Document mnwQa3baNDZMg7nezObnLJ5O

* State Water Quality Better Overall water quality in Wis consin in Improving gradually, and rapid Improvement la likely within the next decade, aa new federal and atale programs begin to taka effect. That la the basic message In a 309-pagc "Annual Water Quality Report to Congress" recently published by the Dept, of Natural Resources (DNR). The document la available to the public at DNR dlatrict offices in Madison, Milwaukee. Green Bay. Rhinelander, Spooner and Edu Claire and in the document aactlon of 84 public libraries throughout Uie state. The report contains the latest and most detailed information obtainable on Wisconsin water quality and pollution control. Included are accounts of progress to date, analyses of problems yet to be solved and a wealth of data collected from the state's lakes ml stream. i The report points out, lor in stance, that, of Wteconrtn's 3,980 mikw of major rivers, all but 305 miles already meet national water quality standards that must be attained by 1183 and that, of the 703 major industrial wastewater dischargers In the ' state, 411 appear to be meeting effluent limitations set for 1877. Financial projections show that municipalities will be spending H8l-mil!lon sewage treatment plant construction between now and 1880 and that the pulp and paper industry alone will be spending $lS3-milUon on pollu tion control during the some period. However, other sections of the report make it clear that a lot of work remains to be done: * Polluted runoff from farms and dtias Is a problem which Is becoming more obvious as in-, dustrlnl and municipal discharges are cleaned up. The 8late Board of Soil and Water Conservation Districts estimates that 7.3 million of Wlaconsin'a Cleaning up Uw discharges from municipal sewage traatnimt plan la lately to he as difficult and expensive as Indus trial pollution control. So far, Wlicomtn has kept ahead of most other states la this field. Ail sanitary towers in the elate lead lo some kind of treatment plant, which will be used for further and 88 percent of the sewered improvement, and ( least 41- population is served by secondary billion will have to spent to bring treatment. Bui as the public three plants tlnd their sewer sys demand for clean water increases tems up lo anticipated 1998 and water quality standards get treatment needs. tougher, tint treatment plan Must readers of (he report need frequent modernization. probably will pick up its most significant message "between Of the slate s 59U treatment plants that discharge to surface waters, 212 have been improved or rebuilt during the last five years, and 88 now meet the requirements of 1877 state and federal efffuenl limits. Even so, mure then 900 of the plants are on the wailing list Ibr federal grants the lines": The fact that en gineering, dollars and law enfor cement alone will not be able to provide us the clean water we need. In addition to that effort, traditional attitudes toward the uses of water, and the costs of those uses, will have to be altered if wo are to reach our clean water goals and avoid extending the 12.2 million seres of cropland problems of the past into the fu have dominant erosion problems ture. ' which contribute silt and fer Today's pollution abatement tilizer to streams; urban storm programs are expensive and dif water also enters streams after ficult because they are an at every rain, carrying with it' tempt to correct a century of pollutants washed off lawns, abuse within a few decades. In streets and construction sites. A Uw part, the environmental costa number of mattes and demon of urban development, industrial stration projects are being ranted growth and agricultural expul out to define the techniques for sion were not paid, or even con controlling this kind of pollution, sidered fat planning, because the but its abatement is many years market system could not account and dollars away. for them. Pollution, erosion, toxic chemicals and other "external" Trace* amounts of toxic ; . X chemicals in fish still are a -A problem, and no sooner are some of these substances brought under control than othen arise to take (heir place. For example, since the statewide ban on DDT use, concentrations of the pes ticide In Uke Michigan Rett have been declining. Bui recently, high concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, have been noted In flab from Lake Michigan, Lake Pepin and part af the upper Fox River. Rules are being drafted to central the use and discharge of PCBs in Wisconsin. costs of growth simply were passed along lo the Mninximenl and to the future. But now that (he environment's capacity for waste assimilation has been taxed to the limit in many places, it is up to us to pay the due bill* The state and federal water pollution control statutes passed in the early '70s mandate the preservation of biological in tegrity and aesthetic quality in our waters. That means that, from now on. the environment costs of our activities must be paid as they are incurred, in the form of better waste treatment, alternate methods of waste dis posal and changed resource con sumption habits. In the future, ail water use will have to be on a "pay as you go" basis. So a final analysis of the "An nual Water Quality Report to Congress" could be something like this: Wisconsin Is making steady progress using technology and money to manage our water quality problems -- but a final solution for these problems will depend on our acceptance of higher costs, self-discipline and conservatism in our uses of water. Wisconsin State Journal MADISON, wise. D. 75,762 SUN. 120,281 JUL 291975 $ HONS 031058