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FOR RELEASE AFTER 10 A.M. EDT, THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 19 74
QUARLES WARNS THAT NATION FACES LONG, TOUGH BATTLE TO OVER-
COME WATER POLLUTION
John R. Quarles, Deputy Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency, today warned that despite the progress that
has been made the nation still faces a long and difficult task
in overcoming water pollution.
Quarles, in a speech to the Midwest Research Institute's
Conference on Industry and Clean Water in Kansas City, Missouri,
reviewed the progress that has been made in the past 15 months
in meeting the requirements of the 1972 Amendments of the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
The EPA official said, "The 1972 Act was a complete over-
haul of the entire statutory basis for conducting our national
water pollution control program. Standards were made more
demanding, funding was greatly increased, enforcement was
beefed up, and a host of research, planning and other support-
ing provisions were added."
Quarles said he was impressed by the progress that has
been made, but even more impressed by the effort that had been
expended and the scope of the job that still lies ahead. And,
he conceded that the Agency has missed more deadlines for
standards and regulations than it has met.
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"Underlying the 1972 Act was a major new commitment to
water pollution control that would require a great leap for-
ward across the entire spectrum of water pollution abatement
programs," he said.
The Deputy Administrator said that isn't going to happen,
adding, "Giant steps may be possible on the moon, but on earth
we generally have to proceed at a more measured pace."
The vast machinery of the government and industry cannot
be completely transformed in a year or two or even three,
Quarles continued. He noted that one fundamental misconception
of the 1972 Act was a consistent failure to anticipate and
allow for the workload of the new requirements particularly
on limited State staff and funds.
He called for a practical, realistic and common sense
approach to get the job done without any feelings of panic or
frustration in not being able to achieve unrealistic deadlines
or commitments.
But the Deputy Administrator said he was not challenging
the efficiency or desirability of the goals of the 1972 Act
but rather the transitory problems of getting to these goals.
"Putting together the nuts and bolts of a program that
will work and actually making it operate involves something
more than commitment, idealism and deadlines," Quarles said.
The Deputy Administrator said the most important action
that must be taken now to get the job done is to simplify the
procedures employed by government at all levels.
"We are now in the process of reviewing our regulatory
requirements, looking for ways to make modifications which
may make the requirements more flexible and workable ;n Quarles
said.
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