PER DAY. IT IS EXPECTED THAT OUR RESEARCH CAN YIELD SAVINGS IN THIS EXPENSE WITHOUT SACRIFICING WATER QUALITY. ICPRB EXPECTS TO FIND THIS POTENTIAL FOR CUTTING OPERATING COSTS BY MODELLING THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND FLOW ON DO. TEMPERATURE CONTROLS THE DO SATURATION LEVEL, AND THE RATES OF CHEMICAL REACTIONS CONSUMING AND PRODUCING OXYGEN. FRESHWATER INFLOW PROVIDES OXYGEN, DILUTES EXISTING OXYGEN DEMAND, AND MAY AFFECT TEMPERATURE, FLOWS RESULT IN LOWER DO LEVELS IN THE RECEIVING WATERS. AS A RESULT, LOW DO IS A PROBLEM TYPICALLY ONLY DURING THE SUMMER; WHILE DURING THE WINTER DO LEVELS ARE AT OR NEAR THE MAXIMUM, IRRESPECTIVE OF NITRIFICATION OF TREATED SEWAGE DISCHARGES. RECOGNIZING THE HIGHER AMBIENT LEVELS OF DO DURING THE WINTER, SOME OPERATING PERMITS ALREADY ALLOW SEASONAL USE OF NITRIFICATION. HOWEVER, THE DATES SELECTED TO BEGIN AND END NITRIFICATION HAVE BEEN SOMEWHAT ARBITRARILY CHOSEN. OUR MODELS WILL MORE PRECISELY DEFINE WHEN SEASONAL CHANGES IN TEMPERATURE AND STREAMFLOW WOULD REQUIRE NITRIFICATION TO BEGIN IN THE SPRING; AND WHEN IT WILL BE SAFE TO "TURN OFF" NITRIFICATION IN THE FALL. THIS WILL ALLOW NITRIFICATION TO BE USED IN THE SHORTEST POSSIBLE PERIOD OF TIME, CONSISTENT WITH MAINTAINING IN GENERAL, HIGHER TEMPERATURES AND LOWER WATER QAULITY. CURRENT RESEARCH IS SPECIFICALLY ORIENTED TO WATER QUALITY PROBLEMS IN THE POTOMAC RIVER AND ESTUARY, BUT THE METHODOLOGY WE ARE DEVELOPING FOR THIS PROJECT CAN BE GENERALIZED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY WITH COMMENSURATELY GREATER SAVINGS IN PLANT OPERATING EXPENSES; AND WITHOUT SACRIFICING WATER QUALITY. ICPRB PLAYS A UNIQUE INTERGOVERNMENTAL ROLE IN THE POTOMAC BASIN. IT HAS PUT FEDERALISM INTO CONCRETE--AND SUCCESSFUL--PRACTICE FOR 40 YEARS. WITHOUT FEDERAL PARTICIPATION, THERE WILL BE AN EMPTY PLACE AT THE TABLE. FEDERAL PARTICIPATION ENHANCES EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ESSENTIAL LOCAL-STATE-FEDERAL RELATIONSHIPS SO VITAL TO THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AND OTHER NATIONAL INTERESTS IN THE BASIN. I FEEL STRONGLY THAT THE BENEFITS TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FAR EXCEED THE COST OF THE $68,000 APPROPRIATION WHICH WE ARE REQUESTING. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO TESTIFY, AND NOW MR. EASTMAN AND I WILL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS. LETTER FROM CHAIRMAN JOSEPH D. GEBHARDT February 10, 1983 Hon. Tom Bevill, Chairman and Water Development U.S. House of Representatives Dear Mr. Chairman: As Chairman of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin I request the opportunity to appear before your subcommittee to ask the subcommittee's approval of $68,000 for ICPRB in the FY 1984 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill. The authority for the Federal Government appropriations to ICPRB is Article IV of the Potomac Basin Compact as amended by Public Law 91-407, 91st Congress, approved September 25, 1970 (80 Stat. 856). It states, "The moneys necessary to finance the Commission in the administration of its business in the Conservancy District shall be provided through appropriations from the signatory bodies [DC, MD, PA, VA and WV] and the United States..." Congress has appropriated funds to the Commission for the federal share each year beginning with FY 1949. In my remarks I should like to briefly outline the importance of the Commission's work not only to the Potomac River basin and the Nation's Capital, but also as an example to other river basins to demonstrate the cost effectiveness of the Commission's programs in the area water supply as well as water quality. February 1983 INTERSTATE COMMISSION ON THE POTOMAC RIVER BASIN (ICPRB) Fiscal Year 1984 Budget Justification ICPRB's authority for interstate coordination of water-related activities of federal, state, and local agencies and interest groups is contained in the 1940 Potomac Interstate Compact as amended by the states and approved by Congress in 1970. ICPRB's major work program areas are: (1) Coordination of the management of upper basin storage reservoirs (Bloomington Lake and Savage River Reservoir) and downstream water supply withdrawals in the Metro Washington Area through the CO-OP Section (Cooperative Water Supply Operations on the Potomac). ICPRB CO-OP has developed and will continue to operate the computerized analytical programs for cooperative operations of reservoirs and water supply withdrawals to assure water supply reliability, maintenance of streamflows to protect water quality and aquatic ecosystems, and maximization of benefits to other reservoir purposes, i.e., recreation and flood control. This has eliminated the need for additional reservoir storage in the upper Potomac basin until well after the year 2000 thus saving an estimated $250 million as proposed in earlier plans. (2) Coordination of the Potomac basin surface water quality monitoring network and the review and revision of state water quality standards to insure their compatibility in interstate waters by means of a task force of state and federal representatives; interpretation of effluent and water quality data for use in determining the attainability of designated water uses in stream stretches under greatest stress from point and/or nonpoint pollution sources and in the development of criteria for seasonal operations of wastewater treatment plants to meet water quality standards and reduce costs; development and maintenance of a toxic spill model for the Potomac and major tributaries as an early warning system for water supply intakes; and continued assessment and reporting on water quality trends and progress in the basin towards meeting water quality standards and National Clean Water Act goals. (3) Continued operation of a Potomac basin public education and information center including publication of the monthly Potomac Basin Reporter focused on basin water quality and water resources problems and programs to provide an information exchange among official agencies and to facilitate effective public participation in federal, state and local agency decision-making; also provision of other information materials, visual aids, and inquiry reference services to public agencies (e.g., schools), citizens organizations and news media by staff and the ICPRB library of Potomac basin technical and general information reports and reference documents. Tables 1 and 2 attached show the proposed expenditures and contributions for fiscal year 1984 together with actual and budgeted amounts for fiscal years 1982 and 1983. 17-455 - 83 - 16 Table 1 Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (Including actual and budgeted amounts for FY 1982 and FY 1983) Major Expenditure Categories1 Actual Budgeted Proposed Personnel Salaries and Benefits 3,000 1Includes expenditures of Section on Cooperative Water Supply Operations 2Allows for approximately 5% increase in costs due to inflation. part-time consultant, Table 2 Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin Proposed Contributions for Fiscal Year 1984 (Including actual and budgeted amounts for FY 1982 and FY 1983) *The Interstate Compact establishing the Commission specifies that it shall be financed "by appropriations from the signatory bodies and the United States", with the pro rata contributions to be "based on such factors as population; the amount of industrial and domestic pollution; and a flat service charge." The formula for state contributions was revised for FY 1984 to allow for population changes in the 1980 census. It includes a flat service charge of $15,000 with 3/4 of the remainder prorated by population in the basin and 1/4 by major industrial and municipal point source pollution. The fair share contribution of the United States has been agreed to equal to the largest of the state contributions due to the impact of the National Capital and the federal lands and other interests in the basin. Changes are result of changes in formula (see above) and a 5.4% increase in total state and U.S. contributions to allow for increased costs due to inflation and reduction in annual program grant from USEPA. 2Amount appropriated by U.S. Congress; Federal share requested was $62,000 in FY 1982 and $66,000 in FY 1983. 3Primarily Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (MD), Fairfax County be transferred to ICPRB from the Potomac Basin Advisory Committee |