Water Quality Management for Metropolitan Kansas City

Lack of planning on a metropolitan basis, and lack of support programs such as laboratory facilities or monitoring programs frequently resulted in a lack of basic data on plant performance and receiving stream quality. Reducing the existing number of management agencies to as few as possible is highly desirable as an initial step to have planning, design, construction and operation of all collection and treatment works so they constitute a single system. Problems of interstate streams or watersheds crossing political boundaries were not serious in the past where waste dischargers were geographically fairly well separated and waste quantities were small compared to the receiving stream flows. Growth and expansion have made it apparent that neighboring communities within the same watershed shared a responsibility for pollution control. Federal law now requires that water quality management agencies accept more responsibility than many have in the past.