TWENTY-NINTH BIENNIAL REPORT. 



93 



REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF RIVER AND HARBOR 



POLLUTION. 



By Rolin G. Watkins, In Charge. 



Appended hereto is a resume of eases handled by this bureau to date. 

 In this connection it should be noted that, despite the fact that much 

 work has been done on pollution problems by various agencies of the 

 Commission in the past, up to the time of the organization of this 

 bureau on February 1, 1926, there had been no effort to centralize this 

 work with a view to placing the enforcement of all the laws relating 

 to pollution of California waters by "materials deleterious to fish, 



Fig. 17. In order to determine whether pollution is sufficient to kill fish, a 

 live car is often used. In a test made on Dominguez Slough, Long Beach, the 

 fish shown in the picture were killed inside of ten minutes. Photograph by 

 W. L. Woodruff. 



plant or bird life," under one head. The information gathered in 

 the past was in the files of other departments and bureaus, and it was 

 necessary to almost completely pioneer the field of pollution in the 

 establishment of the new bureau. At present it can be said to be 

 "merely scraping the surface." New cases are appearing daily, par- 

 ticularly cases of pollution by oil from oil fields. (Note — Long Beach 

 case is an example of this sort. Serious condition exists there.) It is 

 impossible to investigate all the cases reported to this bureau at once, 

 and we are taking them in the order of their seeming import. 



The work of this bureau was handled by the director, in conjunction 

 with his duties as director of publicity, until April 1. On this date 

 Robt. J. Irvine, a competent chemist and bacteriologist, was added to 



