SECTION 2 

 A BRIEF HISTORY OF WATER POLLUTION RESEARCH IN UNITED STATES 



Clarence M. Tarzwell 



INTRODUCTION 



Man has habitually discharged his wastes into streams. Because the 

 United States has many large streams, large amounts of waste could be 

 placed in them without much apparent effect. As populations in cities and 

 industries grew, however, some streams became open sewers and people in the 

 lower reaches began to complain. Typhoid fever became common as water 

 supplies deteriorated. By the middle of the last century conditions had 

 become quite bad in several areas. With little or no coordination, surveys 

 and studies were undertaken by people in many areas. Many different 

 approaches were used, and different studies were carried on concurrently, 

 so it is difficult to describe the research as an ongoing program. There- 

 fore the research for detection, evaluation, and abatement of water 

 pollution in the United States will be described briefly under five main 

 headings: (1) Water supply studies; (2) Pollution surveys and studies of 

 natural purification and biological indicators of pollution; (3) Treatment 

 of organic wastes; (4) Development, use, and standarization of bioassay 

 methods; and (5) Determination of water quality requirements for aquatic 

 life and development of water quality standards. In outlining these 

 activities prime consideration will be given to the most important agencies 

 and organizations. Early developments will be given in detail. Later work 

 will be summarized because in recent years research has attained such 

 diversity and magnitude that even a list of all the projects and their 

 sponsoring organizations would be too long in a review of this type. Des- 

 criptions of developments since 1948 will be largely confined to the 

 activities of the federal agency designated in Public Law 84-660 and subse- 

 quent federal laws dealing with water pollution. 



WATER SUPPLY STUDIES 



Treatment of water for domestic use may have originated in China or 

 India thousands of years ago. In the Bible lands alum was used for the 

 removal of turbidity as early as 900 B.C. In the fourth century before 

 Christ Hippocrates advocated the boiling and filtering of polluted water 

 before using it for drinking. London has been required by parliamentary 

 statute since 1855 to filter its water supplies through slow sand filters. 



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