involving the USGS, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 

 the Corps of Engineers, and the Association of Bay Area Governments. 



During 1971, a small-scale base map of the Region was completed and 

 large-scale planning maps of the land areas compiled. Baseline information, 

 including changes in the properties of bay-floor sediments that have been 

 deposited since man entered the region, has been collected and plotted. In 

 Fiscal Year 1973, this continuing efTort will apply earth resources satellite 

 technology to studies of sediment dispersal in the Bay area. 



The International Field Year for the Great Lakes (IFYGL) is a compre- 

 hensive joint United States-Canada program of environmental and water 

 resources research with Lake Ontario and the Ontario Basin chosen for field 

 observation. IFYGL objectives and plans are described in chapter VI. 



Water Quality 



Marine environmental quality programs are directed toward three major 

 objectives : The establishment of water quality criteria for acceptable levels 

 of possible pollutants in each environmental system; the regulatory and 

 enforcement measures to limit purposeful and accidental discharges into 

 these systems; and the development of technology to prevent pollution and 

 remove polluting substances. These are integral parts of the Water Quality 

 Standards Program. The enforcement plans are supplemented by other 

 regulatory measures such as the Refuse Act Permit Program and the National 

 Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. Current tech- 

 nology programs emphasize oil-pollution problems and shipboard waste 

 treatment. 



Improved Criteria and Standards 



The determination of acceptable levels of possible pollutants requires a 

 thorough knowledge of the characteristics of environmental systems as they 

 relate to present and future water uses. Over 90 percent of all waters subject 

 to Federally approved use classification are assigned to recreation or propaga- 

 tion of fish and wildlife. The information needed to assess possible pollutant 

 effects is acquired through multidisciplinary research and environmental 

 monitoring programs supported by a number of Federal agencies. 



In 1971, NOAA, FDA, and EPA continued their wide-ranging studies 

 of the distribution and fate of pollutants in the marine environment 

 and their effects on marine organisms. The NOAA and FDA efforts have 

 focused on heavy metals contamination, while the EPA effort has taken 

 a broad look at waste and other pollutants. 



Part of NOAA's program originated in the late 1940's as an investigation 

 conducted for and funded by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This 

 work, carried out by what is now NOAA's laboratory at Beaufort, N.C., was 

 concerned with tracing the radionuclides of manganese, iron, and zinc 

 (abundant in fallout) through estuarine life forms and environment and 

 back to man. Recent emphasis on heavy metals as an environmental pol- 

 lutant has reinforced this program and added such metals as copper, nickel, 

 and cobalt to its studies. A parallel contaminant program conducted by 

 NOAA is concerned primarily with detection of mercury, lead, and cadmium 



15 



