The analysis in this classic study ranges from basic economic and political theory to engineering and institutional practices, and encompasses case studies in England, France, and West Germany, as well as in the Ohio, Potomac, and Delaware river basins in the United States.Originally published in 1968

I: Nature of the Water Quality Problem; 1: Introduction; 2: The Nature of Waste Discharges and Their Effects on Receiving Waters; 3: The Relation of Water Quality to Water Uses; 4: Managing Waste Loads and the Assimilative Capacity of Receiving Waters; II: Economic Concepts and Policies for Controlling Individual Waste Discharges; 5: Water Quality and Resources Allocation by Private Markets; 6: Causing Offsite Costs to Be Reflected in Waste Disposal Decisions; 7: Standards, Charges, and Equity; 8: Cases Comparing Effluent Charges and Effluent Standards; 9: Policy Alternatives for Influencing Individual Waste Discharges; III: Economic Concepts Relating to Regional Water Quality Management Systems with Collective Facilities; 10: Collective Facilities in Water Quality Management; 11: U.S. Cases of Regional Water Quality Systems Analysis; 12: Water Management in the Ruhr: A Case Study of the Genossenschaften; IV: Institutional and Organizational Approaches to Regional Water Quality Management; 13: The Approaches; V: Implementation and Management; 14: A Policy for the Future