
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 18, 1990                   TAG: 9007180144
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MARION                                LENGTH: Short

WATER RULE AMENDMENTS ARE OPPOSED

The Mount Rogers Planning District Commission is opposing proposed amendments to the state Water Control Board water-quality standards as placing undue responsibility and expense on local governments.

The commission's executive committee said the proposed amendments would take treatment standards for some elements beyond the point that those elements would occur naturally in streams. They would also make local governments responsible for toxics not generated by their localities, its resolution said.

The committee argued that technology to meet some of the requirements does not even exist, and that the cost of upgrading treatment facilities to conform to some regulations would bankrupt many local governments.

"If someone uses a cotton ball to spread polish on a shoe," said Tom Taylor, the commission's executive director, "then flushes the cotton ball down the commode, the chemicals in the shoe polish will show up in water tests at the treatment plant. The local government can't prevent such occurrences, but would have the responsibility for treating the water to remove such chemicals."

The executive committee also passed a resolution supporting a congressional effort to stimulate demand for recycled goods.

It endorsed House Resolution 380 calling for the U.S. Postal Service to study the feasibility of lower postal rates for second- and third-class mail using recycled paper materials.

- Southwest bureau

by CNB