15 
Smithsonian Institution for his assistance in the drafting of the legis- 
lation as well as much of the background material involved, and also 
General Groves, of the Corps of Engineers, for his assistance. 
The problem that occasioned the bill is very critical to millions of 
New Yorkers; but it is also of fundamental importance to every 
American, because it involves protection of our most vital resource: 
our marine environment, our water. 
There exists in New York Harbor a severe pollution problem that 
is clearly paralleled in each of the major harbors of the United States. 
The principal sources of this pollution are sewer and industrial out- 
falls, ocean disposal of sewage sludge and dredge spoil, river discharge 
and land runoff, wastes from vessels, accidental spills, and harbor 
debris. 
The depths of our environmental dilemma, of course, are best stated 
through facts: 
In the United States, all manufacturing dumps an estimated 16,400 
billion gallons of waste water into our rivers, lakes, and coastal waters 
each year. This waste contains 27,500 million pounds of oxygen-de- 
manding matter and some 22,500 million pounds of solid matter. 
From the 138 million people served by sewers comes above 7,300 
billion gallons of waste water containing over 10 billion pounds of 
oxygen-demanding matter and over 12 billion pounds of solids. 
In 1965, livestock was estimated to have produced 1,138.6 million 
tons of solid wastes and 4385.4 million tons of liquid wastes, a large 
part of which found its way into our waters. 
Over 3 million tons of debris and filth are poured every day into 
the moribund Lake Erie. This invaluable body of water is estimated 
to have aged 15,000 years in the last 50 as nutrients and sediments have 
poured in from Detroit, Cleveland, Toledo, Buffalo, and other cities, 
from heavy concentrations of industry and from agricultural runoff. 
Lake Michigan is showing signs of following Erie’s demise, only far 
more irrevocably so since its flushing time is roughly 17 times as long 
as that: of Erie. 
Despite the work of the Public Health Service, a recent study indi- 
cates that perhaps 30 percent of the Nation’s public drinking and 
water systems fall below Federal standards. 
More than 1,300 communities discharge their wastes into our waters 
with no treatment whatsoever. An equal number manage to provide 
only primary treatment, which does little more than skim off and 
settle out the grossest pollutants and chlorinate the rest to kill disease- 
causing bacteria. 
In New York, pollution is greatest in an area known as the New 
York Bight, an indentation along the coast that has been used as a 
waste disposal area for more than 40 years. A map and a detailed 
description of the New York Bigh are attached to my written state- 
ment as appendix 1 and 2, and I would like to include them at this 
point in the record. 
Mr. Drncexu. Without objection, it is so ordered. 
