( 1 ) produce a visible color film on the surface; 



(2) impart an oily odor to the water or an oily 

 or other noxious taste to fish and edible in- 

 vertebrates; 



(3) coat the banks and bottoms of the water 

 course or taint any of the associated biota; 



(4) become effective toxicants according to the 

 criteria recommended in the "Toxicity" 

 section. 



Turbidity 



( 1 ) Turbidity in the receiving waters due to the 

 discharge of wastes should not exceed 50 Jackson 

 units in warm-water streams or 10 Jackson units 

 in cold-water streams. 



(2) There should be no discharge to warm- 

 water lakes which would cause turbidities exceed- 

 ing 25 Jackson units. The turbidity of cold-water 

 or oligotrophic lakes should not exceed 10 units. 



Settleable Materials 



Since it is known that even minor deposits of 

 settleable materials inhibit the growth of normal 

 stream and lake flora, no such materials should be 

 added to these waters in quantities that adversely 

 affect the natural biota. 



Color and Transparency 



For effective photosynthetic production of oxy- 

 gen, it is required that 10 percent of the incident 

 light reach the bottom of any desired photosynthe- 

 tic zone in which adequate dissolved oxygen con- 

 centrations are to be maintained. 



Floating Materials 



All floating materials of foreign origin should be 

 excluded from streams and lakes. 



Tainting Substance 



All materials that will impart odor or taste to 

 fish or edible invertebrates should be excluded 

 from i-eceiving waters at levels that produce 

 tainting. 



Radionuclides 



(1) No radioactive materials should be pres- 

 ent in natural waters as a consequence of the fail- 

 ure of an installation to exercise appropriate con- 

 trols to minimize releases. 



(2) No radionuclide or mixture of radionu- 

 clides should be present at concentrations greater 

 than those specified by the USPHS Drinking Water 

 Standards. 



(3) The concentrations of radioactive mate- 

 rials present in fresh, estuarine, and marine waters 

 should be less than those that would require re- 

 strictions on the use of organisms harvested from 

 the area to meet the Radiation Protection Guides 

 recommended by the Federal Radiation Council. 



Plant Nutrients and Nuisance Growths 



The Subcommittee wishes to stress that the con- 

 centrations set forth are suggested solely as guide- 

 lines and the maintenance of these may or may not 

 prevent undesirable blooms. All the factors caus- 

 ing nuisance plant growth and the level of each 

 which should not be exceeded are not known. 



(1) In order to limit nuisance growths, the 

 addition of all organic wastes such as sewage, food 

 processing, cannery, and industrial wastes contain- 

 ing nutrients, vitamins, trace elements, and growth 

 stimulants should be carefully controlled. Further- 

 more, it should be pointed out that the addition of 

 sulfates or manganese oxide to a lake should be 

 limited if iron is present in the hypolimnion as 

 they may increase the quantity of available 

 phosphorus. 



(2) Nothing should be added that causes an in- 

 creased zone of anaerobic decomposition of a lake 

 or reservoir. 



(3) The naturally occurring ratios and amounts 

 of nitrogen (particularly NO3 and NH4) to total 

 phosphorus should not be radically changed by the 

 addition of materials. As a guidehne, the concen- 

 tration of total phosphorus should not be increased 

 to levels exceeding lOO/^g/l in flowing streams or 

 50 /ig/1 where streams enter lakes or reservoirs. 



(4) Because of our present limited knowledge 

 of conditions promoting nuisance growth, we must 

 have a biological monitoring program to determine 

 the effectiveness of the control measures put into 

 operation. A monitoring program can detect in 

 their early stages the development of undesirable 

 changes in amounts and kinds of rooted aquatics 

 and the condition of algal growths. With periodic 

 monitoring, such undesirable trends can be de- 

 tected and corrected by more stringent regulation 

 of added organics. 



Toxic Substances 



( 1 ) Substances of Unknown Toxicity: All efflu- 

 ents containing foreign materials should be con- 

 sidered harmful and not permissible until bioassay 

 tests have shown otherwise. It should be the obli- 

 gation of the agency producing the effluent to dem- 

 onstrate that it is harmless in the concentrations 

 to be found in the receiving waters. All bioassays 

 should be conducted strictly as recommended in 

 the body of this report and the appropriate appli- 



34 



