78 LIMNOLOGY, WATER SUPPLY AND WASTE DISPOSAL 



the case. Let something go wrong with a manufacturing process in which 

 City water is used and the first finger of suspicion is directed at that water. 

 The algologist is not always the individual to finally clear the situation, 

 but at times his knowledge will aid the plant personnel in clearing the water 

 supply of suspicion. For instance, I was called in on a case where the 

 bottle of the office water cooler had acquired a brilliant green film. Exami- 

 nation proved definitely that it was the alga Chlorella. The management 

 was positive that it came in with the City water and demanded that the 

 situation be corrected. I found that the empty bottles "just stood around" 

 and that the cooler occupied a position in the corridor in front of a large 

 window. The solution of the problem was now relatively simple. First 

 was to wash and stopper all unused bottles. Second, scrub the inside of 

 the cooler so as to eliminate this as a source of infection. Third, move 

 the cooler into an area of reduced light where Chlorella cannot grow as 

 well. 



Of a more serious nature are the problems of those industries that use 

 the same water repeatedly in their cooling systems after it has passed over 

 cooling towers or through cooling basins. Algae develop at astounding rates 

 on these towers or in the basins, and unless they are removed before the 

 water re-enters the cooling system they leave gelatinous or other organic 

 debris inside pipes and fins. This results in a perfect culture medium for 

 bacteria and fungi and subsequently in clogging. Such clogging is often 

 blamed on impurities supposed to have been in the original water used, 

 or on the premise that algae must have gotten in through this medium. 

 Few realize that an open dish of water exposed for a few days will soon 

 have a very nice culture of many algal genera. Again the algologist can 

 do more in preventing these situations than in their cure. 



The algologist also has a part to play in water supplies involving 

 wells. The question was raised as to the purity of water from a well in 

 Northern Ohio. Samples which I examined and which came directly from 

 the pump contained several genera of green algae, as well as several indi- 

 viduals of the zooplankters. Knowing that light is necessary for chloro- 

 phyll development, and that green algae continue to live only in light, and 

 that zooplankters usually have algae somewhere in their food chains, I 

 could safely say that the stream tapped by the well headed up in some 

 nearby lake or pond, or that somewhere there was seepage. Either situa- 

 tion could result in polluted water. Another case superficially similar to 

 this, but with a totally different ending, occurred near Columbus. The 

 driller had brought in a well in the gravel drift south and west of the 

 City, but samples from the pump showed a great deal of debris. Upon 

 examination this debris proved to be fragments of moss leaves, some algae, 

 and bits of zooplankters. But, and this was important here, these were 

 fossils. The well had acidentally been drilled into an inter-glacial bog 

 which had been covered by gravel following the retreat of the last glacial 

 ice. Although not desirable in the water supply, the condition of the 

 material definitely indicated that it was not the result of surface water 

 seepage. 



