A Report of Water Pollution in the South Platte River Basin February 1953

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When a man's environment has been one of practical cleanliness he lives longer, produces more, and his enjoyment of living is greatly increased, This intangible benefit is one which cannot be neglected from either an economic or social viewpoint. POLLUTION PREVENTION MEASURES II' EMCT Water pollution control agencies of Basin States have, in general, good records. 11 nicipalities and industries in these States have shown a spirit of cooperativeness and an understanding of pollution control- needs by installing numerous waste treatment plants. Programs for training sewage plant operators have been developed by the State control agencies including consultative visits to sewage plants. The agencies have also familiarized the public regarding the effects of pollution and the needs for new or improved treatment plants. The State health agencies exercise control over the construction of muni® cipal and industrial treatment works by requiring that plans and specifi- cations for sewage treatment structures be submitted for approval. This requirement has protected the interests of the public and has generally resulted in municipal waste treatment works. The effects of pollution have been discussed with many local groups, Operators of sewage treat- ment works have been kept informed concerning new methods of treatment. A large measure of present control can be attributed to the public health educational program instituted by the State agencies. The State pollution control agencies plan regular visits to sew- age treatment works, at which time the plants are inspected and reports of their condition prepared for submission to municipal officials. Plant inspections are supplemented by occasional stream investigations in order to determine effects of contributed pollution on the biochemical and bio- logical characteristics of the streams. Sewage treatment works can be credited with removing about /.,6 per-- cent of the municipal pollution of the Basins I%lunicipal `treatment con- sists of the following: 16 primary treatment w {arks serving about 538,650 people; 27 secondary treatment plants for about 149,240 people. Si.Vteen municipalities with a population of 19,430 (table 7) provide no treatment„ Adequacy of municipal and industrial treatment facilities .is Listed in table 9. Progress in pollution abatement is shown in table 10. From 1946 to 1952, nine municipal plants and no industrial plants were com- pleted. The tremendous amount of waste from the sugar refining industry during the months of October, November, December and January is virtu- ally untreated. However, this problem is now under study by the Great Western Sugar Company. The oil refineries have oil separators at each of the six plants. Dine of the 13 meat packing or slaughtering houses have some degree of treatment; 3 of the 3 canneries and 1 of the 3 dairies provide treatment; the malted milk plant and the brewery are in the process of constructing a new treatment plant as a joint operation, 31