points out. The subcommittee will call on government and private sector technologists for opinions and operational assessment procedures. But, since assessment also considers human values, the committee will seek out testimony on social, economic, political, legal, and esthetic aspects. The second phase of the study will involve working groups from the National Academies of Science and Engineering. The groups will : Arrange for pilot assessment projects on contemporary issues which call for assessment now. The assessment tasks could go to various kinds of organizations-a specially formed committee, a contract research organization, a government agency, o r a professional technical society--to compare different organizational arrangements. Evaluate the various approaches and performances and report to Congress the most efficient and useful techniques for an eventual permanent technology assessment apparatus. I n the third phase of the subcommittee’s study the Science Policy Research Division in the Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress will prepare an inventory of other current technology assessment projects throughout the world. However, relatively few of these assessment projects appear t o exist. A summary and analysis of historical assessment will examine such questions as: What part of society sounded the alarm? How obvious were the consequences before counteraction could be obtained? What political processes and institutions were involved in restoring the balance of benefit and deficit ?
__
1
QUOTE. RUN THE SYSTEM A S A WHOLE
i
~
I
Does the technology fit the ecological conditions of the nation? Do economic conditions permit its application-can the technology be financed? What must be sacrificed to do so? Does the nation have the management capability to operate and control the technology for the good of the nation and its people? There have been too many mistakes made in the past-in transferring technology from more to less developed nations-in transferring highlycomplextechnologyto nations unprepared to adopt it. For example, in designing river basin, water, power, and waste management systems, we must design for a range of contingenciesfor the optimist-when all works well-and for the pessimist-for the time when much goes wrong. For the test of man’s technical creations is not how well they run when all parts work as designed, but how well the system runs and how great and widespread the damage when a part of the system fails. I n the United States, we have had some experience with technical systems-in our Northeast power failure which resulted when a power grid, designed to work when all went well, created potentially disastrous effects when a small part of the system failed. Man must take care, in designing his water, power, and waste rnanagement systems, that he does not make himself, his society, and nation more vulnerable to disruption if a small element of the system which he designs does not perform perfectly.
Other plans
Daddario’s plan is one of several Congressional approaches to the technology assessment problem. H.R. 7796, introduced by Rep. John Dingell (D.Mich.), calls for establishing a Council on Environmental Quality. Sen. Gordon L. Allott (R.-Colo.) introduced S. 1305 establishing a joint congressional committee on science and technology t o assure that the benefits of science and technology are used most effectively in the interests of national security and the general welfare. And Sen. Edmund Muskie (D.-Me.) held hearings on Senate Resolution 68 to establish a Select Committee on Technology and the Human Environment.
Mankind today has a wide range of technical and institutional options for coping with its problems of river basin development, water resource supply, waste management, and environmental quality. And I expect that, in the future, even more alternatives will be available-that current alternatives-for example, desalting-will become cheaper. Before applying the newest machines and engineering advances, let us first ensure that we are making maximum use of the water resources presently available. The answer to our water resource problems, indeed, to all resources problems, is too often thought to be mere increase in supply of those resources. We have not thoroughly investigated nor utilized our existing water resources. We must make more efficient use, for instance, of our brackish and sea waters for irrigating crops. This is an old art and a subject receiving some attention today, but we are not making fullest use of this art. When technical alternatives are used to solve the water problems and to meet the water needs of a particular nation, we must continually keep in mind the need to select the technical and institutional methods which are suitable to the capabilities, the needs, the goals, the values -the political, economic, and social systems, the culture and stage of development of that nation. Just a few questions a nation or a people must ask itself before applying a technical alternative are:
Frank C. DiLuzio Assistant Secretarv o f t h e Interior for Water Pollution Control, before t h e In ternational Conference o n Water for Peace, Washington, D C , M a y 31, 1967 I
Volume 1, Number 7, July 1967
549
