"County Drainage Inadequate More Money Needed, Metropolitan "Detergents-A Source of Pollution and What Is Being Done," paper by Enforcement measures against pollution of interstate or navigable waters Federal Water Pollution Act (showing proposed sec. 9 changes). Page 612 322 346 662 350 95 86 320 449 60 192 German legislation of detergents in washing and cleaning media (act of 352 Health, Education, and Welfare Department, Responsibilities Related to the Federal Water Supply and Water Pollution Control Program, HEW staff study of the 1961 act 323 "Irrigation Disposal of Wastes," an article by Ray Westenhouse, of Weyerhaeuser Co. . 229 Laboratories and research facilities of the Division of Water Supply and 339 Loans made by Small Business Administration to firms to finance equipment to reduce water and air pollution... 525 Memorandum of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Adminis- "Pollution from Combined Sewer Systems: Status of Research and 101 636 71 457 "Probing Into Pollution," article in the Washington Post, June 24, 1963. Proposed amendments to S. 649: 544 Detroit Department of Water Supply, Remus, Gerald, general mana Record of contracts on advanced waste treatment research (table of the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission "River Suds Here Before Detergents," article in the Crete (Nebr.) News, February 14, 1963 – 527 634 Senate Report 29, 87th Congress, Select Committee on National Water 572 Sewage treatment-Construction grant projects by population groups served by projects, 1956-62, table. 117 "Solution to Detergents Problem May Head Off Angry Reckoning, article in the Evening Star, June 11, 1963. 164 State grants for the construction of municipal sewage treatment facilities (table). 443 State legislation providing financial aid for sewage treatment facilities. 443 622 Summary of annual appropriations, Public Law 660: 1956-63 (table). Summary of State actions to establish water quality criteria or standards (table). 95 120 Water usage and consumption in billion gallons per day (table). 436 354 WATER POLLUTION CONTROL MONDAY, JUNE 17, 1963 U.S. SENATE, SPECIAL SUBCOMMITTEE ON AIR AND WATER POLLUTION Washington, D.C. The special subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a.m., in room 4200, New Senate Office Building, Senator Edmund S. Muskie presiding. Present: Senators Muskie (presiding), Randolph, Moss, Metcalf, Bayh, Nelson, Boggs, Miller, and Pearson. Senator MUSKIE. The committee will be in order. This morning we are starting a series of hearings on four bills which are pending before the committee. These hearings will go far beyond the provisions of those bills. In the course of these hearings, the subcommittee will objectively examine and inquire into the whole breadth and scope of the water pollution problem facing the Nation as well as to consider the specific items of legislation presently before us on this subject. A staff report dealing with the nationwide pollution problem reveals that a rapidly increasing backlog of needs is developing. Three modern-day sociological phenomena-the increasing population, growing urbanization, and rapidly changing technology-all aggravate problems for which control practices already exist and contribute new and complex problems of chemical, pesticide, and radioactive pollution. While the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1956 and its 1961 amendments have provided the basis for a national program under which a good measure of progress has been achieved, much more is indicated as urgently necessary to be accomplished. Headway has been most notable in the municipal waste treatment construction field in response to the stimulation provided by Federal financial assistance. However, there is a current backlog amounting to $2.6 billion which must be overcome at the same time as replacements and additional new facilities are provided to take care of the population and urban growths. Industry has been laggard in its responsibilities and the needs here are as great as those for the municipalities. A staggering $8 billion estimated cost is the price tag facing cities in undertaking the necessary separation of combined storm and sanitary sewers, now constituting a significant pollution problem. The emerging problems involving chemical, pesticide, and radioactive wastes are filled with unknowns which need answers before adequate treatment methods can be developed. Every effort is needed, of course, to safeguard the public health and welfare through effective controls until research has found these answers. The bills before the subcommittee are specifically related to certain of these problems. My own bill, S. 649, in which 18 of my colleagues have joined in sponsoring, would accord appropriate organizational status to the agency charged with the responsibilities for achieving the vital national water quality goals; would increase the stimulation provided for municipal treatment plant construction by raising the amounts of the Federal contribution for individual and multimunicipal projects; provide inducement for effective metropolitan planning in waste disposal; authorize a new program of assistance for the separation of combined sewers; and authorize the issuance of Federal regulations setting forth standards of quality and of permissible discharges applicable to interstate or navigable waters. The synthetic detergent problem is the subject of two bills, S. 1118 and S. 1183, and they would provide controls for its resolution. Loans to small business concerns to aid them in providing industrial treatment facilities would be provided by S. 737. Additionally, we anticipate that there will be other problems explored as a result of the testimony of witnesses and the panel discussions which have been arranged to provide the subcommittee members with a thorough understanding of the water pollution problem in all of its serious and challenging aspects. Do other members of the committee have statements? Senator Boggs? Senator Randolph ? Senator RANDOLPH. I want to add just a word, sir. As I understand it, Mr. Chairman, you will proceed with our hearings covering the general subject matter, but with emphasis at the beginning on water pollution; is that true? Senator MUSKIE. The Senator is correct. Senator RANDOLPH. I would also ask what is anticipated in the manner of attention, on the pollutant effects of our atomic energy program. including the effects of nuclear testing. Senator MUSKIE. This is one of the problems which we hope to explore thoroughly and in depth, not only in next week's hearings, but, more particularly, subsequently. And the hearings have no termination date. We itend to go into this whole field as thoroughly as necessary to get a complete understanding, first of all, of the size of the problem, and, as the Senator suggests, the problem related to nuclear testing is one of the particularly frustrating and difficult and complex new ones. But also in the problems of other new additions to the pollution stream. And, of course, we expect to get into the air pollution problem as well. Senator RANDOLPH. Mr. Chairman, I would want the record to indiIcate that I commend the chairman of the Public Works Committee, Senator McNamara, for realizing, with other members of the committee, the urgency of this problem. And, I am sure that Senator Muskie, as chairman of the special subcommittee, will also carry out the imperativeness of the subject matter under discussion. It is a privilege for me to serve in connection with this vital program of inquiry. Senator MUSKIE. I thank the Senator. I understand the urgency of his interest in this whole problem as it exists in his own State and other States. It exists in my State. In both of our States I suspect we have an appreciation of pure water that is not understood by those who do not have similar exposure to it. I see other Senators here who have the same experience. Senator Miller, do you have anything you would like to say? Senator MILLER. I have no particular comments, Mr. Chairman, except I do want to indicate that we are deeply interested in this problem in my State. While I was in the Iowa Legislature, we passed one of the earlier State bills on this subject. Iowa is flanked on the east by the Mississippi River and the west by the Missouri River, and is acutely aware of the need for action in this area. I am very hopeful that these hearings will give us the facts we need to legislate wisely in the Federal field. Senator MUSKIE. I thank the Senator. Senator Metcalf? Senator Bayh? Without objection, there will be inserted at this point in the record S. 649, along with reports from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Comptroller General of the United States, Department of Labor, Department of the Interior, Bureau of the Budget, and the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations; S. 737, along with reports from the Departments of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Treasury, the Bureau of the Budget, the Comptroller General of the United States, and the Small Business Administration. Then will appear S. 1118 and S. 1183, along with their reports from the Departments of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Treasury, the Bureau of the Budget, and the Department of Justice. (The bills, together with the respective reports previously referred to, follow :) [S. 649, 88th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, to establish the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration, to increase grants for construction of municipal sewage treatment works, to provide financial assistance to municipalities and others for the separation of combined sewers, to authorize the issuance of regulations to aid in preventing, controlling, and abating pollution of interstate or navigable waters, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 466) is amended by inserting after section 1(b) thereof the following new subsection: "(c) It is the purpose of this Act to establish a positive national water pollution control policy of keeping waters as clean as possible as opposed to the negative policy of attempting to use the full capacity of such waters for waste assimilation." SEC. 2. Such Act is further amended by redesignating sections 2 through 14 as sections 3 through 15, respectively, and by inserting after section 1 the following new section: "FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ADMINISTRATION "SEC. 2. There is hereby created within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare a Federal Water Pollution Control Administration (herein referred as to the 'Administration'). The Administration shall be headed by a Commissioner of Water Pollution Control (herein referred to as the 'Commissioner'). The Commissioner shall administer this Act through the Administration under of course, to safeguard the public health and welfare through effective controls until research has found these answers. The bills before the subcommittee are specifically related to certain of these problems. My own bill, S. 649, in which 18 of my colleagues have joined in sponsoring, would accord appropriate organizational status to the agency charged with the responsibilities for achieving the vital national water quality goals; would increase the stimulation provided for municipal treatment plant construction by raising the amounts of the Federal contribution for individual and multimunicipal projects; provide inducement for effective metropolitan planning in waste disposal; authorize a new program of assistance for the separation of combined sewers; and authorize the issuance of Federal regulations setting forth standards of quality and of permissible discharges applicable to interstate or navigable waters. The synthetic detergent problem is the subject of two bills, S. 1118 and S. 1183, and they would provide controls for its resolution. Loans to small business concerns to aid them in providing industrial treatment facilities would be provided by S. 737. Additionally, we anticipate that there will be other problems explored as a result of the testimony of witnesses and the panel discussions which have been arranged to provide the subcommittee members. with a thorough understanding of the water pollution problem in all of its serious and challenging aspects. Do other members of the committee have statements? Senator Boggs? Senator Randolph? Senator RANDOLPH. I want to add just a word, sir. As I understand it, Mr. Chairman, you will proceed with our hearings covering the general subject matter, but with emphasis at the beginning on water pollution; is that true? Senator MUSKIE. The Senator is correct. Senator RANDOLPH. I would also ask what is anticipated in the manner of attention, on the pollutant effects of our atomic energy program. including the effects of nuclear testing. Senator MUSKIE. This is one of the problems which we hope to explore thoroughly and in depth, not only in next week's hearings, but, more particularly, subsequently. And the hearings have no termina tion date. We itend to go into this whole field as thoroughly as necessary to get a complete understanding, first of all, of the size of the problem, and, as the Senator suggests, the problem related to nuclear testing is one of the particularly frustrating and difficult and complex new ones. But also in the problems of other new additions to the pollution stream. And, of course, we expect to get into the air pollution problem as well. Senator RANDOLPH. Mr. Chairman, I would want the record to indicate that I commend the chairman of the Public Works Committee, Senator McNamara, for realizing, with other members of the committee, the urgency of this problem. And, I am sure that Senator Muskie, as chairman of the special subcommittee, will also carry out the imperativeness of the subject matter under discussion. It is a privilege for me to serve in connection with this vital program of inquiry. |