Document NELdZ9wV8GG17mmznvXDROM3V

green bay, ms. PRESS-GAZETTE D. 48,000 S. 59,500 JUL24B75 *"* News In Brief V. DNR: State Water Will Improve Fast MADISON (AP) -- Overall aster quality In Wisconsin la improving gradually, but rap id improvement if expected within the next decade, the Natural Reaourcea Depart ment says New federal and state pro grams will aid in obtaining that goal, the DNR aaid. In its 300-page annual water quality report to Congress, the DNR said all but 305 miles of Wisconsin's 3,360 miles of ma jor rivers already meet na tional water quality standards that must be attained by 1633. Of the 703 major industrial waste-water dischargers in the state, 411 appear to be meeting effluent limitations set for 1677, the DNR said. Municipalities are projected to spend |65l million on se wage treatment plant con struction between now and 1960, and the pulp and paper industry is expected to spend $153 million during (bat peri od. The DNR said polluted run off from farms and cities is becoming more obvious as In dustrUU end municipal dis charges are cleaned up. An estimated 7.2 million acre* of Wisconsin's 12.2 million acres of cropland have dominant erosion problems. Trace amounts of toxic chemicals in fish are still a problem, the moat recent being high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) noted in fish from Lake Michigan, Lake Pepin and the Upper Fox River. The report aaid cleaning up discharges from municipal se wage treatment plants is like ly to be as difficult and expen sive as industrial pollution control, although Wisconsin has been ahead of most other states In this field. Of 550 treatment plants dis charging to surface waters, 212 have been Improved dur ing the last five years and 66 meet 1677 state and federal ef fluent limits. A final solution for these problems will depend on "ac ceptance of higher costs, self discipline and conservatism in I uses of water," the DNR con- eluded. ' . HONS 031036