The Nation\'s River

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Action now

In the different chapters of this report, various things stand out that
need to be started quickly, either to satisfy looming demands for water
development and water quality control, or to restore or protect scenic,
ecological, and recreational assets which, if not attended to quite
soon, are going to either disappear or suffer irreparable damage. A few
recommendations for action on certain of these immediate problems were
made in our _Interim Report_ of two years ago, together with
recommendation on one or two noncontroversial items clearly not in
conflict with any conceivable ultimate Basin aims. In abbreviated
essence, the main Interim recommendations, made with Interdepartmental
Task Force and Interstate Advisory Committee approval, were as follows:

(1) That a decision on the construction of Seneca dam and reservoir
on the Potomac main stem be indefinitely deferred, but that the
site be preserved as much as possible against further encroachment,
in case it is ever needed;

(2) That three relatively small reservoirs be built on tributary
creeks in the Paw Paw Bends area of the upper Basin, in addition to
the authorized Bloomington reservoir on the North Branch, to begin
providing a safe margin of water for metropolitan Washington and to
serve Basin recreational needs;

(3) That a permanent "green sheath" of protection for the Potomac
main stem, together with major recreational opportunity, be assured
by means of a new kind of composite park of varying width along
both shores from Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Maryland;

(4) That the Cacapon River and the West Virginia portion of the
Shenandoah be given Wild River status by Congress to protect their
shores against excessive and inappropriate encroachment;

(5) That water quality programs and research be accelerated toward
certain minimum goals;

(6) That Soil Conservation Service and related Forest Service
programs for erosion control, water management and development, and
recreation benefits be accelerated;

(7) That the authorized boundaries of the George Washington
National Forest be extended to provide public access to and
protection of the two forks of the Shenandoah above their
confluence;

(8) That Mason Neck on the upper estuary be preserved; and

(9) That the George Washington Memorial Parkway be extended from
Mount Vernon to Yorktown as the beginning of a system of scenic
roads and parkways in and around the Basin.

One of the recommendations has had to be deferred, though the need
implicit in it remains acute--that the Cacapon and the West Virginia
Shenandoah be included in the Wild Rivers Bill then pending before
Congress. It had been thought that this Bill might be used to protect
the Basin's threatened main tributary rivers, beginning with these two
in West Virginia, but afterward doubt arose that the standards set up
for Wild Rivers--the primary point of reference being Western streams
flowing through sparsely peopled, often publicly owned country--would
make sense or be feasible in a settled region.

Mason Neck has been preserved by great effort on the part of
individuals, organizations, and different levels of government. More
remains to be done in the way of consolidation of what is there and its
adaptation to intended purposes, but the hardest part of the job is
accomplished; a critically endangered asset has been protected. Funds
have been voted by Congress for the acquisition of the Bloomington
reservoir site in accordance with the Interim recommendation. Water
quality improvement in the Basin is on the point of being significantly
accelerated toward high goals, as the new State standards are reviewed
and approved and start getting enforcement, though for specific trouble
spots and categories of pollution special Federal or other action is
going to be needed and is the subject of new recommendations
accompanying this final report.

The rest of the _Interim Report_ measures require Congressional action,
which none has yet received. In some cases this is because technically
detailed authorizing legislation has taken time to prepare, in others
because budgetary or policy realities have brought delay or
reconsideration, and in still others because of a feeling at higher
levels that certain recommendations could be better evaluated in terms
of a final report's whole set of proposals. In the present set of
recommendations they are repeated, for they represent genuine needs.
Some have been slightly altered in the light of evolving restrictive
reality, more recent knowledge, or flexibility, and the suggested or
implied Interim scheduling for some has been changed. It is no longer
envisioned, for instance, that the parkway extension below Mount Vernon
will be authorized and constructed quickly.

The present recommendations, though much wider in overall scope than our
earlier ones, represent only a first step in planning for the Basin, for
reasons presented in full in this report. They are attuned to present
economic and technological possibilities, as they must be. We believe
that if they get full and calm appraisal they will prove to be
acceptable politically, for all of them that call for major projects
represent solutions for acute and imminent problems for which other
satisfactory solutions do not presently exist, and to the greatest
possible degree they have been made flexible to accommodate possible
future change in aims or techniques.

In most cases, the reasons for specific recommendations have already
been given in the body of this report. However, the primary public
interest that focuses on the matter of major storage reservoirs may make
it worthwhile at this point to review and enlarge upon the facts. Some
reservoirs are going to have to be built if the Basin is to cope
satisfactorily with water supply, water quality, and recreational
demands. At the time of the _Interim Report_, we recognized that the
three reservoirs in the Paw Paw Bends area, together with Bloomington,
were very possibly not going to be enough to meet the need, but we made
a recommendation for their authorization because it was clear that they
would take the edge off the immediately looming water problem at
Washington, would mesh well with any additional future storage in the
Basin, and would have no major disruptive scenic effects but instead
would provide a great deal of high-quality flat-water recreation in an
area where there was significant demand for it.

These considerations still apply. However, the more complete picture of
Basin water problems that has emerged in our studies since the _Interim
Report_ shows that at least two more reservoirs are very possibly going
to be needed, and that the most useful scheduling of initial projects
will combine an answer for upstream problems with the satisfaction of
near-future needs at metropolitan Washington.

Besides the stretch of concentrated industry and population along the
North Branch, where Bloomington Reservoir is going to be needed as soon
as possible, three upper-Basin areas with major storage sites available
near at hand are faced with large water shortages in the near or middle
future, and have streams that would benefit greatly from flow
augmentation. In the order of the critical importance of their problems,
they are Frederick, Maryland, on the Monocacy; Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania, on the Conococheague Creek; and the Staunton-Waynesboro
area on the upper tributaries of the Shenandoah's South Fork, in
Virginia.

Chambersburg lies in an area where opposition to any major reservoirs
has been heavy. An interim solution to the local problem, though
possibly not satisfactory in the long run, can be found in a system of
small headwater reservoirs. The major Chambersburg reservoir site has
received full consideration as an element in a water-storage package to
begin dealing with Basin demands. But its immediate advantages are not
so unique as to justify going against the area's apparent wishes, and it
has not been included as a recommendation.

The reservoirs at Verona near Staunton and at Sixes Bridge on the
Monocacy, fortunately, can be adequately coordinated with Bloomington
and the three Paw Paw impoundments to provide roughly a twenty-year
margin of safety in water supply at Washington, besides coping with
foreseeable shortages in their immediate neighborhoods, furnishing
desired flat-water recreation, and contributing greatly to water quality
and recreation benefits downstream. They are also locally and State
supported. For these reasons, they have been chosen to fill out the
recommended system of major reservoirs to meet near-future Basin
demands.

The construction schedule recommended is based on the rate at which
upstream and metropolitan demands are expected to develop in relation to
each other. And, in accordance with flexible principles of planning,
there is provision that if more desirable alternative sources of water
or any changes in expected aims or demands evolve, the schedule or the
plan itself may be altered. Thus, if this first-stage plan is adopted,
the reservoirs to which the region will be committed at any given time
will be only those for which there is actual immediate need, but
coordination will not have been lost. This same kind of flexibility is
built into the recommendations relating to flow augmentation for quality
control.

Other proposals for major action are self-explanatory or are analyzed in
detail in separate sub-task force material. Among these latter is the
Potomac National River, as the park proposal is now designated, which
represents the most hopeful approach to defending the main stem Potomac
against destructive encroachment and enhancing its potential for
recreation.

Some of the recommendations presented are relatively small in scope but
nonetheless essential to cleaning up, preservation, or other desirable
ends. Others aim not toward immediate action but toward research or
legislation to clear the way for needed action--examples are those
regarding acid mine drainage and the possible need for a new Federal
category of "pastoral" or "scenic" rivers in populated regions. And
still others are only suggestions that non-Federal jurisdictions act in
regard to specific problems that fall within the realm of their
responsibility.

[Illustration]

If this body of recommendations is significantly implemented as an
initial program, it can lead to a good solid beginning on the things
that need to be done in the Potomac Basin. Without treading heavily on
the freedom of choice of future populations, it can satisfy the water
demands of the Basin during a long enough span of years to give
scientists time to examine the full range of evolving alternatives for
water management, and planners freedom to choose perhaps better ways of
meeting future demands than are now available.

The program can clean up the main streams of the Basin and assure their
healthy and copious flow even in time of drought, keep their banks
beautiful, and make them more available than they presently are for the
people's enjoyment. Even in the major trouble spots of the present
time--stretches like the lower North Branch and the metropolitan
estuary--dramatic improvement in the appearance of the water and its
usefulness for boating and fishing and such things will be possible if
the recommendations are followed out to where they lead, though full
restoration in such spots, particularly in the estuary, is going to
require an expansion of present knowledge and a long-continuing effort
on the part of all agencies and jurisdictions.

The program will not assure general protection of the Basin's landscape,
for only the Basin's people, generation on generation of them, can
assure that. But it can preserve some of the major treasures in that
landscape and mitigate some of the worst threats to it. And by fostering
projects to illustrate how a respect for the landscape can be put to
work, and bringing people into closer contact with the old realities of
the Basin's natural world, it can stimulate understanding and feeling
that will lead to wider restoration and protection, possibly that
general protection that only the people can assure.

If the spirit of these recommendations prevails, we believe that they
can lead reasonably soon to a Potomac Basin fit to serve as a model for
the nation. And if they are followed by further stages of continuing,
flexible, coordinated planning that will apply the best technology to
new problems as they arise, keep Basin aims in mind, maintain a high
sense of values, and leave open all possible options for the people who
come after, the Basin will remain a model. And that has been the aiming
point of our study and our planning.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

THE NATION'S RIVER--AN ACTION PLAN

I. Action aimed at coping with present and future water resource
problems in the Potomac Basin as well as contributing strongly to
scenic, ecological, and recreational values:

A. An effective water pollution control program is the key to the
public's use and enjoyment of the Basin's rivers and streams. Programs
are currently under way which will result in continued progress toward
enhancing the quality of these waters. The Secretary of the Interior has
approved water quality standards for the interstate waters of the
Potomac Basin submitted by the States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, West
Virginia, and the District of Columbia which call for accelerated
remedial programs. Standards submitted by Virginia are currently under
review to assure that they will contain comparable requirements.
Achievement of the goals established by these standards will require
expanded support in the form of legislation, funding, technology, and
public awareness to insure their effective implementation.

1. To control organic, chemical, and bacterial pollution of the
Potomac River system and achieve compliance with the water quality
standards, a program of both immediate and long-run action will be
essential:

a. During the next five years a series of actions must be taken to
control the Basin's most immediate pollution problems:

(1) Coordination of Federal, State and local powers, in cooperation
with any Basin compact commission or other agency that may be
established, to achieve waste treatment measures as required in
appropriate standards and comparable levels for intrastate waters.
This will call for removal of at least 85 percent of the organic
load, or its equivalent, from all municipal and industrial wastes
throughout the Basin, besides adequate chlorination of all treated
wastes, except that in the Washington metropolitan area at least 90
percent removal will be required because of the volume of wastes
involved and their effects upon the estuary. The means toward these
goals will consist of new plant construction, additions to
existing plants, and control of combined sewer overflows. Regional
or watershed approaches to the extension or improvement of these
systems should be encouraged. Improved collection systems and
treatment facilities also must be supported by effective training,
certification and supervision of operators of the sewerage systems
of all jurisdictions.

(2) Stimulation of effective action toward meeting similar
requirements in handling wastes at all Federal establishments in
the Basin, consistent with the nationwide program called for by the
Water Pollution Control Executive Order. Where possible, wastes
from Federal establishments should be channeled into municipal
sewer systems. Adequate budgets for waste disposal at such
establishments are a prime necessity, so that Federal agencies will
be the pace setters that they must be.

(3) Immediate reconvening of the 1957 Enforcement Conference on the
Potomac to focus attention on the timetables for controlling
pollution in the estuary in the light of water quality standards
and also to consider problems of agricultural pollution, sediment,
nutrients, dredging and vessel wastes.

(4) Strengthening of the continuing surveillance program on all
streams in the Basin to insure compliance with water quality
standards and to help correct abuses from leaks, spills, and
illegal or accidental polluting discharges. Active participation by
local, State and interstate agencies with the Federal Government in
contingency plans for spills of oil and other hazardous substances
in the Basin also is required.

(5) Adoption and implementation of regulations and requirements by
local and State authorities for control of pollution from boats and
marinas. Legislation under consideration by the Congress would
permit establishing national standards for control of pollution by
vessels.

(6) Adoption and implementation by State and local authorities of a
policy that will prevent significant quality deterioration in high
quality waters.

b. Accomplishment of these measures will go far toward assuring a
clean Potomac. However, to protect the Basin's waters over the long
run, even more must be done.

(1) First must come research and investigations to seek better
methods of control where existing information and technology are
inadequate. This includes:

(a) Continuation of current pilot plant demonstration studies of
advanced waste treatment processes at Piscataway, Prince William
County, Virginia, and District of Columbia waste treatment plants
and completion of the chemical, biological, and physical studies of
the estuary to establish a basis for upgrading water quality to the
maximum feasible degree.

(b) Continuation of investigations and demonstration projects to
evaluate costs and effectiveness of methods of treating and
controlling combined and storm sewer discharges from urban areas,
particularly Washington, D.C., to provide cheaper and more
effective solutions as partial alternatives to present long-range
programs of separation of sanitary from storm sewers in the
metropolitan area.

(c) Initiation of an engineering study or demonstration project to
investigate practicable and acceptable means of disposing of sludge
from conventional and advanced waste treatment plants.

(d) More complete delineation of sources of nutrients to the
free-flowing streams of the Basin and evaluation of methods of
nutrient control or reduction. Continued research on nutrient-algal
relationships to better define the principal chemical factors which
result in nuisance algal growths, particularly in the Potomac
estuary.

(e) Completion of a survey of agricultural waste sources in the
Basin, both organic and chemical, and the application of measures
to control them.

(f) Acceleration of research to find methods of treating industrial
wastes for which suitable methods presently are not available.

(g) Evaluation of major point sources of mine drainage in the
upstream watersheds of the North Branch of the Potomac River and
development of mine drainage abatement measures and control
programs which are technically and economically feasible.

(2) Concurrently--and at the earliest possible date--must come
application of knowledge obtained through research, demonstration
projects and field investigations performed within the Potomac
Basin and elsewhere. As possible, water quality standards should be
upgraded to reflect this new knowledge. Application of findings
should include:

(a) The progressive practical application of advanced waste
treatment and improved methods of treatment or control of combined
and storm sewer discharges in metropolitan Washington and
elsewhere.

(b) Application of additional measures necessary for controlling
estuarial pollution still present after maximum feasible waste
treatment, including advanced waste treatment, has been provided in
the area.

(c) Continuing reassessment of the effect of reservoir releases on
water quality in the flowing streams of the Basin, after the
highest practicable degree of waste treatment has been provided.
Such assessment will involve:

(1) Reevaluation of the opportunities for obtaining improved water
quality objectives through management of reservoir releases and
stream flows as individual reservoir projects are considered for
construction, in the light of advanced waste treatment, means of
coping with agricultural runoff and drainage, and other
alternatives made available by that time.

(2) Development of the Federal water resources policies which will
provide for the most effective application of the streamflow
regulation provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act,
including equitable cost-sharing arrangements, to assure that
streamflow regulation assumes its proper role in relation to other
pollution control alternatives for the Basin.

[Illustration]

2. For the control of sedimentation and erosion and their effects, the
following action will be needed:

a. Cooperative Federal-State-local efforts to accelerate land-use
adjustment and land treatment in the Basin.

b. Adoption by State, county and municipal governments of good
strong statutes and ordinances for the control of erosion from
construction sites and other sources in urban areas.

c. Completion of current experiments on Rock Creek in the reduction
of storm water turbidity by means of coagulants, and extension of
such research to the Potomac estuary.

[Illustration]

B. With primary reference to problems of water supply and flood damage
in the Basin, steps must be taken to cope with present or looming
municipal and industrial demands and to guard against future troubles:

1. Large-scale or general problems call for large or general
actions:

a. We recommend that major Basin water supply problems, including
the need for some storage to restore and protect the quality of the
water in the flowing rivers and the needs for flat-water
recreation, be dealt with as follows:

(1) By prompt funding and construction of the authorized
Bloomington Reservoir on the Potomac North Branch, for benefits in
that region and downstream, including the Washington metropolis.

(2) By completing action on the reports on the several additional
major reservoirs which, together with Bloomington, will constitute
a "package" of drought insurance against the Basin's most critical
expected water demands during at least the next 20 years. Three of
the additional reservoirs are those on Town Creek, Little Cacapon
Creek, and Sideling Hill Creek, recommended in the _Potomac Interim
Report to the President_ of January 1966 and detailed in subsequent
studies, for benefits in terms of downstream water supply and
exceptional recreational opportunity. Another reservoir, North
Mountain on Back Creek, was considered to be essential for meeting
these needs by the Governor's Potomac Advisory Committee in its
consideration of the 1966 _Interim Report_ and was recommended in
the Corps of Engineers _Potomac River Basin Report of 1963_.
Additional reservoirs include the Sixes Bridge Reservoir on the
Monocacy and the Verona Reservoir on the Middle River tributary of
the South Fork of the Shenandoah, also recommended in the Corps of
Engineers 1963 report and currently being restudied in detail to
meet present projections of local and downstream needs.

According to present data, for maximum usefulness and safety,
Bloomington should be completed on an expeditious basis and the
others at appropriate intervals thereafter in relation to growth of
demand.

To make certain that desirable flexibility in planning will be
maintained, the following conditions should be borne in mind by all
Federal, State, or interstate agencies with present or future
concern with Basin affairs, and by the United States Congress and
the State legislatures, and should be taken into consideration in
the shaping of authorizing legislation:

(a) Individual reservoirs should be susceptible to reevaluation and
modification during design stage in light of new techniques of
water supply--including demonstrated feasibility and acceptability
of the upper estuary for this purpose--and of water quality
control, or unforeseeable modifications of aims or expected
demands, should such change be determined to be beneficial to the
overall well-being of the Basin.

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