common denominator which will equate the economics of desalting costs in cents per thousand gallons to the economics of fresh water supplies. A common denominator must be found if we are to compare the unit cost of each alternative on a defensible basis. We are working internally in the Department of the Interior with the Bureau of Reclamation and the Office of the Assistant Secre tary for Water and Power to develop an appropriate formula. This would be the first milestone on a long path toward achieving agreement with other Government and State agencies in water resources development on a sound and appropriate basis for economic comparison. At present, the basis for measuring the economics of water supply may vary substantially from agency to agency. For example, OSW may use a different standard from that of the Bureau of Reclamation and we may also use a different approach for measuring the economics of demineralization of saline water from that used by HEW for measuring the economics of purifying water polluted by sewage effluents. So we are diligently seeking a formula which agencies can agree is a fair and sound and equitable basis for comparing the actual cost of producing a unit volume of usable water for incremental needs. Only until such a formula is derived and agreed upon by all agencies involved can the true economics of water resource development alternatives be measured.

There are other areas of demineralization in which we are engaged in research and development and preliminary appraisals of feasibility in which knowledge of economic competitiveness or even the potential for economic competitiveness with other alternatives is needed. These areas include, for example, the comparative economics of acid mine water demineralization by desalting techniques versus the removal of cations by ion exchange or selective membranes or other methods versus the simple neutralization of the acids to salts if the resultant salt volumes do not exceed permissible limits for dissolved solids.

Another example, and a most important one, is that of determining the economics of purifying estuarial waters by the alternative approaches of desalination or depollution by some process or flushing by controlled release of fresh water from upstream impoundments or by combinations of these approaches. Many of our major municipal and industrial water problems both today and in the foreseeable future, are associated with the continuity of supply to our cities and metropolitan areas which are located on or near the estuaries of large rivers from which they draw their principal water supplies. In times of drought, such as faced the entire northeast United States last summer, the rate of downstream river flow may be insufficient to prevent the pollution of municipal and industrial water supply intakes by waste effluents by upstream users or by saline water intrusions working upstream from the sea. And in some circumstances both effects may be encountered. Collectively, we must determine the most economic short- and long-term solutions to this problem for each affected city, metropolitan area, or region. Depending on the part of the country in which a problem resides, the problem and its solution is shared by the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of the Interior-Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare-Water Pollution Control Administration at the Federal level, as well as by the agencies of interest within the State, metropolitan, and local government. To arrive at the comparative economics of the alternative solutions to problems of this kind will require the application of a high order of technical competence. This is partic ularly true as the population grows exponentially in these estuarial regions while the average water supply remains the same. To achieve these economic derivations will require an impartial body of economists and engineers trained interdisciplinarily in the science and technology and economics of river and marine hydrology, chemical engineering, depollution (sanitary) engineering chemistry. engineering-economics, operational research and system optimization, and probably many other disciplines.

Meanwhile, there is no clearly established system in the Federal Government for performing across-the-board economic comparisons of alternative solutions to water supply problems. Complexing the problem further, in some areas the lines of responsibility between agencies are not sharply drawn, as for example between HEW and OSW in estuarial waters which may be polluted both by saline intrusions and sewage treatment plant waste effluents. Often, similar chemical engineering processes may be applied to purify these kinds of polluted or chemically charged waters and therefore it is not surprising that both HEW and OSW are interested in each other's developments. We are also mutually aware of the potential for duplication of work in research and development efforts in water purification and thus we are seeking to work together closely

at the technical administrative level to avoid any such waste of the taxpayer's money.

And so, our position on the economics of desalting as we enter 1966 may be summarized briefly as follows:

1. We have acquired reliable estimates of the economics of desalting seawater in the capacity range of 1 MGD to 150 MGD.

2. We have acquired preliminary estimates of the economics of desalting brackish ground waters and we are seeking improvements of the reliability of these estimates.

3. We are working internally in the Department of the Interior to develop standardized procedures for deriving the unit costs of alternative water supplies, for economic comparison.

4. We are working externally with other Government agencies to evaluate the feasibility and economics of desalting applications in specific situations (e.g., acid mine waters, Potomac River estuary, etc.).

5. We foresee the need for a substantially intensified effort to develop the economics of water supply alternatives for the many cities, metropolitan areas, and regions which are even now faced with critical water shortages and for the many more which even now appear headed for trouble in the near future. 6. We are prepared and eager to work with other agencies of the Federal, State, and local government who have individual responsibilities for developing facets of these needed combined economics, but we have neither the staff nor the clear-cut authority to do the job alone.

I would now like to describe in some detail, the activities we have conducted to improve desalting processes, and report on the successes or failures which have resulted from this work.

We have reached a point in processes development where it is time to phase out some of our demonstration plant activities. We believe the operations we have conducted at Freeport, Tex., have now reached the objectives originally set forth for the plant. It has been an excellent source of data and engineering experience. The economic goal of the plant was to produce fresh water from ocean water in the range of $1 per thousand gallons, and this has been achieved. It is not low-cost water, and the plant as designed, does not have the ability to lower product water costs much below this figure. To continue to operate the facility on a day-to-day basis as a water production plant will not advance the purposes of the Saline Water Act.

We do not believe it wise to continue to operate the plant under the provisions of the Demonstration Plant Act of 1958, but we do propose to continue its operation as a test-bed facility in order to make the best use of the funds already invested in the existing equipment. The operation of the Freeport plant as a test-bed facility would enable us to make engineering modification which will permit us to test and evaluate new flow patterns, improve equipment and recent operating inovations. The LTV process shows good promise of becoming a practical method of producing fresh water from sea water, and the modifications we plan for the Freeport facility are designed to advance LTV technology at a minimum cost.

The modifications we propose will be based on information we have gained from the construction and operation of the plant, from recommendations provided by the operating contractor, through studies conducted of the process by Dow Chemical Co. and on experimental operations we have conducted on the use of vertical tubes, including the fluted-tube concept.

The multistage flash plant constructed and operated by the OSW at Point Loma near San Diego, Calif., has provided the basis of the design of most of the sea water conversion plants constructed since that time. The multistage-multieffect plant we will build at San Diego is expected to provide major technical advances over those achieved through the construction and operation of the original flash plant.

The conceptual design studies sponsored by OSW have provided some interesting new approaches to large plant construction utilizing the flash process. Pilot plant operations at Wrightsville Beach, N.C., have provided new data on scale control at elevated temperatures.

Electrodialysis continues to be the most efficient process currently available for desalting mildly brackish waters. Even though it has received considerable commercial acceptance, we believe that major improvements to improve the process are still possible. For this reason, we propose to continue the operation of the demonstration plant at Webster, S. Dak., to develop and test new membranes and operating procedures including pretreatment of raw feed water.

Process problems and a water high in calcium sulphate and silicas continue to plague the forced-circulation vapor-compression plant at Roswell, N. Mex. Minor modifications and new pretreatment techniques have improved the operation of the plant, but additional work is still required to bring this process to its full potential.

We have been unable to successfully operate on a continuous basis the 200,000 gallons-per-day freezing plant at Wrightsville Beach, N.C. This plant has been placed in standby condition until additional results and data become available through the experimental operation of a 15,000 gallons-per-day pilot plant. Although this particular freezing concept has proved troublesome, we have received encouraging results from a second freezing-process pilot plant at Wrightsville Beach. This particular experimental unit, designed to produce 60,000 gallons-per-day, has in fact, produced as much as 109,000 gallons of fresh water in a single day. Other freezing studies continue to show good results. We have not as yet been able to accurately predict the water costs of either process.

Reverse osmosis continues to show good promise. Through several studies to develop improved membranes and through the construction and operation of two pilot plants, we will accelerate the development of this relatively new process. During the past year, we used a small mobile pilot plant to obtain operating data on polluted waters and on acid mine waters. This data will be utilized to design test programs for the two new pilot plants.

Two hydrate pilot plants have been constructed at Wrightsville Beach. There is not sufficient operating data available at this time to discuss the potential of this process in any detail.

We have pretty much phased out work on solar distillation. We have concluded that solar distillation will find little application in the United States, and proposals, we have received for continuing work do not offer sufficient economic advantage to warrant the cost of additional developmental programs. We have designs available for solar distillation units which offer good potential for use in areas of high solar intensity and low-volume water requirements. Several solar stills have recently been erected by the Greek Government on small islands in the Aegean Sea with satisfactory results. Similar applications are being considered by other governments. If the opportunity presents itself to test our solar still designs without excessive cost being involved, we would of course do so.

Substantial progress has been achieved through our continuing program of basic research, and further progress is anticipated. Some of these advances include determining the technical feasibility of several new separation processes: (a) electrode demineralizers, (b) environmentally modulated ion-adsorption beds, (c) new hydrate processes, (d) electrogravitational separation, (e) electrosorption processes, and (f) transport depletion. Cathodic and anodic corrosion control techniques have been developed. Optimum brine heater temperature has been determined. These data, when fully developed, will establish the optimum upper temperature limit for distillation and will guide the research relating to corrosion, scale, thermodynamic properties of saline water, blowdown ratio, and recovery of byproducts. Other numerous activities of our Basic Research Division have provided additional information and data to extend the frontiers of science, but in the interest of time, I do not propose to discuss them in this statement.

We are encouraged by the number of new desalting plants that have recently been erected or are planned. Progress to lower the cost of desalting can be measured to a certain extent, by its acceptance in the marketplace as an incremental source of supply. The 250,000 gallons-per-day electrodialysis plant at Port Mansfield, Tex., was recently placed in operation, and new 1 million gallons-per-day plants have been placed in operation in the Virgin Islands, Malta. and Israel. The Spanish Government is evaluating bids received for a 2.5 million gallons-per-day plant for the Canary Islands, and bids will soon be received for a 2.6 million gallons-per-day plant at Key West, Fla. The Government of Kuwait is advertising for an additional 6 million gallons-per-day desalting plant capacity. These are but a few of the plants recently constructed or planned for the near future.

The Office of Saline Water has used and will continue to use the national laboratories and existing Government laboratories to the maximum extent possible for experimental studies and development work that best suits the capabilities of the particular facility. Through an agreement with the Atomic Energy Commission, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is working on the development of a number of components for larger evaporator plants with particular empha

sis on the development of economical heat transfer surfaces. Heat transfer surfaces in a distillation plant represent the largest single item of cost and it directly affects the performance of the plant. Other work performed for the Office of Saline Water by the ORNL include several investigations in depth to evaluate and develop information needed in the overall program in the areas of computer code, design of large plants, parametric studies and overall design of a plant to be built in the future which will incorporate many advanced features suitable for utilization in plants in the size range of 150 to 300 million gallons per day. We are currently negotiating an agreement through which ORNL will act as an extension to this Office to manage and coordinate a complete segment of the overall program as it relates to the development of the long-tube multiple-effect process.

We have utilized the facilities and laboratories of the Bureau of Reclamation for testing electrodialysis pilot plants and to develop data relative to the utilization of concrete for desalting plants. Studies have shown that significant savings can be made by the use of concrete in desalting structures, but when concrete is used in the severe environment found in evaporator plants, problems arise which require investigation to determine the permeability, structural strength, possible coatings and lining material, and other characteristics of concrete. We are utilizing the experience of the Bureau of Reclamation in the design of large pumps. Since pumps will be one of the critical components of large desalting plants, we have asked the Bureau, in cooperation with industry, to develop designs, select materials, and determine costs of large pumping units suitable for use in large desalting plants. Reclamation has also assisted in economic studies.

We have made arrangements to obtain information and data from the plant we transferred to the Navy for their use at Guantanamo. We have offered the full support of our technical staff to assist the Navy in this effort and to provide assistance to improve product water treatment to better control corrosion in he distribution system. We are also cooperating with the Bureau of Yards and Docks to assist in a desalting plant feasibility study and a study of a nuclear powered barge mounted desalting plant.

Other examples of our efforts to utilize to the fullest extent possible, the capabilities and the facilities of other Government bureaus and agencies include contracts or agreements with Pacific Northwest Laboratories in Hanford, Wash.; Bureau of Standards, and the Department of Agriculture. We are cooperating with the Corps of Engineers on the design of a desalting plant in conjunction with a barge or ship-mounted nuclear reactor and also on the design of portable reverse osmosis units for use in the rice paddies of Vietnam. We are also working with the Bureau of Mines and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to develop programs on the application of reverse osmosis to purify polluted river water and acid mine drainage. Preliminary tests have been conducted on the Potomac, the Hackensack River in New Jersey, and at an acid mine site near Kittanning, Pa.

We expect to continue to program work or to cooperate with other Government agencies in order to take full advantage of their experience and existing technology, to minimize costs, eliminate duplication of efforts, and expedite results.

We have endeavored to report, in considerable detail, on major program activities and to touch on other facets of our operations, both those underway and those we have programed. We sincerely believe that these activities will rapidly advance desalting technology in a manner which will enable us to reach the goals that have been established by the President and the Congress. Time has not permitted us to discuss all the ramifications of our program, but we will be pleased to answer, to the best of our ability, any questions members of the committee may wish to pose.

STATEMENT OF FRANK C. DiLUZIO, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF SALINE WATER, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Mr. DILUZIO. Last May when we appeared before this committee seeking your approval of H.R. 7092, a bill to expand, extend, and accelerate the saline water conversion program, we agreed to keep the committee informed of our program activities.

I think that is the purpose of this session today. During the past months we have received several requests for information from some of the members of the committee concerning certain specific activi ties or programs. We have endeavored to respond both promptly and completely to those requests. We hope our efforts in this regard have been satisfactory.

As we appear here today, we feel somewhat like a farmer who was finishing his plowing one Sunday morning as the minister of the local church drove by. "Brother," said the minister, "don't you know the Creator made the world in 6 days and rested on the seventh?"

"I know," said the old farmer, "but He got done and I didn't." We didn't get done either, but in a technological sense, we think we plowed a lot of ground.

Initially, we should like to report on our program for fiscal year 1967. Our budget estimate is $30,946,000. It consists of $28,595,000 for research and development and $2,351,000 for operation and maintenance costs of demonstration plants. This represents an increase in the amount appropriated for research and development of $8,595,000 and a decrease of $134,000 for demonstration plants operation and maintenance and $666,000 for the Point Loma replacement.

Our budget estimate for research and development does not utilize $6.4 million of the funds authorized by Congress for fiscal year 1967, as provided by Public Law 89-118.

We should like to point out that increase of $8,595,000 for our research and development program is a gross figure which may give a distorted impression of our programed activities for fiscal year 1967. A careful analysis of the allocation of funds for various projects, which will follow later in this statement, will reveal that we are increasing our general level of effort by only $1.5 million. The balance of the increase is for the procurement of hardware.

The OSW definition of research and development is pretty much the same as the progress report of the Committee on Water Resources Research of the Office of Science and Technology defines it:

Development is the systematic use of scientific knowledge directed toward the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods, including design and development of prototype and processes. It excludes quality control or routine product testing.

We are in full accord with those definitions. We do not believe we should engage in routine testing, but rather to continue research and development through to the last step in order to technically cultivate a process to the point where it can be applied commercially as a reliable and practical method of providing fresh water for a city or a community.

To meet our responsibility to the President, the Congress, and in turn to the taxpayer, we believe it would be unwise for us or anyone else to proceed with plans for large plant construction until additional usable data has been developed and refined to a point from which we can move forward with the assurance that future desalting plants will represent the most advanced extension of the art within bounds of sound engineering extrapolation. To develop this type of information, we are faced with the requirement of constructing larger sized, and obviously more costly, experimental equipment.

The scope of the programs of the Office of Saline Water necessarily includes either the construction and operation of large plants or par