To lielp preserve the assimilative powers of the 

 waterways, industry should be encouraged to 

 reduce or recycle its waste products. Production 

 systems and equipment supporting them should be 

 designed with this in view. 



Many waste-treatment plants are not working at 

 maximum efficiency because unskilled or un- 

 trained personnel operate tliem. Responsible 

 governmental agencies should help train and 

 require certification of operators of waste- 

 treatment plants. If this action is to be fully 

 effective, it should be coupled with adequate 

 staffing and pay scales within the plants. 



VI. COST OF WASTE TREATMENT 



The price the Nation will have to pay to assure 

 itself of adequate waste treatment systems was 

 recently reported on in a Department of the 

 Interior study.'* 



It essentially covers the five-year period from 

 1969 to 1973 for projecting its costs. The costs 

 given are based on waste treatment plants process- 

 ing various point-source pollutants to meet the 

 water quality standards established through Fed- 

 eral legislation. Costs are expressed in "constant 

 1968doUars":'^ 



—The cost of constructing municipal waste treat- 

 ment plants and interceptor sewers is estimated at 

 $8 billion, exclusive of land and associated 

 costs . . . By 1973 the urban population required 

 to be served will comprise about 75% of the total 

 U.S. population . . . Currently, [the wastes of] 

 only 55% of the urban population is receiving 

 adequate treatment It is estimated that, to meet 

 water quality standards by 1973, [the wastes off 

 90% of the urban population will require second- 

 ary treatment, and 10% primary treatment. 



-There may be significant opportunities for re- 

 ducing the costs, as well as for contributing to 

 more effective pollution control, through estab- 

 lishment of intermunicipal sewage treatment and 

 disposal systems and districts. In many cases, 

 however, it will be necessary to overcome the 

 existing institutional obstacles to develop effective 

 arrangements for such systems. 



-Operation and maintenance costs for the re- 

 quired treatment works are estimated at $1.4 

 billion for the five-year priod. Unlike annual 

 construction costs, which can be expected to level 

 off after the initial backlog has been eliminated, 

 operation and maintenance costs will continue to 

 rise as more sewage treatment plants are placed 

 into operation. 



-Construction of sanitary collection sewers will 

 require an estimated $6.2 billion over the next five 

 years. These costs will be an integral part of 

 necessary expenditures for waste disposal by the 

 communities involved. 



We note that the Senate Public Works Commit- 

 tee has indicated in one of its reports that the total 

 cost may be much higher than stated in the 

 Interior study, amounting to "at least $20 bilHon" 

 to meet the cost of waste treatment plant con- 

 struction needs by 1972.'^° The Committee's view 

 is probably closer to the truth. Interior notes that 

 its study does not take into account the cost of 

 sanitary collection sewers or processing the more 

 difficult pollutants. 



Manufacturing remains the chief source of 

 controllable waterborne wastes. In terms of quan- 

 tity of waste water discharged, and the standard 

 biochemical oxygen demand, wastes from manu- 

 facturing establishments are about three times as 

 great as those from the Nation's sewered 

 population.^* Moreover, as we noted earlier, the 

 volume of industrial production that gives rise to 

 industrial wastes is increasing at about 4.5 per cent 

 a year, three times as fast as the population. 



Estimates from the Cost of Clean Water study 

 indicate that the minimum investment for plant 

 and equipment to attain water quality standards 

 by fiscal 1973 for major water-using industrial 

 establishments is in the $2.6 to S4.6 billion range. 

 If the estimates include operating expenses and 

 also the charges for restoring thermal discharges to 

 stream temperatures, then the total industrial cost 

 rises to between $8.3 and $10.7 billion for 

 pollution control for the five-year period. 



19 



Federal Water Pollution Control Administration. 

 Ibid., Vol. l,p. 3ff. 



^^ Steps Toward Clean Water, report to the Committee 

 on Public Works, U.S. Senate, from the Subcommittee on 

 Air and Water Pollution, January 1966, p. 3. 



^'Federal Water Pollution Control Administration, Vol. 

 1, p. 20. 



ni-59 



