Document 5DNb1Ye7BoMw0X2QbZeZDNQKz

LONDON 'Times Dec 17, 1970 Science Report Pollution: Sewage killing marine life The way m which several eons of the industrial cbenucils nolychlor. muled biphcmlt. or PCBt arc betan dumped each year >rt Toa.tUl waters round Britain is outlined in a report trow the Freshwater Fisheries laboratory, Pillochrt, Scotland It provides the posable explana tion ot how this juhstaoc* has been iihlr io accumulate oflwhore in Mil licient quantities to harm manna trie. ia carried bv boat to the estuary and dumicd in deep water six miles south of Ouroch Head, hie of Bote. It appears that it is in this pro* cev. that quantities of biphenvls are being dispersed in the sea. Prelim inary estimates suggest that about a toa of PC.tts it being dumped m the Clyde estuary this way. Similar divpmeJ operations foe Manchester and London indicate that similar quantities are being Anxiety about the ipread of IH Hk hat grown over the pe>t '*0 veers uh the detection of harmlul levels in tea birds, aeals and other marine life. These chemical* have been contnbuioiv i* of the denlh ol laige populations of Mime wildlife ipenet PCD* are produced for a wide variety of industrial processes. The imM fiketN' cause of their sjwead seemed to be the diaeharge of far* lory affluent into rivers and thence down to estuaries. But it has been difficult to reconcile itui seemingly fttratfhtlonvard event widi the find ing of haphenyl substance* in eer* tain oases of wildlife death. i Tlie investigation at Pitlochry started from an amthuis of manne fish and molluscs in Scotudi waters I that showed the highest residue! ol PCBs <0 ba m samples taken from the Firth of CJv<k. Attempts were made to trace the source of pollution by e*nm* mint the various water* diacharped mu> the nsei at intervals along the (ride to Me centre of (n.ivgow No detestable amounu swe lound: nor were any appie^ehta lei els shown in an examination of the Hiiocm trom the trunk sewers carrying itiv bulk of treated waste discharged Irom many hundreds ot Uvlones. In the report Mr A. V. HoWen rfmertbe* how the investigation then turned to studying the sewage sludge from heetmeot worts wh ch dumped in tfte northern Ihah % eod ibe Thames estuary. Mr. HoWen suggests met scene PCBs may be entering the w* directly m ,rea* where waste is disdtarged offshore wdhout treat ment. and the duposal of sludge on laod could lead to PCB residues entenng the terrestrial ecosystem by transfer through food chains. By Peeree Wright, Science Cams pendant Nature. Vei 2H, Dee. if. HONS 032308