Industrial Waste Disposal Tailored to Stream Flow

Recognizing the technical and economic limitations of waste treatment in maintaining satisfactory stream conditions during drought season, two possibilities for more efficient utilization of water resources hold promise. Either the stream flow should be regulated to make a higher level of total flow usable; or the industrial waste discharge should be regulated, tailored to the varying pattern of stream flow. A detailed case analysis of the latter, regulating release from waste storage lagoons in accord with the varying waste assimilation capacity of the stream, indicates industrial expansion potential 10 to 50 times that possible under drought flow conditions.