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any project which conforms with a comprehensive plan developed or in process of development for a metropolitan area.

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(4) Authorize a total of $6 billion in appropriations for Federal sewage treatment construction grants through fiscal year 1972.

(5) Increase the authorization for appropriations for grants to States and interstate agencies for programs support from $5 million to $10 million annually for 5 years provided the States increase their share.

(6) Authorize appropriations of $25 million annually for 5 years specifically for grants and contracts for research, development, and demonstration of advanced waste treatment and water purification methods and for development and demonstration of new or improved methods of joint treatment systems for municipal and industrial wastes.

(7) Provide for establishment of a revolving fund in the Treasury of the United States in order that the Secretary may make loans to appropriate local authorities for not more than the amount equal to the local required share for treatment works, interceptor sewers, and ancillary needs, provided such communities agree to pay the cost of maintaining and operating the facilities.

(8) Authorize the Secretary to apply to cases of international water pollution the enforcement procedures and authorities provided in the act for abating pollution situations wholly within the United States.

(9) Provide that the chairman of a conference shall afford an opportunity for any person contributing to or affected by alleged pollution to present a statement of his views to the conferees.

(10) Provide a mechanism whereby the Secretary may require submission of relevant information based on existing data on the part of any person whose alleged activities result in discharges which increase or contribute to water pollution or whose activities may affect the quality of waters involved in a conference.

(11) Provide that the Secretary shall, by January 10, 1968, submit to the Congress a comprehensive analysis of the national requirements for and cost of treating municipal, industrial, and other effluents, and other information.

(12) Amend the Refuse Act of 1899 to require consistency with the purposes of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

(13) Amend the Oil Pollution Act, 1924, to extend its application to navigable and interstate, as well as coastal waters, and the adjoining shorelines of the United States, and to extend applica

tion of the prohibition on oil discharges from vessels to boats, shore installations and terminal facilities.

HEARINGS

Public hearings on S. 2947 were held by the committee on April 19, 20, 26, 27, 28, and May 5, 10, 11, and 12. Officials of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Department of the Interior, representatives of State and local governments, water pollution control agencies, conservation organizations, labor unions, industry, and other groups testified at these hearings or presented their views for the record. Significantly, 27 Members of the Senate, representing both political parties, either appeared or filed statements in support of a broadened Federal commitment to water pollution control and abatement.

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The need for an expanded water pollution control and abatement program as expressed by S. 2947 and its $6 billion authorization was emphasized and reemphasized throughout the hearings. A number of other specific improvements in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act were recommended to the committee, some of which are embodied in S. 2947 as amended.

GENERAL STATEMENT

S. 2947 can be considered the first omnibus water pollution control act. It extends and broadens the existing program; it provides a new emphasis in the clean rivers concept; it strengthens other existing law, including the Oil Pollution Act of 1924 and it manifests the total commitment of the Federal Government to abatement of the pollution one of the Nation's most vital resources.

MAJOR PROVISIONS OF BILL

CLEAN RIVERS RESTORATION PROGRAM

The Clean Rivers Restoration Program as established in S. 2947 is a modification of title I of S. 2987, the administration's proposal. It is an expansion of the concepts developed by the Congress in the water quality standards provisions of the Water Quality Act of 1965. The committee, in authorizing a clean rivers program, has provided a method whereby necessary planning can be achieved in river basins. or portions of river basins as part of a broader approach to pollution. control.

The committee does not intend that the impetus created by the Water Quality Act be slowed by the use of river basin planning. The standard setting procedure established in 1965, while not progressing

as rapidly as it might due to the delay created by transfer of the Water Pollution Control Administration to the Department of the Interior, should not be altered or delayed by this act.

Under the clean rivers program, the Secretary is authorized to make 50-percent grants for construction of treatment works and sewer facilities within a designated river basin or portion thereof.

In return for the additional 20-percent Federal grant provided under the clean rivers program, the States must expand their commitment to effective pollution control. S. 2947 provides that the States must, among other things, in order to qualify projects for the 50-percent grant, provide 30 percent of the cost of each project within the designated river basin or portion thereof. The States must also give satisfactory assurance that enforceable water-quality standards either are in effect or will be established on all waters within the State.

The planning agency designated under the clean rivers program is expected to develop comprehensive pollution control and abatement plans which are consistent with water quality standards established pursuant to the Water Quality Act and provide the most effective and economic means of sewage treatment, including multimunicipal or municipal-industrial treatment works construction.

The plan, when appropriate, should demonstrate that treatment facilities proposed will provide for the improvement, as well as the maintenance, of water quality standards within the basin or portion

[p. 3] thereof and should suggest meaningful ways to finance that share of project costs not covered by Federal and State grants.

The Secretary, in approving a proposed plan, should pay special attention to those recommendations within the plan as to the means developed for retiring the non-Federal-State share of the cost of each project. Sewer charges and metering systems may be effective methods to accomplish the above objective.

The committee reiterates its position that pollution must be effectively controlled and abated at the earliest possible date and that no unnecessary roadblocks should be placed in the way of construction of vitally needed treatment works and sewer systems.

GENERAL RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

The committee has amended the Water Pollution Control Act to provide for an accelerated research program. Sums authorized in 1961 are inadequate for an aggressive and imaginative research effort. New authorization of $20 million for fiscal year 1968, $25 million for 1969, and $30 million for 1970 will permit funding to enable the Water

Pollution Control Administration to carry out a research program at the level indicated in the report issued by the Office of Science and Technology, "A Ten-Year Program of Federal Water Resources Research," February 1966.

In addition to the major problems of municipal and industrial wastes and storm and combined sewer discharges, accelerated research is needed to deal with problems resulting from handling and disposal of radioactive wastes, waste discharged from boats and ships, household or small waste disposal systems, accelerated eutrophication and algae blooms, animal feedlot wastes, agricultural runoff, acid mine drainage, and other diverse sources of pollution.

Research on water quality requirements for all water uses and the persistence and degradation of pollutants in the water environment must be accelerated to help establish water quality criteria and standards. Improved techniques for sampling and identification of pollutants are needed to insure an effective implementation of a water pollution control program.

Many of the research projects should be carried through the pilot plant and field evaluation phases so the effectiveness of the research results can be confirmed and demonstrated on a practical scale.

Of particular interest to the committee is the fresh and nontraditional approach to solution of water pollution problems by the aerospace industry. Gov. Edmund G. Brown of California called attention to the capabilities of these industries and the possible utilization of the technology developed for the space program in water pollution control and water reuse. The State of California has already initiated substantial programs in this area.

The committee understands that the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration has in the past contracted with this industrial group to perform research. The committee urges that the Water Pollution Control Administration, with the additional funds authorized in this bill, exploit that space technology as it may be applicable to the problems of water reuse.

In addition to the excellent in-house research capability, the Secretary is urged to make appropriate use of grant and contract authority

[p. 4] to obtain the full benefit of the industrial, private, and academic research potential.

ESTUARY STUDY

The committee has authorized a study of the Nation's estuaries and estuarine zones. This amendment to S. 2947 is an outgrowth of legislation introduced by Senator Joseph Tydings of Maryland to

provide for necessary comprehensive studies of these areas.

On introduction of his bill, S. 3240, Senator Tydings noted that no basic data now exists on the extent and nature of pollution of estuarine zones of the United States. The questions posed by Senator Tydings made a significant impact on the committee.

It is expected that the Department of Interior, in carrying out the estuarine study authorized in S. 2947, will avail itself of relevant expertise, both inside and outside the Federal Government, to insure that the best minds in the Nation are brought into this study. The broad and thoughtful study of the entire system of estuarine zones in this country, including those bays and harbors of Hawaii, will, to quote Senator Tydings, "provide vital information necessary so that the estuary environment we leave our children is a healthy, ordered, and attractive one."

ADVANCED WASTE TREATMENT

In its report entitled "Steps Toward Clean Water," the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution noted that encouraging progress has been made in research toward development of advanced waste treatment methods under the directive provided by the Congress in 1961 amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The committee finds that there still remains an inordinate lag between research and effective application of research findings.

Particular concern attaches to the problem of industrial waste treatment. These wastes now are either treated in the industrial plans or discharged without treatment into public waters.

Although some segments of industry have made progress in the treatment of their wastes, a larger proportion still have not undertaken programs to treat their effluent.

Considering the rising costs of individual industrial treatment facilities, an alternative must be provided to the choice of inadequate treatment or the removal of the industrial activity from the specific area. A most promising alternative is the potential development of public treatment systems for industrial and nonindustrial effluent. S. 2947 therefore provides specific extension of the authority for appropriations to assure necessary continuing and intensified research for the development and demonstration of advanced waste treatment methods. S. 2947 also provides for grants and contracts for research, development, and demonstration of new or improved methods for compatible and economically feasible joint treatment of municipal and industrial wastes.

The committee does not intend joint industrial-municipal waste to be limited to treatment of mixed wastes. Obvious economies could result from operation of industrial-municipal plants "under one roof"

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