Pollution Abatement Means Cooperation
J. R.  HOFFERT
Assistant Chief Engineer, Department of Health
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Stream pollution abatement means cooperation—at all levels and by
all parties: by the federal and state governments, by the local- governments, and by those producing the pollution, whether it be the multimillion-dollar industrial pollutor or the private citizen whose waste line
is conveniently piped to the nearest stream.
Abatement must be practical and realistic also and show due regard
for what is technically sound and economically possible of accomplishment. Of course, where practical means of abatement are not yet available a suitable method must be found through research and financial
preparation. Meanwhile, the impossible must not be demanded lest it
delay the whole program of stream improvement.
Credit should be given to those zealots whose fervor arouses the
average person to the need for improvements which are recognized to be
desirable but which are often called visionary or impractical. It really
takes the crusader to add the spark which finally kindles wishes into
the fire of accomplishment. It will be well to follow the way pointed
out by the conservationists whose eyes are fixed on the stars. At the
same time we must keep our feet on the ground lest we stumble over the
obstacles of practical accomplishment. In fact, it would be well to keep
one eye also on the ground while the other follows the star.
But the long crusade of the conservationists has borne fruit—delayed at times because of the over-reaching demands of the too-zealous
crusaders and the counter-irritation they engendered—the fruit of a
general recognition of the urgent need for stream-pollution abatement.
And now with genuine cooperation upon the part of all rather than by
so-called "cracking down", but with some compulsion where necessary,
some wonderful results in stream improvement should be obtained.
But please bear in mind that genuine cooperation is needed. This
means the sincere joining together to accomplish the abatement of conditions which pollutors as well as enforcement agents and conservationists and the average citizen alike admit should be corrected. "Window dressing" or lip service to abatement, or "surveys" and "research"
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