Both corrective and prophylactic measures are needed. Yet marine pollu- 

 tion has so many causes — municipal sewage, industrial wastes, common 

 chemicals (e.g., pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, antiknock compounds, etc.) , 

 oil spillage, etc. — that technical prescriptions are difficult to formulate which 

 are both effective and economical. Moreover, those having technical merit 

 may be politically unpopular. Acceptance could be facilitated through a 

 demonstration project. 



To determine the feasibility of restoring the quality of some of the Nation's 

 seriously damaged waters, existing technology should be tested on small 

 bodies of water and new methods developed to establish the most practical 

 and economical means for proceeding with the major task. The Department 

 of the Interior has the responsibility for developing a lake restoration pro- 

 gram and $1 million has been requested in the fiscal year 1971 budget to 

 accelerate these efforts. 



Work is already proceeding under the auspices of the Federal Water Pollu- 

 tion Control Administration for research on some portions of the problem. 

 These include nutrient removal, nutrient deactivation, flushing of lakes after 

 nutrient control measures, dredging of sediments to prevent reinoculation 

 of nutrients, weed harvesting, and aeration of the lake water body. 



This research has been going forward in Lake Erie as well as in several 

 smaller lakes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine, and Washington. It is 

 expected that small bodies of water will be selected for further study and 

 treatment as part of a demonstration project. 



Program for the Great Lakes 



The Great Lakes system — five huge, interconnected bodies of water — is a 

 unique component of the coastal zone. The lakes are fresh, but their vast 

 size subjects them to oceanic scale forces; their shorelines vary from almost 

 virgin wilderness to highly concentrated metropolitan complexes; 25 million 

 people, and 25 percent of our national industry are in the basin, yet the 

 waters themselves are international in character. Although the Great Lakes 

 escape some of the problems created by a saline, open-ocean environment, 

 others more than replace them, and only Lake Superior is relatively free 

 from deleterious effects. 



Because of the regional and international aspects, environmental planning 

 and resource management are extraordinarily complex. The United States 

 and Canada join forces through the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and 

 the International Joint Commission, while the Great Lakes Basin Com- 

 mission, the Great Lakes Regional Commission, and the Great Lakes Com- 

 pact Commission deal with regional matters within the United States. 



The Marine Sciences Council sponsored studies during 1969 both through 

 its Committee on Multiple Use of the Coastal Zone and by contract, on 

 several phases of the subject. The Committee's Great Lakes Panel com- 

 pleted a report which identified major administrative and managerial issues. 



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