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Impact of Wastewater Treatment Regulations on Rural Communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

C. Edwin Young
C. Edwin Young*
Affiliation:
Natural Resource Economics Division, Economic Research Service, USDA, University Park, Pa.
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Extract

Federal and state laws require all communities to construct and operate facilities to treat domestic sewage. The 1972 Amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (P.L. 92–500) require that all facilities provide the “best practical treatment” by 1977. They established the goal of “best available treatment” by 1983. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines best practical treatment as secondary treatment. It is the premise of this paper that required treatment levels and cost sharing arrangements specified in the current wastewater treatment laws impose relatively greater economic costs on small rural communities than on larger communities.

Type
Resource Economics
Information
Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , October 1977 , pp. 157 - 167
Copyright
Copyright © Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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Footnotes

*

Comments by Donald Epp and Frank Goode of The Pennsylvania State University and Lee Christensen of the Economic Research Service were very helpful.

References

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