1.12 



Doctor, would it be possible to include j-our statement in the record, 

 and would it be possible for you to summanze it and give us some 

 conclusions that you have ? 



The only reason that I say that is that today we are going to nui 

 into sonie conflicts as a result of this executive session of the Commerce 

 Committee, and we are in a time bind, and I would like very much 

 to ask you a few questions, but we would not be able to do so if you 

 read all your statement. 



STATEMENT OF DR. ERMAN PEARSON, PROFESSOR, SANITARY EN- 

 GINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, CALIF. 



Dr. Pearson. Mr. Chairman, that is exactly the intent of my paper 

 presentation and my oral presentation, just to touch the highlights, 

 with your permission. 



I am Erman Pearson, and I have been a professor of sanitary en- 

 gineering for 24 years. This is a position that has existed in our 

 university stracture for over 70 years. So w^e represent an area of 

 engineering deeply concerned with environmental quality 

 management. 



My comments here today relate primarily to the coastal waste man- 

 agement aspect of ocean pollution. I have three objecti\'es in my 

 presentation; first, to summarize very briefly some of the studies 

 related to coastal areas that have been ongoing in California for many 

 yea rs. 



Secondly, to suggest that this subcommitte carefully consider pres- 

 sures to develop bans on the disposal of certain wastes to the ocean, 

 or to develop uniform requirements for waste treatment universally 

 because neither of these necessarily results in a significant improve- 

 ment in environmental quality, because of the side effeets which I 

 will comment on, too. 



First, I would like to review briefly some circmnstances in southern 

 California. Marine waste disposal in southern California consists 

 primarily of mechanical treatment, separation of floatable material, 

 and settleable material from waste streams, and the discharge of the 

 clarified effluent through large submarine pipeline systems. "When I 

 say large, I mean systems that extend 1 to 5 miles in the ocean, dis- 

 charge at about 200-foot depth through long perforated pipes which 

 we call difl'users to effectively disperse the waste in the environment. 



The sludges from these processes are digested or fermented anero- 

 bically and in part separated and sold as agricultural or soil con- 

 ditioners, and in part, the finer fraction, discharged through, in some 

 cases, especially designed pipelines into the sea, and in other cases 

 along with the effluent from the treatment plant. 



When I refer to southern California we are talking about essen- 

 tially the area from Point Conception to the Mexican border. It 

 represents a coastal population of today about 11 million peo])le. and 

 it represents the discharge of about l" billion, and that means 1,000 

 million gallons a day of treated sewage through these kinds of systems. 



Senator Tunney. When you say 11 million, how far inland are you 



gomg? 



Dr. Pearson. Well, in the Ix>s Angeles area it includes essentially 

 the entire Los Angeles basin. It represents most of the coastal metro- 



