ABSTRACT
An unprecedented public awareness of pollution problems in the United States is evident and growing. Until the advent of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, only one major law addressing contamination had been passed, the Solid Waste Act in 1965. In 1986, then-EPA-Administrator Lee Thomas commissioned a study by senior staff members to address the question of where America’s most pressing pollution concerns stand. One recurring problem that ranked near the top of the study’s list was nonpoint source pollution. A separate EPA study’ estimates that 65 percent of stream pollution is produced from nonpoint sources. A large body of information has been gathered pertaining to farmland, feedlot, and industrial runoff pollution. However, one component of nonpoint source pollution has only recently been identified for study; that is pollution caused by abrasives blasting of materials such as bridges, ships, and buildings. This study addresses this issue as it relates to sandblasting ship components and the operation impact on the environment.
