A Waste Control Program for a
River with Highly Variable Flow
DANIEL A. OKUN, Professor of Sanitary Engineering
and
JAMES C. LAMB, III, Associate Professor of Sanitary Engineering
School of Public Health
University of North Carolina
and
C. C. WELLS, JR., Sanitary Engineer
Bowaters Carolina Corporation
South Carolina
In the summer of 1959, the Bowaters Carolina Corporation placed in operation a 400-ton pulp mill located on the Catawba River about eight miles
southeast of Rock Hill, S. C. Management, from the first, has been concerned about controlling mill wastes to avoid any deleterious effect on the
Catawba River or on downstream water uses. To this end the National Council for Stream Improvement Inc., in 1956, made a study of the Catawba
River. The National Council report contained recommendations for treatment
and control of waste discharges which were incorporated in the mill design.
To assure efficient operation of its waste treatment system, Bowaters retained the senior author to make surveys of the Catawba River prior to mill
startup and to maintain surveillance of waste disposal operations and their
effects on the river. The studies reported in this paper were made jointly
with his colleague on the staff of the Department of Sanitary Engineering at
the University of North Carolina, and with the help of graduate students of
the department.
The complex nature of problems encountered during the investigation
required that unusually comprehensive studies be undertaken, including extensive use of statistical techniques for summarizing and evaluating stream
data. This paper describes briefly the nature of the problem, the wastes
treatment facilities, techniques employed for monitoring the receiving stream
and evaluating the effects of plant wastes on the stream, and development of
a planned program for operating the wastes disposal system.
THE CATAWBA RIVER
The mill occupies a site on the west bank of the Catawba River about 21
miles below Catawba Lake. A map of the area from Catawba Lake to Fishing
Creek Reservoir is shown in Figure 1. This river is one of the most highly developed in the United States, with Duke Power Co. hydroelectric installations
at dams and reservoirs throughout much of its length.
The river is characterized by a relatively steep gradient. A profile from
Catawba Dam to Fishing Creek dam is shown in Figure 2. For 12 miles below
Catawba Dam the river drops about three ft per mile. For the next seven
miles to the Bowaters site, and for another four miles to the head of Lands
Ford, the river is much flatter, averaging about 1.4 ft drop per mile. Lands
Ford constitutes a series of rapids with a drop of about 30 ft in three miles to
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