Public Water Policy on
Low-Flow Augmentation for
Stream-Pollution Abatement
C. H. J. HULL, Research Associate
The Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
For the past two years an investigation of low-flow augmentation for
stream-pollution abatement has been under way in the Department of Sanitary
Engineering and Water Resources of The Johns Hopkins University. This project, supported by a research grant from the National Institutes of Health,
US Public Health Service, has had as its basic purpose the development of improved methods of evaluating low-flow releases from water-storage impoundments as they affect pollution abatement programs downstream. The objectives and scope of the investigation have been outlined in a preliminary report
(1). This preliminary report was summarized in the Journal of the Division of
Sanitary Engineering, Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers (2).
GENERAL
Simply stated, low-flow augmentation is the release of stored water during dry seasons to increase the natural flows in surface streams. This can be
for any of several purposes, including navigation, irrigation, power, water
supply, and pollution abatement. The last-named purpose is the subject of
the present investigation.
The release of water from multiple-purpose reservoirs for stream sanitation is a beneficial water use which has received relatively little support in the
past. It appears that this conservation measure is destined to become more
important in the future. Increasing waste loads from growing population centers and expanding industries will inevitably cause stream-pollution problems
which, unless solved, will endanger the health, welfare, and economy of
large areas, and, indeed, of the entire nation. The increasing importance of
these stream-pollution problems demands that all possible avenues of correction be explored thoroughly to provide the best overall solution for each case.
The principles of economy require that any task be accomplished by the
cheaptest adequate method available. Pollution abatement is no exception.lt
should be done as economically as possible without sacrificing the water-
quality objectives for other beneficial water uses. As one potential method of
pollution abatement, low-flow regulation must receive its share of attention
in the study of any pollution problem and its remedies.
If water is to be stored and released for dilution of waste waters, the practice must be sanctioned by public water policy and the courts. The questions
of policy and legality have been grouped in the present investigation under the
heading of "legal aspects" of low-flow augmentation. In including this phase
of the problem, the project does not intend to advise the courts or legislative
bodies in matters of low-flow augmentation. On the contrary, it is included
in recognition of the fact that engineering projects must conform to legal restrictions and legislative fiat. The finer points of water law will be left to the
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