Community action on water pollution

Actions to improve local water or air quality are likely to combine collective benefits with specific costs. This suggests that the variations among communities in their actions to improve water quality will involve opposition from industries bearing the specific costs. The use of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-funded matching grants for sewerage construction by large U.S. cities varies inversely with the imputed opposition from polluting industries. Use also increases with assessed need and with the extent of certain resources, including the credit rating. Matching grants funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are not likely to have such specific costs, and imputed opposition does not affect their distribution. When location and the growth rate are controlled, use of restrictions and surcharges on industrial wastes increases with imputed opposition. It is possible that industries influence the specific regulations. Alternative explanations of the statistical relationship between opposition and EPA grant use are discussed.This research was partially supported by Department of Commerce Grants 2-35227 and 04-3-158-45 to the University of Southern California Sea Grant Program.