A New Approach Is Needed for the Federal Industrial Wastewater Pretreatment Program

Gao ID: CED-82-37 February 19, 1982

GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to develop and implement the industrial pretreatment program.

GAO found that the: (1) overall scope and impact of the pretreatment program remains undefined; (2) program may result in costly, inequitable, and redundant treatment that may not address toxic pollution problems; and (3) program will be a further drain on scarce federal, state, and local pollution control resources. GAO believes it is highly unlikely that the program can be fully implemented within the currently established timeframe. Although EPA is conducting a regulatory impact analysis of the pretreatment program, the schedule for completing the analysis and selecting an option is very ambitious. Given the many uncertainties about toxic pollution problems, GAO is concerned about the ability of EPA to resolve these issues in the relatively short time established. EPA needs to pay close attention to the problems and unresolved issues associated with the present pretreatment program. If EPA acts too quickly in selecting a pretreatment alternative, GAO believes it may commit itself to a course of action that contains many of the current program's problems and that is equally unacceptable to those involved.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Hugh J. Wessinger Team: General Accounting Office: Community and Economic Development Division Phone: (202) 275-5489


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