BOOK REVIEWS 1357

"I'h¢ Social Audit Pollution Handbook. By MAURICE F'RAN- K£L. Macmillan. 1978. pp. 210.

This is a handbook for workers in and people living near polluting factories, workers" representatives and anyone concerned with the social and environmental impact of industry. It gives information about the toxic hazards that arise from industry and how to use the information and the laws controlling pollution in order to obtain an improve- ment in environmental conditions. The principles by which such improvements may be brought about are, it is claimed, applicable to countries other than the United Kingdom: although it is obvious that the handbook is intended mainly for the user in the UK, the advice given to the ordinary person intent on finding out if the air he has to breathe or the water he is compelled to drink are as good as they should be. and what he can do if they are not, could be of international interest and possible application elsewhere.

The citizen's right to know how the laws of his country are interpreted and implemented are familiar to people in the United States. The requirement of the US Environmen- tal Protection Agency that proposals for government sup- ported public works such as sewage treatment plants should be accompanied by an environmental impact state- ment and the growing requirement that the public should have the right, at a cost to be borne partly by the public works, to participate in the scheme at all the decision-mak- ing stages, may cause delay but prevent public objection after schemes have been completed.

In the UK a Control of Pollution Act was passed in 1974. Part II of this Act will come into force later in 1979 or in 1980. Individuals will then have the right to inspect the legal conditions under which discharges may be made to rivers from industrial premises and sewage works and to take legal action against the discharger in respect of in- fringement of these conditions. At present the water auth- orities which issue the conditions for discharges from sew- age works are the authorities that own the sewage works. The right of an individual to take action against these authorities for violating the discharge conditions in a sense restores the position before the 1974 Act, when separate bodies existed to operate pollution control acts. In respect of air pollution the local authorities responsible for pollu- tion control have been given powers to publish informa- tion about air pollution emissions.

The Handbook refers to air pollution hazards, the stan- dards that are required for harmful substances, expressed in terms of the maximum permissible concentration of the substance in the air and gives numerous up to date refer- ences to sources of information from which toxicity data may be obtained. The subject of monitoring at places of work is also dealt with.

Water pollution is treated first by reference to water quality and the way in which this is affected by pollutants, especially toxic substances and then to the way in which

the law to prevent pollution is administered. In order to discharge wastewater or treated effluent to a river, con- sented conditions which may be revised from time to time are issued by a water authority. In the future these condi- tions will be made according to the required water quality of the receiving water. Receiving waters are being classified into four main grades for this purpose. The reader is warned of the serious effect toxic pollutants may have on the natural inhabitants of the river and on its use as a source of drinking water.

The book succeeds in its main purpose of informing the reader and the organizations that will represent individuals in their endeavours to improve their environment about the way they should find out what kind of air they are working in and the quality of the rivers in their district. The initial steps they should take in their approach to pollution control authorities are clearly set out in bold type.

A shortcoming of the book is the absence of any infor- mation that would tell the reader how legislation control, especially of water pollution, has evolved in the UK or to show that water authorities employ dedicated staff whose enthusiasm to improve river quality and control pollution by sewage is demonstrated by the overall improvements that are taking place in river water and industrial effluents. When the author points out that the Thames contains more effluent than fresh water in dry weather, he neglects an opportunity to point out that the effluent must have been well treated to leave the Thames in good condition. When he refers to the efforts being made by water authori- ties to fit some consent conditions to agree with the quality of existing discharges he does not give sufficient weight to the fact that some industrial effluents admitted in the past to public sewers in the interests of pollution prevention have made treatment difficult or expensive. Some of the technical information could do with being re-stated more accurately, as for instance the statment that "Although drinking water is often taken from rivers that have received sewage effluent, microorganisms are normally first killed by disinfection with chlorine or ozone".

Unless the powers that will be given to individuals to require the information that the .author of this book recommends them to obtain are used with restraint, water authorities in the UK may find it necessary to obtain staff of the calibre needed to deal with searching questions on their activities. They would be well advised to prepare themselves for such questions by studying the approach which the individual is advised to make in this handbook. It is clear for example, that they need to have readable information available to the public which shows how they have evolved, what their powers are, how they perform their duty and what results they have achieved and hope to accomplish. This should help to dispel the "them" and "'us" impression that a first reading of this handbook may create.

S. H. JENKINS