ABSTRACT
The death throes of birds and fish in the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge and the Carson Sink are the birth pangs of a new industry, the treatment of agricultural wastewater by biological means. Ranchers and farmers will not be customers very soon because, in the absence of their acting in concert with all other farmers in their drainage basin, there is little return for their investment in treatment equipment and supplies. These companies would be not only customers for suppliers of treatment equipment and supplies, but also an entrepreneurial opportunity in themselves and part of the emerging industry. An industry does exist, of course, in the treatment of sewage and industrial effluents. Once legislation creates this nascent market, a great many entrepreneurial opportunities will exist for scientists and businessmen who understand the technical problems and the market. The time in the sun for the entrepreneurial wastewater bioscientist is here — almost.
