The objective of a two-day Symposium on Systems Approach to Environmental Pollution of the Operations Research Society of America at the 137th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, December 27-28, 1970 in Chicago, Illinois, was not to raise the litany of a systems approach as the answer to all environmental problems. Instead, the emphasis was upon what it can and cannot do for specific aspects of the problem of environmental pollution. Symposium presentations and exchanges are furnished in these conference proceedings in a manner retaining as much original dialog as possible, with no effort to endorse or advocate a unified position or concensus. Four primary sessions were held: three on water, air, and solid wastes pollution, and one on systems approach to pollution as a whole. Featured within the text are: a review of analytical models applicable to pollution, New York City's experience with pollution control, a discussion of micro and macro aspects of pollution, emphasis upon the operational problems of pollution control, and a perspective of the large issues of pollution. (BL)