459 



provide a better basis for natural resources planning and policy for- 

 mulation." At the same time, the Federal Council for Science and 

 Technology would review Federal research in these areas in an effort 

 to ''strengthen the total Government research effort relating to natural 

 resources." 



The select committee's third recommendation had proposed research 

 objectives for water, and had suggested that the executive branch 

 review its current work and develop a coordinated program. Examples 

 of specific fields needing research, according to the committee, were: 



(a) Eeducing evaporation from the surface of reservoirs. 



(h) Elimination of water-loving vegetation (phreatophytes) 

 along the ed^es of reservoirs and watercourses. 



(c) Changing or modifying forest and vegetative cover on 

 watersheds to reduce evapotranspiration. 



(d) Reducing seepage losses in irrigation canals and other 

 water distribution systems, and other wasteful irrigation practices. 



(e) Reduction of dilution requirements for pollution abate- 

 ment by development of improved methods for treatment or con- 

 trol of waste materials that are disposed of in water. 



(/) "Waste water salvage. 



(g) Reuse, recycling, and elimination of wasteful water use by 

 industry. 



(h) Desalting of saline or brackish water. 



(^) Weather modification. 



(;/') More accurate quantitative forecasting of meteorologic 

 events. 



(k) Application of nuclear products in research. 



(I) Improved use and control of ground water. 

 On March 4, the President by letter asked Dr. Detlev ^Y. Bronk to 

 have t]ie Xational Academy of Sciences undertake an evaluation of na- 

 tional research needs concerning water resources. There were two 

 separate responses from the Academy. One was a general report, "Nat- 

 ural Resources," that contained a section on water. It recommended 

 that research be addressed to the most promising sources of water 

 or fields of conservation of water (ground water, waste treatment, 

 u.=e of brackish water, and reduction of losses by evaporation and 

 transpiration), stressed the importance of "sophisticated techniques" 

 of annlysis in the complex management of water in entire basins, and 

 called for more researchers qualified in scientific disciplines relevant 

 to water.®° 



AriOtlier Academy study, limited to consideration of research on 

 "Water Resource^?." was prepared by Dr. Abel Wolman, who had 

 earlier participated as consultant in the select committee's investiga- 

 tion. He stressed the same problems and approaches cited in the other 

 Academy report, but provided considerable detailed information in 

 support of his findings. 



The Federal Council for Science Technologv had encountered dif- 

 ficultv in completing its re^^ew of ongoing Federal research in water, 

 and m September lPfi2. Dr. Wie^'^npr. the President's science adviser 

 and also Chairman of the Federal Council and Directorof the Office 

 of S-'ence and Technolocry, convened a task group to assist the Coun- 



"^NntioTial Acarlpmv of SciencfS-National Resparch CoTineil. Committee on Natural Re- 

 sonrces Natural Resources : A Summary Report to the President of the United States. 

 rWa=fi1njrton Dr.. Notional Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, publica- 

 tion 1000, 1962), pp. 6-10. 



