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Proceedings of the Eleventh
Pacific Northwest Symposium
on Water Pollution Research
November 8-9, 1962
Portland, Oregon
RTMENT of HEALTH, EDUCATION.and WELFARE
Public Health Service Region IX
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OOOR62102
PROCEEDINGS
of the
ELEVENTH PACIFIC NORTHWEST SYMPOSIUM
ON
WATER POLLUTION RESEARCH
THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS
OF WATER-RESOURCE QUALITY CONTROL
Assembled by
Edward F. Eldridge
Research & Technical Consultation
Project
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE
Public Health Service
Region IX
Portland, Oregon
November 8 and 9, 1962
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FOREWORD
In May of 1957 the Public Health Service established an
activity in its Portland office known as the Research and
Technical Consultation Project. One objective of this project
is to stimulate research in the field of water quality control
(water pollution control).
As a means of accomplishing this objective, a series of
eleven symposiums has been conducted on the following subjects:
Research on Problems Relating to Water Pollution in the
Northwest.
Financing Water Pollution Research Projects.
The Sphaerotilus (Slime) Problem.
Short Term Bioassay.
Siltation -- Its Sources and Effects on Aquatic Environment.
Oceanographic and Related Estuarial Pollution Problems of
the Northwest.
Water Problems in Watersheds of the Northwest.
Radioactive Waste Problems of the Northwest.
Research in Water Pollution and Other Environmental Health
Fields.
Toxicity in the Aquatic Environment.
The Social and Economic Aspects of Water-Resource Quality
Control.
One hundred and thirty-seven persons representing educational
institutions, regulatory agencies, State and Federal departments,
and industry met in Portland on November 8 and 9, 1962 to discuss
the Social and Economic Aspects of Water-Resource Quality Control.
Special emphasis was given to the research needs of these aspects
of the water pollution problem. This report contains the agenda
and proceedings of this meeting.
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AGENDA
ELEVENTH RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM
Address of Welcome. Richard F. Poston
Introductory Remarks. Edward F. Eldridge.
The Water Quality Problem -- Policies. Concepts and Research Needs.
Leonard B. Dworsky.
Social Factors in Water-Resource Quality-Control Policies and
Programs. Roy F. Bessey.
Economic Base Survey; A Tool for Resource Management. Myron Katz.
Discussion. John H. Davidson
Economic Analysis in Water Quality Management. Allen V. Kneese.
Discussion. James A. Crutchfield.
Public Awareness and Information. Marko L. Haggard.
Social and Economic Aspects of The Relation of Land Use to Water
Quality. William E. Bullard.
Relationship of Water Quality to Multiple-Purpose Water Resource
Development. Donel J. Lane.
Inter-Agency Relationships in Water Resource Development.
Roy W. Scheufele.
Comprehensive Planning for Water Quality Control. Reginald C. Price,
Discussion. W. W. Towne.
Summary and Conclusions. Allan Hirsch.
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ADDRESS OF WELCOME
Richard F. Poston*
It is a privilege for me to welcome you on behalf of the Public
Health Service, Division of Water Supply and Pollution Control, to
this -- the llth in a series of symposia on Water Pollution Research,
With the exception of Symposium No. 2 on Financing Water Pollution
Research Projects, the symposium discussions have largely dealt with
physical matters, for example: the Sphaerotilus problem, radio-
active waste problems, toxicity in the aquatic environment, etc.
Today, as evidence of the growing sophistication of water pol-
lution control activities, the subject of this symposium is The
Social and Economic Aspects of Water-Resource Quality Control, With
Special Emphasis on the Research Needs of the Northwest. This is a
timely subject. It covers the area largely controlling the imple-
mentation of research results. The physical-phenomenon researcher
should be aware of the factors to be discussed here in the next two
days, as they may clue him in to a system of priorities for his
efforts, or outline the groundwork which must be done to have re-
search results adopted on a plant-size scale. We also need research
on the socio-economic problems that are related to the quality
aspects of water resource planning.
Nowadays, we need as wide and versatile an attack upon the
problem of pollution control as can be brought to bear. In pol-
lution control, we cannot play a detached, ascetic role. We need
understanding, mutual trust, and commingling of the genes and
chromosomes of individual ideas and efforts. I believe a marriage
of Social and Economic Aspects of Water Quality with Research will
be blessed with progeny well fitted to cope with the rapidly-
emerging water pollution problems of the future.
You have an outstanding group of leaders for your discussions,
which, as in the past, are to be informal. I urge that each of you
join in the discussions and contribute to the success of this meet-
ing by advancing your concepts, approaches, and questions. This is
the real purpose of gathering together in a symposium.
Again, welcome -- and may the union of Research to the Social
and Economic Aspects of Water Resource Quality be fruitful.
*0fficer-in-Charge, U. S. Department of Health, Education and
Welfare, Public Health Service, Division of Water Supply and Pol-
lution Control Program, Pacific Northwest, Portland, Oregon.
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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
E. F. Eldridge*
We are not running out of water. There is just as much
water in this country today as has been here for ages. Never-
theless, we are rightly concerned about the adequacy of this
resource to meet our growing demands. There is a considerable
question about our ability to substantially add to the natural
supply of water and in the foreseeable future, at least, this
is not our problem. Our problem is water resource management.
We can either waste or conserve this resource. Our choice
obviously must be to conserve.
Conservation of water cannot be confined to quantity alone,
Large quantities of water are of little value for most of our
major needs, if not of the desired and necessary quality.
Witness the ocean. Water resource management must, therefore,
be concerned with quality as well as quantity.
A water-resource quality management program has at least
three general aspects, namely, the technical, the economic
and the social. I believe that it is true that we who in the
past have been involved in water quality control (pollution
control) have given priority to these aspects in the order of
(1) technical, (2) economic, and (3) social. In fact, we have
given major attention to the technical, limited attention to
the economic and almost none to the social. This we have done
in spite of the fact that, right or wrong, social and economic
factors govern our decisions more often than do the technical.
Recognition of this fact has prompted this symposium.
And since research is the key to progress in any activity,
our discussions today will be directed toward, but not con-
fined to, a determination of the needs for knowledge on the
social and economic aspects of water pollution (water-resource
quality) control.
*Physical Sciences Administrator, U. S. Department of Health,
Education and Welfare, Public Health Service, Division of Water
Supply and Pollution Control Program, Pacific Northwest, Portland,
Oregon.
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THE WATER QUALITY PROBLEM
POLICIES, CONCEPTS, AND RESEARCH NEEDS
Leonard B. Dworsky*
Social and economic research addressed to the problem of water
quality is sorely needed. This seminar reflects the efforts of the
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to stimulate and en-
courage this effort. The Division of Water Supply and Pollution
Control is keenly aware that knowledge to be derived from such re-
search is important to furthering its mission of keeping clean the
nation's water resources.
For some of those present there is little need to dwell on
historical developments. There are, however, many people here who
have not been closely associated with this problem of water quality
management, or water pollution control, and a brief setting of the
background -- a resume' of how we have arrived at where we are --
seems justified if we are to have a full understanding of the prob-
lems confronting us.
In opening this seminar, I have been given the task of out-
lining the water quality problem and the working policies and
concepts underlying our national pollution control program.
I plan to do this by reviewing the mainstream developments of
the pollution problem, and by comparing this development with other
major aspects of water resources activities. Then I want to recon-
sider the problem from the viewpoint of four specific areas, namely,
enforcement, engineering and planning, financial assistance, and
quality goals for safeguarding water resources. For each of these
areas, I propose to summarize th§ guiding working policies and con-
cepts. Finally, I want to outline a number of research tasks re-
lated to the social and economic aspects of these facets of the
water pollution problem. Some of these will be developed in greater
detail by other speakers, but I hope to touch upon a- few as my
contribution.
There has been a sense of awareness, and sometimes urgency,
about the need to control and develop water resources in the nation
from our very beginnings. Carl Sandburg notes Mr. Lincoln's support
*Assistant to the Chief, Division of Water Supply and Pollution
Control, Public Health Service, Washington, D. C.
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for river and harbor projects in the mid-19th Century as a con-
gressman. At about the same time, new ideas began to cascade
from widely divergent sources. In 1849, Thoreau, after a week
on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, and later at Walden Pond,
wrote on Man's response to nature and water. Also, Dr. John
Snow, in London, was finding that water had another relationship
-- that it could transmit cholera and be a hazard to Man. In
the vital 60's of the last century, Pasteur founded the new
science of bacteriology.
Although scientific knowledge of importance to our subject
was just beginning to emerge by 1880, the Congress had been con-
cerned for nearly 50 years with problems of flood control. Dur-
ing the ten-year period following the Civil War, over $40 million
were spent on river and harbor improvements. The establishment
of the Mississippi River Commission in 1879 marked the beginning
of direct federal involvement in flood control -- although it
remained tied to navigation until appropriation acts of 1917
established flood control as a function in its own right. By
the time the Reclamation Act of 1902 was passed, private recla-
mation efforts had established 20,000 private enterprises pro-
viding water to 9.5 million acres of land with an investment of
$250 million.
In the late 1880's the Lawrence Experiment Station in Massa-
chusetts had been established. The year 1901 saw the establish-
ment of the Public Health Service Hygienic Laboratory and the
establishment of the Division of Scientific Research. Eleven
years later, in 1912, the Congress debated whether there should
be a laboratory to undertake water pollution research, and fi-
nally decided to establish one within the Public Health Service,
located at Cincinnati, Ohio. By 1914 the first drinking water
standards were established, providing a guide about the quality
of water Man could consume without causing illness. At about
the same time (1912), Congress also argued whether or not there
should be some federal responsibility for enforcement of pol-
lution control, and decided against it, thus laying this matter
over for another 36 years.
During the 1910-1920 period, the Cincinnati laboratory
began to develop the fundamental knowledge of what happens to
pollutants in a flowing stream. The basic outlines of waste
treatment technology began to come into better focus. But
during this period, the major effort was placed upon protecting
the drinking water. There was more concern with controlling
illness than with controlling pollution of our waters. This
generally was the nation's pace throughout most of the first
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half of the 20th Century, with minor variations created by public
works stimulation during the 1930's and a nearly total absence of
progress in pollution control during the war years of 1941-45.
By 1927 the Corps of Engineers had received authority to
undertake comprehensive basin-wide water studies throughout the
nation. During that decade, trial surveys were initiated in Ohio
and Illinois to test the stream purification theories so far de-
veloped at Cincinnati. In 1939, the Public Health Service and
the Corps of Engineers jointly entered upon the first comprehensive
pollution study of a river basin -- the Ohio River Survey, (H.D.
266, 78th Congress, 1st Session). Under a board consisting of
Major General Thomas M. Robins (Corps of Engineers), Professor
Abel Wolman (Johns Hopkins University), and Sanitary Engineer
Director Ralph Tarbett (Public Health Service), a report having
continued reference value was produced.
The first major federal enatctment to control water pollution
was passed in 1948 (PL 845, 80th Congress). By this time, the
problem was universally acknowledged as serious. The economy,
surging forward as a result of the war and postponed consumer
buying, was also reflecting a new industrial technology. Popu-
lation and industrial growth, a new commitment on the part of
the nation to provide jobs for its manpower, new purchasing
power, increased leisure time, and a demand for outdoor recrea-
tion all contributed toward establishing the need to keep the
nation's water resources clean.
In retrospect, viewing this problem as well as others, it
is worth reminding ourselves that we are a pragmatic nation
and that we do act on important problems when it becomes clearly
necessary to do so. We took action on the flood problems in the
latter part of the 19th Century because the Mississippi Valley
flood threat had to be met. The 1902 Reclamation Act came into
being to meet the problems posed by the large land reclamation
tasks which confronted the West, and which could no longer be
avoided. Historical review bears out the conclusion that there
was no consistent desire, philosophically, to assign these tasks
to the Federal Government. Other devices, such as the early
Swamp Lands Acts, the Carey and Desert Land Acts and other ap-
proaches were attempted to meet these problems through state
action.
With respect to the Water Pollution Act, the record shows
that for a half century, federal participation was held in reserve.
One may conclude that the Federal Government's participation in the
pollution problem represents, in the long-term trend, another of
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the actions necessary to develop a mature, balanced program to
protect public health and conserve natural resources within the
framework of our federal system.
Thus, water pollution control, in comparison to other federal
water development programs, is a late-comer. This program has no
long history in planning, in financial aid, or in enforcement
authority. These originated in the 1948 legislation in a modest
way. The beginning of a stronger research effort also traces
back to 1948.
All of these early programs were new within the federal es-
tablishment and were faced with great constraints in terms of
budget. Nevertheless, after some 14 years, we have a right
states, localities, Federal Government, and the public -- to be
proud, but not complaisant, of our accomplishments in water pol-
lution control. Few, if any, nations have had to meet problems
of comparable complexity, or have set goals quite as high as ours.
Perhaps this is because no other nation has compositely the same
industrial setting, abundance of materials, leisure time, and the
drive for remaining close to Nature.
The tasks we face are not merely of an engineering character.
We are seeking primarily important social gains and a sound basis
for future economic development. Social and economic research in
this field must be sensitive to a wide range of values and goals.
To better view some of the social and economic problems re-
lated to water pollution, let us consider the program elements of
enforcement, engineering and planning, financial assistance, and
water quality goals.
Enforcement
As early as 1912 Congress considered, but decided against,
placing with the Federal Government the responsibility for en-
forcing water pollution control. Up to that time, pollution was
largely a public health problem and remedies were sought through
the police powers of the state. Certain federal controls regard-
ing floating debris in coastal waters already existed in the navi-
gation laws of 1889 and 1899. Extensive use of oil during World
War I resulted in enactment of the Oil Pollution Act of 1924, and
its enforcement was assigned to the Corps of Engineers. Today oil
pollution on the oceans and seas is a world-wide problem -- one to
which the United Nations has addressed itself.
The 1948 Water Pollution Control Act provided for federal
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control of interstate stream pollution which endangered the health
or welfare of people in a state other than the one in which the
pollution originated. The power to enforce, however, was contin-
gent on the consent of the state creating the pollution.
In only one situation -- where a small stream flowing from
Arkansas into Louisiana was polluted from oil wells -- was the Act
used. It did mark a breakthrough in implementing the federal en-
forcement authority. But, as a whole, the enforcement provision
under the Act of 1948 was weak and inoperable. As a result, there
was a strong demand for more effective legislation, which came in
1956, and which was further broadened and strengthened by the 1961
amendments to the Water Pollution Control Act.
When requested, or whenever the Secretary of Health, Education,
and Welfare believes an interstate problem exists, a conference be-
tween the states concerned and the Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare is called, to present the problem and seek a solution.
Generally, such conferences have resulted in agreement on objectives
and a time schedule to accomplish them. The program is then re-
ferred back to the states for accomplishment. If progress is not
satisfactory, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare then
calls a hearing before a board, on which no officials of HEW may be
members. On the basis of the board's findings, the Secretary of
HEW can order the city or industry to take action to control pollu-
tion. If no action is taken after a specified time, the Secretary
can refer the matter to the U. S. Attorney General. The conference
technique was suggested by the states to provide close consultation
with states prior to a formal finding by the Federal Government that
pollution exists. It has proven highly effective.
The 1956 legislation provided a tool that the states and the
Federal Government have used with good effect. But problem areas
continued to exist within states on intrastate streams that were
outside the authority of the 1956 Act. The 1961 amendments extend
the federal authority to interstate navigable waters, and with the
state's assent, to intrastate waters. This was in response to the
need to fill gaps that existed in the old Act. Thus has the Fed-
eral Government's enforcement role evolved during the past 14 years.
The current position of the Federal Government on enforcement was
stated by Assistant Secretary James Quigley of Health, Education,
and Welfare in a speech last year. J7 He said...
_!/ Clean Water and The New Frontier, Address before 39th Annl.
Convention and First Conservation Conf., The Izaak Walton League
of America, Chicago, June 22-24, 1961.
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"...the new Administration, the New Frontier, if you
will, is ready, willing and able to come to grips with the
hitherto unfaced question of the scope and sweep of na-
tional water pollution control policy. The real problem
of 'fish or progress' cannot be avoided much longer. The
Federal Government must take the lead in establishing a
national policy on water pollution control which is com-
prehensive in its scope and uncompromising in its imple-
mentation. Existing law actually authorizes the Federal
Government to act with regard to interference with any
and all legitimate water uses, whatever purposes they
serve. Up to now, however, that authority has not been
actively pursued. It certainly has not been pursued at
the state or local level. And so, I suggest that our
only alternative is to pursue it vigorously at the Fed-
eral level.
"I believe that any degradation of water which can
interfere with a legitimate use is contrary to national
policy. I believe this policy is implicit in existing
law, which requires not so much further amendment but
substantially increased implementation. No water pol-
lution control law - Federal, State or local - should
by its terms or by interpretation be held to require,
permit or condone any type of water pollution.
"There are still some who hold to the belief that
the utilization of a stream as a receptacle of waste is
a legitimate use of water, consistent with water pollu-
tion control policy. Such a belief finds its basis in
the fact that water courses have been used for this
purpose all the way back to antiquity. Whatever may
have been acceptable or unavoidable in years past, how-
ever, it is quite clear that our goal now and in the
years ahead in an age of vast industrial expansion and
rapid urbanization must be to prevent any sort of water
pollution.
"This is the new scope of national water pollution
control policy on the New Frontier. We intend to actively
put into effect that National credo established at the
National Conference on Water Pollution last December, that
"users of water do not have an inherent right to pollute;
users of public waters have a responsibility for returning
them as nearly clean as is technically possible; prevention
is just as important as control of pollution."
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Federal enforcement is a fruitful subject for research by
political scientists, students of law, and others. Opportunities
exist to study federal administrative machinery; to subject the
process itself to critical evaluation; to compare its effective-
ness with that of state and interstate entities; to study devices
for coordinating state and federal enforcement as a working tool
for both state and federal agencies; and to consider the value of
joint federal-state enforcement operations based on state enforce-
ment of national requirements, a procedure now existing in other
activities in which the federal and state governments share re-
sponsibilities, applied to the water pollution control field.
Engineering and Planning
Engineering, the process of applying scientific knowledge;
and planning, the process of assessing available resources and
future needs and developing programs to meet the needs, are both
highly dependent on research in the field of water pollution.
In terms of today's problems, considering the limitations of
existing technology to provide "complete" sewage and waste treat-
ment in fact; to meet problems of detergents or other persistent
chemicals; and the inability to control such nutrients as phos-
phorus and nitrogen; the research effort mounted by the nation
during the past decades, it must be concluded, has been short-
sighted. As we now know, this is not an isolated shortcoming.
We also failed to forecast accurately population and industrial
growth, and the effects of new technology on American society
and its resources.
As we move through the 1960's, time in which to work out
new engineering processes and get them into use is severely
limited. Such research and technological limitations complicate
planning and altogether they present a major issue to physical
and social scientists alike.
Beyond the pioneering Ohio River Report previously mentioned,
a few small basin plans produced by private engineering firms, and
some limited state pollution control agency activity -- compre-
hensive planning for water quality management remained almost
static during much of the 1950's. Major planning efforts are now
underway to help meet new problems and new requirements.
The Kerr Committee (Select Committee of the U. S. Senate on
National Water Resources) pointed out in 1961 that planning is
essential if the nation is to meet its future water requirements.
It suggested, and the President has asked, that all federal agen-
cies work toward the development of comprehensive basin-wide water
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plans by 1970. The Public Health Service is participating in that
effort. Today planning programs are underway in the Columbia,
Ohio, Arkansas, Colorado, and other river basins.
There is room, however, for improvements in the planning pro-
cess. On the basis of these planning operations large sums of
money will be spent during the next two decades. Research, for
example, must determine to what extent we correlate the degree of
waste treatment and the dilution of treated wastes through reser-
voir storage for stream flow control to best serve pollution con-
trol requirements. It might consider the place of the private
sector of the economy in multipurpose developments involving this
problem. It must seek a new treatment technology that might reduce
the need for reservoir stored dilution water.
The planning effort needs new thoughts from many new sources.
We must better identify the significant planning elements. We
must develop the economic rationale for the planning process and
the systems analysis to manage numerous and complex variables.
We must study deeply the means through which the plans, once de-
veloped, will be implemented. The universities are best geared
to assume the major role of research in water pollution control
needs. With isolated exceptions, however, there is little effort,
little interest, and seemingly little understanding at the uni-
versity level of these needs. The tasks are many, and support for
such studies is available from numerous sources.
Financial Aid
Federal financial aid, either directly or through land grants
to states and private enterprise, has a long history. Roads,
canals, river and harbor navigation improvements, and later drain-
age, flood control, land reclamation and erosion control have had
such support. Until the 1930*s such aid for water pollution con-
trol was unknown. Localities and industries creating the problem
were responsible for its solution and financing.
Federal financial aid during the depression years was under-
taken, not primarily to assist in pollution control, but to make
jobs for people. During the war years of the 1940*s, financial
aid aimed at helping war-impacted municipalities was supplied to
pollution control by the Lanham Act. Legislation proposed in the
post-war period looked back to the progress of the 1930's and
federal aid became a part of such proposals. Legislation drafted
during 1946-47 proposed federal assistance to cities and to in-
dustries for building waste treatment works, recognizing that the
nation had to meet this problem in some effective way.
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As a result of numerous bills, the 1948 legislation concluded
with the Senate proposing $100 million for low interest loans to
municipalities only; the House proposed $20 million and the compro-
mise bill authorized $22.5 million per year. However, no appropri-
ation for this purpose was made during the first seven years of the
law, 1948-1955. In 1956, Congress authorized and appropriated $50
million for an incentive grant program to aid cities in construc-
ting sewage treatment .plants. This has continued to date, amended
in 1961 to increase the grant sum to $80 million per year and
ultimately to $100 million per year.
The Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations report
on water and sewage works in connection with metropolitan problems
raises a new question. The Commission has asked the President to
request his departments to review the problems of industrial waste
pollution and consider incentives to facilitate industry pollution
control to safeguard water quality. Some six or eight states have
already effected state and local tax programs to do so.
It is a question that needs much study. What are the oppor-
tunities to use the tax structure to assist industry? Water use
taxes for those industries using public waters have been suggested.
Would loans be of any value, or a clear-cut grant subsidy? The
Congress could effectively use studies in depth identifying all the
various possibilities as it debates and determines public policy.
These are research challenges that universities and others can
accept.
A number of other opportunities are open to research on the
general problem of financing. The relationship between federal and
state governments in the water pollution control financial aid pro-
gram is worthy of study. Generally, federal financing programs
supporting capital construction at local levels lean over backward
to secure the federal investment, with attendant overhead costs.
Rarely, too, are decisions about where federal moneys go left to
other hands. A study of the administration of these grant funds
can provide new insight into organizing and administering a federal-
local grant program with concomitant strengthening of state's activ-
ities. Such a study might compare this program to others for over-
all effectiveness in terms of efficiency, economy, federal-state
relations and a general strengthening of the federal system. As
presently administered, following a state-by-state allocation based
on a legislative formula, the state water pollution control agency
decides where the money goes, and establishes project priorities.
State standards of treatment works are accepted. The federal role
is purposely minimized, with attendant and significant savings in
administration overhead and supervision.
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Another research task would be to examine the present relation-
ship between the comprehensive planning function of the water pol-
lution control program and financial incentives available to carry
out the plans. (Under Section 6 of the Water Pollution Control Act,
grants are to be made for projects within the framework of a com-
prehensive water pollution control plan.) How to bring these pro-
gram aspects together while preserving the states' role in estab-
lishing priorities is a question worthy of study. Suitable studies
might devise better methods in fund administering, and in the way
states participate and determine priorities.
Still another useful study relates to the fact that municipal
waste treatment is usually undertaken on the basis of a city's
readiness to build, in terms of local planning, priorities, and
financing, and not in terms of a basin plan to realize optimum
water quality values. Under this situation, the full benefit of
public and private expenditures are not realized.
Finally, to consider the key issue: how clean do we want our
waters to be? Mr. Quigley's statement provides a Federal Govern-
ment viewpoint. At state level there are significant variations
in policy, and the administrative means to carry out these various
policies are widely divergent.
Some states avoid clear public statement of desired water
quality goals because this is thought to create administrative
problems. Others have established extensive stream classification
schemes with clearly identified quality goals. Another group has
settled for water quality goals that may be unrealistic in terms
of future needs and over-all regional or national values.
The National Conference on Water Pollution (1960) and the
Water Pollution Control Advisory Board, having representation from
industry, conservation, and public health interests, citizen groups
and local, state, and county officials, have indicated that the
best tools available in our technological armament should be used
everywhere to produce the best treatment possible to conserve
waters for the best uses.
Today, in contrast with the 30's, many states are already
seeking that result by establishing a policy of secondary treat-
ment (about 80-90 per cent removal of organic wastes). Additional
high cost treatment -- to cover perhaps the last 10 per cent --
may be required more extensively in the future.
These matters pose important research tasks. What are the
costs to the nation if high quality goals are met? What are the
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losses if they are not met? How much can we rely on market place
economic analysis? How can we better identify social values not
measurable directly in dollars? What are the total consequences
of polluted waters? What benefits would accrue from an effective
basin-wide cleanup program?
I hope that these trend lines of development have provided a
useful background to those not previously familiar with the general
subject; that this discussion of the four areas (enforcement; engi-
neering and planning; financing; quality goals) has usefully illus-
trated the nature of the subject problems; and that the research
suggestions will prove worthy of thought and followup action by
interested students and others.
DISCUSSION
Q. I would like to pose a question with respect to federal aid.
Originally federal aid was used as an incentive to get state
and local interests into water pollution control. I view it
now as a sort of requirement to build up interest on local
and state water pollution control problems. Will future fed-
eral aid be an effective means of building this local interest?
Do you think this is a healthy tendency from incentive to
requirement?
A. It started as an incentive, it still continues as an incentive,
but there is a significant shift in point of view. The Federal
Aid Program was started on the premise that the cities which
created pollution had a responsibility for taking care of it
and essentially this still remains the general accepted policy.
However, in terms of the national interest, one must begin to
view this as being a sharing task to which the Federal Govern-
ment assumes not merely an incentive task but also a basic re-
sponsibility because of the widespread values that are con-
tributed by good water. Actually, what we are saying now is
that the Federal Government representing the total people is
sharing in this task with the state and local governments.
The principle is that of sharing at all levels of government
because we all have an interest in this matter.
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SOCIAL FACTORS IN WATER-RESOURCE QUALITY-CONTROL
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS
Roy F. Bessey*
INTRODUCTION AND SYNOPSIS
This exploratory paper looks toward correlated research and
planning by many agencies and interests with the view of bringing
out the great social needs for, and the broad and close inter-
relationships of water supply and pollution control and other
water resource uses in, the society. It is presented with the
hope that it may help to stimulate thought and discussion, and
relevant public, private and educational research and study, to
such ends.
By way of introduction, some basic premises of the present-
ation may be outlined:
1. We are concerned with "social" aspects in the broad
sense -- as including economic and political as well as soci-
ological facets. We are concerned with societal objectives for
advancing human well-being and an increasingly livable environ-
ment. It is assumed that social purposes relating to health,
safety, welfare, productivity, and to amenable lives -- are of
fundamental and often dominant importance in resource development,
2. We are concerned with a total and integral problem of
contamination of water, land and air from many sources affecting
many areas and regions, and the nation as a whole. The problem
is expanding in magnitude and intensity; with a high rate of
growth in population, urbanism, and production, and a lagging
rate in resources conservation and development, the needs in
water development are outrunning the means of meeting them.
3. In such a problem we are concerned with a total environ-
mental context -- with water supply and pollution control in a
geographic, economic, biotic and ecological community. We are
concerned with protection and improvement of environment to the
social ends mentioned and with the effects of pollution control
in arresting decay and decline and promoting vitality and
amenity in the community.
*Consultant in Regional Planning and Water Resource Develop-
ment, Portland, Oregon.
14
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4. Concerned as we are with a total environment, it is
presumed also that the full resources of the interrelated natural
and social sciences should be brought to bear in unified fashion
in the accumulation of relevant knowledge and in its application
to situation appraisals and plans of action for societal improve-
ment .
5. Research in social sciences -- including geography,
regionalism, psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics,
politics, behaviorism, and planning -- is of high importance
in giving meaning and direction to the vital effort in the
needed expanded work in the physical sciences.
6. The river basin and the region provide a logical environ-
mental setting for a unified application of scientific research
and skill in the essential conservation and development of water
and related natural resources.
7. The present is seen as a very crucial time -- a time of
special need, opportunity and challenge -- in the marshalling of
knowledge and scientific and material resources for meeting an
expanding threat to our social health and welfare. A break-
through is called for in the advancement of resources protection,
conservation and development.
In the body of the paper effort has been made briefly to
outline the social background and necessities of water supply
and pollution control policies and programs. Highlighted are
(1) some major social aspects and needs, (2) the place of water
supply and pollution control in a comprehensive resources de-
velopment plan, and (3) the kinds of socio-politico-economic
research needed in an effective all-science attack on the
problems.
The concluding section reviews such research needs and
presents an outline looking to a comprehensive coverage of the
field. Finally, the conclusions reiterate the view of the
wholeness of the problem of environmental contamination and of
the parallel need of unity in the use of countervailing resources
of purpose, knowledge, wisdom, technology and materials.
THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC NECESSITIES OF A WATER SUPPLY ADEQUATE IN
QUANTITY AND QUALITY
1. Background of general public and national interests.
Basically and realistically, water must be considered as
15
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essential raw material for industry and ingredient of vital human
services -- as veritable life substance. An adequate supply,
available in quantity and quality for multiple uses, is a com-
munity, regional and national necessity from standpoints of health,
welfare and economic and social security. With land, materials and
energy, it forms the natural resources base for an advancing
economy and society.
The maintenance of water quality pollution control -- has
long been recognized as a matter of public concern, one for which
the community has usually accepted a public utility responsibility.
With population and industrial expansion, the area of public respons-
ibility is constantly widening -- from urban community to metro-
politan area, and now to the river basin and region. As has been
well brought out in water resource policy studies of a Senate
Select Committee, and others, those responsibilities extend upward
from local to state and federal government, j./
Awareness of water pollution as a serious urban-area problem
goes back about a century, when it was linked with typhoid epidemics.
Federal interests heightened at the turn of the century, research
dealing with the effects of pollution on men was undertaken by the
Public Health Service in 1901 and extended in 1912, when legislation
providing for investigations of lake and stream pollution was passed.
Later, in 1926, legislation was passed for oil pollution control.
Generally, however, progress toward any concerted national attack
on pollution was limited, although a number of separate bills were
introduced in the Congress over a period of years.
While the Federal Government has carried forward its role of
research, the states, under their police powers, augmented from
time to time by special legislation, have carried the brunt of
pollution control action. For most states, however, the efforts
were essentially piecemeal, and far too little was accomplished. 2/
A modern view of pollution control as a broad social problem
of regional and national proportions calling for integral con-
sideration with other resource problems was established by
cooperative appraisals led by the national resources planning
organization of the 1930's.
j;/ Select Committee on National Water Resources, U. S. Senate,
Report. No. 29, 87th Cong., 1st Sess.
2/ Leonard B. Dworsky, U. S. Public Health Service, Comprehensive
Planning and Water Quality Management, 1960.
16
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In its general resources situation review of 1934, the
National Resources Board said that there was little question
but that a number of problems of quality of water and of pol-
lution deserve the coordinated study which only the Federal
Government can give them. It suggested a number of lines of
approach -- as in coordination in collection and analysis of
data, in study of influences of stream control and development,
and in study of advisability of federal control of interstate
waters with special reference to domestic, industrial and mine
pollution. \/
A few years later, the National Resources Committee set
up a cooperative review under its Water Resources Committee.
The resulting report, providing national perspective, said
that "water pollution affects man in a variety of ways, and
none in a degree that can be expressed satisfactorily in
monetary terms. Human health may be impaired and life may
be lost; the supply of aquatic life may be reduced; the suit-
ability of water for domestic and industrial use may be
impaired; the life of bridges and other structures may be
shortened; and recreational use of water bodies and adjacent
lands may be hampered or prevented. These effects may result
from deposits of foreign substances of four major types: (1)
chemically inactive substances, (2) active putrescible sub-
stances, (3) bacteria, and (4) chemically active non-putrescible
substances." It recommended federal assistance in the form of
grants and loans to public bodies and loans to industries. 2/
The Water Resources Policy Commission, in 1950, was also
positive about the national concern with the pollution problem,
citing water shortage and pollution as "accomplices in retarding
progress." "No informed person" --it said -- "can fail to
recognize the direct relation .... for polluted water is
almost as bad as no water at all, and where it endangers life
or health, momentarily worse." 3/
A very little later the Materials Policy Commission further
stressed the needs for water in quantity and quality. It said
\l National Resources Board, Report, 1934.
2/ National Resources Committee, Water Pollution in the United
States. 1938.
3/ President's Water Resources Policy Commission, A Water
Policy for the American People, 1950.
17
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that the planning and development of water resources must comprehend
all aspects of collection, conservation and use, that growing needs
can be met best if water requirements are treated as one of the
major objectives of water policy in each area and for the whole
nation, together with all other uses of our water resources, j./
Over all of these years, private and non-federal public
interests have offered considerable resistance to the assumption
of broad federal responsibilities in pollution control. This
resistance movement is perhaps best epitomized in the report of
the Task Force on Water Resources and Power of the second Hoover
Commission. 2/ There a group of proposals sought policies aimed
at increasing local responsibilities and restricting national
roles in such matters as flood control and power, as well as pol-
lution control. In the latter instance, federal activity in
pollution control would have been limited substantially to that
caused by federal installations.
The Senate Select Committee on National Water Resources, in
its notable 1961 review of water need and policy, expanded upon
the comprehensive view of water supply and pollution control. It
saw prosperity and even survival at stake in meeting growing demands
for water. It noted the problems relating to the several active and
inert pollutants, adding emphasis on new chemicals and radioactive
substances, sediments, and heat. It saw pollution-control progress
as lagging behind the growth in population and production, the
growth of demand for water and the production of wastes, as well
as behind that of regulation of flow of rivers for disposal and
dilution. It saw the need for augmented research in a number of
fields, and for the improvement of techniques for dealing with
increasingly significant types and quantities of waste that cannot
be handled by existing methods of treatment. It recognized the
need of public understanding and support in the job to be done.
It emphasized the importance of comprehensive planning of water
development with a view to advancing economic opportunity and
improving the quality of life for the people. Generally, the
_!/ President's Materials Policy Commission, Resources for
Freedom. 1951.
2/ Commission on the Organization of the Executive Branch of
the Government, Task Force Report on Water Resources and Power. 1955,
Also, Committee on Government Operations, U. S. House of Represent-
atives, Hearings, Water Resources and Power. Milwaukee, Wis.,
Nov. 7-8, 1955.
18
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Select Committee studies threw much new light upon water supply
and pollution control needs in the context of the total national
water resources interest, policy, and development. \l
In spite of such comprehensive views of danger and need, and
of the frequent introduction of legislative proposals, progress in
the advancement of national policies and programs has been slow.
The Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 established a policy of
backstopping local action and control. While reiterating the policy
of recognition, preservation and protection of the primary responsi-
bilities and rights of the states in controlling water pollution, it
also proposed to support and aid technical research, to devise and
perfect methods of treatment of industrial wastes, and to provide
technical services to state and interstate agencies and to munici-
palities in the formulation and execution of their stream pollution
abatement programs. This Act was amended and strengthened in 1956
and then further in 1961.
This last-mentioned law marked a longer step toward maturity
in a national pollution control policy and program. It showed
increasing concern with rapidly-growing pollution problems. It
reiterated and strengthened the policy and program of grants, loans
and technical assistance in state and local control. Further, it
provided for the preparation of comprehensive plans for abatement
in surface and underground waters. Also, very significantly, it
looked to the advancement of federal storage projects for the
regulation of streamflow in the interest of water quality control,
with the proviso that such storage and water releases shall not
be provided as a substitute for adequate treatment or control of
waste at the source. This legislation further provided that the
value of such storage shall be taken into account in determining
the economic value of the project and that allocations of costs
be made to the purpose of water quality control.
Of very direct interest from the research standpoint, the
legislation provided for the establishment and operation of
research and field demonstration facilities and for the carrying
out of research programs in pollution and treatment technology.
It also strengthened the means of enforcement against pol-
lution.
JY Select Committee on National Water Resources, Report, op.
cit., also Committee Prints, Nos. 1-32, Water Resources Activities
in the United States. 1960.
19
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Over-all, an important effect of the recent amendments will be
a reinforcement of pollution control in the broader scheme of compre
hensive river-basin planning and development. Appreciation of this
need has been growing over a period of years, particularly in the
interagency river-basin planning movement since 1946. _!/
2. The present situation, problem and need; the growth of demand
for water supply and pollution control.
The scope and magnitude of the water supply and pollution
control problem have expanded very materially, and the needs have
become increasingly critical, since the broad appraisals of a
quarter century ago or even that of the Presidential policy com-
mission studies of a dozen years back.
Much of the pollution growth is an extension of older trends --
with strong increases in population likely to continue for at least
a few decades, with large concentrations in urban and industrial
development, and with expanding output and consumption of materials,
goods and services. But new factors of large physical and social
significance have emerged. The more portentous of these involve
the greater production and use of persistent and cumulative toxic
chemicals in fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and detergents. 2/
The present and prospective expansion of production of atomic
wastes as a source of contamination, and of unwanted heat, is a
similar problem. Waste heat may be utilized in the generation
of electric power, as in the current plan for development of dual-
purpose reactors at Hanford, Washington. In general, however, the
anticipated large-scale nuclear generation of electrical energy
may be expected to intensify the problem of safe disposal of such
wastes.
Generally, a worsening situation underlines a need for
extended and accelerated research in physical, ecological, social
and environmental fields. As already noted, the production of
waste is far outrunning the means of disposal, and the pace of
physical growth allows no time for natural ecological readjustments.
In concrete terms, the Senate Select Committee has summarized ^
relevant factors and estimated requirements in the physical
_!/ Leonard B. Dworsky, op. cit.
21 Note Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, 1962, and the burgeoning
controversy about the nature and extent of this environmental threat.
_3/ Senate Select Committee, op. cit., Committee Print No. 32,
Water Supply and Demand.
20
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development of water supply and pollution control capabilities.
The following significant national figures (for the 48 contiguous
states) should be useful for the purpose of social perspective,
as well as for the evolution of development goals:
Year: 1960 1980 2000
Population (millions) 180 244 329
Urban Population (millions) 126 193 279
Gross National Product ($ billions) 519 1060 2200
Water Withdrawals (billion gal./d.) 350* 559 888
Water Losses (billion gal./d.) 110* 119 156
The water withdrawals might be considered against a presently
available water supply of about 1100 billion gallons per day.
For the Pacific Northwest the corresponding significant
estimates are:
Year: 1960 1980 2000
Population (millions) 5.9 8.3 12.4
Urban Population (millions) 3.8 6.2 10.1
Regional Gross Product
Water Withdrawals (billion gal./d.) 27* 35 60
Water Losses 12.7 13 15
These regional withdrawals and losses might be considered against
a presently-available supply of about 143 billion gallons per day.
The possible storage development posited by the Select
Committee also is very significant in the perspective of water
development. For the country (48 states) a "minimum cost"
program of development would call for about 440 million acre-
feet of storage above the present level of about 280 million
by the year 2000. For the Pacific Northwest such a program
would call for about 20 million acre-feet above the present 30
million, or a total of about 50 million acre-feet. The capacity
would make about half of the natural flow available all of the
time.
21
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In a further rough weighing of future development of storage
for multiple purposes in the Pacific Northwest (principally in
the dominant Columbia River system), a storage goal of the general
order of 50 million acre-feet has already been broadly justified
for purposes of power and flood control. _!/ Under such a general
condition the discharge under the Columbia's record flood of 1894
(one of about 100-year frequency) would be about cut in half
(from about 1.2 million cubic feet per second to about 0.6 million).
Since storage facilities and uses for multiple purposes will
not be separable, some leading questions might be posed for research
and study purposes: To what extent (presumably a large one) would
storage capacity serve jointly, without major conflict, between the
major storage purposes? Should higher goals be set for prudent
planning purposes, making allowances for larger-than-anticipated
consumptive uses and losses, for a lower degree of sewage and
waste treatment, for new contingencies in waste disposal, and for
higher benefit values in water supply, flood control, power, recre-
ation, and other uses?
For example, an 80 million acre-foot goal for the Columbia
River system in the year 2000 might be hypothecated, and perhaps
found to be warranted. This would provide for a storage capacity
of about half the supply, with added (although probably not
proportionately added) major values in flood control, power and
water supply. In flood control, for instance, the record Columbia
flood flow would be cut to about one-third, and the system would
be better prepared to meet the much greater floods of lesser
frequency.
The foregoing illustrations are, of course, only crude approxi-
mations of the possible degree of storage development, sketched with
a very broad brush. However, hypothetical goals of this kind should
be set up as useful guides in research and planning for the more
specific location, layout and use of storage in surface reservoirs
and also significant underground reservoirs (such as that of the
great upper Snake basin) for multiple purposes from flood control
to recreation. In the field of water supply and pollution control,
they provide a long foresight for the research and planning for the
larger-scale, more integral systems of water supply and distribu-
tion, waste treatment and disposal, water drainage, etc., seen as
needed to meet the greater and more complex needs of the future.
j./ U. S. Army, Corps of Engineers, North Pacific Division,
Water Resource Development, Columbia River Basin. 1958.
22
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Assumptions of the kind should also be helpful in study of the
relative benefits of storage for the various uses, including
water supply and pollution control.
The relation of withdrawal to supply in the Pacific North-
west, as compared with other national situations, is also a matter
of economic and social significance warranting further study.
Withdrawals crowd upon supply to a lesser extent in this relatively
water-rich region than in many other regions and in the United
States (48-state basis) generally. The withdrawal-supply ratio
for the Pacific Northwest is now less than 20 percent while that
for the country at large is over 30 percent. In western basins
generally, withdrawals are already considerably in excess of
supply, while some others there and elsewhere will have high
ratios within the 20 or 40-year periods considered in the Select
Committee study. JL/
As national growth and development trends continue and
pressures on water supplies increase, the relative disparities
in water supply and demand seem likely to lead to notable inter-
regional differences in economic and social potentials -- with
pushes from water-deficient areas and pulls toward the better-
supplied. The effects can hardly be gauged with accuracy, but
some are likely to be strongly felt, as in the capacity for waste
disposal, in the location of industries of high water use, and in
the efficiencies and amenities in community facilities and
services. The Pacific Northwest, of course, is in the better-
supplied category.
3. The general situation in summary; the need for breakthrough
in research and development.
The older general views of the situation and of the need of
concerted attack -- as brought out by National Resources, Water
Resources, Water Resources Policy, and Materials Policy studies --
are still highly valid but new urgencies have been added as indi-
cated. The present and potential dangers to life and environment
from the mass production and use of persistent chemicals and from
radioactive materials have been highlighted.
Another kind of urgency has been added by the presentation,
through the Select Committee, of a clear, if very approximate,
quantitative view of the vast requirements for a supply of water
II Select Committee Print No. 32, op. cit,
23
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of controlled quality for all purposes and for all regions. _!/
The urgency of a broad program of research and planning is
further stressed by the determination of the national adminis-
tration to develop comprehensive development plans for all of
our river basins by 1970. As already noted, this is a most im-
portant planning avenue to the realization of adequate progress
in water and pollution control programs.
Quite clearly then, we are at a turning point -- a time in
which to reappraise and replan our research and development
policies, goals, methods, plans and programs. The immense scope
and complexity of water supply requirements in the economy means
that we must turn definitely and firmly to river-basin settings
and plans, to coordinated action between purposes, goals and
agencies, and to water-supply and drainage systems rather than
to piecemeal plans and projects for meeting those needs.
We now have strengthened legal and program capabilities as
a result of the amended pollution-control and water-supply acts.
Thus, the situation presents a renewed and more promising
opportunity and call for new orientation and for concerted
action in meeting one of the nation's larger problems and needs.
We should have a clarified and reinforced understanding of
physical need and of economic, political and social concepts
suited to the need and the time. In this connection, the rela-
tively slow reaction of the general public to water "shortage"
and pollution as dangers and problems of national significance
suggests the importance of knowledge of the public's attitudes,
motivation and "behavior" on one hand and of the public's inform-
ation relating to its possible choices and decisions on the other,
Here is a general challenge to government, educational systems,
industry, and general public and a very specific challenge to
their research agencies in the natural and social sciences.
WATER SUPPLY AND POLLUTION CONTROL IN A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN OF
RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
The situation and needs briefly outlined here indicate in
general terms the kind of conservation and development goals,
policies and programs required in a renewed and reinforced
attack in the water supply and pollution control field. The
I/ Ibid.
24
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kind of development measures required to meet these and related
needs is, in turn, highly relevant in the approach to a well-
directed and adequate, many-pronged and comprehensive program
of research in water supply and pollution control.
Some basic principles, many of them widely recognized, in
the planning and development of water and related land resources,
may be illustratively outlined here as affecting directions of
socio-economic research. These principles will warrant study in
themselves with a view to their adaptation to water supply and
pollution control in particular.
We have touched upon a principle of unity -- of consideration
of interrelated multiple resources in a total economy and environ-
ment. As also indicated, the principle of comprehensive, multiple-
purpose, balanced and coordinated river-basin and watershed con-
servation and development is widely applicable to modern water
supply and pollution control solutions.
The basic principles of conservation of both material and
human resources -- including wise use and all feasible renewal,
salvage, and re-use -- will apply widely in water supply fields.
Broad principles of economic justification of development --
as of benefits in excess of costs and of optimum use of resources --
will apply in water supply fields. But in view of the nature of
this need it will be especially important to give full consider-
ation to social benefits and costs. Application of this group of
principles will call for a careful rationalization of stock or
arbitrary methods of evaluation, justification, and cost allocation.
The urgency of securing public and governmental understanding
of social need in water supply and pollution control underscores
the need of a very purposeful and realistic approach to the author-
ization and financing of projects and programs for these purposes.
Such purposes are often lost sight of in the mathematical intri-
cacies of conventional economic analysis. Moreover, there have
been strong tendencies to discount the broad social, including
moral, values and imperatives. Despite a number of indefinite or
unstable factors, many analysts would rely too heavily upon
mathematical formulas for evaluation. They would also, in spite
of doubtful reality and applicability, give undue weight to classical
market-place economic analyses which feature the efficient use of
capital, as suited to private enterprises, rather than the efficient
use of resources, as suited to public projects and programs. Some
would argue, further, that water is entitled to no special status
or consideration -- in spite of its basic place in the economy and
25
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society -- and that it should compete for investment funds with
all other desires. There is also opposition to allowances in
evaluation for intangible benefits in resource development pro-
jects. And there is the general effort to restrict federal
development and activity, already referred to.
Since the issues involve life, health, productivity, society
and posterity, it should be clear that the intangible and imponder-
able benefits and costs involved in water supply development should
have full recognition in evaluation. Broad studies of water re-
sources development have recognized this; for example, the Water
Resources Policy Commission said that "many projects will have
their major effect on the broad development of our social economy.
It will, therefore, be contrary to the public interest to place
principal reliance on primary benefits which may often be private
in character." I/
One suggested approach to justification of water supply and
pollution control -- one which might be either primary or ancil-
lary -- is that of determination of a public convenience and
necessity, of acceptance by government of a "public utility"
responsibility in the public interests of health, welfare, and
service. Certain necessary basic services in the economy -- such
as transport, electricity, and water -- are commonly recognized
as natural monopolies, not generally subject to the competition
of the market place but subject to public provision or regulation.
Often these must be provided, to meet requirements of public welfare
and service and to undergird economic and social growth and advance-
ment. In this case the real tests are those of meeting the ac-
knowledged need with maximum effectiveness and economy, rather than
those of high benefit-cost ratio or high rate of return on in-
vestment .
The problems of realistic evaluation of water supply develop-
ments -- in themselves or within larger multiple-purpose water
development programs suggest a desirable area for socio-economic
study.
Principles should be further evolved under which water will be
available at the lowest feasible cost and for widest feasible dis-
tribution in harmony with the ability to use the water beneficially
and economically. Such an aim is desirable in the interest of
JL/ President's Water Resources Policy Commission, op. cit.
26
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optimum use of water supply as a basic factor in economic and
cultural growth and advancement. It will be desirable to couple
with such a developmental policy a conservation proviso including
suitable incentives to economical use, salvage and re-use -- and,
conversely, deterrents to waste -- of water supplies. Further
study of means to this end -- including technical and financial
aids, regulation, etc. is desirable.
As a conservational and economic principle, pollution should
be abated before the fact, or as near to the source in home,
community, industry, watershed, or river basin as may be
possible.
Administration, organization and procedure for water supply
and related research and development -- including federal, state
and local, interagency and intergovernmental arrangements --
should be adapted to water management and control on a coordi-
nated basis, and in the case of river-system developments, within
a scheme of interagency organization for river basin development.
All of the principles sketched will have some effect upon
the goals and patterns of research and will offer opportunities
for useful social-science study.
The physical characteristics of development will also have
a material bearing on the desirable patterns of socio-economic
research. In this connection we might note and anticipate such
conditions as these:
1. The increasing development of storage and regulation --
main control systems -- in river basins for water supply and pol-
lution control and other multiple purposes.
2. The increasing improvement and more intensive management
of small watersheds for water supply and quality control, along
with the more conventional activities relating to soil and moisture
conservation, erosion and siltation control, and crop, range and
forest production.
3. Changed and new patterns of physical development of water
supply, waste disposal, sewerage, and drainage -- increasingly in
the pattern of systems designed and integrated on drainage basin
and metropolitan area lines.
The probable trends in development of water supply and sanitary
systems, together with trends in population and industrial concen-
tration, suggest the need of research in state and local organi-
27
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zational patterns including water supply and sanitation districts
in themselves or coupled with multiple-purpose improvement or con-
servancy districts, metropolitan governments or federations, or
other coordinating devices.
CONCLUSIONS: A SUGGESTED OUTLINE OF SOCIALLY DESIRABLE RESEARCH
Broad appraisal of the state of research in the whole field
of water supply would be desirable in the interest of filling
deficiencies and gaps in the knowledge pertinent to the making
of good plans and decisions.
A very wide range of interrelated social research is seen as
desirable for the effective accomplishment of water supply and
pollution control purposes in the region. From the societal point
of view much more knowledge of man-and-environment problems should
be accumulated and put to use.
To a large extent the water supply and quality-management
research should be integrated in the larger scheme of comprehensive
river-basin and regional planning and development.
In view of the basic social purposes the research in water-
supply fields should have a strong social-science orientation.
In the interest of depth and breadth of knowledge and judgment
the total research pattern should have a strong interdisciplinary
cast. Strongly involved in the over-all research scheme, obviously,
are such natural sciences as physical geography, geology, hydrology,
biology, ecology, and the applied sciences of engineering. The
desired knowledge, insights, and motivation for study and planning
will be incomplete without application, individually and as a
unified whole, of the social sciences -- including economic and
cultural geography, anthropology, psychology, economics, political
science, behavioral science, and the applied sciences of public
health, administration and government. For coherence and whole-
ness in the research and planning, the generalizing disciplines
of geography, of regional science, and of planning should be drawn
upon.
The physical aspects of a well-rounded program have been widely
considered and are not gone into here, other than to suggest a strong
orientation to the chemical, biological (including genetic), and
ecological implications of modern chemical and radioactive pollution.
A very extended view of the developmental and operational
technology of water development including water supply and
28
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II
pollution control was provided by Ackerman and Lof a few
years ago. I/
Another broad view of research needs, primarily from an
economics standpoint, has been presented by Allen Kneese. 2/
In his study, Mr. Kneese visualized the primary social-science
research role in the formulation and pursuit of objectives and
the physical-science role in the economic achievement of those
objectives. The study did not seek to confront "the range of
relevant problems of an institutional and administrative
character." In behalf of broad physical and economic research,
Mr. Kneese said that "any effort to establish efficient water
supply and waste disposal is bound to be beset by a host of
information and deficiencies, which cut across the boundaries
of a variety of traditional disciplines." He suggested "a
number of lines of investigation ... which should help to pin-
point the costs of pollution and enhance methodology and know-
ledge of scientific relationships critical for dealing with
present and emerging waste-disposal problems in a socially
meaningful and economically efficient manner." The lines of
investigation proposed relate to basic data on wastes, method-
ology for keeping track of wastes, cost analyses, prediction
of pollution loadings, and techniques for approximating optimum
multipurpose and multi-unit system designs. Outlined were
research needs, in social science and sanitary engineering,
with respect to industrial pollution, sewage and water treat-
ment, municipal water supplies, fisheries, agriculture, and
alternative water quality control measures.
The Senate Select Committee report, with its very full
coverage, provides excellent base, take-off, and guide for the
planning and design of programs and projects for physical,
economic and social research in this field. 3/
Here in this paper the major effort is to picture lines
of research having to do with the broad socio-politico-economic
\l Edward A. Ackerman and George 0. G. Lof, Technology and
American Water Development. 1959.
2/ Allen V. Kneese, Water Pollution, Economic Aspects and
Research Needs, Resources for the Future, Inc., 1962.
_3/ Senate Select Committee, Report, and Committee Prints,
op. cit.
29
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conditions and consequences of water supply and pollution control
in the wider framework of resources and regional conservation and
development and of social welfare. For example, we are deeply
concerned here with research that will throw light on the effects
of high and low -- quality water on environment and society,
on social tolerances in this connection, and on socio-economic
results in the stability and movement of industry and people and
the effective use of resources.
Recapitulating this view of desirable research, a suggestive
summary outline of research fields and topics follows:
I. The anatomy of the total physical and societal problem
of waste disposal and of water, land, and air contamination, and
the total approach to solution.
II. The socio-economic base and setting for research, plan-
ning and development in the water supply and pollution control
field.
A. Relevant conditions and trends in the economy and
environment. For example: Demographic, economic and
physical change and development. Biotic and ecological
change and development. The biotic and economic com-
munity; the whole environment. The society -- its back-
ground, nature, knowledge, attitudes, motivation, etc.
B. The impacts of water supply, water quality, and
pollution on community, society, posterity -- as on
land use, population, and land occupancy patterns,
urban and industrial development, on the migration of
people and industry, etc. The special problem of
persistent and cumulative pollution. Directions for
industrial, private and public research and planning.
C. The general social and economic values, benefits
and costs, and justification of water supply and pol-
lution control.
D. Socio-economic research and influences in programs
of field and laboratory research and demonstration in
water supply and pollution control fields.
III. The social and economic necessities, goals and
principles of water supply and pollution control.
A. Over-all environmental, needs and goals (space, resources,
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balance, stability, health, livability, etc.)
B. Economic needs and goals (productivity, economic,
opportunity, health, income, etc.)
C. Social needs and goals (general welfare, health,
education, recreation, amenity, etc.)
D. Political needs and goals (ethics, order, policy,
law, administration, government, control, regulation,
cooperation, etc.)
(1) Public policy in water supply and pollution control.
(a) Conservation of resources.
(b) Controls and incentives in interest of economical
and wise use.
(c) Assurance of water supplies adequacy in quantity
and quality, distribution, cost, etc.
(2) Legislative provisions and needs.
IV. The place and relationships of water supply and pollution
control in comprehensive multiple-purpose river-basin and regional
planning and development.
A. Goals, principles, criteria and standards for water
supply development in the general plan.
B. Watershed management for multiple purposes, including
water quality control.
C. Underground water storage and supply.
D. Water supply and pollution control in river system and
basin.
(1) Role in main control system -- dams and reservoirs,
control works, storage, flow regulation, etc.
(2) Common problems and requirements, interactions and
reciprocal effects of water supply, pollution, sanitation,
etc., with other of multiple uses of water and related
land, for example --
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(a) Waste dilution, aeration and purification in works
and channels, with dams, power plants, reservoirs and
channels.
(b) Pollution and siltation and siltation control, etc.,
with watershed management and small control works.
(c) Sanitation, wastes, water quality, etc., with recre-
ational water uses and facilities.
(d) Water flow and quality, with fish and wildlife con-
servation.
(e) Water supply and sanitation, with irrigation and
drainage.
(f) And like effects.
E. Benefits and costs evaluation, and allocation of costs,
including those of multiple-purpose storage.
F. Economic and social justification of water supply and
pollution control aims and programs in the general scheme.
Productivity and income effects. Costs under alternative
means. Environmental protection. Health and welfare.
Public necessity and public utility. Relative values.
V. Industry roles and relationships in solution of problems
of waste reduction and disposal.
VI. The role of educational and research systems and insti-
tutions .
VII. Governmental roles, organization, and procedure.
A. General responsibilities of government -- welfare,
security, commerce, property; public utility; etc.
B. Governmental organization, missions and cooperation
in the accomplishment of adequate water supply and pol-
lution control.
(1) Federal responsibilities and leadership, and agency,
interagency and intergovernmental action and cooperation.
(2) State responsibilities, organization and procedures.
Including those for patterns of local government, and aids
to local government.
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(3) Local government responsibilities, organization,
action and cooperation.
(a) Counties.
(b) Cities.
(c) Improvement and service districts --
Water supply and sewerage; sanitary.
Conservancy.
Multiple-purpose or consolidated.
(d) Coordinate planning and action in watersheds,
drainage areas, metropolitan areas, through
Zoning.
Annexation.
Consolidation, metropolitan government.
Federation.
Contract.
C. Education, training, and information aspects.
VIII. Over-all objectives and potentialities of joint industry,
education, and governmental policies, plans and programs.
In closing, it is desirable again to stress the wholeness of
the problem and the need, as well as of the pertinent knowledge
and disciplines, and of the approach to solution, in a whole
environment. It is also desirable to reiterate a purpose and hope
for widest consideration by the public, and by the many industrial,
educational and governmental institutions concerned of the full
range of physical and social problems and means of solution in a
comprehensive, well-balanced and coordinated program of action.
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DISCUSSION
Q. How can a social goal be used in the evaluation of a water
project?
A. Perhaps we shouldn't try too hard to reduce a social goal to
monetary terms. The basic term should suffice to a greater
extent and among more people - reviewers and legislators -
than it does. They probably should lean less on the cost-
benefit ratio and a little more on the absolute necessities
of health and welfare. If you can evaluate them, that is
fine, but it might be fruitless if carried too far.
A. I believe we have some experience in doing this. For example,
consider the problem of recreation and fish and wildlife in
terms of reservoirs. There is certainly a great demand in our
American society for the utilization of reservoirs for recre-
ation facilities and for fish. I don't suppose that anybody
today would argue that a visitor's day value is adequate in
order to arrive at some value for this social benefit. How-
ever, we have used it. We have arbitrarily decided on a
value of $1.60 per visitor's day. Some justification can be
found for this kind of value, but I suppose if anyone wanted
to, he could question how we have arrived at it. This is one
way we have attempted to force ourselves into a mold of a
dollar value in terms of a social benefit. We might just as
well say as a policy that recreation areas on reservoirs are
good and that we will spend whatever money we need to develop
these reservoirs to some satisfactory level so that people
can use them. Thus, one way to approach a social benefit is
through some sort of a pricing operation.
A. The alternative cost method might help. If you decided on an
objective and had to accomplish it, the alternative cost of
doing comes under consideration. Basically, once you determine
the objective, you do it as cheaply and efficiently as possible.
The determination of objectives is what is meant by the "social
goal."
Q. I would like to see these objectives developed more on the basis
of theory.
A. I would like to see the theory expanded too, but I would like to
see it more pragmatic - more closely related to the objectives
where it leads to planning and decision making. A good deal of
this becomes so analytical, so theoretical, that only those who
initiate it can understand it, and it isn't applied to problems.
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We need to use more of the purposeful, pragmatic approach -
cause and effect approach - in combination with the theo-
retical .
A. I have to work on practical problems and I have to compromise
all the time with theory, and probably a little more compromise
is desirable.
COMMENT: I might add that there are some interesting analogies
in the field of city planning to this matter of estab-
lishing objectives. City planners might decide that
there is need for so many acres of parking space per
person in the community as indicated over a series of
years by peoples' requirements and wishes. The result
is an enormous investment in city parking because this
is the sort of thing they feel they want to do to
develop their resources. It might be less expensive
to spend their money on parks or office buildings.
Q. I would like to raise the question of the desirability of
quickly brushing aside the dollar value. It has more impact
than we are inclined to believe and it is very definitely
related to what we can expect our water consumption to be in
the future. I cannot accept the very broad statements of
people that our water consumption is going to double or
triple in the near future. Consumption is predicated solely
upon the gross cost of water and that means the cost of
water to the consumer plus the cost of getting rid of that
water and putting it back in condition to be used again.
We are very frequently prone to neglect the cost of proper
treatment. We in Seattle are face to face with that problem
now. We know the cost of treating the used water is a major
factor in reducing the amount of water consumed. Obviously
there will be technological changes in industry as the cost
of water goes up. I would like very much to find out more
specifically the dollar value of these public uses, recre-
ation, for instance.
Also I think there should be a little more clarification
regarding terms we use, such as reservoirs. What type of
reservoir do we refer to? People who have specific
purposes in mind have a tendency to pick up these broad
terms and then apply them to such purposes . My specific
interest is in reservoirs for city water supply and the
problems of utilization of such reservoirs for other
purposes such as recreation. Most of the references in
the previous discussions apply to multipurpose reservoirs.
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A. I would like to refute the idea that the reservoir general-
ization is an over-generalization. I do not think it is
becuase the quantities are getting so large that it's no
longer economical to develop a reservoir without multi-
purpose uses. In other words, even in the Columbia, which
is a rich water-supply region, storage requirements are
reaching half the yield of the system. These cannot be
single-purpose reservoirs.
A. We have to differentiate because we have several different
types of watersheds and rivers. The Columbia River is a
long river draining tremendous areas. In the Pacific North-
west we have many small, rapid, steep-sloped rivers with
large quantities which are not at all comparable to the
Columbia. Therefore, you must analyze the various aspects.
You cannot be too broad in your generalities. Of course,
we could use the general objectives in the analysis of
such rivers as the Willamette and Upper Snake.
Q. What research is going on in the universities on social and
economic aspects?
A. At Oregon State University there is at the present time a
project on the economics of water pollution control. This
is a study of the Newport-Toledo Bay area to identify the
costs and benefits associated with water quality management.
We also have underway a project in connection with the
Oregon Game Commission to make an evaluation of the salmon
and steelhead sports fishing in Oregon in an attempt to
come to grips with the recreation problem. I was interested
in the comments with respect to assigning dollar values to
items which are very difficult to assign dollar values to
in the absence of a market mechanism. I agree that in
terms of the final decision perhaps more than simply dollar
value should be taken into account, but I would add also
that a careful determination of the dollar values can add
immeasurably to the data and information available to the
ultimate decision maker, whoever he may be. We need to
recognize the limitations of our methods and we also need
to recognize that even if our methods were perfect, there
would also be additional information we would want to take
into account.
COMMENT: I am a student at the University of California and, as
a thesis, will be working on the incidence of benefits
and costs relating to water quality management. This
is actually a specific economic and engineering model
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for pollution control with reference to domestic wastes,
which account for some 40 to 50 per cent of the pollu-
tion load.
COMMENT: A project is being conducted jointly by the School of
Law, the Department of Economics, and the College of
Fisheries at the University of Washington to study the
biological, legal and economic aspects of limiting
entry into a salmon fishery in Puget Sound. We are
assimilating with high-speed digital computers data
regarding the fishery in all its economic and biological
aspects. In this way we can look at the various mix-
tures of different kinds of economic return, different
kinds of participation, and form a judgment as to legal
needs. This is probably the first attempt to use in-
dustrial dynamics and principles which have had quite
a bit of study in other fields, into a problem that
involves biology or into the use of a natural resource.
COMMENT: Dollars and cents are very important and everyone is
concerned with money, but I would like to give one
example of one poor country which hasn't a fraction
of the wealth we have in this country and yet has
risen above the question of money. That is Sweden.
For example, Sweden has many beautiful valleys which
have intrinsic value beyond the valleys themselves.
Power lines are strung not the shortest way through
the center of the valleys, but around the sides, even
though it costs more. Why with water, the intrinsic
value being in good water, do we by law have to think
of dollars and cents?
COMMENT: Probably one of the saving features of benefit-cost
ratio is that dollar values are applied to a physical
thing which in many cases is constant while the values
themselves are transitory. As we move into the future,
one of the problems is an expanding population explo-
sion - now if we don't solve the water problem, we won't
have the explosion, at least not in this area. I'm
wondering in the final analysis just how critical
benefit-cost ratios are in making determinations on
some of our construction projects.
COMMENT: One of the disadvantages of benefit-cost ratios, as they
are practiced, is that people, when they get a figure
down, seem to believe it. They think it's real - it has
some meaning. We all know the tremendously unstable and
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indefinite quality of these factors. If we are to use
them, we should do so with a great deal of common sense
and perhaps give even a greater weight to the intangibles
which are of more importance to public health and welfare,
These are sure to override in the final decision.
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ECONOMIC BASE SURVEY: A TOOL FOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Myron Katz*
To accurately gauge the magnitude and character of future
demands upon his resource is a major problem confronting the public
administrator whose responsibility it is to manage a natural re-
source. In a dynamic economic environment it is manifestly dif-
ficult and, indeed, it can be ruinous to a resource for the re-
source planner to formulate policies, plans and programs based on
the circumstances of the moment without at least faint attention
to the breadth and character of future circumstances. For it is,
after all, future circumstances which will control ultimate re-
source utilization and which, at the same time, will test the
adequacy and appropriateness of the plans earlier formulated.
In resource management, what is past is prologue; often
tragic prologue. For we have not always attended to the manage-
ment of resources in ways which took adequately into account the
role they would be expected to play beyond the moment. Lest this
be construed as a harsh criticism of resources husbandry of the
past, let me disabuse anyone so beguiled. It is an easy matter,
with the benefit of hindsight, to be critical of the deficiencies
of resource management of an earlier time. But it is not a simple
matter to forecast scarcity amid abundance, to forecast market
limitations due to supply at a time when market limitations are
almost entirely a function of demand, to forecast even a few
years ahead the exquisite meanderings of public taste, fashion
and preference. But whereas in the past, because of the relative
abundance of many of our resources, we have been able to avoid
responsibility for forecasting future requirements upon our
resources without incurring extreme penalties, as each year goes
by we can less and less afford to indulge in such casual and
cavalier disregard of the future and the penalties we will have
to pay for taking the wrong path will become progressively more
and more severe. We no longer have resources in limitless supply.
The magnitude of supply is dwindling. The quality is deteri-
orating. Our population and per capita demands, on the other hand,
are growing. If we could once afford not to exercise care in the
preservation of resources from haphazard exploitation, we can no
longer.
*Economist, Bonneville Power Administration, Portland, Oregon.
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In order to produce the optimum return to society, now and
in the future, from the management of our resources, and thus
minimize the progressively increasing penalties which will accrue
from mismanagement, correct policies must be sought. Of course,
resource policies, once adopted, need not be static and inflexible,
incapable of adjustment and modification when unforeseen circum-
stances arise. But if they are to be meaningful and do the job
for which they are intended, they must, like an organic document
of law, be sufficiently durable to permit a body of subordinate
law and public action to develop about them with assurance that
they will not be abruptly altered at the slightest turn of events.
How appropriate these policies are and how well suited to the needs
of the present and the future will depend, in large measure, on
the notions of the future upon which the policies are based.
A formidable responsibility is imposed upon the public admin-
istrator who is a resource manager. He is a trustee of the public's
resources. He is required to exercise a type of fiduciary responsi-
bility as conservator of that resource. He must manage the resource
in a fashion which extracts from it the maximum cumulative return
to society, today and tomorrow. Decisions on resources development
made today will have profound and lasting consequences to both
present and future generations. Faulty decisions, once made final,
can be accompanied by irreparable damages. It is, therefore,
imperative that decisions of such sweeping and, in many cases,
irrevocable consequences be made with supreme care and with the
long-range view of future generations in mind, lest we default on
our obligations to posterity. Great care must be exercised to
assure that resources will be utilized intelligently in the face
of irreversible encroachments of civilization and technology.
Let me cite three illustrations. For example, construction
of a hydroelectric facility changes the character of the site
itself and, very often, the surrounding countryside and water
course for miles around. Once the project is constructed, however,
it is invariably too late to redress mistakes. A power plant
which meets today's demands for hydroelectricity may have been
the wrong plant at the wrong site to adequately meet tomorrow's
demands. It may pre-empt and foreclose use of a superior adjoin-
ing site better suited to satisfy future hydroelectric demand.
Worse yet, a power plant which meets today's demands for hydro-
electricity may destroy or impinge upon a conflicting resource
the demand for which, in a more technically advanced and less
benighted future age, far outstrips the future demand for hydro-
electricity.
As another illustration, today the highest and best use of a
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given stand of timber may be for the production of lumber, plywood,
pulp or some other forest product. Tomorrow, by virtue of shifts
in public preference and changing technology, the highest and best
use of that same timber stand may be for recreationists to stand
and stare at an unmodified chunk of nature's handiwork. But if
the timber stand has been committed to its earlier highest and
best use and harvested in the interim, its potential as a recrea-
tion resource may be so seriously impaired, even after regrowth,
as to disqualify it for its subsequent higher and better use.
Finally, the highest and best use of a given water resource
today may be to carry away pollution. Tomorrow that same water
resource may be in far greater demand by industry for cooling,
by households for domestic consumption, by recreationists for
swimming, fishing, and boating. But if the commitment to its
earlier use cannot easily be undone, as often it cannot, the
water resource will be returning to society a fraction of what
it could and should return.
The foregoing illustrations do not imply that dam construction,
timber harvesting or using water to transport pollution are neces-
sarily misuses of the public's resources. They do illustrate, how-
ever, the irrevocable nature of some of the decisions which public
administrators and policy makers are required to render and the
critical importance of forecasting with the highest possible degree
of accuracy the future demands upon various resources. Not only
are there penalties to society from faulty decisions resulting from
inaccurate forecasts in the form of damage to resources, loss of
industry, under-achievement in production possibilities and unsat-
isfaction of society's demands but there are also penalties which
attach to over-investment, misplaced expenditure and idle capacity.
How is the future to be divined? What are the techniques
available to the forecaster? What can be done to maximize accu-
racy? Let us attend now, by way of example, to the economic base
survey, the function of which is to furnish the resource manager
with a carefully and skillfully evolved notion of the future.
The example to which your attention is directed is the
Bonneville Power Administration's Pacific Northwest Economic Base
Study. For the purpose of long-range planning of electric power
facilities in the Pacific Northwest region, BPA has embarked upon
an intensive economic base survey of the region. The Pacific
Northwest includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho and that portion of
Montana west of the Continental Divide. The objective is to fore-
cast the probable economic development of the region over the next
25 years in order to accurately project anticipated regional
electric power requirements.
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Using the BPA study as an illustration is not inappropriate.
Development of natural resources to satisfy demands for power is
not unlike development of other natural resources to satisfy
demands for recreation, for domestic and industrial water, for
the products of the forests, for food and fiber from the land,
or for minerals from beneath the land. If there is any differ-
ence at all, it probably lies in the fact that load forecasting
in the electric utility industry, in general, and at BPA, in
particular, is well established as a basic ingredient of the
management function. Forecasting is firmly established in the
utility industry because of the long life of installations, the
substantial lead time required for constructing facilities, the
magnitude of the investments involved, and the responsibility
inherent in furnishing reliable and adequate service to the
public. These characteristics of the hydroelectric industry
have long operated to confirm and reinforce the importance of
long-term load forecasting. A comparable importance, however,
is now being attached to forecasting in other natural resource
fields as demand inexorably expands while supply either remains
fixed, as in the case of land, diminishes in quality, as in the
case of water, or contracts, as in the case of mineral reserves.
Because the BPA study is an on-going enterprise and one of
rather ambitious dimensions, a description of its methodology
and techniques serves as a convenient way to explain the nature
and mechanics of the economic base survey.
In briefest terms, the purpose of the BPA study is to
analyze the future industrial and economic capabilities of the
region, the population which such capabilities will support and
to forecast from this data the ultimate power requirements of
the region - in five-year intervals to 1985 with a projection
and exposition of trends to the year 2010. It is expected to
take approximately four years to complete from the time of its
inception. When completed, it will serve as the basis for future
load forecasts, for long-range planning of the region's main grid
transmission system, for rate structure review, and for identi-
fying economic potentials of specific industries within the region.
The theory underlying the BPA survey is that regional
electric power requirements are primarily a function of regional
population, that population in turn is primarily a function of
employment opportunities, and that employment opportunities in
turn are primarily a function of the manpower requirements of
basic or export-type industries. Thus, if the relationships
between power requirements, population, employment and basic
industry jobs can be forecast, it follows that power requirements
42
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can be forecast indirectly, by application of these relationships,
from a forecast of basic industry employment.
The theory is not without its qualifications. Certain indus-
tries, for example, are consumers of enormous blocks of power and
a forecast of expansion in any such industry would naturally indi-
cate substantial increases in power requirements over and above
increases which will result from population expansion and changes
in per capita power consumption. Similarly, while future demand
for water resources might also be a function of future population,
there are some industries whose water requirements are unique or
substantial and for whom special allowances must be made in fore-
casting the future regional demand upon that resource.
Early in the planning phases of the BPA study a list of the
region's basic industries was prepared. Although there is no hard
and fast definition of what is a basic industry and what is not,
in general they are limited to the extractive and manufacturing
industries - the mines, farms, forests and factories of the region.
As a general rule, these are the industries which are responsive
to and affected by changes in demand arising from outside the
region. They include forest products, agriculture, food proces-
sing, minerals, chemicals, fisheries, defense and, although neither
extractive nor manufacturing, recreation and tourism. These
industries, and their many sub-classification components, were
selected for intensive study and analysis.
In addition, certain key natural resources which will strongly
influence the capacity of the Pacific Northwest region to support
basic industries or to successfully compete with other regions for
location of basic industries were also selected for intensive
study. These include the fuel and energy sources available to the
region and the water resource for direct industrial purposes and
for generation of power. Having identified basic industries and
the key natural resource factors which could act as limitations
upon expansion of these basic industries, BPA was prepared to
embark upon its economic base survey mission.
Most of the studies in the BPA base survey are to be performed
by those government agencies and, where necessary, private con-
sultants, who are acknowledged authorities in the field assigned
them for study. Memoranda of understanding are executed between
BPA and other federal agencies to do some of the work and contracts
are executed between BPA and non-federal agencies and private
consultants assigned other study responsibilities.
This technique of contracting out to others the responsibility
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for particular studies was adopted in order for BPA to obtain the
services of experts and to enable BPA to draw upon a large store
of background experience and information which the BPA staff would
be unable to secure without incurring a substantial, albeit imperma-
nent expansion in its size, with a concurrent waste of time and
money.
At the same time that contractural arrangements were being
concluded with respect to the study of basic industries and key
resources, BPA also contracted for research into historical data
on population, labor force and employment in the Pacific Northwest.
The purpose of these employment studies is to provide an analysis
of shifts in the employment pattern among industries in the region
and among geographic sub-areas and thus to furnish information
necessary for the study of the critical relationships between
population, labor force and employment, which underlies the theory
of the BPA study.
Finally, BPA initiated, again by contract with other agencies,
research into personal income payments in the Pacific Northwest, by
source of income on a county-by-county basis, to supplement, test
and reinforce the data developed with respect to population, labor
force and employment.
The first BPA economic base study contracts were executed with
the bureaus of business research of the University of Washington,
University of Oregon, University of Idaho, and Montana State
University for the preparation of the studies on population, labor
force and employment in each of the states within the region. These
studies were prepared in cooperation with the four state departments
of employment security.
The studies on personal income payments have been contracted
to the state departments of planning and economic development in
Washington, Oregon and Idaho and to Montana State University.
Forest products industries are being studied by the Pacific
Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station of the U. S. Forest
Service; agriculture and food processing by the Economic Research
Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture; mineral industries,
with the exception of aluminum, by the U. S. Bureau of Mines;
freight rates by the General Services Administration; fisheries by
the U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries; quantity and quality of
water by the U. S. Geological Survey; aluminum, petroleum, petro-
chemicals and natural gas by private consultants. The study of
recreation and tourism is being conducted jointly by BPA staff and
the Recreation Subcommittee of the Columbia Basin Inter-Agency
Committee. The study of coal involves the joint participation of
the U. S. Bureau of Mines and a private consultant.
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Because the BPA study encompasses an entire region and its
results will have a bearing upon the planning operations of other
federal, state and local agencies and private institutions and
organizations, an Economic Base Study Advisory Committee was
established. At the inception of the study, the Secretary of
the Interior appointed members to the Advisory Committee from
among a broad-based representative group of agencies and insti-
tutions. The Advisory Committee is comprised of representatives
of the Pacific Northwest governors, the state departments of
planning and economic development, the bureaus of business
research at universities in each of the four states in the region,
industrial and utility customers of BPA, major federal resource
agencies, other public agencies, new media and trade associations.
The Committee's membership possesses a recognizable competence
with respect to Pacific Northwest development and is able to
contribute valuable advice and assistance to BPA relative to the
conduct of the economic base survey, its framework, scheduling
and methodology. In addition, the Advisory Committee provides
technical review of drafts of the various sections of the study
as they are completed and submitted to BPA.
The functions to be performed by BPA staff economists in the
conduct of the economic base survey are varied. With the advice
and technical assistance of the Advisory Committee, the BPA staff
developed the scope, methodology, and framework of the over-all
study. In addition, the BPA staff is responsible for initial
preparation of the outlines of the specific industry and resource
studies. The staff also developed a set of common assumptions to
be used by all participants in the study. These assumptions, made
in consultation with other agencies performing base surveys and
with the Resources Program Staff of the U. S. Department of the
Interior, include projections of population, employment, gross
national product, trends in technology, national policies on
economic development and housing, cold-war status, international
trade, and a series of special assumption projections with respect
to electric power in the region.
Perhaps the most important function performed by the BPA staff
is coordination and supervision of the specific industry and re-
source studies. This type of control is important because much of
the information developed in the study of one industry or resource
can have critical feed-back value to the study of another industry
or resource. In addition, it is desired that a high level of
comparability and compatibility be attained between the different
studies being performed independently and simultaneously. As has
been noted, the studies on employment and the studies on income
are being done by different agencies in each of the four Pacific
45
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Northwest states. In order for these studies to bear comparability
with one another, the BFA staff has not only selected the pro-
cedures and methodology to be used but, upon completion, will
amalgamate and synthesize the component studies from the different
states into comprehensive and integrated studies for the entire
region. The coordinator function, then, has been assumed by BPA,
the sponsoring agency, with the advice and assistance of the
Advisory Committee.
In addition, the BPA staff of economists has established and
maintains close liaison with other agencies which have embarked
upon economic studies of geographic areas which are common to the
BPA study. Although the ultimate objectives of these agencies do
not coincide strictly with the objectives of the BPA study, never-
theless, because similar data must be developed in each of the
studies, a working liaison furnishes opportunities for each study
to enhance the other. This liaison results in more than just
exchanges of mutually useful information, important as that is.
It has also resulted in development of key assumptions and, in
some cases, procedures, which can be characteristics in common
to all of the studies. This not only serves to minimize dupli-
cation of effort but will result in more uniform, consistent and
compatible study conclusions to be achieved by the elimination
of unnecessary discrepancies. The BPA staff feels that this
effort to reduce or eliminate conflicts between the BPA study and
the results of other base surveys which pertain to common geo-
graphic areas resolves questions and uncertainties which would
otherwise inevitably obtain among prospective users of the studies.
Not every reader, for example, is sophisticated in the whys and
wherefores of economic base studies and cannot, therefore, be
expected to attend carefully to every study qualitification and
to technical differences in assumptions and scope.
As mentioned earlier, the end product of the BPA study will
be the development of power requirement forecasts. These parti-
cular forecasts will be uniquely applicable to the development
of the Bonneville Power Administration's program in the Pacific
Northwest and to the effective execution of that program.
The comprehensive supporting data and forecasts of production,
employment and population which will be developed along the way and
upon which the BPA forecasts of power requirements will be based,
will, however, have substantial usefulness to other agencies,
particularly those charged with responsibility for management and
planning in the natural resources field. Since these supporting
data and forecasts will be developed on a sub-area as well as a
region-wide basis, they can be converted by other agencies into
46
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forecasts of their own for a variety of natural resource require-
ments other than power. The BPA studies are being prepared, where
possible, on a county-by-county basis or, where this is impracti-
cal, on a sub-area basis within the four states of the region. In
this way a small common denominator for area information will be
achieved. Resource agencies with larger jurisdictions will be able
to aggregate these data to conveniently conform to their own require-
ments. In this way, BPA has sought to make its economic base survey
of maximum usefulness.
I would like to allude to the disposition of an economic base
survey once it is completed and published. The initial reception
can be keen and widespread. The study will most certainly be used
intensively by the agency responsible for its preparation. If the
study contains data assembled in a way which maximizes its useful-
ness, other agencies will probably also use it with considerable
satisfaction. As time passes, however, the economic base survey
will lose some of its initial luster. Since the future cannot be
forecast with perfect accuracy no matter how carefully the sup-
porting data is prepared, no matter how elaborate the forecasting
techniques used, and no matter how adequate the assumptions and
the scope, the study will contain some forecasting errors and other
misjudgments. These errors will become more noticeable with the
passage of time. The temptation to relegate the study to history
will become substantial.
It should be borne in mind, however, that a wrong forecast
does not necessarily mean a bad forecast. If the forecast proves
wrong for an identifiable reason - an assumption that turned out
erroneous or an interpretation of data not warranted - it can be
modified and adjusted and thereby retain its value and usefulness.
If the comprehensive data supporting the forecasts is accurate,
that data will remain useful even though the interpretation of
its impact upon the future fell short of the mark.
There is, in other words, no reason to abandon a well conceived
and well executed economic base survey at the first sign of obso-
lescence. Indeed, there is no need for obsolescence. The economic
base study can and should remain a viable tool for the resource
planner. Viability can be infused into base studies if, from the
moment of their completion, they are subjected to periodic review
and updating. From the time of publication forward, the base
studies should undergo a continuous process of evaluation and
re-evaluation. No matter how elaborate and persuasive a study is,
it should not be accepted uncritically. The process of criticism,
of evaluation and re-evaluation, should be thorough, penetrating
and continuing in order to extract from the surveys their maximum
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potential contribution to resource planning.
If necessary, an economic base survey should, after a suit-
able passage of time, be revised and republished. It should not
be allowed to fall into disrepair and disuse. If neglected, not
only would the return on its initial investment be sharply limited
at a level substantially below the return potentially attainable,
but the opportunity to profit from mistakes or misinterpretations,
to compensate by modification and correction for misjudgments,
would be seriously impaired.
The expenditures involved in continuously maintaining and up-
dating an economic base survey are pale in comparison to the enor-
mous costs attendant to faulty resource policy decisions. Indeed,
so much is at stake and the penalties which must be paid for making
wrong decisions are so high that continuous surveillance of an
economic base survey after completion is probably the only inex-
pensive way to minimize the risks involved in the formulation of
policy where a wrong decision, once adopted, can never be changed
and where the consequences of wrong decisions are extreme both in
amplitude and duration.
With this stark and awesome specter confronting the resource
planner, it behooves him to base his decisions upon the best
information and forecasts available at the time decisions must
be made. The way to reduce risks is to make certain that the
decision maker has access to current information and as accurate
forecasts as possible of the characteristics of future economic
influences which will affect his resource.
No one doubts the relevance of economics to the effective
utilization of resources. As crises in resource management become
more and more frequent and severe with expectations that the crush
of steadily mounting demand will soon reach staggering proportions
in the face of rigid limitations on supply, the need to develop
economic base surveys and their accompanying forecasts intensifies.
The resource planner is compelled to take more seriously the demands
of the future. In a less demanding age, perhaps he could more
easily afford to substitute his own intuition for economic analysis.
The crises in natural resource management no longer permit indul-
gence in this easy luxury. The economic base survey, for better
or for worse, furnishes an important tool for decision making.
The quality of the decisions made are more and more dependent upon
the quality of economic forecasts. The role of the economist seems
firmly established. It is his responsibility to furnish the best
analysis and assessment of the future. It is the planner's responsi-
bility to incorporate this assessment of the future into the complex
of factor-ingredients he must rely upon in making his far-reaching
decisions.
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DISCUSSION OF PAPER PRESENTED BY MYRON KATZ
John H. Davidson*
It is difficult for me to inject a note of controversy into
my discussion of the paper by Mike Katz because I happen to agree
with most of the points which he presented. There were some items,
however, which I want to comment on and which I anticipate will
provoke discussion from the floor. For the purposes of my dis-
cussion, I will cover three areas: first, a listing of some of
the items from Mr. Katz1 paper which might benefit from the ex-
pression of other viewpoints; second, a brief description of how
economic base studies relate to our water supply and water quality
management program; and third, some comments on research needs and
development of methodology that are now being considered by the
Public Health Service.
Among the items which I anticipate will be discussed in more
detail from the floor is whether or not there is an advantage to
erring on the high side when making a forecast. An important con-
sideration in such a decision, of course, is the nature of the
plan we are making. If we are concerned with irreplaceable re-
sources we need to be particularly careful. Mr. Katz gave several
examples to illustrate this point. It is useful to keep in mind
the point that even if the forecasted demand for a resource is too
high for a given study period, it will probably only be a matter
of time until the demand is reached. There can be an undue penalty
to the users of the resource, however, if the time is off too far.
Related to this item is the question of how much concern we
should have for the future and how far into the future we should
look. As Miner Baker, from Seattle, has pointed out in other
meetings, the average per capita income is expected to increase
a considerable amount each decade in the future. I have heard it
questioned why the present relatively poor generations should
worry so much about their wealthy descendents. Of critical im-
portance in such a question is again the consideration of whether
the resources involved are irreplaceable. We must also keep in
mind, however, the fact that new processes or needs sometimes make
useless materials valuable and vice versa.
*Chief, Economic Studies, Water Supply and Pollution Control
Program, Pacific Northwest, Public Health Service, Portland, Oregon.
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I also hope there will be some discussion about the method
of making economic base studies that was described by Mr. Katz.
Although the industry-by-industry approach which he described
is certainly a valuable tool, its shortcomings should be con-
sidered when the results of such a study are translated into
plans. One of these shortcomings is that such industrial fore-
casts are mainly derived from considerations of what industry
could produce rather than consideration of the pattern industry
might or must take to meet employment demands as well as con-
sumer demands of future populations. The consideration of this
factor indicates the need to recognize categories of employment
which might have a different basis than any we might now recog-
nize. This suggests that an industry-by-industry study needs
to have a large allowance for the unknown.
I have a further comment about industry-by-industry studies,
and I believe that this applies to the one Mike described. In
seeking to derive the contribution of an industry to the economy,
the device of dividing all industry and employment activities
into two categories as basic and non-basic, or primary and
secondary, is frequently done. This appears to be an over-
simplification which can lead to considerable error, not only
in understanding the present but also in forecasting the future.
I will discuss this further in the third part of my discussion
concerning research needs.
There are also other means of making such studies. There
is what we call a bottom-up study. We also use a top-down method.
As my second area of discussion, I would like to describe,
briefly, the relationship of such economic base studies as Mr.
Katz described, to our own program for water supply and water
quality management. One of the needs for such a study is fairly
obvious - we need to know the possible future dimensions of the
need for the water we are concerned with. These dimensions
include the size of both population and industry, their quality
and quantity requirements for water, and their pollution contri-
butions. The water requirement considerations must include not
only water supply and other withdrawal uses, but also the multi-
tude of in-place uses for water. The economic base study trans-
lated into water quantity and quality requirements is the starting
point for the engineering calculations which will provide the
plans for various physical structures and water management pro-
grams to serve population and industry.
This introduces another use of the economic base study.
When the engineering calculations are completed and the costs of
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providing for water supply and water quality management programs
are estimated, the economic base study is then used as the basis
for deriving dimensions to the benefits which might accrue to
such programs. Benefit evaluation, however, is another subject
and will be introduced later in today's program.
A comprehensive economic base study is important both di-
rectly and indirectly to water resource quality control programs.
The two aspects I just described were directly related. Of equal
importance, however, is the indirect aspect involving providing
the dimensions of the other factors which will need to be avail-
able along with water. Power, for example, also needs to be
provided for population and industry, and if it is not available,
the requirements for water might be changed. The preparation of
an economic base study is thus a powerful force for coordinating
the various components of an area's resource development. Of
particular importance in this regard is the relationship of land
to the other resources. Planning for water and electricity for
industry, for instance, will be fruitless if an adequate supply
of land of suitable character is not available. The providing
of land through zoning or other devices is particularly important
because it is so difficult to find economical substitutes for
space.
I will conclude my discussion with some comments on research
needs relating to economic base studies and their application.
These are not listed in order of importance.
The translation of economic base information to withdrawal
water use and to contributions to pollution is a problem that is
particularly important because of the effect research in this
area could have on the complexity of the economic base study.
We know, for example, that there is generally a higher per capita
water consumption in areas of higher income. To take advantage
of this knowledge when we are forecasting water requirements
would require an estimate of relative income levels. Other
economic factors also affect water consumption. I feel that
there is a considerable field for research in understanding the
water use and pollution generation factors for various sectors
of the economy. Such research should include not only consider-
ation of economic variables but also regional differences.
Another area of research which I know a number of economists
are concerned with is the question of what happens to old economic
base studies. I think it would be rewarding to take some of the
studies of a few years ago and compare them with what actually
happened. Not only could this help us understand the nature of
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our forecasting errors, but it could indicate the consequences of
such errors. One of the "308" reports, I remember, had a fore-
cast of seven rayon plants in the Pacific Northwest. I imagine
this helped justify certain electric power facilities. Although
these rayon plants were never built, the area has prospered and
we have continued to utilize all our available power facilities.
The methodology of economic base studies is another area for
study. As I mentioned earlier, I felt that it was an over-simpli-
fication to class industry into such categories as basic and non-
basic, or primary and service. On the other hand, an input-output
study describing inter-industry relationships is not feasible for
many small areas and data are lacking even for most states. A
concept that we are trying, and one that we would welcome more
research into, is to classify each industry into two components:
an externally-oriented component and an internally-oriented
component. Such a device recognizes the fact that even a so-
called basin industry frequently serves the local population.
On the other hand, many of the service industries serve remote
areas and are thus partly of a basic or primary nature. Forest
products, for example, are considerably used in our region and
in the communities where they are produced. The medical industry,
on the other hand, in Portland serves to some extent both southern
and eastern Oregon.
The problem in utilizing this concept is to find a reason-
able way to divide any given industry into these two components.
A very simple way which we are exploring is to compare the study
area to the nation in terms of average employment in each indus-
trial category per 1000 persons of population. Although this is
also over-simplified, it does provide some insight into the rela-
tive importance of the two components. As you can see, this pro-
cedure is really an input-output study of the simplest sort with
the inter-industry relationship described in terms of employment
and aggregated into just two components.
By way of concluding my discussion, I want to bring to your
attention again the comments Mr<, Katz made concerning interagency
cooperation and the importance of making studies useful for all.
In this regard it should be pointed out that the Columbia Basin
Inter-Agency Committee has recently appointed a subcommittee on
economic studies which will, as a first task, inventory economic
base studies now underway in the Northwest. I would like to
introduce Mrs. Remak of the Oregon State Department of Planning
and Development, and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic
Studies, who will describe how we can all participate in the
inventory.
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DISCUSSION
COMMENT: The Oregon Planning & Development Commission, 1400 S. W.
Fifth Avenue, Portland, has initiated a project which
involves a continuing record of economic studies, reports,
and research being undertaken by public and private
agencies in the Northwest. This will constitute a clear-
ing house for this information so that those in the field
will know what others are doing. A report is in process
and will be available on request.
Q, I suspect that the Public Health Service comprehensive water
quality control efforts will give rise to a great number of
economic base studies. In most of these the manufacturing
sectors are going to play a considerable role, being a gener-
ator of basic income. Are there underway general location
studies for the United States as a whole which would indicate
what the emerging patterns are and what comparative advantages
there are in various regions? It is possible, for example, by
casual observation, that certain industries depending more and
more on foreign raw materials are moving toward tidewater.
Certain of the so-called "foot-loose industries" are searching
for locations close to a good university. How much information
is there on these over-all patterns that certainly have to
enter into a forecast for a particular region? This is an
area that might be very fruitful of research in view of the
greater interest in economic base studies.
A. There is a need for more studies of this nature. The Bonneville
Power Administration study will be extremely useful because it
is of more than a regional nature. They are looking at the
national situation. An industry-to-industry study, based on
what can be seen in an area now, is short-sighted. One must
seek to at least allow for the unknown things such as the
attractiveness of amenities, the importance of deep-draft
transportation. The Bonneville economic base study has this
in mind because each of the basic industries studied goes
beyond the Northwest insofar as potential markets are con-
cerned. We are concerned with our competitive position as it
may relate to a particular industry five, ten or twenty-five
years hence, and we should not be restricted to the four or
five states which Bonneville is directly serving, but also
should be concerned with respect to the products which we have
to export. The Southeast Study Commission, which has just
completed plans for the Southeast basins, also uses this
approach in that they are not only studying the potential of
the industries within that region, but nationally.
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Q. Does the Bonneville study go into the matter of resource use,
factors in industrial location, and factors in community
development?
A. The Bonneville study is concerned with the factors of indus-
trial location - the factors which underline industrial loca-
tion decisions. It is difficult to figure out on a current
basis what now motivates industry to locate in one place
rather than another. To forecast into the future compounds
the difficulty. The study of water quality and quantity is
designed to measure the capabilities of the water resources
of the Pacific Northwest to support various types of indus-
trial activity, but involved isn't just the capabilities of
this region for industrial activity or development but also
the limitation of such resources elsewhere in the United
States which would tend to act as a stimulation to location
here by virtue of water deficiencies elsewhere. The study,
therefore, must be more than region-wide, it must be national
in character. The Northwest will be the beneficiary of
critical water shortages elsewhere. In order to be the full
beneficiary of those deficiencies, we have to study where
these deficiencies are elsewhere and preserve our own
resources.
Q. Will the Bonneville report estimate not only what future
growth might take place but what growth ought to take place?
A. This will be left entirely to the resource manager since we
have no special competence in that field. We are trying to
forecast what will happen - not what should happen.
Q. I am puzzled how an economist has any feeling of confidence
in this type of forecast when it must surely be affected
by external political actions. For instance, if Britain
enters the Common Market, it may realign Canada's effect on
our forest industry; British Columbia's internal politics
may affect our hydroelectric power. Even our own political
climate may have an effect.
A. Forecasts are not made with great confidence. This is one
of the reasons why an economic forecast once made should
not be left unattended. It should not be assumed that the
figures are right and just because there is a number you
are equipped and armed with a definitive answer. We have
concocted a series of assumptions. Assumptions on inter-
national trade, for example, are that there will be a
gradual relaxation of trade barriers between countries
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between now and 1985. By 1985 trade barriers will be sub-
stantially reduced, if not altogether eliminated. It is
assumed also that between 1985 and 2010 there will be some
substantial changes in international political complications
so that in the Pacific Northwest region, which has direct
ocean access to trans-Pacific hemispheres wherein reside the
world's overwhelmingly large population and a potential con-
sumer market of extraordinary dimensions, those political
factors will also become subdued. One must go along making
some assumptions and making sure that once the study is done
any change which indicates an assumption was in error is
appropriately incorporated into a modification of the result.
Q. Will there be any allowance for alternatives in the con-
clusions now?
A. There will not be many alternatives indicated since that
involves ranges, and ranges can be added on to ranges. It
is much better to say, "On our best judgment, the most
probable, the most achievable dimension of economic devel-
opment is such and such in terms of employment or gross
regional products, etc."
Q. Is intuition used in reaching the assumptions? You have a
statement here to the effect that perhaps a planner could
more easily afford to substitute his intuition for economic
analysis. It seems that those assumptions are merely
intuition,
A. The assumptions are controlling, but they are qualified
accordingly. This forecasting is not based on intuition.
Assumptions are made which are defensible, which are
reasonable, and which might or might not obtain or control.
The resource planner uses factors other than economic
analysis and it isn't any more intuition than assumptions
are. He uses a determination of policy, determination of
sound practices toward resource use. This report is simply
a tool in helping him to make a good decision.
Q. There seems to be an inconsistency here. You stated that
an economic base study should not grow old but should be
kept up to date. When you approach this problem industry
by industry and do not carefully recognize interrelation-
ships among or within industries and guess wrong in a
specific industry, you run into extreme difficulty in
making the change in the over-all economic projection.
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For instance, if the aluminum industry does come in or does
not come, this is not the only industry that's affected.
All the other industries will in their own way be related.
What do you visualize as a continuing effort of how in the
future you will attempt to modify your initial projections
as some of these things do not come to pass? Would you
agree that there is a basic need for research effort here
in some of the methodology of forecasting?
A. It may very well be that the methodology incorporated in the
Bonneville study is not the appropriate one, but even if the
methodology is inappropriate and a more suitable methodology
is developed, the basic data which is assembled is of a
voluminous character and should be extremely useful to a
modified methodology.
COMMENT: A fairly recent study made by Stanford Research Corporation
in California did help to reduce a good deal of this fore-
casting through equations or formula so that it is possible
to go through and, if they made a wrong assumption, to
substitute a somewhat different value and come out with a
different answer until the relationships get completely
out of date.
COMMENT: There have been soothsayers who have made this kind of
prediction on as poor a basis, but it gets better every
time. The most important thing to avoid is gross error.
If you determine the main growth in breadth, you come
out pretty well. You don't have to undo anything -
growth takes care of it. The error, whether you get
aluminum or titanium or anything else, becomes irrelevant.
You adjust to it as long as you have that main direction
and provide for enough -growth for the next generation.
COMMENT: It seems that the question of varying on the high side is
left up to the resource manager. The forecast projects
what is most likely and follows this with a series of
alternatives. If we wish more power, we give up that
much recreation, or the resource manager may decide that
in his judgment it's worthwhile to forego a little power
to take care of a little more recreation. If you are
confronted with a choice conflict, to choose one or
another, and it looks as though the odds are even, it
is probably wise to resolve that conflict in favor of
the high side rather than the low side. All other
things equal, you will be taking less risk and the
penalties would be minimized.
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Q. There's a temptation to allow an X-factor so that there will
be a little extra. This is in favor of erring on the high
side. Is this not deliberately interjecting into the study
errors on the high side?
A. Errors should not deliverately be introduced into a forecast.
COMMENT: The non-economists are often concerned with the matter
of whether or not the economists will provide the numbers
which are fundamental in the planning process and from
that translate all material into end results, because
they have control over the forecasting technique. In
the Portland office of the Public Health Service we have
attempted to understand better the use of economic fore-
casting in the development of a regional plan for water
quality management. The Public Health Service, not only
here, but also in other parts of the country, is throw-
ing a great deal of effort and resources into the devel-
opment of forecasting as a means of trying to establish
a quality management plan. There is a paper which has
not been published, but is merely a staff paper with
some distribution in this region, entitled "A Proposed
Method for River Basin Analysis for Water Pollution
Control with Special Reference to Low Flow Augmentation."
The purpose of this paper was to identify and analyze the
normal and presently-used methods of economic analysis
in long-range planning and then to suggest a more ration-
al set of elements which are subject to more rational
decisions. This provides another method for making an
analysis which will use the economic base study but
not fully and totally depend on that study.
The next step in the development has been to undertake
a programming effort using computers. Once that program-
ming effort is completed it may provide a more simplified
way to utilize economic base studies in water quality
control planning. For this purpose there are available
elements that can be controlled like the determination
of treatment requirements, like quality standards in a
stream, like an assessment of the top-level resources.
These provide definite numbers of pollutional inputs
that are potential to the system. In this way sole
dependency is not placed upon the numbers which the
economists in their forecasting devices provide.
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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS IN WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Allen V. Kneese*
More and more it is recognized that pollution is a problem
which, in most respects, can be best analyzed and dealt with on
a regional basis. JY This is seen in the recent creation of the
Delaware River Basin Commission, a major function of which will
be the management of water quality, and the USPHS Comprehensive
Planning Studies for the various river basins. One might hazard
the forecast that in future years, with growth in industry and
population, water quality problems will furnish a far stronger
impetus for regional water management than will problems associ-
ated with the quantitative depletion of water in most areas of
our country.
In order to suggest a number of general things which
economic analysis may have to say about regional water quality
management, I will assume that a regional authority exists
which is capable of implementing measures which appear eco-
nomically efficient, if it so desires. Also I will assume
that water laws in no way inhibit efficient behavior. These
assumptions are made to avoid spending much time speaking
about institutional arrangements for water quality planning
and management. Also, since it has been extensively discussed
in another session, I will say very little about the very
important matter of making regional economic projections. In
addition, at least in the first part of the paper, I will be
much more concerned with principles rather than practical
applications. One final preliminary warning, if at times
despite my efforts to stick to matters of economic efficiency
I encroach upon the topics of previous or subsequent speakers,
I hope the audience will attribute it to the nature of the
subject matter.
*Resources for the Future, Inc. The views expressed are
those of the author and not necessarily of his organization.
li/ This generalization does not hold completely, of course.
An interesting exception is illustrated by the recent German
detergents legislation. Regional methods of handling the
problem were explicitly analyzed and weighed against the cost
of a national measure to outlaw the sale of hard detergents.
The latter was judged the superior alternative.
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I will begin my presentation by indicating briefly how pol-
lution gives rise to costs which are not reflected in private
calculations and by pointing in a general way to the implication
this has for the most efficient allocation of society's resources.
Then I will describe how the matter of designing a regional waste
disposal system arises as a problem in addition to that of recti-
fying the distribution of social costs. In my view these are the
two basic economic issues which a regional authority would face
with respect to the pollution problem.
Let me indicate them once more. (1) Approximating an optimal
system for the disposal of the region's wastes, and (2) Distri-
buting the costs inevitably associated with waste disposal in an
optimal way.
A major point of my presentation is that these two problems,
while distinguishable, are strongly interrelated.
In the U.S. we generally depend upon the market place to
guide production in such a way that consumer demand is satisfied
as well as possible, given the limited amount of resources at the
disposal of society. I think it is the concensus of most econo-
mists and other economically informed persons that this process
works quite well for most goods and services. However, it is
possible to identify instances in which the individual decision
making units of our decentralized society fail to make decisions
which lead toward maximizing the value of production to consumers.
This is because under some conditions they have no incentive to
include the full ramifications of their decisions in their calcu-
lations or perhaps even to find out what the full results are.
One of the basic conditions for satisfactory social results
from the decisions made J.n the market place is that the techni-
cal conditions of production and consumption be such that the
costs and benefits of performing a given act fall upon and accrue
to the economic unit which performs it. While this condition is
usually fulfilled in the production of goods and services, it
frequently is not met in private water resources development and
its lack of fulfillment, in regard to waste disposal, might be
called the essence of the pollution problem.
If some costs can be shifted to other economic units, the
private costs incurred by a particular economic unit do not
correspond to the full cost to society. Consequently, resource
allocation is distorted even though markets function in an other-
wise satisfactory fashion. Let me illustrate with an example not
connected with water resources. If the employment of a mother
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results in the delinquency of her children, private costs of
the employer (i.e., the wages) do not equal social costs. The
latter may include such things as property damages, extra
police, etc. Economists often call indirect effects of this
kind "spillover" or "external" effects.
Water pollution, together with smoke nuisances and damages,
are, as many of you know, the economist's classic examples of
such "spillover" effects. Where "spillover" damages due to
water pollution are significantly large, the general type of
distortions which occur can be readily foreseen.
1. The costs of some economic units are understated (due
to apparently costless waste disposal into water courses) and
some are overstated (imposed damages and treatment costs).
This tends to induce over-production and consumption of some
items and under-production and consumption of others. For
example, the upstream paper mill which dumps its wastes into
water without bearing any of the downstream costs produces
paper which is artificially "cheap". In effect, it pays nothing
for the use of a valuable resource, i.e., the waste, dilution,
degradation, and carriage capacity of the water course. From a
social point of view, the value of this resource is measured by
the alternate uses of the water. Failure of the polluter to
consider the reduced value of water in other uses which are
made more expensive or foreclosed entirely by his pollution is,
from the viewpoint of economic efficiency, a basic element of
the pollution problem.
2. Because the polluter does not consider the social cost
of his actions, he is induced to produce too much waste. Because
he may dispose of "waste" material at a cost to others, not to
himself, he makes a lesser effort .(i.e., spends less money) to
design and operate industrial processes in such a way as to con-
serve materials, than if the full social costs of waste disposal
were met. The efficacy of process engineering and materials
recovery processes in reducing waste loads has been demonstrated
by various instances in this country and even more strikingly in
West Germany by the Genossenschaften (Regional Water Resources
Authorities in the main industrial area of West Germany I
spent a portion of last summer studying these institutions).
Moreover, studies of waste loads generated per unit of physical
output by plants producing identical goods but with different
productive processes suggest the degree to which wastes can be
engineered away. This is particularly important in view of the
fact that industry produces about two-thirds of the load of
organic pollutants entering the nation's streams and a far higher
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proportion of other pollutants. These points emphasize the
importance of regional water resources authorities providing
the appropriate incentives for such procedures. A society
which neglects the off-site costs of waste disposal or under-
values them will tend to produce more waste materials than is
consistent with obtaining maximum production from its human
and non-human resources. Furthermore, if downstream costs are
not reflected in the decisions of upstream waste dischargers,
there will be no treatment of waste water effluents even when
such treatment is less costly than water supply treatment or
the value of water use opportunities foregone downstream.
These points having been made, it appears that the way to
deal with the pollution problem is to redistribute costs. As
a matter of fact, under some conditions this can be considered
the answer. If all the downstream opportunity costs of pol-
lution (including increased costs of water supply treatment,
recreation values lost, etc.) could be identified, expressed
as monetary values, and levied upon the effluent of polluters,
private incentives could be relied upon to come up with proper
levels of treatment, optimal process and product adjustments
by manufacturers, and appropriate industrial location decisions.
All these decisions would have reflected in them the real costs
of waste disposal just as they do the wages of labor, outlays
for materials, and other costs.
Industrial plants would then tend to take steps to reduce
waste loads by all relevant means (treatment, process and
product changes, shifts in location, and perhaps others) until
the costs of all these measures were equated at the margin with
the reduction in damages which they produce. In other words,
until the manufacturer could no longer profitably "trade off"
an additional dollar spent to reduce wastes discharged into
the water for more than additional dollar in reduced effluent
levies or charges.
In effect, a situation would prevail in which attempts to
minimize private costs (i.e. to produce output efficiently)
would also produce a minimization of costs to society. This
would, of course, not be the result of the laudable private
motivation to minimize costs if waste disposal costs are neg-
lected in private decisions. Similarly a system of assessing
downstream costs on communities would give them an incentive
to treat their wastes to the point at which the damages avoided
downstream (i.e. the effluent charge avoided) is just equal to
the cost of producing a further increment of treatment. These
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adjustments would mean that the sum of the costs associated with
waste disposal (including pollution damages) would be minimized. JL/
In principle this objective can be approached by imposing
effluent standards and by directly controlling industrial location
instead of imposing effluent charges, and these procedures arc
frequently proposed and used. However, it should be understood
that to use these devices in an approximately ideal manner, a pol-
lution control authority would need at least as much and in many
cases more information than if charges representing downstream
damages were laid upon the effluent.
To use such devices as effluent standards and zoning in an
ideal fashion, the authority would have to know the locational
advantages and disadvantages of a particular site (not only the
effects of location there on costs associated with waste disposal).
It would have to know the opportunities for process and product
adjustments, and for treatment of industrial wastes, and it would
have to know the costs of all of these alternatives in order to
arrive at optimal effluent standards at each location. To the
degree that the authority does not itself find it desirable to
operate a waste disposal system merely imposing the downstream
costs of polluters upon them would, at least when damage functions
are of a simple variety, accomplish desired results without such
extensive knowledge on the par t of the regional authority. In
effect, many of the most difficult decisions would be imposed on
individual decision makers who are more likely to possess the
requisite information. In my opinion, study of the use of what
might be called "market simulation" or "effluent pricing" as
means of decentralizing decisions is highly important.
Procedures like these become even more interesting when
hydrologic variability and collective measures for waste dis-
posal are taken into account. These are points I would like to
come back to. Another intriguing possibility which I would just
like to mention is the use of effluent charges or prices as means
for quality coordination of large river systems. This might
involve treating tributaries as effluent in outfalls, and levy-
ing charges on them in accordance with the waste load they carry.
_!/ It is notable that this result does not require the payment
of compensation to injured parties indeed, if compensation is to
be paid on equity grounds, the manner of payment must be carefully
framed to avoid introducing inefficiencies.
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It may, of course, be argued that downstream damages (such
as reduced aesthetic or recreational amenity) defy evaluation
and cannot therefore be accurately mirrored in effluent charges.
Two points can be made in this regard -- (1) Considerable steps
have been made toward providing a basis for assigning at least
minimum values to water resource related goods commonly termed
intangible (I will return to this point later), and (2) A moment's
reflection will show that whatever regulations are adopted (say,
effluent standards), imply an evaluation of downstream costs. For
example, if we impose an effluent standard on a community or an
industry which it will cost $1 million to meet, we are in effect
saying that at least $1 million worth of damages are avoided
downstream. In my view, the possibility of using effluent charges
as a flexible and effective administrative tool merits serious
attention.
Effluent charges have not been used on a regional basis in
this country. However, it may be said that procedures such as
effluent standards and zoning may be viewed as efforts to produce
more socially meaningful distributions of costs.
Does this mean then that the function of regional water
resources authorities with respect to water pollution is simply
to administer better distributions of costs? The answer is no
in all instances where some of the most economical methods of
controlling or managing water quality are not available to indi-
vidual industries and communities in the planning area. When
this is the case the problem of regional waste disposal system
design presents itself.
System design arises as a problem in addition to seeing to
it that costs are distributed properly when economies of large
scale exist in waste treatment, or when measures such as augmenta-
tion of low streamflows by reservoir releases or artificial re-
aeration of streams are efficient alternatives or supplements to
treatment over certain ranges. In other words, when economical
abatement measures exist, which cannot be undertaken by individual
polluters. Or to put it still another way, when collective
measures permit water quality to be managed at less cost than
if devices used for this purpose are limited to what can be done
at the individual effluent outfall or water supply intake.
In virtually all highly developed regions efficient alter-
natives will be available the use, or the "best" use, of which
cannot be induced by levying the net social costs of their pollu-
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tion on polluters. lj In these cases a social cost minimizing
solution will demand planning of the system by an organization
which can comprehend the significant large-scale alternatives.
Such an organization (presumably a public agency in the U.S.)
is thus confronted with the dual problem of designing the
system and allocating system costs in such a way as to induce
efficient use of alternatives the planning and operation of
which it does not control directly. The latter would ordi-
narily include, at least, process and product adjustments by
manufacturers.
Among those measures a regional authority might well plan,
construct and operate directly in order to take advantage of
economies of large scale are the augmentation of low streamflows
from reservoir storage, treatment of effluents where they can
economically be brought together from diverse sources for col-
lective treatment and treatment of entire streams or mechanical
reaeration of streams.
Let me briefly indicate what one might call ideal economic
characteristics of a regional system of waste disposal which
would minimize all costs associated with waste disposal alter-
natives including pollution damages. It may seem strange to
include pollution imposed costs or damages as an alternative
because such damages use up resources, i.e., cause social costs
-- but so do abatement measures. The problem is to achieve an
optimal balance between damages and abatement. It would seldom
if ever minimize social costs to eliminate pollution. This was,
of course, also implied previously, in the discussion of effluent
charges. In a system which achieved a cost minimizing balance
between alternatives it would be impossible to reduce costs by
"trading off" between alternatives. Another way of saying this
is that the marginal or incremental costs of all relevant alter-
natives would be equalized. In such a system costs could not be
lowered by doing a little less sewage treatment and permitting a
little more pollution damage, or by doing a little more augment-
ation of low flows and a little less treatment of sewage, or by
doing a little more engineering away of wastes and a little less
water supply treatment, and so on for each set of alternatives.
]L/ Strictly from an efficiency point of view, the same results
can be accomplished by paying the polluter a fee to reduce waste
loads equal to the net damages avoided downstream. The principle
is that the polluters must view downstream costs as their own op-
portunity costs. This can be done either by means of a subsidy or
a charge. For simplicity the discussion of this paper is developed
in terms of charges.
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If the augmentation of low flows is one of the alternatives,
then its cost is lowered (and it "trades off" better) against
other alternatives, like waste treatment, if it simultaneously
serves other purposes like maintaining the stream high enough
to maintain navigation. Conversely, if the stored water can
be put to other uses, like generating power, flow augmentation
"trades off" less well against other alternatives.
A regional authority with the power to plan, construct,
and operate, and finance abatement works could well utilize
such economic criteria as guidelines since minimizing the costs
associated with waste disposal in the sense that I have used
the term is not only consistent with but required by the widely
accepted objective of obtaining the largest net benefit from
water resources.
Indeed, the statements so far made in regard to minimizing
costs could as easily be couched in the benefit-cost terminology
familiarly used with respect to public water resources invest-
ments. For example, if all damages avoided are termed benefits
and abatement measures are carried to the point where their
costs equal damages avoided at the margin, this could be said
to produce maximum net benefits instead of minimum costs. The
fact is that the statements are identical. To me the cost
minimization terminology is simpler, especially when more complex
situations with respect to the evaluation of some pollution costs
are under discussion. I shall return to this point later.
Since some of the more important decisions affecting the
amount and character of wastes entering the system, and govern-
ing the methods used to adjust waste loads in industrialized
basins, might best be left in the hands of private decision
makers (i.e., waste recovery, process and product changes,
industrial location, pre-treatment of wastes), the regional
authority would have to plan carefully to provide incentives
for the optimum use of these measures. I have already suggested
that effluent charges might plan an important role in this
regard.
To carry the point further, when scale economies in treat-
ment, opportunities for flow regulation, reaeration of streams,
etc., present the regional authority directly with the problem
of system design, the use of a method of distribution costs of
the system by means other than tying them to the construction
of specific abatement works becomes essential.
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For example, economies of scale in treatment may mean that
wastes from factory A are given far-reaching treatment because it
has a large effluent volume and costs per unit of waste removed
are comparatively low. Say plant B has only a very small effluent
volume and treatment would be very expensive. Desirable (cost
minimizing) stream conditions may be attainable by treating only
factory A's wastes at low cost and not treating B's at all. If
an appropriate method of assessing costs exists, part of the cost
will be paid by B, and both A and B can benefit because total
costs are lower than they would have been if the same result had
been achieved by two smaller plants. Moreover, and very important,
both plants will have an appropriate incentive to reduce their
waste loads. The German Genossenschaften, the Associations which
manage water resources in the Ruhr area of West Germany and which
I have mentioned earlier, provide a precedent by having worked
out rather far-reaching procedures along these lines.
I have certainly greatly oversimplified the problems of plan-
ning a system. For one thing, adequate evaluation of some types
of pollution damages, for example, to aesthetic amenities, to
recreation, and in some instances to public health, has a long
way to go. I wish to speak further of these matters at a later
point, but first I would like to refer briefly to one other compli-
cation in the economics of regional waste disposal systems. This
is the problem of streamflow variation. As all of you know, the
concentration of most pollutants in stream waters is not steady
over time even when the amounts discharged are. Rather it is
inversely related to the rate of streamflow. Thus pollution damage
tends to be heavily concentrated in periods when streamflows are
low. This presents problems not only for system design but also
for devising means of providing waste dischargers with the incentive
to vary waste discharge with streamflow (in other words, to con-
centrate discharges in high streamflow periods) to the extent that
this is more economical than alternative abatement measures or than
permitting pollution damage.
I won't speak much about the system design problems resulting
from hydrologic variation. I just wish to make two points: (1)
streamflow variation means that the costs of pollution damages and
abatement measures become matters of mathematical probability
rather than being determinate and fully predictable through time,
and (2) the fact that we are dealing with events which reach high
intensity only on comparatively rare occasions means that in the
interest of minimizing costs over time, careful attention should
be given to alternatives which may involve high operating costs
but which require relatively little capital investment. For
example, the use of high rates of aeration in activated sludge
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plants, addition of chemicals at the primary state of effluent
treatment, occasional barging of wastes to the sea, etc. These
alternatives involve high operating costs but since they need be
used only rarely and for comparatively short periods of time,
they may often be found to "trade off" positively against addi-
tional investment in reservoir capacity for flow augmentation
or increased size of treatment plants. Illustrative calculations
applying a rate of time discount to expenditures repeated at
various time intervals indicate that for reasonable low flow
intervals (say, around 10 years) and rates of discount (say,
around 5 per cent) about sixty-five cents could be spent for
operating costs during every critical low flow in perpetuity
without having the present value of the expenditure stream ex-
ceed a dollar of current investment. This emphasizes the im-
portance of what one might call the economics of the rare event
in designing waste disposal systems on which the biggest demands
come only at comparatively long intervals.
I wish, however, to spend a few more minutes on the matter
of providing appropriate incentives (especially to industry) to
vary wastes discharged into the system over time.
The point has already been made that the costs associated
with pollution vary strongly over time. This is certainly true
of damages. Since the concentration of pollutants rises during
low flows, fish kills, increased water treatment, costs, effects
associated with salinity, and hardness, and, in waters extremely
heavily loaded with organic pollutants, anaerobic nuisance con-
ditions are more likely during low stream stages. The costs of
operating a quality control system in an optimal fashion also
rise during such periods. During these times chemicals would be
added to aid precipitation, aeration rates would be stepped up,
power turbines and other devices might be used to increase re-
aeration of the stream, and low flows might well be augmented
by reservoir releases. In regard to the latter, while there
might be little out-of-pocket operating costs, costs of fore-
gone opportunities arise if there are substitute uses for the
water. The costs may be foregone peak power which could have
been generated or lost recreation opportunities due to draw-
down of the reservoir.
Thus it is clear that the social costs of pollution (includ-
ing the cost of damages and the cost of abatement measures) rise
strongly during periods of low flow. Consequently a rationale
exists for levying charges on effluents in a variable way in much
the same manner that electrical utilities levy higher rates for
"peak loads."
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If it were clearly uneconomical to change the amount and/or
quality of waste discharge over short periods of time, it might
not be a matter of great concern whether or not costs levied upon
polluters varied correspondingly over time. However, it appears
probable that measures to change the pattern of discharge would
enter economically into a quality control system designed to mini-
mize costs.
For example, depending upon the location of a manufacturing
concern and upon attendant land values, it may be less expensive
for the company to withhold its waste discharge temporarily in a
lagoon rather than bear its share of the costs of storing and,
at long intervals, releasing a much larger volume of river water.
In addition, if retention time is significantly long, such retention
ponds will provide a degree of organic waste stabilization. In some
instances, especially where the product is storable, it may be more
economical to reduce or halt production during low flow periods
rather than to provide additional treatment or dilution capacity
for an unchanged effluent. In other instances it may pay the
manufacturer to provide temporary treatment (like chemical neutra-
lization of acids) rather than meet the full costs of putting his
effluents into the receiving water during low flow periods. In
light of such possibilities, incentives should be provided to use
them to an optimal degree.
Application of peak load pricing would, however, require more
or less continuous monitoring of effluent quantity and quality.
My understanding is that recent technological developments in
automatic monitoring devices hold promise that comparatively simple
and inexpensive devices may be used to continuously measure a
variety of quality parameters. It is probably not visionary to
foresee a time when regional authorities will be in a position to
continuously and economically record relevant indicators of pollu-
tion for every major outfall in an entire basin.
So far only a few nods have been made in the direction of the
substantial measurement problems which beset at least some aspects
of attempting to minimize the costs (including damage costs) assoc-
iated with waste disposal. I would like to make a few further
comments about this.
Some suggestive methods for the approximation of "intangible"
values like those involved in aesthetics and recreation have been
made. I do not believe it is too much to hope that in the course
of time reasonably dependable economic estimates will be made to
aid the decision process. Some of this work is being pursued at
or with the cooperation of RFF. I would be pleased to comment in
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a general way on it during the discussion period, or later, if
there is specific interest in these particular problems of quanti-
fication. However, this remains one of the most important areas
of research having to do with the design of regional waste disposal
systems as well as with other aspects of water resources develop-
ment and use.
Furthermore, such values cannot be neglected until satis-
factory measures are developed. Consequently it may be useful
to say a few words about how they may be incorporated into a
system design which aims at cost minimization. To neglect the
aesthetic and environmental amenities, and the recreational value
of water even when their value cannot be measured, is obviously
wrong. How then to include them? One attractive possibility is
to make explicit judgments concerning the physical effects needed
to achieve certain tentatively set goals. In other words, to
design a system which includes these goals (in physical terms) as
constraints upon the cost minimization objective.
For example, a public decision might be made to protect (say)
recreation in a stretch of stream where the values destroyed in
other uses of the water (for example, in industrial uses) are
small relative to the cost of maintaining high water quality in
the stream. JL/ If we wish to use the benefit-cost terminology
(which would equate damages avoided with benefits), we can say
that in this case costs, but not all benefits, are determined on
a market-value basis. I prefer the logically equivalent termi-
nology which emphasizes that waste disposal involves only costs
and that the economic objective of a waste disposal program can
be conveniently stated in terms of minimizing these costs. In
this terminology the case just indicated can be described as one
where abatement costs are explicitly quantified and used in plan-
ning pollution abatement, but at least some damage costs are not
explicitly quantified. Rather they are represented (perhaps
reasonably accurately, perhaps not) by "standards" or "require-
ments". Such a standard might be that 4 ppm of dissolved oxygen
be maintained in a stream at a given design flow. In federal
agency evaluation practice (where formal benefit-cost analysis
of quality problems has been limited to the evaluation of low-
flow augmentation with water supply and sewage treatment usually
\l This proviso is made so that the recreation goal will not
be automatically met if the measurable costs are minimized, i.e.,
to assure that the protection of recreation is in fact an effective
constraint.
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the only alternatives considered) most or all of the "benefits"
have ordinarily been a transposition of such standards rather
than the evaluation of actual damages or losses avoided. For
example, if a standard of 4 ppm D.O. is set, the alternative
cost of achieving this standard by (say) supertreatment is
calculated and this cost is termed a benefit. While I don't
wish to spend much time on largely terminological matters,
this seems to me to obscure some rather important differences.
I would prefer to say that the objective is not the maximiza-
tion of net benefit in this case (where benefit has to say the
least an ambiguous meaning) but the minimization of measurable
costs given certain constraints representing values which can-
not be (or are not) stated in directly commensurable terms.
Let me return to the example previously begun, however.
If social choice dictated that a stream must at all times
remain suitable for the support of a specified type of fish,
public policy would be to produce a system which minimizes
the real cost of waste disposal, subject to the constraint
that conditions unsuitable for fish are nowhere to develop.
Conceivably this would require a very different combination
of units with different operating procedures than a system
designed without the constraint. Presuming the constraint
is effective, i.e., not automatically achieved if costs are
minimized, it would result in a higher cost system than could
otherwise have been achieved. The extra cost represents the
limitation which the constraint places upon the cost minimi-
zation objectives. Marginal conditions analogous to those
indicated earlier (i.e., the equalization of marginal costs
in all directions) must still hold for the cost minimization
objective. In other words, the optimum system is not attained
until a situation is reached in which it is impossible to
achieve lower costs by making marginal "tradeoffs" between
alternatives without violating the constraint. The marginal
costs affected by the constraint now, however, contain an
imputed element which derives from the limited supply of the
constrained input (say, dissolved oxygen). I/
ll In principle, constrained maximization problems of this
kind are solvable by the use of differential calculus and a method
known as La Grange multipliers. The multiplier indicates the
marginal cost of the constraint in terms of the objective. Problems
of this character can also be cast in linear programming form, in
which case the "dual" indicates the marginal cost of the constraint.
Perhaps the most immediately promising optimization procedure for
waste disposal system problems is a technique involving computer
similation and various methods of sampling results of trial runs
in order to approximate an optimum.
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It is worth remarking that effluent charges or some other
means of inducing an optimal balance between process and pro-
duction adjustments and other measures such as flow augmentation,
treatment, artificial stream aeration and perhaps others are
still needed. The principles involved here are very interesting
and not too different from the simpler situation discussed
earlier, but I do not have time to go into them here.
The decision model type of framework which has been sketched
is very flexible and can be used to combine efficiency and policy
goals. However, from the point of view of achieving minimum
costs associated with waste disposal, the policy constraints
should be considered provisional, and viewed as subject matter
for research and study in order to expand their meaning with
respect to the preferences of society. One way of studying
them from this point of view is to test their cost sensitivity.
By varying a constraint by small amounts, redetermining the
optimum system, and collating the change in costs with the assoc-
iated physical changes (i.e., effects on oxygen levels, appearance,
aquatic life, etc., in specific stretches of stream), information
can be provided which would permit considered choices to be made
by representatives of the public.
One useful way of stating the results of experiments with
the constraints which are not commensurable with the objective
(i.e., not valued directly by or imputable from markets), is in
terms of what they must "at least be worth". If, for example,
a social judgment were to be made that algae growth is to be
restricted (say, because of its effect on the appearance of
water) beyond the point indicated by the cost minimizing solu-
tion (i.e., algae limitation is an effective constraint), it
would, of course, not be possible to say precisely what the
avoided destruction (real cost) of aesthetic pleasure is worth.
However, by comparing optimum systems with and without the con-
straint, it would be possible to indicate to the public repre-
sentatives what the least value is that must be attached to make
that level of control procedure worthwhile.
However, at this point we are forced to call upon the
political process to make a specific judgment about resources
allocation, at least until our skill in measuring values
becomes considerably greater, even if we accept efficiency as
the design objective. In my view one of the most important
research problems in the field of water quality management is
how complex and specific decisions of this kind can be made
via the political process in a socially justifiable manner.
How can the appropriate "public" be identified? What media
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are there for giving them really relevant information? What
political institutions are there that will permit this public
to communicate its preferences? How can the direct and intensely
felt effects of the system on some portions of the public be
brought into a justifiable balance with less direct and less
intensely felt effects on others? How can political and economic
procedures (say, user charges) be combined so that beneficiaries
of such a system are disciplined in their decision making by the
costs of the project?
Actually the last several comments have broached another
matter I was specifically asked to comment upon that is, the
matter of research needs. I have already indicated that I feel
some of the most important and difficult research needs in the
general area of achieving efficient regional waste disposal
systems are in an area where economics and political science
merge. In order not to impinge too much on the assigned domain
of the other speakers, I will not push further in this direction.
The previous discussion of economic aspects of efficient
regional waste disposal suggests a number of areas of research
in addition -- some in economics itself and a great deal of
supporting research in other disciplines. While we are far
from being able to estimate many relevant economic magnitudes
with a desirable degree of accuracy, the same is true to a
considerable degree of other disciplines relating to regional
water quality management problems. For example, sanitary engi-
neering research has not traditionally taken a regional approach.
Consequently there are many severe gaps in the types of scientific
and engineering information needed in the design and operation of
regional waste disposal systems.
I have elsewhere _!/ categorized what seemed to me to be the
major broad areas of research which grow out of considerations of
economic efficiency with respect to waste disposal. I will merely
list them here. I will not include general problems in the appli-
cation of economic analysis to water resources problems such as
determining appropriate rates of time discount, dealing with
market imperfections, and other general problems about which there
is by now a considerable literature and which are probably familiar
l( Allen V. Kneese, Water Pollution - Economic Aspects and
Research Needs (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1962)
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to most of you. If the audience so desires, I will gladly be
more specific about the following research categories during
the discussion period and also indicate some of the work which
is now going forward in these areas and which I happen to know
about. The research categories are as follows:
(a) Procedures for keeping track of quality changes and
quickly computing the concentration of pollutants (and signi-
ficant associated variables such as D.O.) at all relevant points
of use, as a function of a variety of conditioning factors. The
latter include waste loads at particular outfalls, biological,
chemical, and physical conditions, and volume of stream flow.
This point actually implies considerable expansion of existing
scientific knowledge, especially in regard to the complex
factors which interact with residual plant nutrients to give
rise to algae growth and the effects of algae on oxygen balance.
(b) Information on the costs of waste disposal. These
include sewage treatment, water supply treatment, reclamation
of waste materials, industrial process changes, methods of
controlling streamflow or conforming waste discharges to flows,
and pollution damages to municipal, industrial and on-site uses.
(c) Improved means for the prediction of pollution load-
ings especially those resulting from industrial waste dis-
posal. These should provide a reasonable forecast of the
effects of environmental conditions such as water costs, ef-
fluent charges, foreseeable technological changes, and various
kinds of public policies. This implies careful study of what
might be called the economics of water use and waste disposal
in the plants of specific industries.
(d) Improved techniques of calculation for approximating
optimum multipurpose multi-unit system designs when the objective
is constrained in various ways. These techniques should be
capable of handling the very considerable complexities introduced
when waste disposal, and attendant water quality variation, is
included in the design problem.
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DISCUSSION OF PAPER PRESENTED BY ALLEN KNEESE
James A. Crutchfleld*
I should like to begin by stating that Dr. Kneese has violated
one of the basic rules of the profession by providing me with a copy
of his paper well in advance. I cannot, therefore, plead ignorance
of it.
As might be expected of an acknowledged expert in the field,
Dr. Kneese has done an excellent job in this paper. Perhaps I can
add usefully to the discussion by emphasizing what seem to me the
critical points in his paper and by some elaboration of measurement
problems to which he has alluded briefly.
The most significant contribution of the paper is the author's
insistence on viewing the economic problem of pollution in terms of
a schedule concept, in which water quality is viewed as a range of
products available at a range of costs. Perhaps the key sentence
in the paper is that "elimination of pollution is seldom a minimum-
cost solution." The black and white approach, in which the choice
is viewed as one of "pure" water versus water polluted to the danger
point is absurd and has produced a great deal of unnecessary disa-
greement between control agencies and industrial waste producers.
Dr. Kneese sets the problem in terms of cost minimization which
is logical and operational. Abatement of pollution, with its at-
tendant costs, is balanced against the costs of allowing the pollu-
tion to continue, measured in terms of benefits foregone, or meas-
ured in terms of additional costs imposed on other users of water.
The major difficulty, of course, lies in the fact that it is pos-
sible to identify clearly the money costs of pollution abatement,
while the social costs imposed on other water users are usually so
diffused that the physical damage involved is not easily identified
or assigned. Moreover, many of the alternative water uses are not
market priced, and cannot be valued in any simple way.
In general I would agree fully with the author's position that
a regional approach to water pollution analysis is required for
*Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of
Washington, Seattle, Washington.
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development of optimal economic solutions. There are, however,
some dangers of an ad hoc nature in regional analysis of this
type. For example, if the analysis is extended to a region as
a whole it is possible that the impact of pollution (or the abate-
ment of pollution) on the output of other products may be suf-
ficiently great that product prices are affected. Since the usual
analysis involves projections of present prices, the possibility
of significant errors arises.
The second problem is more serious. If the social costs of
pollution are identified and converted to specific money costs
for one group of waste producers but not for others, it is possible
that severe damage to one segment of a regional or national industry
might result. Situations in which firms are locally specialized
from the standpoint of raw material supplies but participate in
larger national markets for final products are by no means uncommon.
In such cases it may be necessary to consider sub-optimum solutions
until and unless the same treatment of social costs is extended to
all firms in the industry.
As Dr. Kneese indicates, the measurement problem is crucial to
the usefulness of his concept of optimum system design (including
proper allocation of costs) as a technique for rational solution of
pollution problems. These problems are real, but they appear to
have been complicated further by careless use of concepts and def-
initions. For example, it is difficult to make consistent sense
out of the distinction between tangible and intangible benefits
from water utilization. If the distinction is intended to apply to
services as contrasted to physical commodities, it is simply irrel-
evant. Services comprise an important segment of total production,
and in the last analysis physical commodities are desired not for
themselves but for the services they render. In some cases the
term "intangible" is used to distinguish nonmeasurable costs and
benefits as contrasted to those that can be measured. This seems
legitimate (if somewhat imprecise), but its usefulness is reduced
by frequent failure to distinguish water uses (opportunity costs
in Kneese's terms) for which measures of economic value are inher-
ently impossible from those where the difficulty is simply a result
of public policy (or concealment of essential information by in-
terested parties) .
We might illustrate some of these points by reference to out-
door recreation in general and sport fishing in particular. In
many cases the use of water resources for outdoor recreation is
free, and even where charges are levied they are seldom geared to
any concept of rent maximization. More commonly they are intended
to cover direct management costs for the recreational service
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involved. This doubtless makes the measurement problem extremely
difficult, particularly where we must estimate even the number of
actual users. But is this inherent? I would argue that it reflects
a prejudice, rarely though through or justified in rational terms,
that outdoor recreation should be freely available to everyone with-
out charge or at nominal cost only. But surely hunting, fishing and
outdoor recreation, desirable as they may be, are less important to
most people than food, shelter, and medical services to name only
a few essential goods. Why is it necessary to subsidize a recre-
ational service, by making it available at less than its true eco-
nomic value and rationing limited supplies in other ways -- e.g.,
bag limits on fish and game, limited reservations at public parks,
etc. We are probably "overproducing" such water-using services as
hunting, fishing, and boating by failing to charge a more realistic
price for the service rendered by the basic resource; and, in the
process, we are reducing the quality of that service. Surely by
this time it should be clear, as Dr. Kneese has stressed repeatedly
in his paper, that the notion of "free" water is a fiction.
Another measurement problem of intense interest in the Pacific
Northwest involves the valuation of commercial fisheries. Because
we allow virtually unlimited entry to the commercial fisheries the
net economic benefit, in conventional benefit cost terms, will
always tend toward zero. If prices and costs were such that the
net economic yield from an anadromous commercial fishery were pos-
itive, new entrants would immediately dissipate this economic rent
in increased costs. This stands in sharp contrast to the valuation
of competing water uses, in which it is assumed that water rights
are limited and are managed in such a way as to yield the largest
net economic benefit, given existing technology. For full compar-
ability, then, the commercial fisheries ought to be valued in terms
of the largest net economic yield that could be achieved under
rational management. This would require merely that permissible
catches be taken with the minimum number of units required, each
unit being equipped to operate as efficiently as the state of the
art permits. On that basis it is likely that the net economic
yield of the Columbia River fisheries, for example, would be not
less than 75 percent to 80 percent of the gross market value of
the catch -- perhaps $15 to $20 million per year.
In effect, the valuation of many water uses now regarded as
"intangibles" and the pollution problem in general would be vastly
simpler if handled within the pricing mechanism of the market
economy. Even where the products or services are not priced
directly we can simulate this process effectively in many cases.
I would repeat again Dr. Kneese*s major point that rational policy
decisions regarding water quality must be carried out in terms of
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the costs of achieving varying qualities and the costs imposed on
other users by varying degrees of pollution.
Lest this be construed as an apology for lax handling of pol-
lution problems, I would add that this type of analysis would cer-
tainly point to the desirability of pollution abatement in many
instances. I would also emphasize strongly that many of our de-
cisions with regard to water utilization -- particularly where
they involve fish, wildlife and other aspects of outdoor recre-
ation ~ are irreversible. We would do well to err on the side
of caution if there is any reasonable doubt about the possibility
of permanent pollution damage or of a water use pattern that max-
imizes economic values in the short run but neglects the increasing
real value of outdoor recreation facilities as population pressure
and incomes rise.
Again, I am deeply impressed with the way in which Dr. Kneese
has set these problems within a framework of recognized economic
analysis. This would appear to take us a long way in the direction
of more rational choices among competing uses of water.
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DISCUSSION
Mr. Kneese stated that basic research is needed in the develop-
ment of a political organization or water authority with appro-
priate jurisdiction and power. I wonder, with his experience
in the near past in Germany, if he will comment on the workings
of the organization that deals with the handling of wastes from
the Emscher to the Rhine? I am sure they dealt with the allo-
cation of costs among water users and possibly their implement-
ation as far as penalty costs are concerned.
There are seven organizations to which I made reference and
which I visited this past year in Germany. Actually, only
two of them, when you combine them in the way in which they
are functionally combined and neglect some nominal distinctions,
control most of the water resources in the industrial area of
West Germany, which is an extremely water-short region. (The
combined annual low flow of the rivers that service this area,
which has eight million people and 40 per cent of Germany's
industry, is about one-half of the low flow on record of the
Potomac River and considerably less than that of some of our
larger rivers.) They do not fully control all the variables
that go into the regional management of water resources.
There is in addition a land planning authority to plan for
land use in an 18-city area which includes all of the major
industries and cities of the industrial area. They work
rather closely together. They have designed a system very
much along the lines that I have outlined. It's done very
much in an ad-hoc fashion but they trade off alternatives.
In the region as a whole they have used all of the alter-
natives at one time or another that I mentioned in my talk.
They do so in a cost-minimizing way. They do not have ex-
plicit evaluations for recreation and there are undoubtedly
recreation opportunities destroyed in certain areas. The
logic used in the area is a rather extreme stream speciali-
zation where they are maintaining the Ruhr River and the
Lippe River in good shape for water supply and recreation
throughout most of their length. There is even some zoning
on them and there are one or two places in the Ruhr where
pollution is bad, but the Ruhr is suitable for swimming,
for instance, at Essen, which amazed me.
They have sacrificed in other rivers - the Emscher has been
turned completely into a sewer. It is limed, is aesthetically
inoffensive, but it isn't useful for anything except to put
wastes in. The wastes going to that river are given only
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primary treatment and some industry treatment. The entire
flow of the Emscher River is then treated before it is
emptied into the Rhine. Presently primary treatment is
used.
There is now an international authority which has been
investigating the fact that the Rhine is heavily polluted
not only from the Ruhr industrial area, but from elsewhere.
As a result, they are building an activated sludge treatment
plant for the entire Emscher flow before it's delivered into
the Rhine. They have made extensive use of rather extreme
economies of scale in this fashion. With respect to this
problem of articulating industrial engineering decisions
with a system of this kind, here they do use a system of
cost allocation. This is far from an ideal system, but
twice a year they sample the effluent from all the major
industries. It doesn't matter if they discharge into a
treatment plant or a municipal system, or discharge directly
into the river, they are all sampled. They have formulas
which are rather arbitrary in some respects, but they pro-
vide methods of integrating various units of pollution,
such as settleable material, B.O.D., and the toxic pollu-
tants. Every individual industry pays the operating and
capital cost of the facilities in the area on the basis
of its polluting value which is in essence an effluent
charge. These folks, of course, are dealing with the
world's most concentrated industrial area and undoubtedly
an institutional arrangement of this kind - not necessarily
involving the same political structure that it does - would
only be suitable for highly developed industrial areas where
there are large economies of collective action to be realized.
In other instances, only a modest amount of coordination in
one way or another, whether by effluent standards or efflu-
ent charges and imposing downstream costs on upstream pol-
luters to induce cost-minimizing behaviors, may require a
very modest organization. As has been pointed out, the
really important research is in the area of defining insti-
tutions which are correct for dealing with the problems in
the particular regions.
Q. Is not this waste from Germany dumped on the Dutch who have
no resource by which to pay for the increased treatment
required to preserve their waters?
A. That's true. In the present situation, Germany does treat
the waste before putting it in the Rhine. Some wastes will
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be given full biological treatment. The assimilating capacity
of the Rhine is large. It has a flow roughly that of the Ohio
River. When this treatment plant is constructed, virtually
the entire waste load - industrial, municipal - from the entire
industrial area will be subjected to a very high degree of
treatment before it goes into the Rhine.
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PUBLIC AWARENESS AND INFORMATION
Marko L. Haggard*
First, I want to say that I am not an expert on public
opinion as related to water pollution. I have tried to spend
what talents I have in the last few years seeking to understand
political behavior and primarily that which deals with voting
on revenue measures. I am not sure to what extent this is rele-
vant to your problems. One of the difficulties I have in looking
at the problem assigned today is that I am not cognizant of what
particular public policies are in process or are going to be
proposed, so if my comments are not germane, I regret it. How-
ever, I hope that I'm roughly in the area involved by your
particular programs.
I think it is safe to understand that in your program of
pollution control you're certainly dealing with virtue. I am
sure that if we were to do a public opinion poll, and ask people,
"Are you opposed to water pollution or air pollution?" we would
get a response similar to the polls we have in America on the
question, "Do you believe in God?" It would not be surprising
if the percentages would be in the high 90*s. I doubt if such
a questionnaire on pollution would mean much.
As we look at the problem of public information and aware-
ness, let us first direct our attention to the question of the
extent to which the "Public" is aware of and understands the
meaning and implications of water quality depreciation control.
I do not know of any studies that have been done recently in
this area that would answer that question. The first need for
research as part of our public opinion process is that we ask
the questions that are germane to that question, but are of
a more subtle order than the one I just suggested. For example,
we have recently done the most thorough study that I know of to
date about political attitudes in Multnomah County, Oregon.
Unfortunately, we did this with more aspiration than we had
resource for achievement. However, it has been programmed and
the machine in Los Angeles has sent back 30 packages of data
and is still grinding. I'm at a college which is bedeviled
with having no resources so I am now with piles of data which
I am sure in time we can analyze and which will give us some
*Assistant Professor of Political Science, Portland State
College, Portland, Oregon.
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clues that are possibly germane to today's subject although I
didn't design this interview schedule around this theme. Actu-
ally, I designed it, among other things, to explore the problem
of attitudes toward fluoridation.
Fluoridation failed in the recent election. I've made some
attempts to study that election and it seems to me that if you
are now moving toward the point in which you wish to propose
certain kinds of concerted action about pollution -- water pol-
lution in particular -- I can't imagine a more fortuitous time.
The only happy thing which came out of the results of the vote
on my "God-given right" to continue to have tooth decay is that
a major reason advanced for voting against fluoridation is that
it would alter or destroy our pure water. I have not been so
aware of the dramatic implications of water since my childhood
days in Nebraska when I happened to come along during the drought
and water had a certain significance. I remember going to summer
camp and being able to walk on the river bed every summer. That
was not a miracle, if you are thinking of that allusion. Nor,
since the days of the army when, of course, as we were giving our
All, there were moments when water was most precious. Since then
I have not had a sense of the tremendous dramatic impact that
water has for a lot of people, and I think that this is a very
propitious time to exploit this attitude that so many people are
expressing concerning the reason why they voted against fluoride
and make it your argument and put the opposition on the defen-
sive with it.
I can't imagine anyone willingly and deliberately champi-
oning pollution this is incredible. Then, put the opponents
on the defensive as proponents and organizers for pollution.
Above all, champion this cardinal thing that is dear to many --
their pure water. We're sophisticated enough to know that we
don't want to analyze that water too deeply, but the point is
there may be times in which means and ends are of such relevance,
in which social policy is so desirable, that it might be wise in
the general vein not to over-complicate the issue.
More specifically, I would like to just talk a few minutes
about some of the general propositions that we know are fairly
true about public opinion as a phenomenon and about the role of
interest groups and then ponder the applications to your specific
problems. These will have to come in part from your own knowl-
edge, but I wonder to what extent they may apply. The very first
question is the extent to which the "public" is aware. The
students of public opinion would immediately react to that ques-
tion. I say, not in a critical vein, but in an explanatory vein,
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that there is no such animal as the "Public." First, the student
would want to ask which Public one is talking about. Again, one
can't refine this in more detail until one knows the specific
policies that might be apropos. The fact is, however, that any
attempt that will be made by any group -- be it public or private -
to try to influence policy which may involve public opinion as a
phenomenon, must recognize that it has to operate in certain given
sets of environments. I think a basic problem that might be posed
for this subject is the fact that you may have volumes of profes-
sional and expert knowledge and yet it can be relatively meaning-
less to the rank and file of the people unless it is adequately
and properly communicated. That means ridding it of a consider-
able amount of jargon. Take, for example, the tremendous best-
selling record of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" as a clue.
Rachel Carson has touched a very sensitive nerve and it is a
sensitive nerve that is fraught with all sorts of difficult pros-
pects. She, on the one hand, had the ability to translate sci-
entific data into poetry or an imagery that approximates poetry,
the ability to have us reaffirm our identification with and our
respect for Nature. That is a latent kind of identification that
a lot of cynical people might not be aware they have. The thing
that disturbs me about some of the comments I have seen about the
book is that perhaps the book comes at a most fortunate or maybe
an unfortunate time. We are a people who are caught on the abyss
of possible destruction -- we are a people that have had to live
from crisis to crisis. We are a people who know that capacities
to overkill are in the range of 10 to 25. There is a thin line
where you can project a whole series of horrors or prospects and
if they're not projected with a certain sobriety, a certain
sympathy and understanding -- you get a hysterical reaction. The
point is that I get alarmed that we have such a thin edge here on
the part of many publics of almost quasi-hysteria. It seems to
me if there are pronounced problems of pollution, that we must be
careful in projecting these so that we don't over-simplify them
in this kind of negative emotional response. On the other hand,
I would sincerely urge that the public relations boys have some
lessons to teach us about public policies. We may well need to
use to advantage some of the techniques they use, whether we like
them or not.
Our society clearly demonstrates one thing -- knowledge is
not self-enforcing, virtue doesn't triumph just by the fact of
its being virtue, there must be concerted attempts to influence
attitudes and opinions. These things must be deliberately
calculated.
I would think, in terms of research projects on public
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attitudes and awareness, one which would be of immediate interest
would be to try to sample a group of the people who watch the
showing of the KGW-TV film, "Pollution in Paradise." To my knowl-
edge there has not been any concerted attempt to approach this
problem of pollution via TV. I think, in order to approach this
project without making it so simple and so obvious, we need to
explore certain attitudes and opinions that people might have
about whom they have respect for, and policies they have respect
for. One of the problems that would be posed is that all things
being equal, governmental agencies ought to be auxiliary agents
in this respect rather than the promoters. As a people we have
a marvellous ambivalent attitude about politicians and politics
and associate them with that word, "bureaucrats." Dead politi-
cians are marvellous, and assume statesman-like proportions.
Living ones are the Devil Incarnate. In a poll taken not so
many years ago, American mothers were asked to write the things
they would like their children to be when they grew up -- among
the things asked was running for public office -- if I remember
correctly, politicians came in at a rating just above a "pimp."
Students of public opinion know that in our society there
are certain outer limits that one can't exceed certain rules
of the game. One of them is the broad notion of equality, that
while we're all equal, some are more equal than others. This
is particularly relevant in terms of influencing attitudes and
opinions.
Another proposal I would make has to do with certain kinds
of community studies. One of the most intensive studies we had
in this area shows most people do not participate in public
affairs and activities. This is a phenomenon that is peculiarly
confined to middle-class, white-collar, and to a great extent
professional and business groups. A large number of people,
particularly in the larger urban areas, are not active virtually
in anything. At the most they may be active in a sporting event
or possibly in a school PTA, although the study we did here and
which has been confirmed in many other community studies in many
other parts of the U. S., showed that the bulk of people who had
children of school age were not identified with or active in any
of the school organizations.
We also have enough information to know that there are many
people not active, but also that every community or area has
certain opinion leaders and these opinion leaders may not be the
people you necessarily read about. For instance, I bet that the
revenue measures would lose in the last election. From our
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studies a "No" vote was predictable because the groups that were
most active in trying to get those measures adopted were groups
that were talking to themselves. They were already going to vote
"Yes." They were largely professional people and particularly
they were going to vote "Yes" on the measures which provided
money for convention facilities.
Also, we have a series of studies which show clearly -- it's
more than quantitative, it's statistically significant -- that here
in Portland the higher the democratic party registration, the
greater the "No" vote on revenue measures. For example, on school
measures, etc., the areas that have some of the largest number of
children had the greatest number of "No" votes on school bond
measures. For some reason, most of the groups advocating the
revenue measures did not seek to try to determine or even examine
the research data because, probably, there is a certain group in
society who, being active all the time, confuse themselves with
the "Public," and are surprised that they and the Public may not
be the same individuals as suggested by the election results.
One of the problems that would be involved, if you are going to
affect the voting process in terms of revenue measures, is to be
cognizant that there is a taxpayers' revolt. It's a taxpayers'
revolt which may be indiscriminate from your viewpoint of the
necessity for providing certain functions, but the taxpayers are
revolting at the only place they can. Witness, there's nothing
the taxpayer can do directly to revolt against where the bulk of
the money is spent, namely, the Federal Government. If he's suf-
ficiently organized, he can manage to put through a tax bill
which will definitely prove some people are more equal than
others. But the average person (so-called) who is unorganized,
still is eligible to exercise the suffrage. He is a creature
and victim of circumstances, many of which he can't quite clearly
delineate. He knows we have to have a defense policy, that there
are crises, but that he, when he goes to vote, cannot directly
through the suffrage affect but at the most three people at the
federal level the congressman in the district, the two senators,
and, every four years, the President. That's all. There is no
place where he can direct his immediate reaction to these irri-
tations except on those measures on the ballot that clearly have
money involved. People are going to attack those areas that are
identifiable. This is to be anticipated. It's something similar
to the trouble we have in discerning corruption. One of the
hardest things to try to get explored is big corruption. As a
people, we understand physical objective corruption we under-
stand mink coats, deep freezes -- we can identify these. It is
of a different order for us to try to identify what is the proper
resource policy -- the best distribution, let's say, of the use of
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water in a given area. This is of an order entirely different --
it doesn't have the same kinds of definitions. When we look at
this problem we need to find those things that are concrete and
identifiable.
This again could be turned to advantage for those who wish
to do something about the problem of pollution. You can make the
aspects of pollution as vivid, as real, as immediate as any type
of subject matter. If it involves revenue -- particularly anything
that deals with property tax, which I think is in real trouble,
it will take certain kinds of approach. If it's something that is
to be communicated and has to be exercised with some level of the
suffrage, certainly the first thing to do is to identify who are
the opinion makers in the community. This is sometimes more
subtle than will appear on the surface. If it's opinion you want,
just in a latent sense that doesn't have to translate itself at
the polls, then obviously these may be a whole series of different
people. If it is those who may well turn out and have to vote
"Yes" or "No" on a measure, there will be a whole range of perhaps
different persons. We need to spell out who some of these people
are and I think this is one of the research problems that could
be explored.
One thing is perfectly obvious in our system, the advantage
accrues in the political process, particularly in terms of getting
policy established, to the organized. This may sound trite, but
it's important. The motivating forces in politics obviously stem
from organization. It's true that unorganized interests may set
broad limits within which the struggle is channeled and confined,
but organization represents concentrated power and concentrated
power can exercise a dominating influence when it encounters
power which is diffuse and not concentrated, therefore, weaker.
How does one determine the success or failure of organized
power? First, all interest groups, no matter who they are, that
are going to operate in our system, will find their strength is
differentially affected by the political environment in which
they operate. In this respect, I'm using "political" not in a
partisan sense, but as a definition of being a struggle for power,
the attempt to influence policy. Our system provides -- and this
is an advantage to all groups if they seek to organize themselves --
a congenial atmosphere to the notion that it's all right to or-
ganize and try to get your interest expressed. Some obviously are
more able to organize than others, but in general this gives a good
optimistic frame in which to operate. As Madison put it, "Liberty
is to faction what air is to fire."
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Secondly, and more important, the formal organization of
government in the United States has an enormous effect on the
tactics and strategy of the interest groups. There are, at
least, three levels of government and there is a separation of
powers and checks and balances. Consequently, there are many
points in our system at which governmental policy may be influ-
enced and the converse of that is that there are many points
where certain kinds of policy can be blocked. The important
point here is that while we said water pollution control is
virtuous, if you are going to introduce certain policies which
are going to influence the operation of a plan involving the
expenditure of money, certain resistances will build up. The
opposition will have an initial advantage in that, if govern-
mental action is going to be required, there are many specific
places along the line at which they could block the action.
Our system provides, then, this opportunity for those who are
organized to not only strike once but opportunity knocks over
and over at every level.
There is another problem that's posed for interest groups
which demonstrates a fundamental weakness of political parties.
If this last national election illustrated anything, it illus-
trated that crossing of party lines is now becoming a condition
that is not confined to the independent West. I think this is
increasingly going to be a prevalent attitude, as we have a
population that is more formally educated and which more and
more moves into the white-collar class. Since political parties
are weak and will be weaker, this diffusion of power that is
already built into our governmental structure strengthens the
efforts of interest groups, blocks undesirable policy decisions,
and, of course, the weakness of party strengthens the efforts of
these same groups to promote the desirable policy decisions they
want.
Now, how successful any particular interest group may be
could possibly be built around the following factors, the most
important of which may be status. Obviously, those groups which
attach themselves to the more prestigious aspects of our society
are going to have more access to the influentials more access
to certain agencies that make policy, and certainly more access
to money. I would think, for example, that if one is seeking
to have a given water pollution program adopted that involves
influencing a range of public opinion within an area, one of the
first things to do is to create a citizens* committee composed
of people who are not only prestigious in their given profession
or activity, but also are concerned with things other than just
their own axes to grind. For those of you familiar with this
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area, the late E. B. McNaughton is the kind of person I have in
mind. Here was a gentleman who though he was one of the most
important bankers in the state of Oregon was also the National
Chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union. That's a combi-
nation that probably isn't too frequently found. There are a
surprising number of people who can take the initiative in try-
ing to present this matter of pollution control as a desirable
policy. It is important initially to have the help of those
who leave the right impression and whom people have reason to
trust and respect.
Certainly, the objective of the interest group must be an
important one and, if it is one having a single-purpose objective,
particularly with a high moral tone, it has an advantage. As we
look at the history of interest groups, there was never one that
was more significant politically for a period of time than the
Anti-Saloon League. It was an enormously effective organization
largely because it had only one concern -- booze. There's a
clue here from which we can learn. This effort was enormously
successful because it didn't diffuse itself with a lot of over-
lapping objectives. It just concentrated on one single objective
and it was one that was able to cross a number of geographic and
even economic lines. Certainly this is an advantage that would
accrue in trying to set up some concerted action in the matter of
pollution. Here is obviously a high moral tone.
Perhaps the biggest single problem with a program designed
to attack this problem of water pollution is that it is going to
involve certain kinds of seemingly economic deprivations for
certain kinds of industries. For instance, it may be in conflict
with the tremendous, concerted promotion that is going on in
Oregon, as we witnessed in the last campaign, of attracting
industry. I'm reminded of a campaign that was recently held in
this area. The Commission of Public Docks wanted to get a bond
issue passed to improve the dock facilities here. Some of the
officials asked me where they might possibly work best. I said,
knowing the voting data to date, "Forget the high-income area.
Work the areas that are relatively the lower income. But don't
just work them. Find an identification for those folks. Have,
for example, the longshoremen and their wives go from door to
door in those areas and communicate that this provision means
dollars in their pockets. This might be able to overcome this
traditional tendency to vote 'No* to revenue measures." The
campaign slogan was "Docks Mean Dollars." In this they had a
fair amount of success.
To put the argument that here is an attempt on the part of
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public policy to intrude upon the legitimate operations of at-
tracting industry on the defensive, I would simply ask questions:
"Do you really want to pollute water in order to get dollars?"
"Do you really want to violate people's health?" There is some
validity in asking these questions.
In 1948, in the state of Maryland, Senator Miller Tidings,
a very conservative multimillionaire, was running for re-election.
Traditionally, Maryland was a Democratic state. The Republicans
understandably had the problem of trying to find attractive
candidates to run against a sure thing. Finally they settled
on a gentleman named Butler whom nobody knew anything about.
They felt that this might be an advantage. However, it posed
the problem of getting him known. So they brought in a person
named Jonkel who had had spectacular success selling breakfast
food. Since they felt that he had certain talents in the area
of "selling your package," he was obviously the "logical" choice
for the campaign! There had occurred previously some charges by
McCarthy about some communists in the State Department -- and
Tidings, unfortunately, for his purposes at this time, was Chair-
man of the Foreign Relations Committee, which was charged to
explore this claim. So, Mr. Jonkel talked to taxi drivers,
elevator operators, and bar tenders and asked them two questions:
"What do you think of John Butler?" and he found, not too sur-
prisingly, people didn't know who Butler was and had no attitude
or opinion about him. Secondly, he asked, "What do you think of
what Tidings has done about the communists in the State Depart-
ment?" Again he found that most people didn't know if Tidings
had done anything. So, the campaign was waged on these two
themes. Over and over he used brief spots on the radio to say,
"B for Butler." There was a whole series of solemn pronounce-
ments over the radio, "What has Senator Tidings done about the
communists in the State Department?" Later Jonkel had the ef-
frontery to say, "I never said there were any communists in the
State Department. I never said he didn't do anything about it."
It's true he didn't. Now, I'm not saying that we ought to
adopt quite these gutter tactics, but if they succeeded with that
sort of thing, possibly there are some lessons to be learned that
could be used in reverse and for positive purposes. I have a
friend in the public relations business who says that he always
starts with this fundamental concept: "Never underestimate the
people's ignorance." I'm not that cynical, but the fact remains
that if you want to look at one of the most successful campaigns
of all in terms of influencing attitudes and opinions, read the
campaign of Whittaker and Baxter on Medical Care back in 1948.
The polls had shown that there was a fairly favorable majority
to this general notion. It is of interest to note the tactics
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that were employed in this campaign to defeat the measure. One
of the things seized on early was that while public opinion polls
indicated that a lot of the people had a certain sympathy about
the problems of the aged and medical care, many were opposed to
socialism. This public attitude has been used with relative suc-
cess on the part of the medical profession since then. As evi-
dence, note the ads that appeared recently in the Reporter Maga-
zine among others. A very tragic picture is painted of a chap
who is behind the wall in East Berlin. A person cannot help but
have sympathy for that pathetic situation. The heading is, "How
Is Freedom Lost?" And, "Dangers that grow within our borders
can string barbed wires around our freedom as tightly as dangers
that come from abroad, but they aren't as easy to see. Some of
us are hardly aware of the threat that grows within." And, on
with the message. The sponsors, "Your privately-owned utilities,"
of course, then suggest that the erection of such dams as Bonne-
ville and Grand Coulee are the "subtle way" in which we are losing
our "freedoms." The particular message may not be applicable, but
you can well anticipate that if certain economic interests feel
that policies of pollution are going to have an adverse effect to
their interests, they will try, if Government can be attached to
it, to give it the theme of socialism. And if those kinds of
popular themes are going to be used, why not anticipate them and
put those kinds of charges immediately on the defensive? If you
ever let them put you on the defensive, the campaign will be
lost. I'm not sure that all these tactics would seem to us to
be appropriate or proper, but there is a certain problem of
pragmatism here as well.
I have tried to make suggestions as to some of the general
problems of interest groups and the problems of attempting to
influence public opinion. I would think that as you move toward
trying to translate your research into concerted policy or public
action you will necessarily have to disabuse yourselves of the
idea that the validity and integrity of your material will neces-
sarily translate itself into (1) a communication, and (2) a con-
viction. It will be necessary to bring in other groups within
the community, to get them to champion this cause, to get them
to communicate to those who have the most prestige, and, if it
does move into the area of having to have it on the ballot, be
aware that there are enormous problems posed if matters of rev-
enue are involved. I feel that all the advantages previously
indicated are true. It is particularly arresting that while
public opinion may not itself be able to initiate action, it
does set the outer limits. I conclude by a recent illustration
of this. There was every evidence that measures to strengthen
the Pure Food & Drug Law in the last session of Congress were
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dead. I happened to be back in Washington at the time and everyone
I talked to said, "It's dead." Then there was that very tragic,
dramatic episode - Thalidoiiide. Something happened and the issue
suddenly became alive.
I would suspect that if anything is dramatically and effec-
tively done about the problems implicit in water and air pollution,
it may well have to approximate something of this type. That is,
that it needs to be sufficiently dramatic and sufficiently effec-
tively communicated and yet never to the point of exploiting
hysteria.
You've many groups latently working with you. One group may
well be those involved in health food organizations. These people
are part of a crusade -- it is a liturgy, a litany, a gospel. It
is possible that that group could be one of the missionaries to
move against water pollution. They have a following that is more
than regional, or local, and they have been a group that has been
most concerted in their concern about our keeping our pure water.
So, if there's anything positive that can come out of repeated
refusal to eliminate tooth decay, it may well be that here are
groups that can be used to give a positive contribution to our
water pollution problems.
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SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE RELATION
OF LAND USE TO WATER QUALITY
William E. Bullard*
Integration of Land Use and Water Resources
Surface water supplies are collected on and drawn from
watersheds, and most groundwater supplies were once collected
on and percolated through watersheds. The function of the
watershed depends on its ability to catch, hold, store, and
release water. Watersheds with deep soil supporting & dense
vegetation cover will catch and filter and store and slowly
release fairly great amounts of rainfall. Barren watersheds
with degraded soil and little or no cover produce flashy sedi-
ment-laden runoff from every rain, with no storage to be slowly
released later.
Between the two extremes are most of the watersheds used
and developed by man. The use and development affects the
cover and the soil. Natural cover may be replaced with crops
of various kinds; the new artificial cover is rarely permanent,
but varies from season to season in type and density. Over
considerable areas, the cover may be cleared away for roads
and buildings and replaced with paved impermeable surfaces
which act like the barren watershed. And in some areas, the
type of natural cover may be changed to cut down its draft on
water so that more water is available for use in lower parts
of the watershed.
Development and use of watersheds affect water quality as
well as volume of production. Removal of cover and disturbance
of soil lead to erosion on the land and turbidity and sedi-
mentation in the water. Growing crops involves fertilizers and
pesticides; some of these get into the water draining the land.
Irrigation waters also leach out excess natural salts from the
soil; these, too, affect water quality. Machines on the land
provide spills of oil and gasoline that may move into streams.
Mining often brings unwanted elements to the surface where they
contaminate water supplies. And worst of all, the streams may
be used directly as carriers to remove industrial wastes and
domestic sewage.
*Forester, Watershed Management, U. S. Department of Health,
Education and Welfare, Public Health Service, Division of Water
Supply and Pollution Control Program, Pacific Northwest, Portland,
Oregon.
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It would appear that one cannot touch the watershed without
touching the water.
Social Values in Multiple Use of Resources
Multiple use of resources is necessary to a society facing
limitations on new worlds to conquer. When we had much land and
few people, we did not worry about multiple use. There was no
need and no pressure. We dumped our wastes in the river and
went upstream or to another stream for drinking water. Now
there are few untapped streams, few rivers that don't support
another town upstream, few areas of land that can be left to
single uses. All land is watershed, in addition to whatever
else we may use it for. And whatever we use it for will affect
the water produced from it. If we want controlled production
of high quality water, we must make allowances for it in our use
of the land.
Water quality controls both public health and industrial
development, and therein lie its specific values for society.
High standards of quality are demanded for domestic supply, for
some industrial supply, for recreation use. Somewhat lesser,
but still fairly high standards are demanded for irrigation
use. For navigation, it is demanded only that water be of such
quality as to float boats and barges without rapid corrosion.
But for waste disposal, it is not a matter of quality, only
that the water move fast enough to carry the wastes out of
sight, out of smell, and out of mind.
Aquatic habitat in good condition also has values for
society. It is the source of desirable protein food and the
locale of much of our outdoor recreation. As the aquatic
habitat changes from its condition in nature, it becomes less
and less able to support desirable life forms, and less and
less desirable for recreation activities. Too high temperature,
too much sediment, too many nutrients, too great a load of toxic
elements -- any of these things that may occur following develop-
ment of watershed lands will radically change a stream or lake
environment and destroy its utility. Condition of the aquatic
habitat is an indicator of water quality in the habitat.
Economic Considerations
Multiple use of land and resources from the economic stand-
point is brought about by the needs and demands of more and more
people applied as an ever-increasing pressure against the same
base. As these needs are translated into values or amounts of
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money bid for resources and uses, it soon becomes profitable and
eventually necessary to double up on production and use. The
timber harvest, forage harvest, and certain forms of recreation
use on forest land are largely compatible and can be had more or
less simultaneously from the same acre. When the demands are
great enough and diverse enough, multiple use happens. Until
then, the dominant economic group among the uses and often
the only group -- will operate on a single-use basis; mining here,
grazing there, timber harvest somewhere else.
On the single-use operation, there is little or no attention
given to protection of other uses. A watershed is grazed for
forage; no one is concerned that the grazing use results in soil
compaction and soil erosion that lead to flash floods and sedi-
mentation and turbidity in the streamflow produced on the area.
All the water of a small stream is diverted for mining; no one
is concerned with the destruction of aquatic habitat in the
stream. Only when development and demands of all kinds seek
satisfaction is there interest -- backed by economic advantage
in protecting the watershed used for grazing or in safeguarding
the aquatic habitat in the stream used for mining.
Perhaps the finest current example of economic consideration
or lack of it with regard to water quality is that of high-
way construction. Too often the location of the highway, the
amount of soil disturbance initiated in construction, the lack of
stabilization of exposed soil, the use of streams as dumps for
excess materials, all indicate that the only objective is the
shortest route for the least money and to hell with the landscape,
streams, fish, etc. It is cheaper to build along a stream chan-
nel than on the rougher topography above; it is cheaper to dump
excess soil and rock over the edge into a stream than to endhaul
to a cove or bench for safe disposal; and it is cheaper to do
without temporary culverts and operate in the stream than to take
precaution against disturbing the channel bottom or blocking the
stream. Stabilization of cuts and fills is costly, and therefore
often omitted. Proper drainage disposal is expensive and there-
fore often ignored. Every single omission in any of these cases
reacts to the detriment of water quality and decreases the amount
of available water or increases its cost for downstream users.
Recreational value of water can be reduced or eliminated by
suspended sediment which reduces the visual appeal or affords
safety hazards. Organic waste loads may reduce dissolved oxygen
below levels needed for fish survival, or toxins may kill fish
directly or remove their food source. Sediment may interfere
with one phase of the life cycle and so remove fish populations.
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Dissolved minerals from mines or oil wells may completely
sterilize a stream and make it totally unfit for any use.
Since it is generally felt that water used for recreation
by the public must be clean and attractive, maintenance for
future recreation will comprise a major part of pollution
abatement programs.
Evapotranspiration and leaching increase the salinity
of streams receiving irrigation return flows in heavily irri-
gated areas. In fact, irrigation in arid regions is often
used as much for salt removal as for water supply. Yet, the
high level of salinity built up in the streams degrades the
water for subsequent agricultural use, for most industry, and
for recreation.
Silt pollution is a major handicap to effective develop-
ment of water resources in many river basins. Some six
million acre-feet of water each year must be filtered to
remove silt at a cost of more than two hundred million dollars.
It is estimated that the rivers of the United States carry a
billion tons of sediment to the ocean and deposit three bil-
lion tons in reservoirs and on valley lands and in harbors each
year. The principal source lies on agricultural lands, but
urban construction has become a significant silt source. We
may expect increased silt loads in the future as intensity of
agriculture is increased and urban expansion continues. The
damages by silt pollution include the cost of water treatment,
reduction of streamflow velocity, destruction of wildlife
habitat, reduced recreation opportunity, cost of dredging,
loss of reservoir capacity, increased flood hazards, reduction
of drainage system capacity, and degradation of water quality.
Land Use and Management Practices
The practices that significantly affect water quality will
vary from one class of land to another. On forest land, they
will be primarily those associated with harvesting the timber;
on range land, those associated with grazing animals, etc. But
within each class, there are different methods applicable, with
varying effects on water quality.
Logging on forest land if done by highlead cable systems
will cause less soil disturbance and erosion and sedimentation
than if done by tractor. A "skyline" system will cause still
less trouble and demands less in the way of access roads. Yet
even tractor logging done carefully with the lightest equipment
capable of doing the job, restricted to dry weather and to
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lesser gradients, need not cause excessive or intolerable soil
disturbance. Properly designed layout of the cutting areas,
location of landings and haul routes, scheduling of operations,
control of equipment use, and cleanup after the job will obviate
most of the problem situations. Eventually, we may see such
major changes as the advent of helicopter logging which would
still further reduce the need for any soil disturbance. It is
already economic in some cases in some parts of the world.
Grazing domestic stock principally sheep and cattle
on open range leads to considerable land abuse. Competition for
forage on public lands results in over-use, destruction of cover
vegetation, compaction of the soil, sheet erosion, flashy runoff,
gullying, floods, and sedimentation. Nor does the productivity
for forage remain high under such conditions. Controlled use
of the range, putting on numbers of stock compatible with the
amount and condition of the forage, restricting season of use
to avoid damage to soil and plant cover and to permit natural
regeneration all will help avoid damage to the range itself
and to the water flowing from it. Yet unrelated factors have
brought about the greatest changes: difficulty of hiring
herders during the war led many livestock operators to put
their stock onto irrigated pasture; having done so, they found
they could raise more pounds of meat at less cost and more
rapidly than on the open range. Where land is available for
the conversion, the trend is away from use of open, undeveloped
range.
Pesticides are a recently greatly expanded pollution factor
on forest and range lands, though they have been used for more
than a century on croplands. Now we have over twelve thousand
brand-name formulations and more than two hundred basic control
compounds on the market, with three billion pounds sprayed over
more than one hundred million acres each year. These pesticides
are estimated responsible for at least half of the fish kills
reported around the country, and some of them are known to have
killed birds and mammals. It is possible that they-are contri-
buting to the rapid rise in cancer noted over the last fifteen
years. Damages from pesticide pollution include immediate loss
of wildlife, damage to wildlife habitat, weakening of wildlife
populations and lowering their reproductive capacity, as well
as the threat to human health. Recreational and aesthetic
value of wildlife is generally considered far more important
than the estimated multi-billion dollar tangible economic value;
while the losses may only locally be serious, any loss is signi-
ficant in the eyes of many people.
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Crop production usually involves various kinds of culti-
vation of the soil, application of fertilizers, water, pesticides,
and weedicides. Any of these operations can create serious water
quality problems. Cultivation removes cover, exposes and churns
up the soil; erosion is a constant hazard. Along with soil
particles lost by erosion are portions of the fertilizers and
other substances applied to the soil that are washed away to
streams. Total impact on water quality is tremendous. But
conservation farming with cultural methods designed to hold
the soil in place can reduce sediment contributions to insigni-
ficance; other pest control methods in some cases can reduce
the need for and hazard from the various chemical killers; and
judicious application of fertilizers can reduce nutrient move-
ment to streams. However, where irrigation is used -- as it is
in many arid regions -- specifically for the purpose of leach-
ing salts out of the soil and flushing them into the rivers,
there is not much hope for future improvement of water quality
by means of changes in land management-use practices. Whether
use of such land and such use of water is continued or abandoned
is a decision that must be made by all the people affected.
Problems involved in highway construction have already been
mentioned. They can be avoided in part, at least, by careful
location of routes relative to local topography and soil con-
ditions, and by modification of certain construction practices.
Whether or not the modifications are "economic" from the stand-
point of highway construction is beside the point; however, the
method that protects water quality will often prove cheaper for
the highway, too. It is quite possible for the consumer to have
both a good transportation network and adequate water quality;
there is no immutable law of nature that requires sacrificing
the one for the other.
Some forms of mining disturb large areas of land and so
may be considered a "land use." This would include stripmining,
hydraulicking, and dredging. In the Lake States, stripmining
for coal is widespread and has affected water quality draining
many thousands of acres. Silt is only part of the problem;
worst effects are those of weathering and breakdown of pyrites
to form sulfuric acid that destroys the aquatic habitat and the
utility of the water in the streams. Untreated spoilbanks erode
to contribute silt, but it usually is the lesser problem. Hy-
draulicking and dredging put the disturbed soil directly into
the stream; fortunately, neither process is widely used nowadays,
and both are subject to restrictions when used. Only gravel
dredging from stream channels remains a widespread practice that
often has deleterious effects on aquatic environment and quality
of the water for downstream users.
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Developments on the streams themselves have significant
effects. Dams may trap sediments coming from upstream, but
initiate a cycle of channel cutting and sediment reworking
downstream. Levees and diversions may initiate a chain of
bankcutting, channel meandering, bar removal, and redeposition
of sediments. Impounded water may become warmer, may stratify
and become depleted of oxygen, and may develop algal growths
that upset the balance in the aquatic habitat and lead to
taste and odor and other quality problems. Dams also may cut
off fish passage and destroy fish populations as well as modi-
fying their habitat.
Land Rehabilitation
Abused and degraded terrains contribute flashy flows of
silt-laden water to streams. The principal pollutant is silt,
and the seasonal distribution of the water provided is suf-
ficiently variable to reduce still further the usefulness of
the supply. From the water management standpoint, correction
of the situation on eroded abandoned range and cropland and
repeatedly burned forest is as much a matter of improving the
flow regime as it is of reducing the sediment load. But both
are important to water quality management.
From the economic aspect, rehabilitation may not appear
desirable. It costs too much, and the productive capacity to
be regained is not worth the effort at present evaluations.
However, from the long-term social aspect, which would include
anticipated distant future changes in need for food and fiber
as well as control of floods and sedimentation and provision
of greater amounts of usable water in regular supply, it is
not only desirable but imperative.
Rehabilitation is possible. Denuded forest areas can be
seeded and planted and brought back to conditions favorable
to control of water and to production of other forest values.
Degraded range can be repaired with terraces and gully plugs
and reseeding and fertilization and be protected until a good
new cover is established to afford control of runoff and to
provide good wildlife habitat. Abandoned, worn-out cropland
can be made productive again with similar measures designed to
stop erosion, provide a plant cover, and improve soil structure.
After the watershed lands have been given back their
regulatory influence on streamflow, the streams, too, can be
rehabilitated. Sliding or undercut banks can be stabilized
with structures and vegetation; channel blocks can be cleared
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away. Release of impounded water can be made for flow regulation,
for temperature control, or for habitat control in the reservoir
itself.
Nationwide, the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Conserv-
ation Needs Inventory summarizes the situation thus and we
quote only the parts directly affecting water quality:
"738,000,000 acres with excessive erosion need conserv-
ation treatment; 101,000,000 acres are expected to shift
to new uses within twenty years, including a net loss of
15,000,000 acres from agriculture to urban or related
use; 8,300 small watersheds need treatment to reduce
flood damages. Proposed programs include reduction of
erosion losses on 161,000,000 acres of cropland; re-
establishment of cover on 72,000,000 acres and improve-
ment of cover on 107,000,000 acres of rangeland; control
of erosion on 12,000,000 acres and reforestation of
69,000,000 acres of forest land. Protection against
fire on more than 400,000,000 acres of range and forest
needs to be improved. Accomplishing these programs will
provide more water and recreation facilities."
Summary
We get most of our water supplies from watersheds, and water
management cannot be separated from watershed management. Inte-
grated planning and integrated management are necessary; any use
or development on a watershed may have serious effects on water
produced there. All the desired uses or products of the water-
shed must be considered together with their interactions in
designing management and setting limitations. Occasionally,
the limiting factors are economic, but more and more social
necessity may override economics. To meet long-range social
needs, there is a considerable land improvement program recom-
mended which will greatly aid water quality management. A major
difficulty in solving pollution problems is that the damage done
is generally external to and does not directly involve the source
agent or operation causing the pollution.
Finally, it should be the objective of land management never
to neglect and always to include consideration of impacts on
water resources of any operation on the land. Essential to
reaching this objective then are maintaining optimum conditions
of streamflow and aquatic habitat by guarding against diminution
of the regulatory effects of soil and plant cover on the water-
shed and against adding any polluting material regardless of the
beneficial intent.
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REFERENCES
1. Kneese, A. V., "Water Pollution: Economic Aspects and
Research Needs," Resources for the Future, 1962.
2. Proceedings, Eighth National Watershed Congress, 1961.
3. "Agricultural Land Resources: Capabilities, Uses,
Conservation Needs," U.S.D.A. Agriculture Information
Bulletin 263, May 1962.
4. Proceedings, National Conference on Water Pollution,
December 1960.
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DISCUSSION
Q. Do you think that the current programs which are provided
for small watershed treatment are properly designed to
handle watershed problems effectively?
A. I worked on that program for some five or six years here in
the Northwest and it is my feeling that the operation under
the law, as it is written, does not permit us to do what many
of us feel should be done on the land. It doesn't fit our
conditions. The law was written by Mid-westerners and it
fits their conditions very well, but we are not gaining much
from it in the Northwest.
Q. Is this an area that should be examined carefully in terms
of research projects?
A. Yes, but when these projects go to Congress to determine
priorities, the priorities seem to depend pretty much on
two things: (1) the cost, and (2) the number of people
involved and interested. So far, we do not have the people
pressure developed in the Northwest that they have in the
Mid-west. This is one reason why we do not have a law
which fits our conditions as well as theirs. I doubt if
we can do much about it until we get more intensive devel-
opment out here and more demand for it. The need exists
and should be explored, but I doubt if it will be done in
the near future.
Q. Some time back I recall reading an article on irrigation
practices in Iraq where they collected the underflow from
irrigation and re-used it for irrigation in virtually a
closed system. What would happen if something like that
were practiced here? Would too heavy a chemical load soon
be developed?
A. I think it would in most cases.
Q. What about the loss of fertilizer elements?
A. The losses of fertilizer can be controlled by the timing
and scheduling and by the method of application, as well
as the amount applied, so that what is put on the land
stays there bound up with the soil particles, or is ex-
tracted by the plant roots and does not leach down into
the groundwater or runoff. Sometimes the farmers are
careless in their application and fertilizers leach out
and become excess nutrient in the streams.
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RELATIONSHIP OF WATER QUALITY TO
MULTIPLE-PURPOSE WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Donel J. Lane*
There is a long-established premise in fact and law that the
waters belong to the public and that individuals or other entities
have a right to use, not a right to own. Under this premise there
have developed two entirely different methods of administration
and allocation of water.
Under the riparian doctrine, historically recognized by the
eastern states, individuals have a right to utilize the waters
flowing by lands as long as that use does not substantially di-
minish either the quantity or the quality of the water.
The concept of administration of water in the western states
resulted from necessity. The early pioneers moving west of the
Mississippi, and ultimately into the Pacific Coast states, were
primarily in search of gold and lands to provide food and other
forms of sustenance for their families. They found, upon arrival
in most of the western areas, that water was necessary to extract
the gold; that water was also necessary to raise crops and pro-
vide forage for their livestock. In most cases the water was
physically separated from the minerals or from the land area
desired to be utilized. This necessitated transporting water
from its source to the point of use.
Since water was not in abundant supply at all times of the
year for all users, a system of determination of rights to use
had to be developed. This system is termed the doctrine of
appropriation. Its implementation conformed to the procedures
of the times. In many states claims were posted at points of
diversion of waters similar to the early posting of mining claims.
Later a more formal procedure was developed wherein statements
were filed with the territorial officials and ultimately with
county officials stating that as of a certain date John Jones
used a given quantity of water for a certain purpose at a defined
point.
*Executive Secretary, Oregon State Water Resources Board,
Salem, Oregon.
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In Oregon this procedure was formalized in 1909 when the
state adopted its Surface Water Code and established the office
of State Engineer to administer that code. This 1909 Act states
the previously established premise that all waters from all
sources of supply belong to the public; further, that the water
may be used for beneficial purposes without waste providing
applications are filed with the State Engineer, procedures are
set out for the issuance of permits, and when the water has
actually been put to the use proposed, a certificate is issued.
Procedure was also established for determination of rights to
use water that existed prior to the 1909 Act. This is our ad-
judication proceeding which involves an elaborate form of notice,
hearings, a determination by the State Engineer, and finally a
decree by the circuit court. Similar proceedings are in effect
in most western states.
The system of appropriation defines by statute beneficial
uses and has historically established that first in time is
first in right. In making an application for a right, not
only the point of diversion and the amount must be stated but
also the use. Our applications were in most cases single-
purpose. In the earlier years, beneficial uses of water were
confined to the so-called consumptive beneficial uses including
domestic, municipal, irrigation, manufacturing, and the so-
called nonconsumptive use of power. Several western states
have constitutional or statutory priorities of use.
While the advent of storage developed in the latter part
of the last century, it was only in the last three decades that
significant consideration was given to the multiple-use concept
of water resource development. A major factor in this was the
enactment by Congress of the 1936 Flood Control Act which gave
to the Corps of Engineers the responsibility of developing plans
and constructing major flood control projects and an acceptance
of flood control as a national responsibility. Under the au-
thority of this Act, we had developed, later authorized, and
at the present time have under construction, the Willamette
Basin Project.
Recognition of water quality as a project use is shown in
House Document 531, 81st Congress, 2nd Session, wherein certain
flows of the Willamette River are defined as goals for water
quality purposes although no quantities of storage are allocated
for this purpose even though benefits were assigned. It should
also be pointed out that these waters also provide navigation
benefits. While project waters can be used for water quality
purposes, the importance of this use must not have been considered
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too great inasmuch as no provision was made to insure that the
waters remained in the stream for the purpose for which they
were intended. In a case such as this the waters can be re-
leased from a project for water quality maintenance and yet in
most states that water is subject to appropriation by downstream
users.
The basic water policy of the State of Oregon is that pol-
lution should be treated at its source rather than utilizing
the waters of the state for dilution purposes. For example,
ORS 449.105 states, "No persons shall put any dead animal
carcass or part thereof, excrement, putrid, nauseous, noisome,
deleterious or offensive substance into or in any other manner
befoul, pollute, or impair the quality of any spring, river,
brook, creek, branch, well, irrigation drainage ditch, cistern
or pond of water which is or may be used for domestic purposes
or to which cattle, horses or other kind of domestic stock have
In ORS 449.107, "Persons on land within 100 yards of any
stream, lake, reservoir or pond or channel thereof, and not
having a possessory interest in such land, shall not throw,
discard, or leave trash, rubbish or debris other than in re-
ceptacles provided for the purpose of holding such trash, rub-
bish, or debris."
ORS 449.110 states, "No person, or proprietor, operator,
agent, superintendent or employee of any railroad company,
sawmill or other lumber or manufacturing concern, or any pulp-
mill, woodsaw, tannery, woolen mill, dye works, gravel crush-
ing or washing operation, chemical works, slaughterhouse, or
any manufacturing concern, or any steamboat or any other water
craft shall cast or suffer or permit any sawdust, planer shavings,
wood pulp, or other lumber waste or any element or chemical
extracted therefrom, or any unclarified wash water from gravel
crushing or washing operations, or other substances, which do
or may render the waters of a stream or any other body of water
destructive of fish or aquatic life, or any slashing of trees
or brush, or any oil, coal tar, petroleum or extract therefrom,
or any dye or chemical to be thrown, cast or discharged, in any
manner, or to deposit the same where high water will take or
carry same, into the waters of this state."
ORS 449.115 states, "No person shall put or deposit in any
of the rivers, streams, lakes or waters of Oregon, or any arti-
ficial canal or ditch in which the waters of such rivers, streams,
lakes or waters run, any dead animal carcass or parts thereof,
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manure, sewage, putrid, decaying or deleterious substance, refuse,
waste or polluting matter, or any matter which either by itself or
in connection with any other substance injures fish or corrupts or
impairs the quality of the waters of such rivers, streams or lakes
for domestic or municipal purposes, or place any such substance in
such position that it escapes or is carried into those waters by
the action of the elements or otherwise."
ORS 449.125 states, "No burying ground or cemetery shall be
established on the watershed of any public water supply nearer
than 500 yards of the source of supply."
ORS 449.130 states, "No person, firm, corporation or munici-
pality shall flow or discharge sewage or waste water above the
intake of any drain, brook, creek or river from which a public
drinking water supply is taken, unless it has been passed through
some well known system of sewage purification approved by the
State Board of Health."
ORS 449.134 states, "All schools, hamlets, villages, towns
or industrial settlements which are located on the shed of any
public water supply, not provided with a sewage system, shall
provide and maintain a reasonable system approved by the State
Board of Health for collecting and disposing of all accumulations
of human excrement within their respective jurisdiction or control."
And possibly in the event that the foregoing sections were not
inclusive enough, the Legislature adopted ORS 449.120 which pro-
vides, "No person shall wade or bathe in any irrigation canal,
ditch or flume which supplies water for household purposes, except
for wading done in connection with the operation, maintenance,
construction, distribution or maintenance of water."
If we accept the concept that waters can be used as an alter-
nate for treatment - if we accept the concept that dilution is the
solution better than treatment at the source - if we accept the
concept that the solution to our water quality problems is merely
to put more water into the streams - we are in for trouble. It is
my belief that we should operate on the basis that our waters are
used for pollution abatement by sufferance rather than by design.
This is the firmly established policy of the agency that employs
me, the State Water Resources Board.
The 1955 Act creating the board established the multiple-use
concept of water as state policy. Section 1 of the Act, in part,
states, "A proper utilization and control of the water resources
of this state can be achieved only through a coordinated, integrated
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state water resources policy, through plans and programs for the
development of such water resources and through other activities
designed to encourage, promote and secure the maximum beneficial
use and control of such water resources, all carried out by a
single state agency." Subsection (2) of Section 1 states, "The
Legislative Assembly therefore finds that it is in the interest
of the public welfare that an integrated state water resources
policy be formulated and means provided for its enforcement;
that plans and programs for the development and enlargement of
the water resources of this state may be devised and promoted
and that other activities designed to encourage, promote and
secure the maximum beneficial use and control of such water
resources and development of additional water supplies be car-
ried out by a single state agency which, in carrying out its
functions, shall give proper and adequate consideration to the
multiple aspects of the beneficial use and control of such water
resources with an impartiality of interest except that designed
to best protect and promote the public welfare generally."
A basis for the Act was conflict in use because the Legis-
lature also said, "The economic and general welfare of the people
of this state have been seriously impaired and are in danger of
further impairment by the exercise of some single-purpose power
or influence over the water resources of this state, or portions
thereof by each of a large number of public authorities and by
an equally large number of legislative declarations by statute
of single-purpose policies with regard to such water resources
resulting in friction and duplication of activity among such
public authorities, in confusion as to what is primary and what
is secondary beneficial use or control of such water resources,
and in a consequent failure to utilize and control such water
resources for multiple purposes for the maximum beneficial use
and control possible and necessary."
A factor in creating these conflicts was the quantity
depletions resulting from diversions for beneficial use. My
earlier reference to trouble arising from acceptance of utili-
zation of dilution as a solution to our pollution problems
rather than treatment at the source was based upon my firm
belief that water quality deterioration can have the same ef-
fect on other uses as does a direct diversion from the stream.
From a practical standpoint, lowered water quality can result
in economic and physical prohibition on other users.
Before we accept the assignment of benefits in projects for
water quality purposes and specific assignment of quantities of
storage and releases, we need to develop adequate quality
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criteria. The basis of the benefits assigned in House Document
531, 81st Congress, 2nd Session, was to maintain five parts per
million dissolved oxygen in the Willamette River. This criterion
apparently was aimed at maintaining satisfactory water quality for
fish. Is this the only criterion needed to establish satisfactory
water quality? What about chemical pollutants? We have a national
awareness of the possible effect of insecticides and pesticides on
water quality. We have an increasing problem resulting from the
accelerating use of detergents. Should not these factors be
considered in developing water quality criteria particularly as
related to multiple-purpose projects?
With the ever-increasing demands for water, we are going to
be using our waters many times for as many purposes as possible.
We do not have sufficient water available to permit the first
users to pollute the waters to the detriment of downstream users.
It is our belief that the waters are too valuable for use for
other purposes to be committed to a single use or abatement of
pollution.
Can our waste waters be utilized for other purposes? Or are
we going to be committed to acceptance of water quality as pro-
bably the major consumptive use; consumptive from the standpoint
that the waters utilized for these purposes are not available to
other users?
In this connection I believe that we need to intensify the
research to determine whether the waste waters from municipali-
ties and industries, after satisfactory treatment, can be used
for other purposes. I refer specifically to the studies cur-
rently underway with respect to utilization of waste waters from
municipalities and industrial plants for irrigation purposes. If
this type of use can be developed, it will open the way for major
industrial opportunities in many parts of Oregon where the stream-
flows are inadequate to provide the water needed for existing and
future uses and carry away that portion of the waste which cannot
be effectively treated. The findings of such research may well
minimize or eliminate one of the major conflicts resulting from
utilization of flows for pollution abatement. It is our hope
that this type of conflict can be resolved on the basis of eco-
nomic benefits to all concerned rather than being forced to
choose between economic alternates. The answer to this problem
lies with the technical people. They should be properly funded
and put to work. I believe the state has an obligation to parti-
cipate in this type of research. The state has a firmly established
policy to maintain water quality. The state also has a firmly es-
tablished policy of inviting and urging major water-using industries
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as well as other types of industries to locate here. We should take
the lead in providing feasibility standards to show industry how it
can live profitably with our water quality standards.
The resolution of possible conflicts in multiple-purpose use,
particularly with respect to water quality, can be resolved, I
believe, if planning agencies and those allocating benefits con-
centrate on developing criteria for determination of water quality
requirements commensurate with other beneficial uses of water. In
the State of Oregon, beneficial uses include domestic, municipal,
industrial, irrigation, power development, mining, recreation,
wildlife and fish life purposes.
Standards must be established high enough so that the assign-
ment of water quality benefits does not preclude utilization of
waters for other purposes. We recognize that each water develop-
ment must be studied within the framework of its own particular
problem area, that all needs of the area should be considered not
only for present but future uses including water quality control.
Greater project benefits and greater benefits, of course, to the
nation are achieved when all possible project uses are included.
The basic goal in water resource development that should be kept
in mind is to make water available for as many purposes as possible
commensurate with the needs of the area and it, of course, imposes
an obligation to maintain quality standards commensurate with all
uses. Criteria for water quality benefit allocation should not
be based solely upon the requirements of aquatic life, but rather
this plus the needs of the industrialist, the irrigationist, the
municipality, the recreationist, and the individual domestic user.
The recently authorized Corps of Engineers' project, Rogue River
Basin, provided a basis of attaining major benefits for fisheries.
Studies and evaluations made a part of the report indicate that
the Lost Creek Project, particularly, will be operated to release
major quantities of water (up to 2,000 cubic feet per second) to
increase downstream flows and lower water temperature. While the
benefits are directly assigned to fisheries, the result will be
improved water quality for downstream users.
It may well be that we may be forced into the situation wherein
the waters of certain streams of the nation will have to be set aside
merely for the transportation of pollutants. It is our goal and our
hope that as a general rule this will not be necessary but that
adequate treatment can be provided at the source on both an economic
and physically feasible basis so that waters could be made available
for all the uses.
I cannot in good faith recommend the allocation of water for
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pollution control other than on a temporary or emergency basis.
The need is for continued research and continued development
directed towards methods of determining physical and economic
methods of treatment with the result that water will be allo-
cated for other purposes and that water quality control will
be a by-product of these uses rather than the primary motive.
I am not too concerned with the economic legerdemain neces-
sary to develop a benefit-cost ratio for water quality control
but do recommend that it be on a basis other than alternate cost.
Municipalities install sewerage systems not on the basis of the
benefit-cost ratio but rather on the basis of compliance with
the public policy. This, I think, should be kept in mind in
any allocations or suggested allocations of water for water
quality purposes.
I advocate that the absolute minimum flows acceptable and
utilized for quality control should also meet the needs of re-
creation, wildlife, fish life, navigation, and other purposes.
We do recognize that certain minimum flows are necessary to
maintain satisfactory stream quality because of residual and
uncontrolled pollution. Benefits for this purpose may properly
be a condition of the project. At the same time it is the
position of the State of Oregon that water should not be allo-
cated for pollution abatement in lieu of adequate treatment.
The emphasis should be on treatment rather than dilution.
While I have not seen any final recommendations with res-
pect to allocation to water quality benefits, I have received
preliminary information that arbitrary assignment of six parts
per million of dissolved oxygen has been utilized as a standard.
The basis for this is unknown but it is assumed that it is
adopted because it is on the safe side of five. The five parts
per million in itself is more or less a number picked off a sky
hook. I believe that conflicts presently existing can be re-
solved if we keep concentrating on the primary goal; that of
eliminating the pollution at its source through adequate treat-
ment, rather than accepting as an alternate the utilization of
our water resources as a dilution mechanism.
There are many legal problems involved in solving this
problem. Oregon is one of the very few states, if not the only
one, that recognizes pollution abatement as a beneficial use of
water. However, the authority to allocate water for pollution
abatement is jealously guarded by the State Water Resources Board,
In its basin investigations to date, covering more than one-half
of the geographical area of the state, the board has not seen
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fit to allocate unappropriated water for this purpose. The board
has said in its orders that water rights for industrial and mining
purposes shall be granted only on condition that return flows or
effluents from such uses do not interfere with other beneficial
uses of water. The board's position has been in each of the areas
studied that the water is too valuable for other purposes to be
utilized to dilute pollution in lieu of adequate treatment.
DISCUSSION
COMMENT: There has been an inference or an interpretation by
some people that the amendments to the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act advocate reservoir storage as
a substitute for treatment. Such is not the case.
In fact, the Act is very specific and says: "In the
survey or planning of any reservoir by the Corps of
Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, or any other federal
agency, consideration shall be given to inclusion of
storage for regulation of streamflow for the purpose
of water quality control except that any such storage
or water release shall not be provided as a substitute
for waste treatment or other methods of controlling
wastes at the source." We all know that so far we
cannot treat our wastes 100 per cent and it very well
may be that providing water for dilution is an interim
measure to satisfy present-day needs and will insure
that this water at a later date will be available for
other beneficial uses. There are wastes that are
not subject to treatment -- for instance, the pesti-
cides and insecticides and some of the agricultural
chemicals. It is impossible so far as science knows
today to remove these from the runoff into the stream.
Concentrations of these have been found by our nation-
wide monitoring program to have already reached the
point where they are more than detectable. As far as
we are able to see today, the only way to protect or
restore the quality affected by these chemicals so
that the water can be used for further downstream uses
is by some flow augmentation during the critical flow
period.
Very often this same storage for quality control will
satisfy other beneficial uses. For instance, in the
Rogue River study for the Corps of Engineers, we found
that the requirements for temperature control for the
fisheries will also satisfy all the pollution abatement
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uses. The Public Health Service is fully cognizant that
our final objective is to cleanse the waters by maximum
treatment. That is one of the principal research acti-
vities that the Public Health Service is engaged in at
this time. If enough research is placed in the effort,
eventually answers will develop. However, if we do not
include storage for this purpose in the reservoirs that
are being constructed today, with all we can economically
do to treat the sewage and industrial waste, we still may
have a residual waste from the treatment plant effluents
that will lower the quality of water below that which is
necessary for certain downstream uses.
Q. Isn't it difficult, in the light of present knowledge, to deter-
mine how much water is needed for a project when you are talking
about water needed 100 years hence?
A. If we look into history, we find that in anything we have pro-
vided in the past, the demand has been greater than what we
have supplied. What we provide today in the name of water
quality benefits may be needed badly in the future for many
and maybe more economic water uses.
Q. The statement was made that good stream water was too valuable
to use for diluting pollution. Are there some economic studies
to justify this?
A. In many areas the problem is not economic, but physical. What
other source do you have than the water which is available?
The scarcity places the value. The determination of cost-
benefit ratio is not too significant. I do not know of any
municipality required to put in a sewage treatment plant on
the basis of a BC ratio.
COMMENT: The day will come when we can have all the answers of how
to treat our wastes. From the economic standpoint I have
engaged in two or three studies where we could show that
it was more economical to use the water to replace second-
ary treatment than it was for power, but under the Act
this cannot be recommended because that is not considered
adequate treatment in the eyes of technical people.
COMMENT: Five ppm of oxygen for fish is not a nebulous figure
plucked out of nowhere by someone guessing. This was
an amount that was determined by a fair amount of work
to maintain a healthy population of fish. It is not
the minimum on which fish will survive.
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INTER-AGENCY RELATIONSHIPS
IN WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Roy W. Scheufele*
This discussion deals with the existing organizations and
relationships of those federal, state and other agencies concerned
with the planning, development and management of the water and re-
lated land resources of the Pacific Northwest. It neither extolIs
nor deplores the status quo. Literally, millions of dollars and
thousands of man-hours have been expanded in relatively recent
years in serious and prolonged review and analyses of how the job
might better be done, and voluminous reports and recommendations
on that subject gather dust on the library shelves. They are of
interest apparently chiefly to the student, the researcher, or to
someone looking for the basis of a discussion such as this. Those
interested will find a partial listing of the studies contained in
Committee Print No, 2, 86th Congress, 1st Session, which is a part
of the report of the Select Committee on National Water Resources,
United States Senate.
The original Hoover Commission reported some twenty-three
federal agencies engaged in one or more activities in the field
of water resource planning, development and management. Since
then several agencies have been added, including the Area Re-
development Administration and the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation.
If the few which do not operate in the Pacific Northwest are
eliminated, there are still over twenty. But there are more.
The Columbia Basin Inter-Agency Committee recently made a survey
of its own to identify agencies concerned with water resources
in the states of the Northwest. Of the odd twenty federal agen-
cies I have referred to, twelve had offices in the state of
Oregon, nine in the state of Washington, ten in Idaho, and five
in Montana. Utah, Wyoming and Nevada are, as of the moment at
least, unreported. For details see the Report on Organizations
Responsible for Water Resource Planning in the Columbia Basin
dated January 11, 1961, prepared by the Comprehensive Planning
Subcommittee of the Columbia Basin Inter-Agency Committee. A
hopeful new entity is also just over the horizon - the Columbia
Compact Commission.
*Executive Assistant to the Division Engineer, U. S. Army
Engineer Division, North Pacific, Corps of Engineers, Portland,
Oregon.
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Most of these organizations to which I have referred have been
in existence many years and each has worked hard to carry out its
assigned mission pursuant to its statutory and administrative
directive. There was a time when an agency's action ability and
vision might have been limited by its specific functional assign-
ment, but I think this is not true today since most have expanded
their efforts into multiple-purpose work. Each knows what it does
may have a profound effect upon the work of the others, and attempts
to ascertain that effect and accommodate it. If we reflect upon
what has been accomplished over the years, we can conclude that we
have done quite well under the circumstances.
Throughout this discussion I will use the word "coordination"
quite freely. I find, too frequently, that the word is not always
interpreted to mean the same thing by the "coordinators". We co-
ordinate when we establish an order, or harmonious and reciprocal
relationship, in the things coordinated. But it is a hard fact of
life that too many of us construe the word "coordinate" to mean
"agree" and that, in any effective administration, however closely
coordinated, there must at times be decisions against the interests
of some and for the interests of others. The processes of planning,
development and management require the consideration of alternatives
and frequently a selected choice among interests. I make this point
simply because this fact is the source of the greatest strain upon
organization relationships as they are today, and no matter what
the organizational pattern, these decisions must be made. Such
conflicts are inherent. I don't know how they could be avoided.
Some of the agencies deal with but one facet of the resource --
many with several. With the advent of the concept of multiple-use
or multiple-purpose and basin-wide comprehensive planning and de-
velopment, the need for greater affinity between the agencies con-
cerned became apparent. If an agency was to do its job, coordi-
nation and cooperation was a necessity. This was recognized in a
long series of Congressional and Executive directives. Each
agency with a primary responsibility for any part of the resource
found that such cooperation and coordination enhanced its perform-
ance, and so coordinated. Like confidence, this coordination begot
coordination and cooperation, and the effort snowballed.
Let's look at the interests involved. Paramount and dominant,
of course, is the public interest -- something very hard to define
and more difficult to measure. The resource belongs to the people,
so, after all, what the people want to do with that asset is of great
importance. This fact the planner and the manager must never over-
look. His relationship to the people is the most important of all.
This presents the second problem: Who are the people, and how do
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you determine their wants? Public hearings are one way. There
seems never to be unanimity, or if there is, it is usually fleet-
ing and borne of some major catastrophe. Everyone seems to be
for flood control immediately following a devastating flood.
Each group with an interest -- flood prevention, irrigation,
power generation, recreation, fish, wildlife, or the like --
pushes hard for that interest, and it seems inevitable that a
state or federal program invariably follows. The new emphasis
on recreation and the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation is an example
of that! Immediately there is established an affinity between
the pushers and the agency charged with carrying out the program.
The influence of these groups which are formed to promote an ap-
plication of the resource is great, frequently determining. But
the competition thus generated between groups may augur for the
over-all good, particularly since most have extended their influ-
ence beyond the single purpose for which they were established.
I doubt if there is an administrator here who has not worked at
some time with such associations as the National Reclamation
Association, the National Rivers and Harbors Congress, the
American Public Power Association, to name just a few. Perhaps
organizations such as these are the "people" for practical pur-
poses. We must maintain proper relationship with such groups.
State effort in the water resource field perhaps even more
than the federal seems diffused in a labyrinth of state agencies
each responsible to the public and to its clientele for the work
it does. This problem has caused less concern than the federal
multi-agency approach, perhaps because the state programs are
generally dominated by the much larger, costlier, better financed,
inter-state, federal programs. The states are not happy with this
federal domination and are working together to improve the rela-
tionship of the state to the federal programs. The continuing
struggle to establish a Columbia River Compact Commission is
evidence of this effort. Perhaps regional planning should be
done at the local level by the people themselves; then local
plans to meet local needs would be prepared and fitted into the
regional plans.
Let's enumerate a few of the more dominant uses to which our
water resources are applied and review what agencies are directly
concerned with each. The Corps of Engineers in its planning con-
siders the following water-related functions:
1. Flood control.
2. Irrigation.
3. Drainage.
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4. Water supply including quality.
5. Pollution abatement.
6. Navigation.
7. Recreation.
8. Fish and wildlife.
9. Power generation.
The Bureau of Reclamation lists the foregoing nine and adds a
tenth -- Watershed treatment.
All or a portion of these functions must be considered by every
other agency working in the resource field, and as the Hoover Commis-
sion and our own Inter-Agency Committee pointed out, there are some
20 federal agencies and another 30 to 50 state agencies involved. It
does not follow that each of these agencies named has or shares re-
sponsibility for each of the functions listed, but it does mean that
any agency in its plans for use of the resource for any purpose must
consider its relationship to other purposes to which the resource
might be applied and to the plans made by those other agencies.
A word on the mechanics now in use. I will use the Corps as an
example since I know its work better than that of the other agencies,
although all follow a similar pattern.
At the outset we are bound by and comply with a number of inter-
agency agreements. First, of course, are the coordinating procedures
prescribed by the Federal Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resources
(Firebrick). Then we have special agreements with the Fish and Wild-
life Service under Public Law 732, 79th Congress, known as the Co-
ordinating Act. We have agreements with Interior and the Federal
Power Commission respecting cost allocations and with the Soil Con-
servation Service respecting watershed small dam activities.
Briefly, our coordination runs like this:
We receive a directive to make a study for a specified purpose
or indicated purposes.
When we have funds to proceed we notify all agencies concerned
and ask for an expression of their interest in the study. With those
that respond we immediately establish a liaison which is maintained
until the study is completed. Again I remind you that there are
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many of them, jy Of course, not all have an interest or responsi-
bility in the case of minor investigations but all do to one extent
or another on major basin studies.
In preparing a plan, we determine first our resources, then
our requirements, and formulate a plan. Sounds simple. But in
determining our resources the basic information must be gathered,
computed or compiled by many agencies. Likewise, requirements
for the many uses of the resource may be the aggregate of the
needs established by many agencies and again must be researched,
computed and compiled. In all this process there are endless dif-
ferences of opinion, discrepancies in data and conflict of use
which must be reviewed, analyzed, harmonized or compromised.
Through public hearings we contact local interests and local
organizations.
Upon the initiation of a study we may establish, as indicated,
an essential liaison with thirty or more agencies with varying in-
terests and degrees of responsibility. From each of these we seek
information relating to the resources and the requirements to be
met which fall within the purview of its primary responsibilities.
In providing us this information it in turn may, and usually does,
need data from several other agencies, so the line of liaison may
extend from the Corps to Agency A, and thence to B, C, D.
To illustrate, the Corps may ask the Public Health Service
for water quality and low flow needs in a certain basin. To pro-
vide this information the Health Service must in turn contact a
host of other agencies whose programs are also vitally affected
by water quality as well as quantity -- fishery interests are an
example. In turn some of these interests must consult further
interests and so on, ad infinitum. In the meantime the Corps
will have contacted these same agencies for information related
to other aspects of the program, and the cycle begins again.
j./ Included are Bureau of Public Roads, Coast and Geodetic
Survey, Census Bureau, Weather Bureau, Business Economics and
Area Development, Federal Aviation Agency, Bureau of Reclamation,
Bureau of Sport and Commercial Fisheries, National Park Service,
Bureau of Mines, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Man-
agement, Power Marketing Agencies, U. S. Geological Survey, State
and Territorial Governors, and State Resource Agencies, Department
of Health, Education and Welfare, Department of Labor, FPC, Coast
Guard, International Joint Commission and Atomic Energy Commission.
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Hence the fishery interests may find themselves furnishing one
type of data directly to the Corps and other types to Public
Health for the Corps. We have here a great web of cooperative
effort, with its lines of liaison stretching from the center to
the cooperating agencies which are joined by further concentri-
cal lines of essential liaison.
It would appear to the uninformed that we have a hopelessly
complicated and confused situation. Actually and in practice,
this is not so. While many of the agencies do have duplicating
and overlapping authority, few have duplicating or overlapping
programs, and on their own initiative they gather together to
coordinate their programs and their budgets and do quite a good
job of working for each other, thus eliminating wasted effort.
It is surprising what can be accomplished in this direction by
an around-the-table conference of representatives of interested
agencies. Of course, the advent of each new agency or bureau,
or the delegation of new responsibilities to an existing agency,
either at the state or federal level, increases the problem of
coordination perhaps in geometric proportions. It is a fact of
life that we add, but seldom subtract, an agency.
Planning, development, management of our water resources
is now done almost wholly on a regional or basin-wide basis fol-
lowing the multiple-use or multiple-purpose concepts. Almost
all of the federal agencies, and one or more of the states with
the state agencies, are involved in varying degrees. The very
nature of the problem has forced the abandonment of the uni-
lateral or single-agency, single-state approach.
The earlier struggles to bring the responsible groups to-
gether led to the establishment of Inter-Agency Committees at
the Washington level. These committees included in their member-
ship the principal federal water resource agencies and sought to
establish procedures to coordinate the work of those agencies.
Their accomplishments, at that level, have been significant, but
by no means have they solved all the problems confronting the
planning and development agencies. In furtherance of their goals
they established a number of field Inter-Agency Committees -- one
in this region, the Columbia Basin Inter-Agency Committee. You
are familiar with its membership, its mission, its performance.
I have been associated rather intimately with the Committee since
1946 and have perhaps been its chief critic as well as its best
friend. We have not over the years been outstandingly successful
in improving its over-all performance, although its accomplish-
ments, considering its make-up and operating limitations, have
been most worthwhile.
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Federal and state agencies maintain a cooperative relationship
not only with respect to planning and development, but also in oper-
ation and management of their resources. We make great effort to
accommodate one another and to manage or operate related facilities
to obtain optimum benefits. The Columbia River Power System is an
excellent example of this. Another example is the operation of the
many reservoirs in the interest of flood control.
Coordination and cooperation begins at the agency level. Har-
monious relationships at that level have solved most of the problems
which arise from day to day. Each, to some degree, must depend upon
the other and none can go very far alone. Thus, over the years we
have developed a team relationship where each member has his part
to play but respects the part of every other and works for the over-
all good of the team, or common objectives. Of course, some occa-
sionally make a grandstand play, but his teammates pull him back in
line. Then we have also the somewhat inconsistent statutory re-
quirements governing different team members which also complicates
the play.
While I have referred largely to the agencies operating at the
state and federal level, there is a most important segment of ef-
fort that accumulatively plays a significant role. I refer to those
local, largely single-purpose quasi-governmental legal entities
organized pursuant to state law for the purpose of dealing usually
with a local problem or single resource. These include the drain-
age, flood control, water, utility or soil conservation districts
so active in the Pacific Northwest. They have a Board of Directors,
usually a general manager, sometimes a staff, the authority to tax,
administer, construct, operate and maintain the facilities essential
in achieving their objectives. They operate independently, gen-
erally with a modicum of state or federal supervision, usually,
however, within a broad framework of federal or state laws, and
federal or state programs. In modern times they have grown quite
dependent upon state or federal leadership and, in many cases,
funds. They constitute a significant portion of the clientele of
the federal development agencies and enjoy intimate relationship
with the agency whose functions include those from which they
benefit. These groups can become quite competitive with tradi-
tional agencies, and at times with each other.
I have not overlooked private enterprise in this discussion
of organizational relationships. They, too, play a major and
perhaps the primary role in the development and management of the
water and related land resources. Examples of this are the large
wood products industries which operate on a sustained yield basis
and exercise the same thought and care in the preservation and
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management of their resources as the most advanced governmental
body. Many of our corporations engaged in the development and
operation of hydroelectric power facilities have broadened their
concepts to include multi-use and exploit the recreation oppor-
tunities provided by their reservoirs and go to great effort and
expense to preserve and even enhance the fish and wildlife as-
pects of their works. Motivation has come from several sources,
not the least of which has been an informed public opinion.
I mentioned the Columbia River Compact, signed by the Com-
missioners only recently, which will be presented to the State
Legislatures early next year for ratification. As I construe
the terms of the compact, it will not be an operating or action
agency, but will limit itself largely to review and recommendation
with respect to the programs of the operating agencies, both state
and federal. It will have authority to plan and may do so if it
is the will of the Commission and the budgets permit the necessary
staff. Just what the relationship of the Compact Commission, if
it comes into being, will be to the resource planning and manage-
ment agencies is not clear to me at the moment. It would appear
to provide a vehicle of the states' own creation wherein they may
gather to speak with a common voice at the conference table. It
should tend to encourage interstate coordination and cooperation,
and may provide a means for facilitating federal-state effort.
But it does add one more agency to the many now operating in the
field of water resource work, and I remind you that there are
those who believe we need fewer, not more.
So this is the spectrum of the water-oriented agencies. At
one end are the people -- whether on the short or long end is
sometimes argued. Then we have the "local interests", the organ-
ized and unorganized groups sponsoring some specific water use or
application. Follows then the state and its agencies, and finally
the federal government, and its agencies.
I have not elaborated on any of the relationships mentioned.
This is a symposium. I know that most of you have a much more
profound knowledge of this subject than I, and I hope that in the
discussion which follows, you will elaborate, emphasize and fill
in where necessary.
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DISCUSSION
Q. It seems to me that you have described the status quo in the way
in which the regional organizations are working. You also said
that there were a great many fine studies on library shelves
gathering dust. This is a research symposium the purpose of
which is to point out areas where research is needed. Everyone
has been saying that we need more research on organizations to
do the job better. I wonder if you wish to make some comments
on what you think the research needs in this area of organi-
zation might be.
A. We do not need any more studies to determine the organizational
pattern that should be followed. I think the studies have been
studied. Now perhaps we should research on how to implement
the studies. The best brains that were obtainable and vast
amounts of money and time have been expended. Every con-
ceivable possible theory of organization has been put to the
people. You know what advance we have made, if you want to
call it "advance." This has been written up time and time
again until you don't know where to begin or where to end.
Frankly, I do not believe we need any more research to find
the best organization to do the job, but need to take the tools
we have and move ahead. It is no longer academic - we have the
facts we need.
Q. One of our speakers mentioned that we should never underestimate
the ignorance of the public. You make a statement in reference
to the well-informed public as far as decisions are concerned
with water resource development.
A. Who is the public? Generally, for the administrator, the
people who are here are the public. You were interested
enough to come in and listen and you are the only public I
know.
Q. The Columbia Basin Inter-Agency Committee is strictly a co-
operative planning group and, therefore, it has no power to
create any master plan like, for instance, the Texas Commission
that recently created a very comprehensive plan for the entire
state of Texas. Isn't there some way we can add a little more
force to the planning in the Inter-Agency Committee?
A. What you are saying is that the Inter-Agency Committee has no
statutory basis. It exists by virtue of an executive order
of the President, so has a legal basis. It is not an
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administrative body. It has no money and no staff. Therefore,
it has no authority to prepare a plan. You can't prepare a
plan in a vacuum. If the Committee had the wherewithal to do
it, there would be nothing illegal about it. The Texas Com-
mission had a staff that spent its time taking the plans of the
constituent agencies - state and federal - and putting together
a master plan. There is no reason why the CBIAC couldn't do
that if it had the wherewithal.
COMMENT: This might be a good place for those who are not familiar
with it to mention the Murray-Metcalf administration bill
for water resources planning. This bill would provide a
statutory river basin commission with the authority to
plan and review. It would go above the voluntary CBIAC
and the temporary Study Commissions such as those of
Texas and the Southeast, into a more permanent planning
and development control organization with top leader-
ship at the executive level and with statutory recog-
nition.
COMMENT: Throughout this meeting we have not discussed the need
for institutional changes. We have considered water
quality management policies and decisions in light of
existing agencies. As was so emphatically pointed out,
no new research in organizational change is needed. I
think this is a great understatement and misconception.
Institutional organization should be considered as a
variable in water quality management or newer concepts
in economic and technological research will be of
limited use.
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COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING FOR WATER QUALITY CONTROL
Reginald C. Price*
It is a pleasure to join in this Symposium on the social and
economic aspects of water-resource quality control. It is a broad
and timely subject. In California we have endeavored to face up
to the immediate and future needs for recognition of water quality
as an essential element of development of the water resources of
our State.
During many years of participation in water resources activity,
I have observed here and abroad what happens when water quality is
permitted to deteriorate to the point where impairment of water use
results. Yet we can take hope in man's ingenuity and capacity to
live together in cities without turning them into dunghills. For
in Pakistan near Hyderabad, I have seen the ancient city of Mohenjo-
daro, 5,000 years old, which boasted a water-borne sewer system to
remove its wastes. We should be able by this time to do better than
we do.
Yet President John F. Kennedy has called our situation "a
national disgrace." In his message on natural resources, he told
Congress, "Pollution of our country's rivers and stream? has reached
alarming proportions."
In my remarks today I shall bring out the contribution that
comprehensive planning for water quality control can and must make
to the realization of water qualities that are adequate to their
uses. Here in the Pacific Northwest water appears in greater
abundance than in California where we need to stretch scanty water
resources to the maximum. But in both areas the solution of the
water problem calls for men of vision who recognize that it is not
enough to have water that is wet, not enough to have water suf-
ficient in quantity, but that the demands of water quality as well
must be met.
Such planning for water quality takes place within the scope
of water quality management. For convenience, I define Water
Quality Management, to depart slightly from the Kerr Committee
terminology, as "the program within a particular geographic area
*Deputy Director, California Department of Water Resources,
Sacramento, California
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by which a recognized body actively facilitates the provision of
the right quality of water in the right quantities for the purposes
to be served at the points where needed at the time when required."
While I have used the word "area," you may substitute "basin,"
"state," or "region," or even "nation" for that matter.
The realization of such a program depends first on the determi-
nation of the kinds of water uses anticipated, the places of such
uses, and the times.
Contemplating such determinations immediately plunges us into
comprehensive planning. I have mused a bit over that term "compre-
hensive planning," but our projection here is comprehensive any way
you slice it, geographically, functionally, or organizationally.
Involved in such a planning activity are the agencies concerned with
water pollution control, water development, public health, fish and
game, domestic water supply, population growth studies, industrial
development, recreation, waste disposal, power production, irri-
gation, and others. All must pool their skills and talents to
arrive at the important answer to the key question in water quality
management -- and I repeat for emphasis: What kind of water uses
will develop, where and when? To add to the problem, the agencies
involved may be federal, state, local, and private -- each must be
involved, however, because each has a contribution to make to a
successfully operating plan and program.
Once the place, time, and nature of water needs have been
determined, the next step is to determine the source of water
supply to meet the needs and the route by which the water is to
arrive at its destination. These factors establish the basis
upon which to build a water quality management program. The
nature of the use tells us what water quality must be provided
at the point of delivery. The identification and location of
the source of water indicates the original quality of the water
to be delivered, and that must be related to the route of convey-
ance to determine the existing and potential uses and the existing
and potential sources of water quality degradation along the route.
I realize that I cannot hoodwink you. While I have tele-
scoped this process for the purposes of this discussion, in fact
it may be a long, tedious, complicated and exacting undertaking.
Comprehensive planning of water quality is not a simple thing,
particularly when it must be delicately adjusted within the
context of several uses.
In California we are fortunate in having already developed
a basis for marshalling the interdepartmental forces and the
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skills requisite to the forecasting of water use. Following more
than 10 years of study of the State's water resources, problems
and needs, a general plan for comprehensive water development
throughout the State was prepared. This investigation was con-
ceived as a fundamental, comprehensive survey, designed to serve
as a basis for a logical and orderly pattern of development.
The first phase consisted of an inventory of the basic water
resources of the State; the second phase dealt with present and
ultimate requirements for water.
These two investigations formed the basis for the development
of the California Water Plan, the final phase, which is a master
plan to guide and coordinate the planning and construction by all
agencies of works required for the control, conservation, and
distribution of California's water resources for the benefit of
all areas in the State and for all beneficial uses. It is en-
visioned that all interests, including local, state, federal, and
private, will participate and share in this task. The plan con-
templates that each will build those units that fit into its
program and warrant its participation.
In the summary on the water quality section, the California
Water Plan states that "... unless the quality of the State's
water resources is maintained at proper levels, full satisfaction
of California's ultimate water requirements will not be possible."
Fortunately, as early as in 1951, through the coordinated
efforts of the State Departments of Water Resources, Fish and
Game, Public Health, and the State and Regional Water Pollution
Control Boards, the State of California had initiated a statewide
surface water quality monitoring program, subsequently supplemented
by a ground water monitoring program, to record water quality
information on a continuing long-range basis in anticipation of
the time when full development of all our water resources will be
required. Such data will blend into the developing State Water
Plan, for such a plan is never final.
One segment of the California Water Plan is the State Water
Project. This is being constructed by the State itself through
its Department of Water Resources. We are in the midst of an
exciting 11-year construction schedule. We expect to begin to
deliver water in southern California from northern California,
750 miles north to south, by 1972.
The significance of water quality in the State Water Project
is brought into sharp focus in the contract executed between the
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State, acting through the Department of Water Resources, and the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, for the sale
of water from the State Water Project. It declares that it is
the objective of the State to provide water of high quality. It
outlines water quality in unmistakable terms of actual water
composition.
This feature of the contract represents an historic expres-
sion of state policy. It is a formal declaration that water
quality is an essential factor in water supply. It defines toler-
able degradation in source waters, and thus limits the extent to
which these waters can be used for waste disposal. It obligates
the State to exercise reasonable precautions and establish adequate
controls toward achievement of these high water quality objectives.
These goals are based on planned water quality in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which is the focal point for pool-
ing and transfer of surplus northern California waters to water-
deficient areas of the State. In formulating these objectives,
the basically conflicting considerations of clean water and
waste disposal are resolved in a manner to attain high water
quality and yet not impede economic development of the tributary
watersheds.
Under State Water Project, temperature is another aspect of
water quality. In order to provide more effective control of the
temperature of water released from Oroville Reservoir in the
interest of fish and rice production, a multilevel control work
has replaced the earlier-planned single-level outlet. I recall
that the Governor of Iwote Prefecture in Japan, kneeling across
the table from me, remarked pertinently that for every degree
warmer the water could be taken from their reservoir in the
Kitakami Basin, they could increase the irrigated rice yield by
five percent. Fish, agriculture, water quality frequent
bedfellows.
Having talked in broad terms to this point, we now begin
to put some flesh on the bones of comprehensive planning.
Planning the Program - Quality Criteria for Water Use
From a water quality standpoint, the need to know the nature
of each anticipated water use is dictated by the need to determine
the water quality criteria necessary economically to support that
use. In this sense, a water quality criterion is a standard for
judging the adequacy of water quality for a particular use.
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The establishment of water quality criteria is, as many of
you know, sometimes a frustrating field of activity because of
the uncertainty of the effect of water quality on certain water
uses. It is particularly in the field of public health that
water quality criteria have received some degree of acceptability.
This acceptability is due in large measure to the professional
competency, the prestige, and reputation of the United States
Public Health Service which formulated the original and has con-
tinued the custodianship of the drinking water standards. As you
know, the U. S. Public Health Service, in developing the drinking
water standards, had in mind a guide to the quality of water used
by travelers on interstate carriers. The standards, therefore,
apply to the quality of water delivered to consumers, or the
finished water. This point is sometimes lost sight of in using
the drinking water standards generally as water quality objectives
in water resources development.
I recall the tale from the Peshawar bazaar in Pakistan con-
cerning the young Greek Alexander who came jangling out of the
west, seeking the foundation of eternity. He found the spring
of eternal youth and was about to drink when a pitiful being
crawled before him, croaking: "Do not drink this water, king,
or you will become like me - 5,000 years old and able neither
to live nor to die." It is possible to set a standard too high,
as did Alexander, and Ponce de Leon in our own country. As Abel
Wolman observed many years ago, it is necessary to balance the
B.O.D. against the C.O.D., the benefits of B.O.D. reduction
against the economic costs.
The acceptance of general industrial water quality criteria
is hampered by the tremendous variability in industrial water
use, and the wide range in the quality necessary to these various
uses. For example, reclaimed sewage may be satisfactory for some
industrial cooling purposes; when, however, product contamination
is a factor, nothing less than a biologically safe water, at least
equal to drinking water in quality, is necessary.
General water quality criteria for agriculture have been
even more uncertain because of the need to consider at least the
irrigated crop, soil condition, irrigation practice and drainage.
Another factor of importance in irrigation water quality is that
the concentration of salts is directly related to the leaching
requirement necessary to remove from the root zone the salts
deposited as a result of transpiration and evaporation. An
increase in the salt concentration of an irrigation supply results
in an increased requirement for leaching water to maintain pro-
ductivity. Thus concentration of salts in irrigation water is
almost directly reflected in economic cost.
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When water uses include recreation, such as swimming, skin
diving, boating, we are faced with an area of water quality
affected, to considerable extent, by the intangibles associated
with the aesthetics of water use.
The consideration of water quality criteria must be applied
not only to the end-of-the-line water uses but also to those uses
which may exist or be anticipated along the water route. If the
conveyance route is a natural channel, these uses might be, for
example, domestic water supply, recreation, fish propagation, or
navigation.
Water Quality Degradation
As the next step in our development of a water quality
management program, it is necessary to locate, identify, and
evaluate sources of degradation, existing and potential. If a
waste discharge of agricultural drainage is involved, we need
to know about waste disposal practice, volume of waste, quality
of wastes, discharge schedules, benefit to community, costs and
economics of waste disposal location, nature of waste, and neces-
sary degree of treatment. If the source of degradation has
natural origins as indicated by sea-water intrusion, seepage
and drainage, the mechanism and effects of the degradation must
be studied and understood.
Objectives for Water Quality Management
With the cataloging of the criteria necessary to support
particular existing and potential water uses and the sources of
existing and potential sources of degradation, we move to the
important step of defining the water quality objectives. A water
quality objective I define as a statement of intent to maintain
a specific level of water quality at certain key points in a
stream system. The objectives are established with due regard
to such factors as the following: economics of water use and
waste treatment, water quality criteria selected for downstream
water use, technological capability for treating wastes, land
and water use planning along stream in question and streamflow
regimen. These objectives are developed by integrating the
various criteria necessary to support those various existing
and potential uses which do or may occur along the conveyance
route below key points in the stream system. The process of
establishing objectives must at this point in the development
of a water quality management program be a cut-and-try system
of balancing the many factors which go to make up the objectives.
A discussion of these factors to be considered in preparing the
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objectives could well form a basis for a text and the time
allotted here permits only brief treatment.
1 will advance, however, as tentative suggestions, a few
basic ideas which are still in process of development in my own
State. These ideas are not officially sanctioned and will no
doubt be well scrambled before possible final acceptance as a
basis for a concrete program, but you may find them of interest:
1. Water quality objectives should not unduly restrict
development in the upper stream system to provide for downstream
water use, but rather should provide for reasonable future develop-
ment and use and factors of safety.
2. Objectives should be those necessary to support a fully
developed program. However, it may be permissible to allow
temporary deviation from the objectives in the event that certain
uses will not develop until a later time.
3. Waste dischargers do not acquire a right to pollute.
4. The objectives should recognize that waste discharge to
a stream is a beneficial use only so long as the other uses of
the stream are not unreasonably affected.
5. The objectives should recognize that, in the public
interest, waste discharges should not cause pollution, health
hazard, unsightliness, or odor nuisance.
6. The objectives must be coordinated with all agencies
having an interest in water use, including pollution control,
fish and game, recreation, health agencies, and others having
responsibilities in the surveillance of water quality or plan-
ning for the use of affected resources.
7. Public hearings should be held to subject the objec-
tives to public opinion prior to final adoption.
Water Quality Management
After the basic factors of use and water quality criteria
have been evaluated and the objectives established, we can
develop the action phase of the water quality management program.
The action requires bringing the existing and anticipated future
quality in the stream system into consistency with the water
quality objectives. If the objectives have been properly coordi-
nated so as to reflect the interests of other agencies, the action
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step becomes simpler. When the existing or anticipated stream
quality will not meet the objectives because of waste discharges,
the pollution control agencies have a responsibility. The pol-
lution agencies should translate the over-all objective into
waste discharge requirements for each discharge together with a
schedule for accomplishing compliance. A waste monitoring program
is needed to assure that waste discharges meet requirements.
Where the water quality will not meet objectives and the
failure to do so cannot be attributed to waste discharges, an
effort to maintain higher minimum diluting flows may be necessary.
The solution may lie in including in an existing or proposed
project a storage reservation for sufficient water to provide
quality control. You will recall that Public Law 87-88th
Congress made storage for quality control a paying partner of
federal water projects. A reservation may be necessary to
control the effects of those residual wastes discharged from
treatment plants, for which dilution or disposal outside the
stream system constitute the only feasible solution.
Or a master sewer or drain might be constructed to collect
wastes and drainage normally discharging to a stream for transport
to a site where discharge would not cause a quality problem.
Organizational and Financial Requirement for Solving Water
Quality Problems
Realization of a sound program of water quality management
will depend to a great degree on implementation through proper
organizational structure and methods of financing. Some random
ideas may throw some light, as follows:
1. The agency best charged with the responsibility for
water quality management is one which can effectively coordinate
the efforts of the resources, health and pollution control
agencies.
2. Governmental districts, if pertinent, should be organized
to provide broad base solutions to water quality problems. These
districts are desirable because fewer over-all waste disposal and
collection systems are preferable to more numerous smaller dis-
charges; the larger system provides a more substantial tax base
for financing greater economy and greater financial flexibility.
3. Where the benefits of release of water or other remedial
measure for quality control can definitely be assigned to one or
more dischargers, these dischargers should share the costs.
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4. The funds to finance waste disposal should be obtained
in either or both of two ways:
(a) By a direct charge on waste discharger to reflect
direct benefit supplemented by
(b) Tax revenue on an ad valorem basis in order to
reflect secondary and other benefits.
5. Benefits for water quality control should be evaluated
in dollar terms to the extent practicable. A suggestive list of
such benefits is attached at the back of these remarks. It is
intended to serve only as a rough guide to the identification of
the benefits, with full recognition that the more difficult step
is their conversion to a monetary basis.
Research
A well operating water quality management program must have
as an integral part a properly conducted research program geared
to provide the solutions to water quality management problems.
It is essential that these problems be anticipated ahead of time
to ensure that solutions are ready when they are needed.
Considerable research, much of which is not going on, is
needed, of course, in the field of waste treatment to remove
problem waste constituents such as insecticides and pesticides,
etc. In addition, research is needed in the field of instru-
mentation for continuous water quality monitoring, in the use
of bioassay techniques for waste evaluation, in the quality
aspects of water-associated recreation and in the determination
of long-range effects of the newer organic molecules discharged
to our streams as a requisite for more adequate quality criteria.
As a further contribution in this field of water quality,
the California State Water Pollution Control Board, in collabo-
ration with the U. S. Public Health Service, is sponsoring the
publication of the second edition of "Water Quality Criteria."
This newest volume,which brings up to date the first edition,
will be ready for distribution shortly.
In addition to research into the purely technical aspects
of water quality, however, there is a critical need for study
of the economic aspects - particularly into methods for converting
economic benefits, after they have been identified, into dollar
values. This information is necessary in order that a definite
dollar figure can be attached to the benefit of having a water
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whose hardness or solids concentration, for example, is less than
that of an alternate source. With such data, projects having
water quality management features can be more adequately evaluated.
Conclusions
Our scenic tour of the considerations involved in the compre-
hensive planning of water quality control has encompassed a number
of vista points. We have identified the relationship between the
projected water uses, the sources of supply and the means of con-
veyance from source to use. After setting out the criteria for
particular uses and reflecting on sources of degradation, we have
pursued a grand integration of the various criteria in formulating
broad objectives for water quality. Then by comparing standards
of available water with objectives, one can determine any necessary
measures to upgrade the water to facilitate the meeting of objec-
tives .
In order to press forward toward the drawing of adequate plans
for water quality, whether state or regional or basin, two points
stand out:
1. Water quality management is an integral element of
broader-scale water resources management.
2. In the comprehensive planning for water quality, the
administering agency needs to realize full coordination with those
involved in furthering the various uses of water for fish, for
agriculture, for municipal purposes and for all pertinent uses to
be served.
California pushes forward vigorously toward the incorpora-
tion of a water quality in its State Water Plan. I am confident
that the entire Pacific Coast area will find the rewards of water
quality adequate to justify the effort of securing it.
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WATER QUALITY CONTROL BENEFITS
Municipal Use
1. Reduction in cost of softening when hardness is a factor.
2. Reduction in appliance damage.
3. Reduction of damage to clothing in laundering.
4. Reduction in costs of treating water.
5. Reduction in loss due to corrosiveness or aggressiveness
of water.
6. Reduction in soap and detergent use.
7. More intensive use of land at outfall vicinity and
increment in land value.
Industrial Use
1. Reduction in treatment costs.
2. Reduction in loss due to corrosiveness of water.
Agricultural Use
1. Reduction in costs of leaching water.
2. Increase in crop yield due to absence of toxic constituents,
Public Health
1. Reduction of incidence of water-borne disease.
2. Minimizing taste and odor effects.
Recreation Use
1. Increase in recreation with more attractive recreational
area.
Fish and Wildlife
1. Increase in value of fisheries and recreation due to
fish enhancement.
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DISCUSSION OF PAPER PRESENTED BY REGINALD PRICE
W. W. Towne*
Mr. Price's paper emphasizes the importance of including water
quality management as an integral part in any total water resources
development program. The California experience also demonstrates
how a state through its various departments and agencies having
water-oriented interests can exert a leading role in developing a
master plan for the maximum utilization of the state's water
resources. As is further emphasized, however, regardless of who
takes the lead, the desirable endpoint can only be reached through
a cooperative effort between state, local, and federal agencies.
The California Water Plan is a history-making undertaking and
I am sure that all of us in the planning fields will profit im-
mensely by the pioneering work done by the State of California.
This and other papers and discussions here at this Symposium
have been of particular interest and value to this discusser
because as some of you know the Public Health Service is engaged
in a study designed to develop a comprehensive plan for the water
supply, pollution control, and water quality management aspects
of water resources development in the Columbia River Basin. Also,
because of the close economic and resources interrelationship of
the Oregon and Washington coastal areas with those of the Columbia
Basin, these areas are also included in the study.
An introductory report describing our objectives, scope, and
purpose of the study project was published some eighteen months
ago and is available upon request. This study is being conducted
in compliance with the directives of Congress as stated in the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Section II, which directs
the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to prepare or
develop comprehensive programs for eliminating or reducing the
pollution of inter-state waters and tributaries thereof in co-
operation with other federal agencies, the state water pollution
control agencies, and inter-state agencies, and with the munici-
palities and industries involved. The Act further states that in
the development of such comprehensive programs, due regard shall
*Director, Columbia River Basin Project, Water Supply and
Pollution Control Program, Pacific Northwest, Public Health Service,
Portland, Oregon.
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be given to the improvements which are necessary to conserve such
waters for public water supplies; propagation of fish and aquatic
life and wildlife; recreational purposes; and agricultural, indus-
trial, and other legitimate uses.
From the above, it is apparent that Congress also recognizes
the importance of a cooperative effort in developing plans for the
development of our natural resources.
One of the principal objectives of our study is to develop
essential data and information on water supply and water quality
aspects to serve as a guide to the public in arriving at the poli-
tical and legislative decisions necessary to control the orderly
development of land and water resources of the region. We are
fully cognizant that state and local governmental agencies have
the primary responsibilities to prevent and control water pollution
within their borders and through their legislative authority are
in a position to greatly influence many factors which will affect
water quality.
We in the Public Health Service have been guided signifi-
cantly by the water quality objectives established by the North-
west Pollution Control Council, an organization of state regu-
latory pollution control agencies in the Pacific Northwest.
Quoting from the publication "Water Quality Objectives of the
Pollution Control Council": "The Pacific Northwest is at present
in an enviable position as regards its natural resources and
potential development when compared with many other areas of this
country. This is especially true of the natural waters which are
admittedly one of the area's greatest assets. Water is so defi-
nitely tied in with the health, welfare, and pleasure of citizens
and with the whole economic structure of the area as to make high
water objectives not only desirable, but imperative."
This, then, serves as a guiding principal to our study and
reflects the public opinion of the area. We believe that the
area is also in a stage of its development that it can profit by
the experience of others.
In the past, resource planning and control has all too often
followed serious depletion or despoiling of that resource. Here,
water quality is still generally very good with vast quantities
of relatively unpolluted water available.
In general, the Columbia River Basin is at the point where
preventive measures can insure continued good water quality and
maximum utilization and development of the land and water resources,
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We think, for instance, that it would be penny-wise and pound-
foolish to establish water quality objectives which would barely
satisfy the needs of the various water uses.
In this area high water quality such standards would
not be standards of quality but would become standards of degra-
dation inviting all water users to return their used water with
the very minimum of treatment.
As Mr. Price has pointed out and as was stated at the National
Conference on Water Pollution, 1960, users of water do not have an
inherent right to pollute and have the responsibility for returning
the used water as nearly clean as is technically possible. We
realize that as our water resources become more completely utilized,
conflicts in water use will develop. The adjudication of these
conflicts can only be made by considering all water uses and their
effect upon quality.
Unfortunately, every water use exerts some water quality degra-
dation and it is in these areas of adjudication that social and
economic factors will need to be clearly defined.
Broadly speaking, in our study we are attempting to provide a
technical evaluation of the following factors:
1. Quantity and quality of water required to develop the
land and water resources of the basin.
2. Effects of economic and industrial development upon the
several water uses in the basin, both quality and quantity wise.
3. Availability of both underground and surface waters in
the basin and the possibility of adding to the total water resource.
4. Conflicts among water uses and means of adjudication.
5. Alternative conditions resulting from the establishment
of priorities in water use in the event that conflicts develop
which cannot be resolved to permit full use for all purposes.
6. Research needs.
A plan based upon the above factors is essential, we believe,
to guide the public in arriving at the political and the legis-
lative decisions that will be necessary to control the orderly
development of the land and water resources in the best interests
of the public. These evaluations will also serve as guides to
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state, local, and federal governmental agencies in carrying out
their responsibilities; and, furthermore, they will serve as a
basis for developing the most logical plan for implementing a
really comprehensive water quality management program.
We are now in our second year of study, and it is antici-
pated that with proper budgetary support, the study will terminate
in approximately three more years.
Plans, of course, are of little value unless they are put
into operation. Therefore, plans for managing water quality of
the basin should set forth ways and means of accomplishing the
objectives, including the social and economic effects which may
take place as a result of alternative approaches. It is in this
area of social and economic research associated with program
implementation that I think this group can render its greatest
service.
In closing, I would like to discuss briefly one additional
facet of our studies. As Mr. Price indicated, the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act was amended in 1961 requiring that consid-
eration be given to the inclusion of storage for the regulation
of stream flow for the purpose of water quality control in
federally constructed reservoirs, except that any such storage
and water releases shall not be provided as a substitute for
adequate treatment or other methods of controlling waste at the
source.
Unfortunately, some people have interpreted the Act to infer
that reservoir storage could become a substitute for sewage treat-
ment. Such is not the case.
It is a well-known fact that the art of sewage and waste
treatment has not progressed to the point that we can remove 100
per cent of the polluting substances. Furthermore, certain uses
of water deteriorate water quality in a way which is not amenable
to waste treatment. Therefore, in order to reduce the concen-
tration of the residual waste from treatment plant effluents as
well as those wastes from numerous other water uses which are not
amenable to treatment, increases in minimum stream flows will be
required if water quality essential for downstream uses is to be
maintained.
Furthermore, with the rapid expansion of industrial activity
and increasing variety of industrial processes, we are constantly
confronted with new waste treatment problems, the solution of
which requires time, effort, and money.
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Dilution of such wastes below objectionable limits during
critical stream flow periods can serve two purposes. First, the
immediate purpose of maintaining necessary water quality for down-
stream uses. And secondly, and probably more important, the
availability of this stored water (both quantity and quality
wise) for expanding other uses.
As was stated here yesterday, consideration must not only
be given to supplying water for essential water uses but equal
consideration must be given to the treatment and disposal of
used water. In many locations in this country, the limitation
of a multiple-purpose reservoir development has frequently rested
more upon the capabilities of handling the used water than how
much water could be developed for the initial use.
It becomes apparent, therefore, that planning for water
quality control must constitute an integral part of any water
and land resources development program and encompasses much
more than the technical problems of waste treatment. As our
water resources become more fully utilized here in the Pacific
Northwest, these facts will become increasingly significant.
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DISCUSSION
Q. The California Water Plan project has been clearly presented as
a wholesale water supply measure. There are two other levels,
obviously, the distribution at the retail level and the level
of final utilization. What is the state doing about these two
lower levels?
A. We are cognizant, of course, of the close relationship between
these three levels of use. However, the state water project is
concerned with the quality of water that will flow down the
Sacramento, be picked up in the delta, and pumped at several
points, and then flow through the California aqueduct to the
south. We will be selling this water on a wholesale basis at
several points to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District
and to several other customers along the way. Our contracts
have been set in terms of the objectives of water quality with
respect to that which we may be able to deliver water to our
wholesale customers. These standards are high. They are in
effect comparable to the standards associated with water for
direct consumption so that while our primary interest is in
these standards as they may be associated with our customers,
the effect is to represent a recognition of the standards
which are applicable with respect to these other levels.
Q. What research is being done in connection with the California
Water Plan especially as concerns the social and economic
aspects?
A. In the first place, the Department of Water Resources is not
primarily a research agency. The Legislature of California
has indicated that it is not a research agency. We stimulate
the University of California at Berkeley and other univer-
sities to carry out such research.
COMMENT: It is true that the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers
are completely within the State of California. However,
it seems that the concept of the state water plan
embracing both water quality and water quantity is one
that can be projected more widely and that states could
be in a position to take up this concept, even recog-
nizing that several states may be involved in connection
with a particular river. There is a financial consid-
eration and California is very fortunate in having oil
wells just off the coast which has helped the state get
started on its water project. The reference to the way
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in which the water quality standards would need in the
end to be implemented is pertinent because the Public
Health Service would be in a position to carry out re-
search and studies and make certain recommendations,
but in the end it must fall upon the state to implement
them.
Q. In reference to the contract between the State Water Resources
Department and the Metropolitan Water District in southern
California, it was stated that the water quality in unmistakable
terms was written into the contract. Do you remember some of
these criteria more specifically and do you feel that the state
has done correctly in signing a contract that has guaranteed
quality for the metropolitan area, knowing the many variables
that will come into play upstream?
A. At present in southern California, water which is delivered
through the aqueduct from the Colorado River has around 660
ppm of salts. They "are waiting for the day in 1972 when they
will be able to bring water from the north with about 220 ppm.
The specific standards for each individual element in the
water supply are set out with some detail in the contract.
However, these standards are set out not as a guarantee but
as an objective. In other words, the state undertakes to
operate this system with the objective of meeting these water
quality standards in the delivery of water to customers.
We expect fully to meet them.
Q. Will the water be transported in open channels or closed
aqueducts and what is being done to cut transmission losses?
A. The aqueducts will be open for the most part - the major excep-
tion is in going through the Tehachapi Mountains. These are
the mountains which divide southern and northern California.
There will be tunnels through these mountains. The California
aqueduct will more or less parallel the existing Bureau of
Reclamation aqueduct. The South Bay aqueduct is about one-
third finished and already delivering water to one customer.
Since we have only just started the reservoir, we are presently
purchasing water from the Bureau of Reclamation. These canals
are lined for the most part to minimize losses.
Q. Is the San Joaquin drainage canal definitely in the project?
A. The Department of Water Resources is studying the construction
of a drain to dispose of wastes arriving from irrigated areas
and there is a possibility that there might be a master drain
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which would permit a joint construction between the Bureau of
Reclamation and the state to serve the needs of both agencies.
The exact solution is not yet in sight.
Q. Has the Department of Water Resources made any investigation
of the economic aspects of delivering water to San Diego and
the comparative cost of the reclamation of sea water?
A. Yes, we have been maintaining a continuing cognizance with
respect to the sea-water studies. There is a reclamation
plant at Point Loma and San Diego. The costs of the water
there are substantially four times the cost of the water
that is now being brought in from this other area so that
there has been a very substantial differential. It is true
that the differential has been narrowing, but there is no
immediate indication that these will be competitive in the
near future. As a matter of fact, when the Point Loma water
was being disbursed they couldn't sell it to the city of San
Diego. As a result, they had to enter into a contract by
which San Diego paid no more for the water than if they were
getting it from the Colorado River.
Q. I'm interested in the relationship of economic research to
this project. You touched on one aspect of this relation-
ship, which is the problem of putting a dollar and cents
value on the benefits. There is another aspect where eco-
nomic research would come in - that is, the economic base
study which you must have made to determine how to allocate
the water from the north to the south. I suppose you made
an economic base study to determine the future competitive
needs and allocations.
A. There have been in the course of the state's water plan-
ning studies very elaborate inquiries into each of the
areas of the state with respect to the available water
supplies and their needs. It was on the basis of these
studies that the over-all State Water Plan was developed
to identify the areas of deficiency (these are in the
south) and to identify also the areas of surplus which are
in the north. For many years this was a source of contro-
versy because, while the State Department of Water Resources
would point out that there were surpluses in the north, the
people in that area said, "We don't agree with you. We need
all the water we've got and we don't intend to give up any."
What was done was in part by the Department of Water Resources
and in part by the Legislature, both by statute and depart-
ment policies. It is established that the first call on these
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waters from the north will be used to meet both existing and
future requirements of that area. This has sometimes been
lost sight of in that the people from the north have said,
"You'll take care of us for the moment, but what about 20
years from now?" Finally, in 1960 the controversy was re-
solved when the matter was placed on the ballot and the
people of California in effect voted to recognize that the
state has guaranteed to meet the requirements of the northern
part of the state and assured and approved the export of the
surplus water to the south. In this ballot in 1960 state-
side approval was given to the export of the water from this
basin.
Q. In determining that there was actually a water surplus, I
suppose you made an economics base study and projected it
out to X year.
A. The projection presently goes to 1990. Originally we went
beyond the year 2000. But it was found that the most
feasible basis was to stop at the year 1990. The present
project is formulated on that basis. As the waters in the
delta will be depleted year by year, between now and 1990,
there will be a need for additional storage beyond the
four million acre-feet now provided. To meet these require-
ments, studies are presently underway in other rivers in
this north coastal area looking toward replacement storage
which will be constructed to take care of these depletions.
COMMENT: Before we proceed with the summary of this symposium
I would like to make a comment regarding research
needs. As I see resource management problems, there
are two phases that need research: (1) the allocation
problem - of what relevance is a price system when we
have a mixture of public and private goods offered?
(2) the administrative problem - what agency or organ-
izational structure will create the best decisions
with the most efficiency?
The economists are concerned with efficiency in the
use of resources, giving the consumer that optimum
combination of quality and quantity. Administrative
problems come in the realm of the political scientist.
Yet both problems have a common link which is to de-
fine the objectives on which their separate scientific
contributions should focus. This is recognized, but
not in an explicit manner. Economists are too con-
cerned with economic values, preferring not to define
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(or recognize) social and public interest values. The
economist proposes a set of tools for optimizing eco-
nomic values, with little awareness of the effects of
social and public interest values in his model. The
latter are difficult to measure. More research should
be devoted to such items as social costs of water
pollution. No economist has yet come up with a useful
theory for application to resource problems in an eco-
nomic system such as ours with its mixture of public
and private property.
Sociologists and political scientists find it difficult
to measure social values, while public interest values
tend to become determined by administrators and plan-
ners. The task is to synthesize a combination of tools
and effort to work on the resolution of conflicts be-
tween these value systems, as is done in the multi-
disciplinary approach. This would mean weighing the
merit of each approach, hoping that the mixture produces
a richer product.
My suggestion for research is to focus on the value
systems, to study objectives and set forth more explicit
ideas of what planning is for, of what importance are
quality objectives and how the divergent viewpoints
can be incorporated into resource problems. A specific
problem is what value can be attached to different
levels of water quality.
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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Allan Hirsch*
Research on the political, economic, and sociological aspects
of water quality control is necessary to guide the important public
programs in this field, but very little such research is currently
being done. The present symposium can be contrasted with previous
symposiums in this series on topics such as "Siltation--Its Sources
and Effects on the Aquatic Environment," "Oceanographic and Related
Estuarial Pollution Problems of the Northwest," and "Toxicity in
the Aquatic Environment," where the discussions involved on-going
research projects. During the present meeting, the discussions
have largely involved broad areas of research needs rather than
current research projects and have indicated the dearth of research
in this area.
For this reason, it is gratifying to learn of Allen Kneese's
studies. The number of times which these were cited in the dis-
cussions is illustrative of the real value of an analytical ap-
proach to this subject. Dr. Castle's work in applying some of
these principles in the Pacific Northwest region is also encour-
aging, as are the studies at the University of California and the
University of Washington which were mentioned.
Research in this area must be intensified. The growing in-
terest in outdoor recreation and hunting and fishing, the report
of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, and the
establishment of the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation in the Department
of the Interior, give some assurance that, at least in these re-
lated areas, many of the most difficult evaluation problems will
receive more attention. Perhaps this will result in findings which
can be translated for use in water quality control programs.
Workers in the field of water quality control must look to
related work in other fields. It is probable that existing findings,
or at least existing methodologies, which have been developed by
social science research in various fields, can readily be utilized
in studies on water quality control. This has been a major purpose
of the symposium -- to bring the research needs of water quality
*Chief, Planning Branch, Columbia River Basin Project, Water
Supply and Pollution Control Program, Pacific Northwest, Public
Health Service, Portland, Oregon.
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control to the attention of persons working in other related fields,
The ultimate application of research in the social and eco-
nomic aspects of water quality control is to guide public programs
by making them more responsive to what the public needs are, and
more effective in meeting those needs. Norman Wengert, writing in
the "Natural Resources Journal," has said:
"The problem of providing standards for appraising public
programs and determining the public interest presents a
double challenge to administration to develop mecha-
nisms, procedures and institutions for making more ration-
al choices and for setting wise priorities, and to scholar-
ship to prove and analyze public programs in order to deter-
mine their consequences and to assess the extent to which
they fulfill needs and expectations." JY
Leonard Dworsky, in presenting the first address of the sym-
posium, made a statement in much the same vein. He said that
persons responsible for administrating pollution control programs
will do what is necessary to carry out their responsibilities, and
that they will continue to carry out these responsibilities as
effectively as possible, but that the assistance of scholars in
universities and elsewhere who can study these activities on a
more analytical basis can help them to do a better job.
Many of the research needs that were discussed during the
seminar could be placed into one of two categories:
(a) Research on actual situations, where the researcher is
observing and appraising reality. This is the case study
approach -- why and how something has happened. Mr. Dworsky
described in his address some potential topics for case
studies, such as a critique of federal pollution control
enforcement policies and a study of the federal sewage treat-
ment works construction grants program, with its implications
for federal-state-local governmental relationships. He
pointed out that it would be most helpful to have scholarly
appraisals of these operations.
The case study approach has the advantage that it does deal
with an actual situation; at the same time, however, since a
_!/ Norman Wengert, Resource Development and the Public Interest;
A Challenge for Research, Natural Resources Journal, Volume 1, No. 2,
November 1961, pp. 207-223.
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specific situation is being studied, generalizations made in such an
approach may be limited or subject to many qualifications.
(b) An attempt to approximate reality in an abstract manner
by the construction of theoretical models which resemble
reality on a partial basis. This category overlaps the first
because it can be used to develop methodology, techniques,
and a conceptual framework for appraising actual situations.
The thoughtful administrator who is concerned with water pollu-
tion control or any other field of resource management or public
policy may have mixed emotions when appraising the findings of ab-
stract, theoretical research. He may fully support the desirability
of such research, but find himself reviewing the results somewhat
critically when assessing them in terms of what they mean and how
they can be used in his program. This may be partially due to the
fact that he does not understand the research, but it may also be
due to the fact that the findings simply cannot be translated into
the rules of the game -- the political process, and those laws and
trends in public and Congressional attitudes which must guide the
operations of his program.
This is not to argue against the construction of pollution
control Utopias involving ideal organizations and rational systems
of operation. Such concepts can be very useful not only theoret-
ically, but also in practical ways. As one example of the way in
which a theoretical approach could be helpful in guiding a program,
a point from Mr. Kneese's paper will be cited. Mr. Kneese pointed
out that critical events in stream pollution are infrequently oc-
curring events as a result of variability in streamflow. He said
that the possibility should be explored of coping with such problems
by methods involving high operating costs which would be very expen-
sive for a short period of time during drought periods, rather than
by additional capital investment such as the construction of in-
creased reservoir capacity for use only during extreme drought
periods. Such short-term operating methods could involve, for
example, the application of additional chemicals in sewage treat-
ment plants.
In theory, this concept is a good one. However, if the many
municipal and industrial waste treatment operators within a given
river basin were to be relied upon to adjust their methods of
treatment in accordance with streamflow conditions, critical prob-
lems could occur. Successful operation of such a program would
require:
(a) A stronger program of training treatment plant operators.
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(b) A better system of information and controls to assure
that the operators carry out the means of treatment in the
determined and required manner.
The concept of the "economics of the rare event" probably
could not be implemented successfully until these corollary control
measures were put into effect. Thus, consideration of this concept
immediately suggests the kind of programming, embodying a system of
training and controls, which a water pollution agency would have to
initiate in order to effect the savings involved. Actually, none
of these points have been unrecognized, but the analytical frame-
work throws them into sharper focus for consideration by the admin-
istrator.
On the other hand, many theoretical analyses of water resource
development seem to have little potential application. In many such
studies, an edifice of perfect logic is created, but the logical
structure is qualified extensively. We often find theoretical models
which cannot be criticized on a logical basis, but which are hollow
because all of the real problems have been excluded with the quali-
fications. Thus, we find conclusions advising us, in effect, that
social choice as a basis for setting the objectives of the program
cannot be subjected to the analysis but that, once the objectives
have been determined, the resource manager should meet these by the
cheapest alternative. Such conclusions, while correct, provide no
new information which would be useful in administering the program,
since it is standard practice to reach a given objective by the
cheapest alternative.
The statement was made during the course of the symposium that
a principal value of economic analysis was that it showed those
responsible for pollution control that abatement can be regarded as
a cost as well as a benefit and that, with varying costs of abate-
ment, varying levels of benefits are achieved. This was cited as
information which those concerned with pollution control programs
are sometimes unaware of. Pollution control policies may not be
extremely sophisticated; yet pollution control administrators have
long recognized the basic fact that, with varying levels of invest-
ment in waste treatment facilities, varying benefits can be obtained.
A very clear example of this is the stream classification
systems which have provided the basis for administering pollution
control programs in various states. Such systems are based on the
concept that the level of treatment required on any stream or given
stretch of stream should be specifically determined in accordance
with the beneficial uses of that stream. An interesting point is
that this concept appears to be undergoing some change nationally.
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Two years ago the National Conference on Water Pollution adopted
the recommendation that the goal of pollution control should be
keeping waters as clean as possible, as opposed to the policy of
attempting to utilize the full capacity of the waters for waste
assimilation. This recommendation was subsequently adopted by the
President's Water Pollution Control Advisory Board. Mr. Towne, in
his remarks, described how this approach is being put into practice
in planning for water quality control in the Pacific Northwest. At
first glance, this policy appears to be a movement away from the
strictly analytical approach which would carefully delineate bene-
ficial uses as a basis for the required level of treatment. The
newer policy indicates that effluents should be returned in as clean
a condition as possible, which, in effect, sets constraints amount-
ing to the requirement of secondary treatment without specifically
assessing beneficial uses for each body of water involved before
arriving at this requirement. This policy is not an irrational one,
but rather a practical recognition of reality. There seem to be
several reasons for this changing philosophy. The difficulties in
administering the more precise analytical approach are very great.
The hypothetical example was given early in the symposium of a
stream which was so polluted that it supported no uses other than
waste disposal. The conclusion would be that waste treatment on
this stream could not be afforded because beneficial uses would
not justify it. This represents a simplified example of the type
of approach which can lead to a descending spiral in water quality.
The problem of reallocating assimilative capacity on a stream to
accommodate a newly established industry is yet another example of
the administrative difficulties encountered in this approach.
Other impediments to applying the more specific analytical
method are based upon the lack of technical knowledge. If a sharply
delineated classification is established for a stream, can we really
be sure that the criteria used are meaningful? In many cases, we do
not have sound criteria for water uses, particularly with respect to
the vast array of new pollutants which are now being discharged into
streams.
(Several speakers mentioned a related point: the need to cor-
relate research in the physical and social sciences. Technical
information must be available in order to develop sounder policies
and social judgments; and conversely, socio-economic information
must be available to guide technical decisions. For example, there
would be little point in saying that water quality on a stream should
be managed to provide benefits, both economic and intangible, to
fisheries and other uses which would be at least equivalent to the
cost of waste treatment if (a) the physical benefit to the fisheries
from any given level of water quality improvement cannot be deter-
mined, and (b) the economic and social value of that benefit cannot
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be measured. The technical and social aspects are interrelated, and
it is hoped that research will move forward simultaneously in both
areas.)
To summarize this question of changing national policy and the
apparent moving away from a strictly analytical approach towards a
more generalized solution, one might conclude that there are both
administrative and technical difficulties in carrying out what
would appear to be a sound analytical approach. Further, the evi-
dence seems clear that in some parts of the country where such an
approach has been used as the basis for determining pollution con-
trol policies, this has not prevented a steady deterioration in
water quality. Combined with this is an increasing intensity of
water use nationally, with almost every available body of water
coming into demand for recreation, fisheries, and other purposes.
Perhaps, then, what the more generalized policy says is that all
the streams in the Nation, as a general rule, will be in such de-
mand for all beneficial uses that secondary treatment will be re-
quired and, therefore, classification is impractical, particularly
when compared with the administrative and technical problems inher-
ent in such an approach.
The above assessment is a personal and subjective view as to
why this policy shift is occurring. It may be erroneous. However,
this area appears to be a very fruitful one for research. The
point is that a penetrating case study of the actual situation
would appear to be more useful than the formulation of precise
theoretical model, which we know that we are already moving away
from on a national basis.
Roy Bessey pointed out in his address that a clearer under-
standing of the area of public policy formulation and deter-
mination of goals will be dependent upon research in a wide range
of disciplines. It appears clear that we will have to look to
areas of social science other than economics for answers here.
(After all, the vast majority of people in the Nation have had no
training in economics and sometimes refuse to behave in accordance
with market theories.) Research in disciplines such as political
science and social psychology should enable us to better understand
public preferences and the way in which they are expressed; and the
way in which objectives are determined and decisions are made in
public programs. Research findings might provide means of improving
this process through devising more efficient institutional arrange-
ments and the like. We also need a better understanding of means of
informing the public and creating public awareness so that sounder
decisions can be made; both Mr. Haggard and Mr. Scheufele discussed
this problem in their addresses.
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During much of the symposium there was an emphasis on the
regional nature of the problem. Water quality control must in-
creasingly be considered on the basis of entire regions or river
basins rather than on a point-by-point basis, and as an integral
part of multiple-purpose water resource development programs.
This creates a demand for regional organization to cope with the
problem. Mr. Scheufele indicated in his pragmatic assessment
that we have had many excellent studies of regional organization
for water resource development, the findings of which are not
being implemented, and that additional research to develop the
ideal organization is not required. Instead, we might seek to
understand why the existing knowledge is not being put into
effect.
It is suggested that research on regional institutions should
not be concerned with devising the ideal single regional agency
because the creation of such an organization does not appear to be
at all imminent. Instead, research might more fruitfully be con-
cerned with means of achieving effectiveness on an inter-agency
basis with the wide spectrum of organizations at all levels of
government which are presently involved in water resource devel-
opment .
Allen Kneese developed an approach based upon one regional
entity which would be responsible for water pollution control.
It would be interesting to extend Mr. Kneese's work to see whether
his concepts could be implemented within the framework of multi-
level regional organizations. In most parts of the country,
based upon legislative and institutional constraints, pollution
control programs must be carried out on an intergovernmental basis.
Different entities are, in fact, responsible for dealing with dif-
ferent aspects of the total problem. The Federal Government
builds and pays for reservoir storage, while local government,
with federal and sometimes state financial assistance, constructs
waste treatment plants. These two broad means of coping with the
water quality problem, then, are not alternatives -- at least not
in the sense of cost distribution. This point is set forth as
national policy in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which
states that storage in federal reservoirs shall not be provided
as a substitute for adequate waste treatment facilities.
This question of cost distribution in water pollution control
is certainly a major area for economic research. In fact, cost
distribution has been one of the major issues in most studies of
national water policies. We have developed historically a series
of somewhat inconsistent national policies concerning this, and
the need to better understand cost distribution as it affects
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water policy objectives applies to functions such as irrigation,
navigation, and flood control, as well as to water quality control.
Who should pay for a given water resource development program --
the local units of government, the private beneficiaries, the
State, or the Nation as a whole?
For example, one of the speakers discussed the matter of
whether industry should be given at least partial assistance to
pay for the cost of industrial waste treatment. This matter points
to the need for knowledge of how the costs of industrial waste
treatment are actually borne. Is the cost of industrial waste
treatment borne by the industry, is it passed on to the consumer
in the cost of the product, or is it borne by the local unit of
government involved? This will depend upon such factors as the
competitive nature of the industry, the elasticity of demand for
the product, the national and regional distribution of production,
and the uniformity of pollution control requirements among the
states involved. It would appear that studies of the economics
of taxation, which have attempted to assess how taxes imposed upon
industry are borne, could be applied to this aspect of water pol-
lution control.
A major aspect of this symposium, and one which was emphasized
not only in the specific paper presented by Mr. Price, but also in
the program as a whole, was that of planning for water pollution
control. With the rapid growth of population and changing tech-
nology, water pollution control is being more and more planning-
oriented. Pollution control programs are now involved with many
major future problems, as well as with immediate problems. This
relates closely to the concept of water pollution as a regional
issue. Today we are as much or more concerned with the develop-
ment of regional plans for water quality control as with point-by-
point methods of dealing with individual cases.
Many of the findings of socio-economic research could be
applied to the solution of individual cases; yet, even more, we
are concerned with such findings in order to be able to integrate
them into the planning process. A better intellectual basis for
planning and a better understanding of the planning process are
required. A recent discussion of urban and regional planning
indicates that the need for better planning procedure is by no
means confined to water quality management: "In recent years
systematic inquiry into the urban and regional planning process
in action has been almost nonexistent. Planning literature does
include, of course, useful articles by practicing planners and
others on various techniques, methods, and problems, but nearly
all of them draw largely on personal experience plus limited
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comparisons with a few other usually similar agencies." j./
The use of the economic base forecast as a tool in planning
was described by Mr. Katz. A lively discussion followed the pres-
entation of his paper. The question was asked as to how the econ-
omist takes into account potential major changes, such as changes
in foreign relations, technology, and the like when forecasting
the future. The answer was given that, when the economist fore-
casts the future, he does not do so with a great deal of confi-
dence. A major question for planning procedure, particularly in
dealing with resource decisions which are irrevocable, is how
much reliance, as a basis for decision-making, should be placed
upon economic forecasts derived from a study of known resources
and presently foreseeable technology and needs.
Mr. Dworsky made a suggestion that the potentialities of the
resource might be one basis for gauging the level of the develop-
ment program to be carried on, with the economic forecast being
used as a general index upon which to base scheduling. He made
reference to preliminary thought being given to this approach in
the Water Supply and Pollution Control Program. 2j
The study of the proposed Rampart Dam project in Alaska,
where a tremendous potential for low-cost hydroelectric develop-
ment exists, appears to be an example of this approach. This
project was not studied by forecasting the future of Alaska and
its power loads, and then seeking a means of meeting these.
Instead, the great potential of the resource as a means of stim-
ulating development in Alaska was recognized; then an economic
study was made to see whether this resource potential, if devel-
oped, could be utilized. In resource planning in more developed
areas, decisions may involve a much more complex balancing of
resource potentials versus forecasts of requirements. In any
case, it seems clear that there is a need to think about and
possibly modify the planning process with respect to the use of
forecasts where resource decisions are irrevocable or where an
extremely long lead time is involved.
\J Coleman Woodbury, Land Economics Research for Urban and
Regional Planning, in Land Economics Research, Farm Foundation,
Resources for the Future, 1962, pp. 63-88.
2/ A Proposed Method of River Basin Analysis jor Water
Pollution Control with Special Reference to Low Flow Augmentation.
Water Supply and Pollution Control Program, Pacific Northwest,
Public Health Service, September 1961.
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Water quality is frequently a determinant of land use and, as
in the case of economic forecasts, land use is a component of the
water quality planning process requiring additional attention.
Land use plans must be related to plans for water quality control;
for example, if the intent of the water plan is to provide water
for recreation in a metropolitan area and the metropolitan plan-
ning agency's land use plan provides for an industrial area in the
stretch of river involved, the required coordination is obviously
lacking. Conversely, the effects of land use as a pollutant must
be incorporated into the water quality planning process. Mr.
Bullard's address delineated land use as a pollutant, which is just
now being recognized as amenable to improvement. How can this as-
pect of land use be related to water quality planning to develop
plans which will minimize the effects of pollution?
The Public Health Service, Division of Water Supply and Pol-
lution Control, has developed a statement of general guidelines
for use in formulating a program of social and economic research
on water quality control. This is as follows:
A program of research in socio-economic aspects of
water quality management should have the following objec-
tives:
1. The development of basic ideas for the economic
evaluation of matters concerning water quality;
2. The identification of data inadequacies and a
program for overcoming these inadequacies or the devising
of a simulated data method involving economic and social
factors related to water quality;
3. The development of methodology for forecasting
water use, changes in water use practices, and related
matters having implications for water quality and its
control;
4. The determination of the nature and extent of
the contribution of water resources development to na-
tional and regional economic growth, with specific ref-
erence to water quality management;
5. The determination of the effect of various water
quality changes on land use and the effect of land use on
water quality; and the determination of the extent that
water and sewage systems can be used to control urban
development and land use;
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6. The identification and analysis of the effects of
various aspects of the decision-making processes in water
quality management, including the laws, arrangements, values,
and attitudes involved.
Although it is known that the economic value of water
is associated with its usefulness as related to the supply
and demand, and that the world of water may impair or en-
hance usefulness, no way exists at present to determine the
economic demand curve of water for various uses; nor has
the related concept of "willingness to pay" been estab-
lished, even within some reasonable range.
A rigorous examination of both the demand curve and
willingness-to-pay situation is necessary to establish the
value of water in the various uses. From this point, im-
pairment of use can be calculated as an economic damage in
dollar and other economic terms. Analytical concepts are
necessary to achieve this objective.
The problem of economic analysis derives as much from
inadequate data as it does from conceptual frailties. A
rigorous determination should be made as to what specific
data are needed to facilitate analysis; and a course of
action to obtain the data should be prescribed. This phase
of the research effort will require the cooperation of
persons knowledgeable in water-use practices of all kinds:
cooperation of econometricians, as well as economists in
the data analyses. In those instances where data inade-
quacies cannot be overcome, perhaps some method of estab-
lishing assumed or synthetic data could be devised for
analysis.
At present, the methods for forecasting water use are
almost capricious, for they lack an adequate rationale.
In part, this situation is due to inadequate knowledge of
the factors that influence water use, and in part it is due
to data lack. To a small extent, the problem will be re-
duced if methodology is improved in regional economics.
That is, as the methods for determining the level and kinds
of economic activity in geographical parts of the nation
are improved, then the types and sizes of various water-
using industries would be more rationally established.
Again, persons familiar with various water-use practices
must be available to economists and other social scientists
to assist in establishing the factors which indicate water
use.
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In conjunction with these efforts, knowledge should be
developed as to the contribution of water resource develop-
ment to the level of economic activity, both on a national
and regional basis. This knowledge should establish the
extent to which deliberate investment in water-resource
development, with particular reference to water supply and
quality control, could be used to aid industry's general
economic growth, or to produce particular kinds of growth.
Although it is self-evident that land and water uses
are interrelated, no firm record exists as to the effects
of water quality changes on land use, nor of land use
changes on water quality. Also, study is needed of the
extent to which water quality control can be used to induce
or complement desired land uses, and the extent to which
water and sewage systems can be used as devices to control
urban development and facilitate quality objectives.
To contribute to the understanding of the entire prob-
lem, analysis should be undertaken into the setting in which
decisions are made affecting water-resource use and develop-
ment. This effort should scrutinize the institutions of
government that are directly involved; the framework of law
and regulation involving property rights, zoning, and other
forms of social control; the attitudes and beliefs of vari-
ous publics affecting use, and analysis of the myths that
prevail in this realm, such as the abundance or scarcity
of water, renewability, quality detractions, and the inher-
ent attraction of water as a locational determinant.
It is to be hoped that the socio-economic research needs
delineated in the above statement, and by the participants in this
symposium, will receive increased attention in the future.
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ATTENDANCE AT THE ELEVENTH SYMPOSIUM
November 8 and 9, 1962
Thomas C. Adams
R. M. Alexander
E. J. Allen
H. Kenneth Anderson
Earl R. Anthony
John G. Bailey
Wesley C. Ballaine
A. F. Bartsch
Walter 0. Basham
Paul C. Benedict
Roy F. Bessey
Nedavia Bethlahmy
D. E. Bevan
A. R. Blanch
R. 0. Blosser
Robert L. Boster
A. R. Bryant
W. E. Bullard
F. J. Burgess
Melvin H. Burke
Daniel Burroughs
Homer J. Campbell
Dale A. Carlson
Glen Carter
Kenneth T. Case
E. N. Castle
George G. Chadwick
Donald W. Chapman
J. F. Cormack
John Courchene
James A. Crutchfield
W. F. Cyrus
John H. Davidson
Delmer S. Davis
Paul DeFalco, Jr.
George R. Dempster
Byron L. Doneen
Peter Doudoroff
Robert Drager
Donald P. Dubois
E. G. Dunford
PNW Forest & Range Expt. Sta.
Oregon State University
Seattle Water Department
Portland Bureau of Water Works
U. S. Geological Survey
Oregon State Board of Health
University of Oregon
U. S. Public Health Service
Corps of Engineers
U. S. Geological Survey
Consultant
PNW Forest & Range Expt. Sta.
University of Washington
U. S. Public Health Service
Oregon State University
Portland State College
U. S. Public Health Service Lab
U. S. Public Health Service
Oregon State University
U. S. Forest Service
National Park Service
Oregon State University
University of Washington
Ore. State Sanitary Authority
Corps of Engineers
Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Crown Zellerbach Corp.
Seattle Water Department
University of Washington
Crown Zellerbach Corp.
U. S. Public Health Service
Bureau of Sport Fisheries
U. S. Public Health Service
3028 N. E. 70ta Ave.
Soil Conservation Service
Oregon State University
Ore. State Planning &
Development Dept.
U. S. Public Health Service
U. S. Forest Service
Portland
Corvallis
Seattle
Portland
Portland
Portland
Eugene
Portland
Portland
Menlo Park
Portland
Port land
Seattle
San Francisco
Corvallis
Portland
Portland
Portland
Corvallis
Portland
Portland
Corvallis
Seattle
Portland
Portland
Corvallis
Corvallis
Corvallis
Camas
Seattle
Seattle
Camas
Portland
Portland
New York
Portland
Portland
Corvallis
Portland
Portland
Portland
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Gilbert Dunston
Leonard B. Dworsky
E. F. Eldridge
W. E. Eldridge
Warren W. Etcheson
Curtiss Mo Everts
James W. Ferguson
Theodore Ferris
Garry L. Fisk
Donald F. Flora
Louis H. Foote
Richard J. Frankel
Mrs. Rowena M. Funston
D. R. Gedney
Charles V. Gibbs
P. A. Glancy
John Ro Glassy
J. Wendell Gray
Mrs. W. D. Hagenstein
Marko B. Haggard
W. N. Hale
Sigurd Halvorson
Horace W. Harding
William L. Haushild
I. B. Hazeltine
Allan Hirsch
Dale Hoffman
Gilbert A. Holland
D0 H. Huff
Arthur J. Inerfield
Ralph H. Imler
Theodore Jaffa
Reinhard Jaren
Brian Johnson
Clyde Johnson
Donald N. Johnson
Max Katz
Myron Katz
Robert E0 Keith
Allen V0 Kneese
L. B. Laird
Donel J. Lane
Ralph Larson
Charles F0 Lemon
Washington State University
U. S. Public Health Service
U. S. Public Health Service
U. S. Public Health Service
University of Washington
Ore. State Sanitary Authority
Portland State College
U. S. Public Health Service
U, S. Public Health Service
PNW Forest & Range Expt. Sta.
State Water Resources Board
University of California
Corps of Engineers
PNW Forest & Range Expt. Sta.
Municipality of Metropolitan
Seattle
U. S. Geological Survey
City Water Department
Public Health Service, Ore.
State University
Ore. State Water Resources Bd.
Portland State College
Ore. State Bureau of Mines
Corps of Engineers
U. S. Dept. of Labor
U. S, Geological Survey
Bureau of Sport Fisheries
U. S. Public Health Service
U. S. Public Health Service
Wash. Dept. of Fisheries
Department of Interior
Calif. Dept. of Water Resources
Bureau of Sport Fisheries
Robert A. Taft Sanitary
Engineering Center
Rt. #1, Box 563
Washington Pollution Control
Commission
Portland State College
University of Oregon
University of Washington
Bonneville Power Administration
Metropolitan Planning Comm.
Resources for the Future
U. S. Geological Survey
Ore. State Water Resources Bd.
Washington Dept. of Game
Soil Conservation Service
Pullman
Washington, D. C.
Portland
Portland
Seattle
Portland
Portland
Portland
Denver
Portland
Salem
Berkeley
Portland
Portland
Seattle
Portland
Tacoma
Corvallis
Salem
Portland
Albany
Portland
Seattle
Portland
Portland
Portland
Portland
Seattle
Portland
Sacramento
Portland
Cincinnati
Oregon City
Olympia
Portland
Eugene
Seattle
Portland
Portland
Washington, D. C.
Portland
Salem
Olympia
Portland
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James A. Macnab
R. J. Madison
Nick J. Malueg
James E. Maxwell
Tom MeCall
James C. McCarty
Charles McKinley
Robert 0. McMahon
Harold E. Miller
Harold E. Milliken
Robert Minnehan
W. Allan Moore
Wm. B. Morse
Edwin Nasburg
Alfred T. Neale
F. L. Nelson
Lyman A. Nielson
K. C. Nobe
R. T. Oglesby
James A. Ogren
Karl W. Onthank
Mrs. Karl W. Onthank
Charles R. Ott
Herbert R. Pahren
T. E. Perry
D. C. Phillips
R. F. Poston
Reginal Price
Ed. L. Quan
Mrs. Roberta Remak
Jack D. Remington
Edwin F. Roby
Donald Ross
Joseph F. Rudys
John F. Santos
Roy W. Scheufele
Gilbert V. Schirk
Ralph Scott
R. W. Seabloom
Eugene Snyder
Carl E. Spencer
Kenneth H. Spies
Herbert H. Stevens
Portland State College
U. S. Geological Survey
U. S. Public Health Service Lab
Bonneville Power Administration
KGW-TV
U. S. Public Health Service
Portland State College
PNW Forest & Range Expt. Sta.
Municipality of Metropolitan
Ore. State Board of Haalth
U. S. Public Health Service
U. S. Public Health Service Lab
Wildlife Management Institute
Bureau of Reclamation
Washington Pollution Control
Commission
U. S. Public Health Service
Washington Pollution Control
Commission
U. S. Public Health Service
University of Washington
U. S. Public Health Service Lab
Ore. State Water Resources Bd.
League of Women Voters
Washington Pollution Control
Commission
U. S. Public Health Service
U. S. Fish & Wildlife
Oregon State University
U. S. Public Health Service
Calif. Dept. of Water Resources
Oregon State Board of Health
Ore. State Dept. of Planning
& Development
Pacific Power & Light
Bureau of Sport Fisheries
Public Health Service
Civil Engineer
U. S. Geological Survey
Corps of Engineers
Bureau of Reclamation
U. S. Public Health Service
University of Washington
U. S. Public Health Service
U. S. Public Health Service Lab
Ore. State Sanitary Authority
P. 0. Box 3202
Portland
Portland
Portland
Portland
Portland
San Francisco
Portland
Portland
Seattle
Portland
San Francisco
Portland
Portland
Portland
Olympia
Olympia
Olympia
Denver
Seattle
Portland
Eugene
Eugene
Olympia
Denver
Portland
Corvallis
Portland
Sacramento
Portland
Portland
Portland
Portland
Olympia
Applegate
Portland
Portland
Boise
Portland
Seattle
Portland
Portland
Portland
Portland
157
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R. 0. Sylvester University of Washington Seattle
James N. Tattersall University of Oregon Eugene
E. Roy Tinney Washington State University Pullman
W. W. Towne U. S. Public Health Service Portland
E. Jack Weathersbee Oregon State Board of Health Portland
Stanley E. Weber Department of the Interior Portland
R. C. Williams U. S. Geological Survey Portland
John N. Wilson U. S. Public Health Service Portland
William 0. Winkler U. S. Public Health Service Lab Portland
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