A Comprehensive Survey of Industrial
Waste Pollution in South Carolina
ROY W. HANN, JR. , Assistant Professor
Environmental Engineering Division
Texas A & M University
College Station, Texas
FRANK D. CALLCOTT, Engineer
The Harwood Beebe Company
Spartanburg, South Carolina
The University of South Carolina initiated its graduate program in civil engi -
neering in the fall of 1962. A program permitting Master's level specialization in
environmental engineering was approved shortly thereafter.
As the graduate program of training and research in environmental engineering took form, it became evident that there was no available report or other publication which outlined the scope and magnitude of the industrial waste problem
in South Carolina.
To provide worthwhile direction to the University's program of research, it was
necessary to determine: (1) the nature and magnitude of the pollutants being discharged to South Carolina rivers by each industrial group, (2) the location of these
discharges, and (3) the industrial processes that give rise to such waste discharges .
This paper summarizes the efforts of the authors with the assistance of the engineering personnel of the South Carolina Water Pollution Control Authority to obtain and publish this needed information. The results of the study have already
guided several graduate students to projects of considerable potential value in
aiding the cause of industrial waste abatement in the southeast. The report itself
is serving as a source book on South Carolina industrial wastes for the personnel of
the South Carolina Water Pollution Control Authority.
SOUTH CAROLINA WATER RESOURCES
The state of South Carolina has an abundance of fresh water resources. Rainfall averages 47. 7 ins. per year throughout the state, varying from 40.3 ins. per
year along the coast to 62.7 ins. per year in the mountains. Ground water is
available in all parts of the state, though most plentiful through the central and
coastal areas. The four primary river systems, the Savannah, Edisto, Santee and
PeeDee, have average discharges of about 10,000, 3,000, 16,000 and 18,000 cfs,
respectively. The Pee Dee and Santee have the second and third largest drainage
basins on the Atlantic coast.   Figure 1 shows these river basins.
These water supplies are soft and generally free from large quantities of dissolved mineral and organic impurities. They are readily treatable by conventional
methods to provide good pure water.
The recent economic growth of the state is due, in large measure, to industrial expansion. Between 1950 and 1963, the manufacturers of the state more than
doubled their total wages paid, their value of annual product and their capital investment. In the same period, the population increased by slightly over 400,000,
or about 15 per cent. This industrial growth has been influenced by many factors .
Foremost among these are the resources of good labor and abundant water.
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