Mr. REED. That was a temporary restriction that has now been removed.

Senator MUSKIE. So you are moving ahead all right?

Mr. REED. They will be OK.

Senator MUSKIE. Thank you.

Our next witness is Dr. Leon W. Weinberger, Chief of the Basic and Applied Sciences Program, Federal Water Pollution Control Administration, Department of the Interior.

STATEMENT OF LEON W. WEINBERGER, CHIEF, BASIC AND APPLIED SCIENCES PROGRAM, FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Dr. WEINBERGER. Thank you, sir.

You note in my statement I omitted the departmental designation. Senator MUSKIE. I know. You were cagey.

Dr. WEINBERGER. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be here today to present this testimony on how S. 2947, S. 2987, and other legislation related to amendment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act would affect the research program of the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration.

Both S. 2947 and S. 2987 would lift the existing appropriation limitation contained in section 5(d) (2) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and we concur in these proposals.

S. 2947 identifies specifically another area for the application of intensified research, namely, developing and demonstrating new or improved advanced waste treatment and water purification methods of compatible joint treatment systems for municipal and industrial wastes. S. 2947 proposes grant and contract authority for this needed research at an annual level of $25 million for 5 years. We concur in this recognition of the need for greater research activity and that major emphasis should be given to actual applied demonstrations of new treatment methods, both on the pilot plant scale and full field

evaluation scale.

We would point out, however, that a similar congressional intent of giving recognition to the research needs, by authorizing a specific sum in the 1961 Amendments to the Water Pollution Control Act, has now become a restrictive factor in our research effort. For this reason, Mr. Chairman, we suggest that no specific appropriation authorization be imposed. Section 12(c) of the act adequately authorizes the appropriation of sums necessary for carrying out the acts' functions, including a diversified research program.

We concur with the observation made by the subcommittee in its report "Steps Toward Clean Water" to the Committee on Public Works, U.S. Senate, January 1966, that:

It further appears eminently appropriate and desirable that the competencies and expertise of private industry be enlisted in these important research areas. To this end, the Subcommittee believes the Secretary should make broader use of the contract and grant authorities provided in this act.

However, the amended section 6 proposed in S. 2947 may restrict the ability of the Secretary to use the most competent talent available to carry out the most effective research program. The restrictions may come about because not more than 25 percent of the funds authorized

in this section may be used for contracts with public and private agencies and institutions and with individuals.

At least 75 percent of the funds would be available in the form of grants only to States, municipalities, or intermunicipal or interstate agencies who would have to provide at least 50 percent of the project cost on a matching basis. We agree that it is preferable that the cost of research and development not be borne entirely by the Federal Government; however, it may not be possible to have the necessary pilot plant and field evaluation scale projects carried out through the grants mechanism. It is recommended that the Secretary have greater latitude in the distribution between grant and contract funds in section 6. We would expect to encourage the use of cooperative, costsharing projects both in grants and in contracts.

Water pollution is today recognized as one of our major national problems. The steps which must be taken to control water pollution and to provide us with the necessary water quality were spelled out by Commissioner Quigley. They are: (1) more and more practical research, (2) more and better planning, (3) much more construction, and (4) more effective enforcement.

The need for more research has virtually the unanimous concurrence of all those concerned with water pollution control (1) Federal, State, and local governments, (2) scientists and engineers, (3) conservationists, (4) industry, and (5) managers and operators of water and waste treatment facilities. The highest priority of research is invariably the need to develop new and improved techniques for waste treatment and specifically to develop the technology to permit more waste water reuse. The following recent reports are particularly significant :

1. "A 10-Year Program of Federal Water Resources Research" prepared by the Federal Council for Science and Technology, Committee on Water Resources Research, February 1966.

2. "Waste Management and Control", National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, 1966.

3. "Restoring the Quality of Our Environment", Report of the Environmental Pollution Panel, President's Science Advisory Committee, November 1965.

4. "A Special Report on Water Supply and Pollution Control-Are We Ready for the Future?," Water Works and Wastes Engineering, volume 2, 1965.

And, of course, the report from this subcommittee on the extensive hearings which it held in 1965.

NEEDED RESEARCH

The trend in needed research in water pollution control is clear. We need or will need, in the near future, an arsenal of practical methods by which all impurities, man-made or caused by man's activities, can be kept from our water resuorces. Municipal, industrial, and agricultural users of water may have to return used water to our water courses at a quality at least as good as that of the water withdrawn. Land users will have to modify their practices to insure no deleterious changes in the quality of runoff water. And natural processes, such as erosion, which adversely affect water quality will have to be controlled. The major goal of water pollution control research

is to develop the necessary control methods. When we can practice this total pollution control of municipal and industrial wastes, urban runoff, rural runoff resulting from man's activities, and natural sources, continual reuse of water will be a reality, and except in those locations where there is a large consumptive use, water shortages need not occur. Rapid population and industrial growth, coupled with changing technologies and land practices, has resulted in a large increase in the amount, kinds, and complexity of pollutants requiring treatment before discharge to the Nation's water-courses.

Existing treatment technology is rapidly proving inadequate to deal with the mass and complexity of today's pollution. These processes, once inappropriately described as providing "complete" treatment, actually remove only 40 to 60 percent of all the pollutants present-principally those pollutants which can be separated physically by screening and settling, and by biological degradation. Many of the new organic chemical pollutants pass through the treatment process unchanged or relatively so. Biological processes oxidize nitrogen and phosphorous compounds into readily available plant nutrients which are causing major algal and associated pollution problems in down

stream waters.

The Nation has already entered the water reuse phase but increasing needs will require multiple reuse of the same waters, particularly in the water-short Southwest and Southwest-Pacific areas and in the highly populated and industrialized areas of the Midwest, Northeast, and Middle Atlantic.

Multiple reuse of water will not be possible unless much more effective and efficient waste treatment processes are developed than those available now. These will need to be basically new processes, probably utilizing chemical and physical techniques.

The objective of our water purification and reuse program is to develop these new treatment processes-advanced waste treatment. More broadly, the goal is to develop a new arsenal of treatment tools which will permit not only total pollution control but also deliberate, controlled reuse of water. Reuse, greatly augmenting our natural fresh water supplies, will be possible through recharge of ground waters with treated waste effluents and, more directly, through the complete renovation of waste waters for deliberate recirculation in municipal or industrial water systems.

More answers to more difficult pollution problems can be achieved through a successful water purification and reuse research program than through any other research.

Answers are required now and more will be required soon in reaching decisions on the need for expenditures of billions of dollars on—

(a) Storage of water in Federal reservoirs for regulating streamflows for water quality control.

(b) Storage of water in Federal reservoirs for municipal and industrial water supply purposes.

(c) Source development for public water supplies.

(d) Importation of water from water-surplus to water-short

areas.

(e) Design and construction of municipal and industrial waste treatment works.

(f) Water recreation developments.

Although considerable progress has been made under the present program, a greatly accelerated water purification and reuse program is needed now which will incorporate the best talents of the Federal Government, the university and private research communities, and industry through

(a) In-house research.

(b) Contract research.

(c) Field evaluations of most promising treatment processes to determine efficiency, costs, and design criteria leading to full-scale applications.

The total Federal expenditure for research to develop new treatment technology through fiscal year 1966 has been less than $5 million. Under this funding, however, it has been shown possible, at laboratory and pilot-scale, to achieve any degree of waste treatment desired and, in fact, to return a waste water to a quality at least as high as that of the water before use. Much research and development work remains to be done, however, before these degrees of treatment can be accomplished at any necessary location, under any necessary conditions, and at the lowest practical cost. These efforts require resources-funds, facilities, personnel, and time.

Even without any active solicitation of proposals for research projects in this area, a backlog of some $4 million in proposed but unfunded projects now exists. This illustrates, in some small measure, the high level of interest in this problem among industrial, academic, and governmental research scientists and engineers.

An increased rate of effort to completely develop presently known processes and also to explore and develop new processes and process modifications could be carried out. To the present time, approximately 35 separation or ultimate disposal processes have been considered. Of these, approximately 10 or 12 have been rejected while the rest are at some stage of feasibility determination, engineering development, or process evaluation. It can well be expected that about 10 to 12 new approaches will be considered annually and that 3 or 4 of these will deserve investigation to at least the engineering development stage.

The average cost of completely developing a process might be $9 to $10 million. These development costs, however, are not unreasonable in light of the annual costs of $1 to $2 billion spent in constructing municipal and industrial waste treatment plants and in the even greater amounts of low-flow augmentation costs and storm sewer separation costs which could be affected directly by these research findings.

Our experience has demonstrated the great importance and efficiency of conducting simultaneous and complementary in-house and contract research projects. It has also shown that the overall effectiveness of contract research can be very greatly enhanced through the intensive application of technical direction, coordination, and monitoring. A contract support staff of engineers, scientists, economists, and other professional personnel must provide continuing planning, data interpretation and analysis, and system optimization services to the program by using the most up-to-date techniques and principles, such as operations research, critical path analysis, and cost engineering. This staff must also solicit the interest and ideas of the most competent

scientific and engineering minds in the Nation; encourage the submission of proposals in light of the overall broad attack on the problem; monitor, direct, and coordinate projects in progress; and interpret and evaluate results and recommend continuance, termination, or redirection of the work. The staff must also conduct adequate liaison with other agencies and organizations, both within and without the Federal Government. For these reasons, we believe it to be of the utmost importance not to "cut corners" with respect to either numbers or competence of research staff.

It has also been proven extremely valuable to use cooperative project agreements with various local authorities to allow actual plantsite studies by both in-house and contract researchers. Such installations have been initiated at Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Lebanon, Ohio, at Lancaster, Pomona, and Whittier Narrows, Calif., and here at the District of Columbia. Other such field sites will be used when appropriate.

FIELD EVALUATION, DEMONSTRATION, EXPERIMENTAL, AND MODEL PLANTS

The solution of water pollution problems will require the application of existing techniques, plus additional research and development for new and improved techniques. Research and development generally goes through a series of steps ranging from exploratory studies through laboratory research, pilot plants, and field evaluation. In the past our efforts have been mainly in laboratory research and there has been a recognized deficiency in the application of research findings. The application of research findings requires that someone undertake the construction and operation of a new type facility which is often very expensive and which is associated with a greater risk of failure than with processes which are already proven in practice. The construction of remedial facilities in water pollution control is the responsibility, to a considerable extent, of local authorities who may have limited financial resources. Often these authorities feel that they cannot afford the risk associated with trying new methods. It may very well be in the best public interest for the Federal Government to design, construct, and operate full-scale facilities to develop and demonstrate new ways of pollution control. Such facilities could be built in cooperation with existing or new municipal installations or at Federal installations. Examples of full-scale projects which may have to be built to assure an effective water pollution control program are—

(1) Latest techniques of waste treatment.

(2) Methods to control nitrates and phosphates which cause fertilization of lakes; included would be procedures for removing these nutrients from lakes and streams.

(3) Methods for handling, conditioning, and disposal of impurities removed from waste streams.

(4) Systems for waste water purification and reuse, including ground water recharge.

(5) New processes for industrial waste treatment to serve as models to industry and State regulatory authorities on how pollution can be reduced and controlled in an economical manner. (6) In-stream treatment methods.