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Question

Difficulty: HardPassage Assumptions and Underlying Premises

Read the following passage carefully:

"In an effort to curb escalating urban water scarcity and protect dwindling groundwater tables, several state industrial development boards have mandated that manufacturing units within designated industrial zones substitute freshwater with treated municipal wastewater for cooling and processing operations. To offset transition costs, the board has introduced a credit scheme reducing tariff rates on industrial electricity for units that achieve specified wastewater reuse thresholds. Environmental planners contend that this policy framework will successfully divert industrial demand away from deep aquifers without undermining regional manufacturing productivity. However, the capital expenditure required to retrofit existing factory machinery for processing treated effluent remains entirely un-subsidized under the new policy."

Based on the passage above, which of the following is a crucial underlying assumption required for the environmental planners' contention to hold valid?

  1. The financial savings generated through electricity tariff credits will be sufficient to incentivize industrial units to bear the un-subsidized capital costs of retrofitting machinery.Answer
  2. B
    Manufacturing units operating in designated industrial zones currently consume more electricity than freshwater in their daily processing operations.
  3. C
    Municipal wastewater treatment plants in urban centers possess sufficient technical infrastructure to purify industrial effluents to potable standards.
  4. D
    Statutory mandates are inherently ineffective mechanisms for environmental regulation unless paired with complete capital cost subsidies.

Answer

The financial savings generated through electricity tariff credits will be sufficient to incentivize industrial units to bear the un-subsidized capital costs of retrofitting machinery.
The conclusion of the environmental planners relies on factories complying with the wastewater mandate and maintaining productivity despite receiving no direct subsidies for equipment retrofitting. For this policy framework to succeed as claimed, the financial benefits of the electricity tariff credits must be large enough to motivate factories to absorb the un-subsidized retrofitting costs. Using the negation test, if electricity savings are insufficient to cover or justify retrofitting expenses, factories will not transition effectively, causing the policy framework to fail.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the author's main conclusion and supporting premises in the passage.
Conclusion: The policy framework will successfully divert industrial water demand from deep aquifers without reducing manufacturing productivity. Premises: Mandates require switching to treated wastewater; electricity tariff credits offset costs; machinery retrofitting costs are un-subsidized.
An assumption is an unstated premise strictly required to connect the stated premises to the final conclusion.
2
Identify the logical gap in the argument.
The argument asserts that factories will successfully transition without loss of productivity even though machinery retrofitting costs are un-subsidized, relying only on electricity credits and mandates.
If factories find retrofitting prohibitively expensive, they may refuse to comply, operate illegally, or suffer financial/productivity loss.
3
Apply the Negation Test to the potential assumption.
Negate: 'Electricity credit savings will NOT be sufficient to incentivize units to absorb retrofitting costs.' If true, factories will not retrofit or comply, failing to divert aquifer demand or harming productivity. The conclusion collapses.
Since negating the statement undermines the conclusion completely, the statement is a necessary underlying assumption.

Key Concept

Identifying Unstated Premises via Negation Test
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Topics

Passage Assumptions and Underlying Premises

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