Will Our Wisdom Match Our Wealth?
MAX N. EDWARDS, Assistant Secretary forWater Pollution Control
Department of the Interior
Washington, D.C.
I would like to start out, today, by making it unmistakably clear I intend to
talk pollution, not politics. I was invited here. I did not opt for Hoosier or
Boiler-maker, for football or forensics. I am not a candidate for my party's
nomination.    I am here on other business -- to seek your vote for clean water.
However, while it is coincidental, I know, that this conference does take
place on the same day as Indiana's Primary, the juxtaposition of politics and pollution is a somewhat ancient one. If, by "pollution", we refer to some state of
intoxication, we are on safe ground. At the turn of the century alcohol was a
concomitant of many campaigns.
If, on the other hand, by "pollution, " we refer to the condition of the air
and water and landscape, we are on equally safe footing. As recent Harris Polls
have clearly demonstrated, the American people are very much concerned about
the condition of their environment, and increasingly will be manifesting that
concern at the polls. Indeed, it would not surprise me if, in days ahead, touching nature will win more votes than kissing babies, just as -- and I seriously mean
this -- advocates of brotherhood will win out over mere champions of motherhood.
This is -- it is unquestionably --a time of great social change. And so, in
the future, when we talk of politics and pollution, we will be talking the perspicacity of the former, and the issue -- not the proof -- of the latter. Today's
politician is very much attuned to the great environmental problems which our
pervasive industrial society has created for itself. His ear is attuned to the noise
of the jet. His eyes have seen the coming of the smoke. His heart is pulsing
with the footsteps of the People's March. We are a Nation jointly caught up --
at one and the same time --in crises of pollution and absolution.
And I, for one, believe that we, as a people, have the capacity to meet and
master the challenge, and to produce a better environment and a better order
than we have known.
Turning from the philosophical to the pragmatic, as the Nation's program
takes hold, you have an opportunity to participate in the accelerated interest and
demand for pollution control techniques, equipment, and chemicals. Both industry and government will be the market, and the former, of course, will be the
manufacturer.
To give you an idea of the potential upsurge, let me cite a few highlights
from the recent report on the national requirements for and the cost of treating
municipal, industrial, and other wastes during fiscal year 1969 to 1973. To meet
the new water quality standards, the total five-year cost is estimated to range between $26 and $29 billion.
The cost of constructing municipal waste treatment plants and interceptor
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