January 3, 1981

The Environmental Protection Agency today proposed stringent new rules requiring producers of iron and steel to cut down substantially on the toxic substances and other pollutants that they discharge into the nation's water supply. The agency estimated that the new ''effluent guidelines'' could cost the industry more than $1 billion over the next 10 years. The proposed rules would not take effect until after public comments and further review. An official of the American Iron and Steel Institute, a trade group, indicated that the industry would probably ask the administration of President-elect Ronald Reagan to stretch out the deadlines for complying with the rules so as to ease the capital squeeze on steel companies, which are already afflicted by a capital shortage. He said this squeeze was affecting the companies' ability to compete with foreign producers.

The ski industry in the eastern half of the country has roared back to life this winter as record cold temperatures and small but regular snowstorms combined to bring skiers streaming back to the slopes. A year ago the worst season in the industry's 45-year history left grass showing through the slopes at Christmas and merchants lining up for Federal disaster loans at Easter. Another year like ''the year without snow'' would have meant bankruptcies and severe economic dislocations in the band of poor rural communities from Maine to Pennsylvania that depend on the $3.5-billion-a-year industry. A Brief Business Season But the snows came this season, in time for the Christmas and New Year's holidays, the brief period in which most ski businesses do a third of their volume.

The Algerian intermediaries returned here today with the latest United States proposals and terms for the release of the 52 American hostages. The three intermediaries - the Ambassador to Washington, Redha Malek; the Ambassador to Teheran, Abdelkarim Gheraieb, and the director of the Algerian Central Bank, Mohammed Seghier Mostefai - arrived at Mehrabad Airport by special plane this morning, after four days of talks in Washington. They were met at the airport by Ahmad Azizi, the Government's Director of Hostage Affairs. There was no official comment from the Iranians, although they were presumably given the United States position paper. Friday is the Moslem Sabbath and all Government offices were closed.

Banks across the country, reversing a pattern of rapid increases in their loan charges since mid-November, dropped their prime lending rates yesterday to 20 1/2 percent from a record 21 1/2 percent. The move to the lower level by almost every major bank followed by several days scattered reductions in the prime rate by four large banks: Wells Fargo, Chase Manhattan, Chemical and Irving Trust. Economists and bank executives said the rate cuts could signal a gradual decline in loan charges. But they warned that the decline would not be so steep or so rapid as last year, when the prime rate fell from a peak of 20 percent in April to a low of 10 3/4 in July.

Using campaign contributions, computer programs and careful planning, the Republican Party has positioned itself to take advantage of the 1980 census figures when the Congressional and state legislative redistricting battles are fought in the 50 state capitals this year. The final figures themselves are encouraging to the Republicans because they will mean a loss of Congressional seats in urban, almost automatically Democratic areas, where population has declined. Most of the 17 House seats in the North and Middle West that will be shifted to Sun Belt states will come from such urban centers. But the Republicans also stand to gain significantly more control of the redistricting process itself in several states because of their gains in state legislatures and governorships.