailed reference sources, to a wide range of environmental scientists and applied toxicologists.

Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada NI G 2 W1

D. P. 0RMROD

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Thad Godish, Air Quality, Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, MI 1985, pp. 372, £ 39.90.

As the author points out in the preface, the title of the book is unique in that it is Air Quality rather than the traditional term 'air pollution', in that it speaks of both clean air and that which is polluted, and it covers indoor air as well as that outdoors, and also has a chapter on noise pollution.

The book is designed primarily as a text for advanced level undergraduates and beginning graduate level students in programs of environmental science, environmental health and industrial hygiene.

It consists of twelve chapters and an index. Each chapter is followed by lists of references, readings and questions. All chapters are subdivided into unnumbered sections, each with one or more subject headings. There are numbered tables, figures and equations in each chapter. The book is well printed and bound and is easy to read.

The chapter headings are: The Atmosphere; Atmospheric Pollutants: Meteorology and Dispersion; Atmospheric Effects; Health Effects; Welfare Effects -Vegetation, Livestock, and Materials; Atmospheric Surveillance; Regulatory Approaches to Air Pollution Control; Motor Vehicle Emissions Control; Stationary Source Control; Indoor Air Pollution; and Noise Pollution.

The book achieves its goal as an undergraduate text, but does not fully measure up to what is needed for graduate students.

Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, 105 School of Public Health, 201 H, The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC27514, U.S.A.

ARTHUR C, STERN

P.H. Holden, Pesticides and Groundwater Quality, National Acadamy Press, 1986, pp. 124, paperback, U.S. $12.50.

Groundwater quality is of growing concern to both the scientific community and the general public because of the potential dangers which are involved with using either polluted or contaminated groundwater. Although we are usually quickly informed by the media of the latest case of gound water pollution it is seldom that we hear of the measures taken to prevent further cases from occurring or to remedy the existing problems. Pesticides and Groundwater Quality is unique in that it brings before us a diversity of information on the issue of pesticides and groundwater pollution. As pointed out in the Preface "It contains quantitative data and the personal views of experts; juxtaposes four case studies and summarizes federal agency and industry activities; and reviews the relevant scientific, technological, managerial, and regulatory contexts."

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430 BOOK REVIEWS

The author, a graduate student in hydrology at the time the study was conducted, was commissioned by the Board on Agriculture to study and report on groundwater pollution in New York, California, Wisconsin and Florida. This was done by conducting personal interviews with scientists, policy makers and others who were knowledgeable of the issues in each state and with representatives of federal agencies in Washington D.C. and of agrochemical companies.

The result is a highly readable account of the response to groundwater pollution by people in various disciplines and their ideas of what yet remains to be done. Although the four cases presented deal with different incidents in different parts of the U.S. several common themes and concerns are obvious. Thus, for example, nearly everyone con- nected to the groundwater issue called for more federal gtfidance and involvment in setting uniform toxicity and pollution criteria.

This book should be read by anyone interested in the question of groundwater quality as it presents nearly all the different aspects of this very important issue.

Institute of Soils and Water, Divisions of Soil Organic and Residue Chemistry, AR O, Volcani Center, P.O.B.6, Bet Dagan, Israel

ZEV GERSTL