Dl2-L|ncaster Fanning Saturday, December 14,1985
B&d Water! Chester Co. researcher looks to algae for answers
WEST CHESTER
“Monitoring for vims activity in
the sludge from sewage treatment
plants is just as important, and
perhaps more important, than
monitoring for heavy metals
and/or pathogens,’’ Marjorie
Kraus, research director for the
Algal Research Center, Lan
denberg, told legislators at a
recent hearing of the Joint
Legislative Air and Water
Pollution Control and Conservation
Committee of the Pennsylvania
House and Senate. A series of
hearings was held around the state
to determine if changes should be
made in the guidelines governing
the utilization of the heavier
organic fertilizer materials from
sewage treatment plants.
“There is a crying need for more
information,” Kraus insisted. She
listed several of the fears that the
public has about the use of human
waste as a fertilizer.
“These fears are primarily
health issues: viruses, bacteria
and protozoan-caused disease.
Also involved are pesticides, heavy
metals and more recently, Anti
immune Deficiency Disease.”
“The historical E. coli and
salmonella tests for pathogens are
quite inadequate for present , day
health assessments,” Kraus said.
“Other biological tests presently
used have become much too ex
pensive and complicated for
serious consideration. The needed
test must be simple, easy to run,
fast and especially inexpensive,”
she continued.
“The diseases and conditions
that confound the public are
relatively new,” Kraus said. “The
mechanisms by which these
diseases spread are still being
studied. They are particularly
alarming to the citizen because
they are sub-microscopic. They
can only be seen by using an
electron microscope. This means
that we must use an economical
method of studying the en
vironmental conditions at the
genetic level to grasp these
mechanisms and inter
relationships.”
“The algal-viral analysis
method provides this low-cost and
easily used method. Samples of a
stream can be taken at every road
crossing. A few drops of the
sample provide ample indication
as to whether or not there is
pollution present in that stream
segment,” Kraus explained.
“It is apparent that the viruses
infecting algae in the streams
arise in some manner as viruses
shed from sewage treatment
plants. The viruses are discharged
with the sewage effluent to the
streams. Nature then takes over to
clean up the stream.”
“It appears,” Kraus said, “that
there is some relation between the
algal virus and the viruses that
find their way into the sewage.
Presumably, a virus from the
effluent is able to penetrate the
algal cell wall. Once inside the cell,
it is able to manipulate the DNA
material. A virus is formed which
is genetically different from the
original virus. Every indication is
that when this changed virus is
released from the cell, it is no
longer virulent to humans.”
Kraus has been doing research
for 20 years on viruses and algal
viruses. She has studied stream
samples from Chester County,
throughout Pennsylvania and
across the country. She has been
able to determine that, a fish kill
was caused by a point-discharge of
formaldahyde and not a pesticide
as was originally alleged. She is
able to pinpoint raw sewage and
septic tank discharges to streams.
For the past few years, Kraus’
work has been funded in part by
the Chester County Conservation
District. District Directors have
used her monitoring techniques to
determine if and to what extent
farmers and mushroom growers
are polluting Chester County
streams.
Recently, the Chester/Delaware
Farmer’s Association made
arrangements for her to collect
samples and assess the present
and potential impact of agriculture
on the streams in farming areas.
They also made arrangements for
her to do base line studies around
members’ farms.
The objective is to provide
farmers with information about
any pollution that might be leaving
their property. They would then be
able to correct the conditions
causing the problem before it
became serious enough to damage
someone else’s property.
The board of directors of the
Farmer’s association also wants to
determine if their farms and their
farming methods are the major
cause of the decline of the fish, and
shellfish harvest in Chesapeake
Bay. This has been alleged in the
$27 million Chesapeake Bay study.
Spokespeople for the Bay projects
continue to allege that agriculture
is the major culprit.
Marjorie Kraus has not been
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able to locate any serious pollution water reaches the border between
by agriculture in Chester Pennsylvania and neighboring
County streams by the time the states.
Chemist Marjorie Kraus says her algal-viral method of
assessing water quality is a practical, low-cost alternative to
inadequate tests currently in use.
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