Differing State Standards and Waste Treatment Cost

The complex interrelationships of NPDES permits, waste load allocation studies and stream assimilation capacities are shown to be direct results of differing state water quality standards. Minimum dissolved oxygen standards of many states usually provide for ideal propagation of desirable fish species rather than survival of that species. The accumulative effects of low flows and minimum dissolved oxygen standards are shown to substantially effect the cost of municipal and industrial waste treatment without significantly benefiting the receiving stream ecology. Actual cost comparisons of wastewater treatment for similar poultry processing and small units manufacturing plants are shown to vary by as mush as 10-fold, depending upon differing water quality standards of a particular state.