MARINE SCIENCE 25 



Mr. Pike. I think that is right, Senator. At $1 a thousand, if there 

 is no other way to get water, it is still pretty cheap because we have 

 to have it to live on. 



I believe that in the San Joaquin Valley in California they do have 

 a little more salt in some of their water than they would like and they 

 have recently put in some purification plants which have saved them 

 some money. On the island of Aruba in the Caribbean where there is 

 no natural water, they obtain water from the sea as a matter of course. 

 They have spare heat there, so it doesn't cost them as much as it might. 

 The cost of getting water from one place to another must be con- 

 sidered. Water is of no value as a resource unless it is used. If it 

 ever gets scarce, it really becomes quite valuable. 



Senator Thurmond. Can't you visualize that when a practical proc- 

 ess has been devised to remove the salt from the ocean water, tre- 

 mendous transportation systems that are now pumping oil and gas 

 from one section of the country to another can be devised for pump- 

 ing water and we will be able to provide water to the desert areas 

 and into every area of the United States in due time ? 



Mr. Pike. I think that is quite optimistic but it is certainly possible. 

 It is still going to be an expensive thing to pipe any liquid, say 1,000 

 miles, as those of us who use natural gas in the Northeast find. Even 

 that wdiich is not liquid will cost four times as much in Boston as it 

 does on the Louisiana coast. 



Proper use of natural distribution systems will go a long way 

 toward helping and may someday entirely cure the problem. How- 

 ever, by that time some of the boys dirtying up our natural waters 

 will have to clean them up. We have a little stream going by here 

 that could be improved without any great harm. This is the first 

 approach. 



Senator Yarborough. I want to express my appreciation to Dr. 

 Spilhaus and Mr. Pike for the sentiments you have expressed here 

 about the dumping of atomic wastes in the ocean before we know what 

 it will do and what the dangers are. 



Last year the Atomic Energy Commission issued permits to busi- 

 nesses to dump low-level atomic wastes in the Gulf of Mexico some 

 few miles off the coast of Texas — less than 50 miles off the coast and, 

 of course, well within the limits of the Continental Shelf. We vigor- 

 ously protested that. They insisted they were going ahead with it, 

 but finally rehearing has been granted and evidence was taken upon 

 the rehearing and the matter is now pending. 



It has been our thought that this atomic waste, even at a low level, 

 shouldn't be dumped until we have more scientific knowledge. It 

 certainly shouldn't be dumped close inshore to the Continental Shelf 

 there, and in an area of the gulf whereby the motion of the Gulf 

 Stream is flowing with its full vigor in that portion of the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



The Chairman. Now, if the Senator from Texas will wait just a 

 minute here, we can hear a little more about that. I am sure he is 

 deeply interested. 



The next witness is Dayton Carritt, who is the top committee au- 

 thority on radioactivity in the ocean. 



Dr. Carritt, I want you to come forward. 



