EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS FROM USER FEES IN MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT1

ABSTRACT: The Environmental Protection Agency administers a construction grant program to encourage abatement of wastewater pollution by sharing with municipalities the costs of wastewater treatment facilities. The enabling legislation (P.L. 92–500) specifies that EPA's cost share will be 75% of construction costs. It further requires municipalities to collect user fees from industrial users of the facilities to repay that part of the federal grant allocable to the treatment of industrial wastewater. The municipality must return half of the user fees collected to the U.S. Treasury; the municipality is allowed to retain the remaining half. Retention by municipalities of these user fees lowers their effective cost shares and results in the following consequences: (1) a bias for municipalities to select certain kinds of abatement techniques regardless of whether or not they are the least-cost techniques from the national perspective; (2) a bias for municipalities to select larger-than-optimal scales of abatement facilities; (3) a hidden federal subsidy to industry; and (4) grants that favor industrial communities. This article examines the legislative and regulatory requirements for user charges, derives the algebraic expressions for calculating the real federal, municipal, and industrial cost shares with user fees; computes municipal cost shares for selected values of the determinant factors; evaluates efficiency and other consequences of current user fee arrangements; and concludes that the efficiency distortions brought about by the impacts of user fees on cost sharing could be eliminated by requiring that all user fees collected from industry against the federal cost share be returned to the U.S. Treasury.     

PUBLIC HEALTH ASPECT OF TROPICAL WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT1

ABSTRACT. The Governments of Nigeria have planned to build 395 dams in the next five years. Such water resources development may increase the incidence of Schistosomiasis, Malaria, Onchocerciasis, and Trypanosomiasis. Adequate measures should be taken to minimize adverse effects of the projects on the public health.     

DECISION-MAKING IN THE DEVLOPMENT OF URBAN WATERFRONTS FOR PARK/BUSINESS USE1

Abstract: Opportunities for the development of an amalgam of park and leisure-oriented commercial establishments in urban-core waterfont settings exist in many U.S. cities. Public awareness of the need to enhance the environmental quality of these waterfont areas has resulted in a demand for planning and implementation action. However, the lack of understanding of urban political systems has been an inhibiting factor in the development of this park/ business concept. The major factors that influence the decision-making process leading to the development of urban-core waterfronts for park/business use are identified inthis paper. Understanding this decision-making process can aid project implementation and avoid waste of planning effort in time, dollars, and productivity.     

SOCIAL OVERHEAD CAPITAL COSTS OF IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT IN WASHINGTON STATE1

ABSTRACT: Increased irrigation as a means of achieving economic development can impose significant social costs on the state or region of growth. The growth in population induced by additional irrigation will require new roads, water and sewage facilities, schools, fire and police protection, etc. Also the increased energy demands due to irrigation and growth in economic activity must be met. Capital investments required to service these needs of new development can become very large. This study attempts to measure such social overhead costs or irrigation development for some specific irrigation project areas of Eastern Washington. It is shown that investment costs in overhead items can reach $2,000 per acre irrigated or $70,000 per job created. Alternatively, the annual costs can equal $180 per acre or $6,700 per worker. These costs must be paid locally through increased taxes, utility rates, or costs for services.     

FACTORS AFFECTING WATERWAY INVESTMENT DECISIONS1

ABSTRACT: There are many factors, other than economic efficiency, which must be considered in judging the merits of proposed investments in the inland navigation system. No satisfactory formula exists for deciding the net worth of public investments in water resources projects. Such a measure would not be accepted because these investments can serve conflicting goals. Political, rather than technical, judgments are required to resolve these goal conflicts.     

AN OPTIMIZATION MODEL FOR EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT OF URBAN WATER RESOURCES1

ABSTRACT: A mathematical programming model is proposed to determine economically efficient urban water resource allocation and pricing policy by maximizing the sum of the consumer and producer surplus. The optimization of this nonlinear problem is accomplished by the use of linear programming algorithm. The feasibility of using recycled water for municipal purposes is examined in a planning context. The impact of higher water quality discharge standards on pricing and allocation of water is analyzed and the attractiveness of water reuse option is demonstrated.     

CHICAGO METROPOLITAN FLOODWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN1

ABSTRACT: The Chicago Metropolitan Floodwater Management Plan is a cooperative planning program under Public Law 566 of the 83rd Congress (The Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act). The planning effort was jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, and the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago. The project is unique in that it studies a 1260 square mile (3266 sq. kilometer) watershed, which is approximately 35 percent urbanized and contains approximately 7.5 million people. At present, approximately 4.4 percent or 330,600 people live in a floodplain. It is presently estimated that 80,000 acres (32,000 ha.) of the study area are subject to flooding with a current average annual damage estimated at approximately $10 million. The Plan which has been developed to reduce or eliminate these damages is divided into six separate watershed plans, and has been developed through extensive use of local citizen watershed steering committees. The paper discusses the planning process, public participation and implementation both at an overall river basin level and watershed case study level.     

Air pollution in California: Manufacturing vs. services

Relative to manufacturing, service activities are often considered by planners and officials to generate considerably less environmental pollution. This hypothesis is tested by means of an examination of the economic linkages of both manufacturing and service activities and of the resulting direct and indirect emissions of five air pollutants per dollar of output in the California statewide air basin and in four regional basins within the state. Overall acceptance or rejection of the hypothesis depends in part on the particular pollutant and air basin considered but, most importantly, on the judgement as to what activities are to be considered as service activities.This paper is based on research sponsored by the California Air Resources Board under Agreement A7-143-30.     

ESTIMATION OF PRE- AND POST-DEVELOPMENT NONPOINT WATER QUALITY LOADINGS1

ABSTRACT: A simple procedure for estimating pre- and post-development water quality loadings from residential communities is discussed. The procedure deals with: (a) gathering basic water quality loading numbers observed by others at several watersheds with various land uses; (b) obtaining the breakdown of proposed land uses at various phases of the community development; and (c) estimating pre- and post-development water quality loading numbers by taking the weighted average of the basic loading numbers in terms of areal coverages of different land uses at various phases of development. Results of this simplified procedure have been verified indirectly by comparing them with the estimates derived independently through a more fundamental but time-consuming approach. The procedure was used to evaluate the anticipated water quality impact of two future residential communities in South Florida by analyzing four water quality parameters: Suspended Soils (SS), Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphorus (TP), and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD₅). Although computation of loading numbers with mixed land uses is not an exact science at the present time, the recommended approach appears to be the best available technique to analyze quantitatively the water quality-quantity-land use interactions.     

ON THE MEASUREMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF PUBLIC PROJECTS FROM A SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE1

ABSTRACT: The major objectives are (1) to identify the problems involved in measuring the environmental impacts of public projects from selected perspectives, and (2) to elaborate a sociological approach used in an empirical investigation in that respect. The construct of environmental impact of a planned action is generally operationalized from different perspectives and with different methodological emphases in the various disciplines. Even the term environment does not elicit agreement among users as to its exact meaning. Although there has been a steady increase in the number of studies from a sociological perspective concerning environmental problems, there is lack of sociological counsel in writing environmental impact statements. Overall, we lack sociological methodology and operational procedures for that purpose. In an attempt to bring some empirical focus to this field, attitudinal measures employed to discover how residents of a river basin perceived negative and positive environmental impacts of a proposed watershed development project are reviewed. These come from a study of creation of the Cooper Reservoir and Dam in Texas. Data on 343 heads of households m the selected areas were collected through structured questionnaires with items on personal information, a vested interest scale, a knowledge of the project scale, and an environmental impact scale. Data show that perception of impacts by residents is influenced significantly by degree of their vested interests involved. Variables for inclusion in a sociological model of environmental impact are suggested.