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Mr. Forsythe? 
Mr. ForsyTHE. Thank you, again, Mr. Chairman. 
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and Governor. I will stay. 
Mayor, there has been a lot of talk about solving this waste dis- 
posal problem through pretreatment at industrial plants to get the 
bad things out of the sewage that is flowing into the plants and 
thereby on into the sludge. Are you aware of or have your col- 
leagues seen any studies that have shown that where you have 
almost totally domestic sewage—as in the Blue Plains plant in D.C. 
the contaminants show up in about the same proportion as they do 
from a city like New York which has a heavy industrial inflow? 
Mayor Kocu. I have to turn to Commissioner McGough. 
Mr. McGouau. Yes; that is correct. Our own studies and those of 
Houston and Chicago, and Bergen County, N.J., have indicated 
that in the cities, particularly those with combined sewer systems, 
that there is a certain level below which it is very difficult to go 
with heavy metals. The industrial load, particularly in the city of 
New York, of heavy metals is primarily from the electroplaters, 
but it is a very small load compared to the total domestic load and 
street runoff load for these heavy metals. That is correct. So that 
pretreatment would improve the system somewhat, but it would 
not eliminate the problem of heavy metals. 
Mr. ForsyTHE. Or even other toxins? 
Mr. McGoucu. That is correct. 
Mr. ForsyTHeE. In other words, the chemicals that we are using in 
our homes today are also a major part of the waste problem? 
Mr. McGouau. That is absolutely correct. 
Mr. ForsyTHE. And therefore, to believe that we will solve the 
problem through pretreatment would be unrealistic. I am not 
against pretreatment, but I think we have to look at all our 
options. 
Mr. McGouau. I would agree with that statement. 
Mr. ForsyTHE. Therefore, looking at the whole picture is very es- 
sential. If we do start to amend the act again, we might find we 
have not only left the problem unsolved but may have exacerbated 
it by forcing another type of disposal that may be equally harmful 
or even more so. 
Mr. McGouau. That is precisely correct. 
Mr. ForsyTHE. That may be a bad thing to have said in front of 
this committee which is very anxious, by fiat, to address one factor 
of this process. But I want to get on the record that I think it is 
important that we look at the entire waste disposal problem, even 
though we may go beyond the jurisdiction of even this committee. 
In other words, we only have jurisdiction over a very small seg- 
ment of the whole problem. 
Mayor, you and I talked yesterday about the monitoring and re- 
search activities which must be carried out. You indicated that you 
fully support these activities. 
Mayor Kocu. I do. 
Mr. ForsyTHE. And that you would be willing to participate. 
Mayor Kocu. Yes, sir. 
Mr. ForsyTHE. How do you think such activities can best be orga- 
nized to do it most effectively, so far as not only New York City but 
other areas across the country that are involved? 
