ENVIRONMENTAL 

 QUALITY PROGRAM 



In the first few months after the estalishment of the U.S. IDOE pro- 

 gram, it was realized that insufficient data were at hand to formulate a 

 rational program of research to study marine pollution, previously recog- 

 nized as a proper concern of the Decade. International workshops on 

 environmental quality such as the one held in Williamstown, Massachu- 

 setts to consider Man's Impact on the Global Environment, had reached a 

 consensus on only one of the aspects of marine pollution: accurate base- 

 line data from a variety of marine areas were urgently needed. The data 

 should establish quantitatively the present levels of suspected pollutants 

 in typical marine situations, and identify areas of the oceans where es- 

 pecially high concentrations of pollutants would be expected to occur. 



The panel which met in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in the summer 

 of 1970 was of the opinion that no large-scale oceanic monitoring or re- 

 lated research program should be started until baseline data-acquisition 

 projects supplying the lacking information had been completed. 



REGIONAL BASELINE DATA PROJECTS 



In accordance with the earlier recommendations of the environmen- 

 tal quality workshops, regional baseline data acquisition projects have been 

 initiated in the oceans contiguous to the United States. Quantitative re- 

 sults are being obtained on the occurrence and distributions of such 

 critical metals as mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, copper, and zinc, the 

 chlorinated hydrocarbons such as DDT, DDE, TDE, the polychlorinated 

 biphenyls (PCB), and petroleum and its byproducts. 



Analyses of collected specimens are being carried out at a number of 

 laboratories both in the United States and abroad, as shown in Figure 2. 

 Standard material and collected specimens are constantly being exchanged 

 to assure maximum comparability of results from each area. 



Reference Samples and Calibration — In the Regional Baseline Proj- 

 ects a strenuous effort is being made to use all available reference sam- 

 ples to provide an absolute calibration of analytical data. Specifically, 

 1) the mercury analyses will be tied to the International Atomic Energy 

 Agency reference sample of "fish solubles" which has been analyzed by 

 most Scandinavian and European laboratories concerned with mercury 

 pollution; 2) the inorganic analyses will be tied to the National Bureau 

 of Standard's orchard leaves (Standard 1571), the series of "reference 

 carbonate" samples recently described by Thompson et al. (1970) S to 

 the "kale standard" of H. J. M. Bowen (1967)2, and to such other refer- 

 ence (and widely analyzed) biological materials as can be obtained. 



' Thompson, G., D. C. Bankston and S. M. Pasley, 1970. Trace element data for 

 reference carbonate rocks. Chem. Geol., 6: 165-170. 



' Bowen, H. J. M., 1967. Comparative element analyses of a standard plant ma- 

 terial. Analyst, 92: 124-131. 



