WASTES IX RELATION TO AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY 



45 



An excellent summary of available information 

 on processing wastes has recently been prepared. 6 

 The key data are shown in table 3. 



The second column in this table presents data 

 on the amount of product from farm and forest 

 that is processed annually. 



The fourth column lists the pounds of BOD re- 

 quired per 1,000 pounds of product processed. 



The fifth column lists the potential daily load 

 of BOD from the processing of a given product 

 based on a 365-day year. For example, the waste 

 from corn canneries requires 9.8 pounds of BOD 

 for each 1,000 pounds of the 2,364 million pounds 

 of corn processed. Thus. 23 million pounds of BOD 

 are produced a year or 63,000 pounds per day. But 

 the corn canning season does not last 60 days, so 

 that potential daily load of BOD from corn can- 

 ning during the season may approach 10 times the 

 63,000 pounds shown in the table. 



The sixth column presents the population equiv- 

 alent (PE) of the BOD load shown in column 5. 

 One PE of a processing waste is an amount of 

 liquid waste equivalent in BOD to the normal 

 sewage contributed by 1 person. The base value of 

 0.167 pound of BOD per capita per day is used. 



Certain comparisons may offer additional clari- 

 fication. A population of 1 million people will use 

 about 50 million gallons of water a day to carry 

 their sewage effluent. Thus, 417 million pounds of 

 water carry 167,000 pounds of BOD, and the 

 average BOD of raw sewage would be 385 p.p.m. 

 Records of BOD of raw sewage indicate that it 

 ranges from 200 to 400 p.p.m. If the corn canning 

 industry used 1 gallon of water for each pound of 

 corn processed, the average BOD of the effluent 

 would be 1,200 p.p.m. This is well within the 

 range of values given for effluent of many process- 

 ing industries (4). 



Table 3 shows that the pollution potential in 

 terms of BOD from the woodpulp industry over- 

 shadows all other industries listed. The potential 

 oxidative requirements of the effluent from tin 1 

 woodpulp, paper, and paperboard industries are 

 greater than those of the raw sewage from all of 

 the people in the United States. 



Progress in pulp and paper manufacturing 

 processes to reduce water pollution has been good. 



"Hoover, S. R., and Jasewitz, L. B. Agricultural Proc- 

 essing Wastes. Presented at Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 

 Symposium, Washington, D.C., Dec. 27, 1966. 



In kraft pulping, chemicals are now recovered and 

 oxygen-depleting substances are removed by sedi- 

 mentation to minimize stream pollution. Better 

 utilization of byproducts reduces the amount of 

 material discharged into streams. 



In a year's time, the canning industry produces 

 potential effluent with oxidative demands that are 

 double those of the raw sewage from Metropolitan 

 Detroit; the meatpacking industry, double those 

 of Metropolitan Chicago; and the dairy industry, 

 four times those of Metropolitan Boston. 



Industry has made progress in efficiently utiliz- 

 ing many of its wastes as byproducts and new tech- 

 niques and processes are constantly being devel- 

 oped. For instance, the sugar industry has found 

 uses for filter press mud and bagasse; effluents 

 from food-processing plants are being used as a 

 source of much-needed irrigation water; a tech- 

 nique for recovering sugar from pear processing 

 wastes has been developed; and a process for re- 

 covery of feed and fertilizer values from chicken 

 feathers was developed and is in general use. 



Infectious Agents and Allergens 



Infectious agents from agriculture and forestry 

 that may be of concern to the general public could 

 comprise a long list. Such a list would include 

 brucellosis, which is transferable from diseased 

 cattle to man ; diseases transmitted by mosquitoes 

 and flies from farm ponds and barnyard.-, respec- 

 tively; walnut or ragweed pollen to harass people 

 with these specific allergies; and a wide array of 

 insects and plant diseases that may arise on the 

 farm or from the forest and infest the herbage in 

 city parks or suburban backyards. 



Animal Disease Agents 



A study on the Potomac River Basin indicated 

 the possibility of transmission and dissemination 

 of such organisms. A number of reports have in- 

 dicated that the lower Potomac could never be 

 made safe for swimming because of the prevalence 

 of pathogenic bacteria. Evidence has been pre- 

 sented alleging to show that most all of the bac- 

 terial pollution in the Potomac is coming from 

 farm runoff. 



The presence of coliform bacteria in water has 

 been used as an indicator of bacteria] pollution for 

 about ".'> years. Although coliform bacteria are 

 rarely capable o( inducing disease, their presence 



