S U M
WATER
QUALITY
CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT
A COMPREHENSIVE POLLUTION CONTROL PROGRAM DEVELOPED
BY THE FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ADMINISTRATION
-------
SUMMARY OF:
WATER QUALTY CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ADMINISTRATION
NORTHWEST REGION, PORTLAND, OREGON
JANUARY 1967
-------
JAMES M. QUIGLEY, Commissioner
Federal Water Pollution Control Administration
U. S. Department of the Interior
Each summer the Willamette River becomes polluted. This splendid river,
whose watershed supports two-thirds of Oregon's population and provides
an equal proportion of its industrial output, suffers recurrently from mas-
sive outpourings of untreated industrial wastes. The effects of this pollution
have been severe. The Willamette has largely been rejected as a source of
water supply, and communities along its banks have had to develop other,
and more costly, sources. Recreation has been curtailed, with many parks
posted against swimming and the whole river below the city of Eugene ex-
ceeding Pacific Northwest Pollution Control Council bacterial objectives for
water-contact recreation. Fish production has declined, as the natural habitat
for trout has shrunk, and as passage conditions and spawning areas for that
large portion of the Pacific salmon run that is based upon the Willamette
have deteriorated with the persistence of pollution.
These conditions have existed for more than three decades. Gradual
progress has been made in pollution abatement as a result of institution of
waste treatment and summer flow augmentation from Federal storage res-
ervoirs; but at the same time the magnitude of pollution sources has ad-
vanced. Industrial expansion, population growth, and urbanisation have all
acted to increase wastes and to offset much of the progress that has occurred.
In 1961 the Water Supply and Pollution Control Division of the Public
Health Service began a comprehensive study of water quality in the Columbia
River Basin. The study, continued under the Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Administration, has included considerable emphasis on the Willamette
Basin, since it contains the clearest and most significant instances of water
pollution found in the Columbia Basin. This is a summary of the Willamette
River Basin report which contains a detailed analysis of the nature and extent
of pollution, its cause, what may be done to abate it and prevent its recur-
rence, and what it will cost to control it.
The course of action recommended in that report is based upon the de-
cision of the people of Oregon — a decision manifested by the repeated
pronouncements of its public officials and by legislative enactments going
back to the Act of 1938 creating a state agency with responsibility for control
of water pollution—that the waters of the Willamette system are to be fit
habitats for salmonid fish, suitable sources of recreation, and usable water
supplies. These are demanding goals, in terms of water quality, but no lesser
goals have ever been publicly advanced. Unfortunately the public and private
actions needed to fulfill these goals have not always been forthcoming. This
report sets forth a plan for such actions. Whether this plan will achieve its
purpose is also a decision which rests largely with the people of Oregon.
-------
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33
U. S. C. 466 et seq.) contains among its provisions a
direction to the Secretary of the Interior to develop
comprehensive programs for controlling pollution
of interstate waters and their tributaries. This docu-
ment is an interpretive summary of a report present-
ing such a program for Oregon's Willamette River.
The major report, Water Quality Control and Man-
agement: Willamette River Basin, presents the re-
sults of a painstaking study of the water quality of
the Willamette River system, the uses of the river
system, the factors that affect water quality, the
probable nature of the economic development of
the watershed and its impact on water quality, and
the nature of measures that must be taken both to
abate pollution in the river system and to prevent
recurrence of pollution. While the report was pre-
pared by the Federal Water Pollution Control Ad-
ministration, which bore the major responsibility for
developing the study, a number of Federal and Ore-
gon State and local agencies provided important
assistance in collecting and analyzing data. In
particular, the Oregon State Sanitary Authority ac-
cepted a very large role in developing both infor-
mation and concepts.
This summary report is focused on the presenta-
tion of the principal findings of the study as they
relate to requirements for action to control pollu-
tion. It emphasizes that pollution does exist in the
Willamette River system, that pulp and paper mills
that have been subject to less stringent waste con-
trol requirements than municipalities and other
sources of waste are the major causes of pollution,
that pollution abatement will require immediate im-
provements in the level of waste reduction achieved
in the Willamette River system, and that the con-
tinuing control of pollution will impose demands for
action well into the future upon the people and
industries of the Willamette River Basin, as well
as upon the State and Federal agencies that serve
them.
1
-------
IMMEDIATE POLLUTION ABATEMENT
IThe primary need for abatement of existing water pollution in the Willamette River Basin should be met by installation and
• operation of waste reduction facilities for pulping and papermaking that provide efficiencies equal to those of conventional
secondary waste treatment: essential removal of floating and settleable solids and reduction of at least 85% of biochemical oxygen
demand. Such facilities should be made available within the next five years at the plants operated by Publishers Paper Company at
Oregon City and Newberg, Crown Zellerbach Corporation at West Linn and Lebanon, and Boise Cascade Corporation at Salem.
2 Effective secondary treatment should be installed within the next five years by those communities which do not provide or are
• not presently constructing such plants; and waste treatment facilities of communities operating plants that are outmoded or
overloaded should be brought up to generally accepted standards for secondary treatment of waste. Communities that require
secondary treatment are Albany, Cottage Grove, Harrisburg, Junction City, Monroe, and Oakridge. In the category of communities
operating inadequate plants are Dallas, Mount Angel, McMinnville, Sweet Home, and the Fanno Creek Sanitary District.
3 The State of Oregon should proceed to adopt standards, as required by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, for that por-
• tion of the Willamette River that is interstate water in that it is subject to tidal influences. Oregon standards for the major portion
of the river that is intrastate should be compatible with the interstate standards, in the interest of protecting water uses and devel-
oping a firm and consistent pollution control program. Standards should clearly recognize the importance of the river system as a
spawning area for anadromous salmonid fish and support the expansion of recreational and water supply capabilities of the basin's
waters.
LONG TERM POLLUTION CONTROL
The State of Oregon should encourage and provide assistance in development of institutional arrangements that bring appro-
priate communities, industries, and metropolitan areas together for the purpose of planning and financing pollution control
measures within the framework provided by drainage areas
f% Reallocation of functions of the Federal reservoir system in the Willamette River Basin, to be considered in 1970 upon com-
*-*• pletion of a joint State of Oregon-Federal agencies study of water and related land resources of the basin, should recognize
the overlapping benefits to water quality, fishery, and recreation that ate obtainable with maintenance of summer base flows of at
least 7500 cubic feet°per second through Portland harbor, 260 cubic feet per serond m the lower Tualatin River, and 100 cubic feet
per second in the South Santiam River below Lebanon
3 The State of Oregon should establish limits for waste loads in intensively used watersheds Such limits should reflect charac-
• (eristics of wastes, minimum streamflow probabilities and quality of waste control techniques available within the watershed.
'-*• (eristics of wastes, minimum streamflow probabilities and quality of waste control techniques available within the watershed.
A Data gathering and monitoring activities of the Oregon State Sanitary Authority and of the Federal Water Pollution Control
•'• Administration should be coordinated and expanded to maintain intimate knowledge of waste loadings, treatment plant effi-
ciencies, streamflows, and reservoir operations, in order that such information may be utilised m mathematical simulations of the
river system as planning tools and instruments of day to day watrr quality management
P* Programs of Federal resource management agencies operating m the Willamette Rivei Basm should be periodically reviewed
• by the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration for possible imparts on water quality, with the Federal Water Pollution
Control Administration and the several agencies jointly developing and monitoring effects of procedures to avoid adverse
jrnpacts, and coordinating such programs with Oregon State and local wateished organizations' pollution control plans.
-------
I. POLLUTION PROBLEMS
One of the most serious conditions of
water pollution in the Pacific Northwest oc-
curs in the lower reaches of Oregon's Wil-
lamette River. Marked pollution also exists
in two major Willamette tributaries, the
South Santiam River and the Tualatin River.
In each case pollution's effects on water
uses are severe and persistent, recurring
with varying intensity each summer.
Of the three instances of water pollution,
the most significant, in terms of volume
of water affected and restriction of water
uses, is that of the lower Willamette River.
During a portion of each summer dissolved
oxygen concentrations fall below the level
which can support indigenous species of
game fish in Portland harbor—the reach of
the river that extends from a point below the
confluence with the Clackamas River to the
mouth. The same area also exhibits year-
round growths of slimelike bacteria (Sphae-
rotilus), bottom sludges, and floating sludge
rafts. The conditions are due in large meas-
ure to the discharge of untreated wastes of
pulp and paper mills operated by Crown
Zellerbach Corporation at West Linn and by
Publishers Paper Company at Oregon City
and Newberg.
Pollution of the South Santiam River is
similar to that of the lower Willamette in its
manifestation and its causes. Waste dis-
charges of the small Crown Zellerbach pulp
mill at Lebanon cause slime growths,
sludges, and dissolved oxygen deficiencies
during the period of low summer flow. The
Lebanon mill treats its wastes by removing
I v of bi Tin- Willa ,, \ it, ,•
•i I portion oj . .
-------
the major portion of strong pulping wastes.
Treatment is, however, inadequate to sustain
desired water quality.
Pollution of the Tualatin River is caused
by the heavy degree of development that is
imposed on the limited resources of the
watershed. The normal low summer stream-
flows are further reduced by irrigation with-
drawals, and the wastes of a number of com-
munities and industries are discharged into
the river. The Tualatin Basin supports a prin-
cipal suburban area of the city of Portland;
and the density of population results in a
level of waste production that periodically
exceeds the assimilative capabilities of the
stream, even after treatment removes more
than 90 percent of oxygen-consuming
wastes. Urban and agricultural runoff con-
tribute additional nutrients and organic
wastes, adding to intense algal activity which
compounds the problem.
II. POLLUTION DAMAGES
Extremely high water quality is required
by uses that are made of the waters of the
Willamette River system. Municipal and in-
dustrial water supply, production of salm-
onid fish (salmon and trout), and recreation
constitute prime uses of the Willamette's
waters; and each can be curtailed, made
more costly, or eliminated entirely by the ex-
istence of pollution. All of these uses are
presently restricted in some measure by
pollution. Bacterial contamination limits the
sources for domestic, municipal, and food
processing water supplies. Numbers of
available recreation areas have been con-
stricted by the presence of excessive bac-
terial concentrations. Interference with sport
fishing has resulted from pollution-caused
limitation of fish environments, and by the
nuisance to both fishing and boating im-
posed by Sphaerotilus. Fish production is
impeded by dissolved oxygen deficiencies
and by sometimes high temperatures.
It is the damage to the fishery that is most
costly. Water supplies can be treated prior
to use, and alternative recreational sources
are available—though both substitutions in-
volve increases in user costs. There is no
alternative source of salmon and trout.
Where production of either is curtailed, it
represents a diminution of an intensively
used total supply. Since all migratory salmon
utilizing the Willamette system must pass
through the polluted lower reaches of the
Willamette twice during their life cycle, the
condition of Portland harbor represents a
critical limitation on the productive capacity
of the entire river system.
Dissolved oxygen requirements for pas-
sage of salmon are not nearly so high as for
spawning, which requires near saturation of
dissolved oxygen, or rearing which requires
a concentration of seven milligrams per liter.
Salmon passage may be readily accom-
plished with a dissolved oxygen con-
centration of five milligrams per liter.
Unfortunately, summer dissolved oxygen
concentrations in Portland harbor often fall
below three milligrams per liter. While no
upstream migration of salmon presently oc-
curs during the summer, untimely low flows
and consequent oxygen deficiency some-
times result in an "oxygen block" that pre-
vents the latter stages of the spring migra-
tion upstream, or delays the start of the fall
migration. In either situation, the spawning
population is reduced by predation and other
causes, with an adverse effect on produc-
tion. Effect of the summer dissolved oxygen
deficiency is more serious in the case of
downstream migration of juvenile fish. The
downstream migration goes on throughout
the year; and a high mortality is believed to
Characteristically muddied by the swift flows
and -iurfa.ee runoff caused by heavy winter
rains, the entering waters of the. Willamette
contrast sharply with the receiving Colw
-------
occur among downstream migrants as a re-
sult of pollution in the Portland harbor.
III. DIFFICULTIES OF
ABATEMENT
While the State of Oregon has recognized
the fish production, water supply, and rec-
reational uses of the Willamette River sys-
tem in its classification of streams, and has
adopted a program of pollution abatement
designed to protect those functions of the
watershed, its program has not been ade-
quate to restore necessary quality to the
river. The Oregon pollution control program
has been most effective in reducing bacterial
concentrations, by encouraging the commu-
nities of the basin to develop waste treat-
ment. It has not dealt successfully with
problems of summer oxygen depletion,
sludges, and slime growths. Pollution reme-
dies have met with limited success because
of two weaknesses: lack of control of pulp
mill waste discharges, and lack of depend-
able summer streamflow.
There are seven pulp mills in the Willam-
ette system. Six discharge their wastes
directly into the Willamette River, and one
discharges wastes into the South Santiam
River. With two exceptions, these mills use
the sulfite pulping process and do not re-
cover cooking chemicals by condensing and
burning wastes, as do plants utilizing the
more modern sulfate, or kraft, process.
50,000
30,000
-. I 0,000
I-
- 5,000
I
_ 3,000
CD' 9-
1 8-
LU
CD
CD
crt
UJ eJ
=» 6-
1,000 —
CD
100
180
160
140
RIVER
120 100 80 60
MILES (FROM MOUTH)
T
40
3-
-r
20
180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40
RIVER MILES (FROM MOUTH)
20
0
I III- Hi
tin-
mail
entrat i
Wi llamette that oc ndi-
! '*v t/: i le. _The depres- r>, as
i 'i t It i- \ u m mr r <• I 1 ••
-------
Since something over half of the wood in-
puts in pulping are, by the nature of the
process, discarded as waste, enormous
quantities of organic waste materials are
generated in the production of pulp. Of some
6.2 million population equivalents of oxygen-
demanding wastes produced in the Willam-
ette River Basin, 70 percent—about 4.5
million population equivalents—occurs from
pulp and paper production. And of the 4.9
million population equivalents of wastes that
enter the Willamette River system after ap-
plication of waste control measures, over 90
percent is from pulping and papermaking.
The State of Oregon has required a high
level of waste treatment for municipalities of
the basin; and, for the most part, they have
responded to the State's demands. Of 91
communities in the Willamette River water-
shed, 74 provide secondary waste treatment
or its equivalent, seven do not collect
wastes, only one does not treat its wastes,
and nine—including the largest city, Portland
—have primary treatment. Food processing
plants, as a group, provide a high level of
waste reduction, in large part through use
of joint municipal-industrial treatment facili-
ties. Miscellaneous manufacturing plants do
not match the waste treatment performance
of municipalities or food processors, but
neither do they constitute significant waste
sources.
In distinction to other waste producers,
the pulp and paper industry, the major
source of wastes, has largely resisted the
State of Oregon's efforts to enforce effec-
tive pollution abatement procedures. Only
three of the seven mills achieve a reduction
of their wastes discharges. The huge Weyer-
2000n
CIPAL AND INDUSTRIAL WASTES
WILLAMETTE RIVER BASIN
Number
of
Plants
Population
Served
Population Equ iva lents
Untreated | Discharged
Removal
Efficiency
PRESENT MUNICIPAL WASTE TREATMENT:
Secondary
Pr imary /,.'
Lagoon
Other
Subtotal
Por tI and (pr
Basin Total
mary )
66
'••:
8
90
91
323. 125
36.350
5.390
1.000
366,715
370.000
736,715
1,026.720
140,950
5.410
350
1, 174,930
385.000
,559,930
229.550
96.880
940
350
328.450
328,450
78
32
83
0
72
79
PRESENT INDUSTRIAL WASTE TREATMENT:
Food p roduc ts
Fo rest p r orJuc t s
Pu Ip and pape r
Miscellaneous
Basin Total
13
20
9
5
49
Excluding Portland, u-lucli dischar( • unhid H
Primary <•! t lumt I" ('<> iumlnu Him.
• inly t'i .summer peri ml unit -i I '.y ln^nnii
sf';rd^c, luttil application, un\ municipal plants,
• I u
-------
Four Willamette Basin pulp mills store their wastes in holding ponds--like this one at
West Linn--daring the summer. Untreated wastes are discharged when stream/low rises.
haeuser Company plant at Springfield is one
of the most efficient mills in the industry in
terms of the ratio of discharged wastes to
production: a kraft mill that condenses and
burns its strong pulping wastes, the plant
also provides primary and secondary treat-
ment of residual wastes, recycles process
waters to reduce wastes, and utilizes sum-
mer spray irrigation to dispose of a portion
of its waste stream during periods of low
streamflow. The Western Kraft Corporation
plant at Albany, another kraft mill, also pro-
vides primary treatment and some beneficial
recycling of process waters. The Crown Zet-
lerbach Corporation plant at Lebanon, a sul-
fite mill, evaporates and dries or burns
strong pulping liquors during the summer.
No treatment is presently provided by sul-
fite pulp mills at Salem, Newberg, Oregon
City, and West Linn. Until recently, the State
of Oregon was willing to accept storage or
transport of a portion of the concentrated
wastes of these plants during the low flow
period as a substitute for treatment, a
marked departure from its stringent policy
toward other waste sources. The State initi-
ated in 1965 the policy of requiring primary
treatment by these mills, in order to reduce
the organic solids that result in sludges and
provide attachments and nutrients for
Sphaerotilus. Primary treatment, however,
effects little reduction in oxygen demand;
and strong wastes will continue to be dis-
charged to the river after primary treatment
facilities have been installed.
The Willamette is a large river, and
through most of the year it has a flow suf-
ficient to absorb even the enormous waste
discharges of pulp and paper production yet
maintain acceptable dissolved oxygen lev-
els. In summer, however, streamflow drops
sharply, and with it the assimilative capacity
of the river. A number of Federal reservoirs
have been constructed in the upper basin
since World War II. Releases from these, for
purposes other than water quality control,
have relieved the burden upon summer as-
similative capacity by supplementing natural
streamflow. Without such releases severe
nuisance conditions, and often complete
oxygen depletion, would occur in Portland
harbor each summer. Oregon's pollution
control program is based to a large degree
upon the operation of these reservoirs. Al-
lowable waste discharges for pulp mills and
treatment requirements for municipalities
have been predicated upon maintenance of
a navigation flow of 5,500 cubic feet per sec-
ond at Salem.
Unfortunately, flows for pollution control
are not specifically provided in the author-
ization of these reservoirs. Pollution control
benefits have occurred incidentally to reser-
voir releases for navigation. And in the oper-
ation of the reservoirs, power generating
schedules, flood control needs, and reser-
voir recreation have sometimes conflicted
with pollution control requirements. Water
needed in summer for water quality control
can, in a dry year, be held in reservoirs in
order to provide for fall power-generation.
-------
• Pal I s at Icitr I
: hr r - nd it • ' '
r?u / ', : ,i : I rat' I" at I 01 : ' •.' t i; -
t .', ,. ,/ , , , , I , ,;r
n (• .if MI i'
IV. POLLUTION ABATEMENT
REQUIREMENTS
Abatement of the pollution of the Willam-
ette River in Portland harbor and of the
South Santiam River depends primarily up-
on reducing the strength of wastes from pulp
and paper plants. The paramount need for
effective pollution control in the Willamette
River Basin is a major reduction of the con-
centrated wastes of sulfite pulping—either
through an evaporation and burning proced-
ure similar to that of kraft pulping or through
treatment that provides equivalent waste
reduction. Primary treatment of wastes is
also essential at the five pulp mills that do
not provide it.
This level of treatment of pulping wastes
is essential both for its direct impact in re-
ducing pollution sources, and as a precon-
dition for securing flow releases from Fed-
eral storage reservoirs By the terms of the
enabling legislation, allocation of storage in
Federal reservoirs for the purpose of aug-
menting water quality may be made only
where "adequate treatment or other meth-
ods of controlling wastes" is provided; and
.
1
WASTE PER TON OF PRODUCT
EipectabTe
w Tre,-.
Ibs 800
50
Hi 1 lamette
Basin Mi
Ibs 800
•
• i •
.
•
•
.
the present level of pulp mill waste treat-
ment is inadequate. Reallocation of storage
in existing Willamette Basin reservoirs to
provide dependable streamflows for water
quality control is being considered by an
interagency task force studying water and
related land resources of the Willamette
River Basin. It is unlikely, however, that stor-
age for this purpose can be provided until
all pulp mills—and the several communities
that do not provide seconaary treatment of
their wastes—meet the waste treatment re-
quirement
V. CONTINUING POLLUTION
CONTROL
Abatement of existing pollution will not
insure maintenance of the water quality de-
sired in the Willamette River system. Pollu-
tion control needs will continue to occur;
and a long term program that anticipates
those needs offers opportunities for major
economies in resource utilization. Such a
program should avert the social costs of a
recurrence of pollution, while foreseeing
and scheduling pollution control require-
ments.
Waste treatment will remain the major ele-
ment in pollution control in the Willamette
River Basin The area is expected to experi-
ence population and industrial growth at
rates exceeding that of the rest of Oregon
or of the United States as a whole. Provid-
ing treatment for wastes resulting from such
expansion, as well as replacing existing
waste treatment facilities as they become
8
-------
Weyerhaeuser Company's pulp and paper plant at Springfield provides a high degree of
waste reduction. Concentrated pulping Liquors are condensed and burned for recovery of
cooking chemicals (smokestacks at rear). Fibers and other solids are settled out in the
two small ponds near the center of the picture. Residual wastes are held up to five days
in the large lagoon, where aerators beat added oxygen into the waters to facilitate waste
dec ompos it ion .
obsolete, will represent a continuing respon-
sibility. Analysis of projected waste produc-
tion and distribution indicates that for the
most part secondary waste treatment will—
with a slight increase in average treatment
efficiency—adequately protect water quality.
In the Tualatin River Basin, however, the
magnitude of anticipated waste loads, even
if recommended storage for quality control
is provided, suggests that advanced waste
treatment must be provided by municipali-
ties and industries by the early 1970's. Simi-
larly, pulp and paper mills, because they
represent such significant waste sources,
may be expected to provide something simi-
lar to conventional secondary waste treat-
ment, in addition to primary treatment and
reduction of concentrated pulping liquors.
Flow regulation for quality control is
a needed supplement to waste treatment.
Storage should be provided at a variety of
sites, in order to meet the streamflow needs
of tributaries as well as those of Portland
harbor; and drafts on storage should be
scheduled in a manner that makes most
efficient use of water and of storage ca-
pacity.
In addition to needs that relate to physical
facilities, effective, economic pollution con-
trol requires a number of institutional and
procedural practices to effectuate continu-
ing surveillance and control of water quality
in the Willamette River system. The immedi-
ate need in this regard is the expansion and
implementation of Oregon's stream stand-
ards for the Willamette River system in a
manner that clearly defines water quality
required to serve appropriate functions of
the river, stream reach by stream reach.
Such standards are required by Federal law
for that portion of the river which is defined
to be interstate water, by reason of its ex-
posure to tidal influence. Standards for the
major part of the river system which is wholly
intrastate should obviously be compatible
with the interstate standard.
Adjudication of water rights to permit
establishment (by the Oregon Water Re-
sources Board) of inviolable base flows in
critical reaches of certain streams will be
necessary if drafts on storage are to be a
dependable controlling factor. Systematic
monitoring and reporting of water quality,
streamflow, and effluent characteristics
must be provided, both to provide a continu-
ing overview of water quality conditions and
to permit use of predictive mathematical
techniques that facilitate decision-making
for water quality protection. Federal agency
programs should be reviewed periodically
by the Federal Water Pollution Control Ad-
ministration for incorporation of procedures
to safeguard water quality against possible
adverse impacts. Reservoir scheduling
should be available to provide streamflows,
as needs are indicated by monitoring and
surveillance of the river system, in order to
make optimal use of water and storage ca-
pacity of the multi-purpose reservoir system.
Measures to increase efficiency of waste
treatment plant operation by providing in-
centives and training to plant operators,
methods to control waste discharges of ves-
sels and houseboats, to control erosion
from land management practices, and to pre-
-------
vent toxic materials from entering surface
waters should be devised and used at the
earliest date.
Research and development needs also
exist. These can be approached through ex-
isting national programs of pollution control
research, since the pollution problems of the
basin are not unique to the area. In the Wil-
lamette Basin, research requirements center
largely upon methods to control urban and
forest land drainage and stormwater over-
flows.
In the area of social and institutional prac-
tices, it would be desirable to develop mech-
anisms for pollution-control institutions that
are based upon the circumstances of water-
sheds. The Clean Waters Restoration Act of
1966 offers considerable Federal incentive
opportunities for development of such insti-
tutions, recognizing the efficiencies to be
derived in scheduling and cooperative
financing of waste collection and treatment
facilities and in orderly development and
implementation of pollution control plans.
VI. COST OF POLLUTION
ABATEMENT AND CONTROL
Costs of pollution abatement and sus-
tained pollution control will not be small.
Estimates of the cost of measures required
to end existing pollution and to provide a
level of waste treatment that meets the re-
quirements of the Oregon State Sanitary
Authority and the "adequate treatment"
standard required for allocation of storage
in Federal reservoirs indicate that about $40
million must be invested in waste collection
and treatment facilities over the next five
10
Sewers, such ax those shou-n here. arc/Tint for an estimated ?^' i pulation equivalents
of untreated i I into the \\illnrn-t'- ind (.imp let ion
: t \ J .s inl-rrpptur system ;. i / / efi:. -'us confri'iu' n ' tfci 'illa-
tion problem -rtlaiui harbor.
-------
tnvi
i- rn t n r \ .
ASSUMED SCHEDULE OF REQUIRED WASTE TREATMENT INVESTMENTS
Investment to
provide ade-
quate t rent -
m e n t levels
Expansion and
replacement,
including ca-
pac i ty for 25
year growth
Immediately
required in-
vest men t to
abate ex ist-
ng pollution
Tertiary
t r e a t m e n t,
Tua lat in Bas in
981-85
years. Roughly a third of the amount—an
estimated $14 million—will be required from
pulp and paper mills, for installation of treat-
ment for removal of settleable solids and
reduction in strength of pulping liquors. An-
other $12 million is attributed to the comple-
tion of an interceptor sewer by the city of
Portland, in order to end the discharge of a
portion of its untreated wastes to the Wil-
lamette River. About $14 million must be
spent to provide secondary waste treatment
to municipal and industrial wastes from sev-
eral sources, and to increase the standard of
efficiency in the several municipal treatment
systems that are overloaded or otherwise
inadequate.
Waste treatment construction costs will
persist after adequate treatment is available.
Expansion of waste production and obso-
lescence of treatment facilities will, as time
passes, result in continuing pressures on
treatment capabilities. Calculations of in-
vestment requirements have been projected.
These are based on the application of exist-
ing technology, 1965 price levels, deprecia-
tion schedules based on twenty-five year
treatment plant life, and regional allocations
of projected population and industrial out-
put. The cost projections indicate that an
additional $65 million will have to be spent-
including $8.5 million for advanced waste
treatment in the Tualatin River Basin and
$19.0 million for additional treatment of pulp
and paper wastes—to maintain an effective
level of waste treatment through the year
1985. Because of the assumed twenty-five
year operating life of such facilities, the ma-
jor portion of waste treatment investments
through the year 2010 is assumed to be
designed into the cost projection.
11
-------
In sum, then, the communities and indus-
tries of the Willamette River Basin can antici-
pate the need to expend about $105 million
(1965 dollars) for waste treatment during the
two decades between 1965 and 1985. About
forty percent of this amount must be spent
over the next five years if abatement of exist-
ing pollution is to be achieved at the earliest
date. Because prevailing practice dictates
that treatment plant and sewer capacity be
designed to accommodate anticipated ex-
pansion of waste loads, the incidence of
costs may be expected to decline markedly
once adequate waste treatment capabilities
have been installed, then to climb again in
the 1980's as facilities that were built during
the late 1950's and early 1960's have to be
replaced.
While pulp and paper mills will have to
bear almost a third of the total anticipated
cost of waste treatment, the other two-thirds
will be spread unevenly among the individ-
aul communities and industries of the basin.
In many cases these costs may be expected
to constitute a considerable burden. Antici-
pation of such costs should assist munici-
palities to meet them in an orderly fashion;
and Federal grants for treatment plant con-
struction will be a major aid in meeting waste
treatment requirements of communities —
and, indirectly, of those industries which
utilize cooperative municipal-industrial treat-
ment works. Watershed pollution control
arrangements could serve a function in eas-
ing financial burdens of communities, both
by providing expertise in scheduling con-
struction requirements and by spreading the
incidence of costs.
Other cost elements, too, must be in-
curred in meeting pollution-control require-
ments. Reservoir storage capacity having a
value in excess of $20 million will be pro-
vided by the Federal government, if alloca-
tion of storage to provide recommended
base streamflows is granted. It is estimated
that roughly a million dollars will be required
to completely adjudicate existing water
rights in order to provide dependable base
streamflows for legitimate water uses, in-
cluding water quality control. Funds must
also be invested in monitoring equipment to
provide a knowledge of the day-to-day qual-
ity, and influences on quality, of the river
system.
12
-------
------- |