Thermal Pollution Analysis

Thermal Pollution is the generic term applied to the unnatural heating of waterways by industrial discharges, mainly condenser cooling water attendant to electric power generation. The reader entering into a study of this problem area should keep three general items in mind. First, the magnitude of the energy discharged into our nation's waterways is truly astronomical. It is projected that by 1980 approximately 2 trillion Btu per hour will be rejected into the environment via approximately 250 billion gallons per day of cooling water. This will comprise about 115th of all the fresh water run-off in the entire country. Second, although the temperature differences between the discharge and the receiving water (-10-25OF) seem insignificant to the engineer or physical scientist who is accustomed to working in heat exchange problems in other areas of application, even a 1-50F change in the natural temperature of a body of water can have profound effects on the biological balance of the system. Third, public considerations of thermal pollution often have become rather emotional. The trained engineer or scientist should be prepared to hear the astonishing view expressed by those unfamiliar with the laws of thermodynamics that the power companies choose to reject this heat only because it is somehow cheaper or monetarily advantageous in some other way.

This volume contains the edited Proceedings of a Conference on Thermal Pollution Analysis held on May 14-15, 1974. The Conference was sponsored by the Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department and the Virginia Water Resources Research Center. The two primary aims of the conference were to provide a status report on the development of predictive analyses for temperature patterns in waterways with heated discharges and to enable the principal workers in the field and the current and potential users of the results of their endeavors to interact closely. The seventeen papers in this volume have been arranged in an attempt to aid the reader in grasping the problem and our present state of knowledge relative to it.