| OCR Text |
Show able information to waterworks management. Industries a.re using these services on an increas- ing scale, especially in their search for reliable ground water supplies. The extensive investiga- tions and construction of projects by the Depart- ment of the Army and the Bureau of Reclamation also involve the local waterworks. There is a pressing need for improved coopera- tion in the planning of river and drainage basin studies which necessarily involve municipal water supplies, and in many cases the actual works of municipal and industrial water systems. The continuing expansion of urban population and industry will require expanding volumes of water, with particular attention to water quality. Planning for the development of river systems and drainage basins for the best multiple-purpose use should, in the broad public interest, take into consideration all problems of industrial and do- mestic water supply which directly involve the great majority of the people of the Nation. The service of domestic and industrial water supply has been, and should continue to be, pri- marily a local responsibility. With increasing populations and concentrations of industry, how- ever, there has developed a greater need for co- operation of neighboring communities in the formation of metropolitan water districts. It seems clear that such districts will continue to develop, probably at an accelerated pace. With increasing recognition of the importance of water and related land uses in the multiple- purpose development of our streams, rivers, and drainage basins, first consideration must be given the domestic and industrial water requirements of the present and future populations that live in metropolitan areas, cities, towns, and rural com- munities thiat constitute the great majority of the people of the Nation. In the arid and semiarid West, where water often must be conveyed long distances, and where many cities and communities already receive their water- supply as a part of the Federal-local cooperation in irrigation development, there is likely to develop further metropolitan water sup- ply activity dependent, in whole or in part, upon further Federal-local multiple-purpose river and drainage b asin developments. Whether the Federal-local cooperation in multiple-purpose water projects relates to large or small populations, it is believed that local govern- ment is fully able to meet all costs of municipal water supply developed either independently or as a part of Federal multiple-purpose river developments. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. The use of water for domestic purposes should be considered the highest and most uni- sersal use by man. 2. Domestic and industrial water supply should continue to be a matter of local concern, and comprehensive riyer basin planning should take this into account. The cost of obtaining water supplies for domestic and industrial purposes should be borne by the local communities and industries served. 3. The States and the Federal Government should encourage the formation of metropolitan water districts to develop and transmit necessary water to meet in the most economical way the requirements of a group of communities when those communities are dependent upon the same source of water supply or when existing water supplies prove inadequate. 4. In planning for multiple use of water in a river basin, the river basin commission should give adequate consideration to the importance of domestic and industrial water supply. It should work out a basis of effective cooperation of the communities concerned with water supply in the comprehensive river basin programs. 5. The Federal Government should assume leadership in assisting waterworks managements in the further protection and improvement of the quality of both raw and treated water. It should continuously collect data and report its studies and research on the long-time trends in amount and quality of water supply available. 6. The Federal Government should assume leadership in developing economical means of disposing of all forms of industrial wastes, includ- ing atomic wastes. 154 |
