Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-18
BY DONALD A. CRAIG.

Cost of construction of storage reser-
voirs on the Potomac River, which will
be necessary in accordance with one
plan of providing more water for the
inhabitants of the Washington area
embracing the District of Columbia and
the surrounding portions of Maryland
and Virginia appears likely to be SO
great that it will be unwarranted, in
the opinion of the Water Supply Com
mittee in its preliminary report to the
National Capital Park and Planning
| Commission, unless it is undertaken in
connection with power, navigation or
other projects on the river.
! The committee thinks, however, that
! independent construction for water sup
/ ply purposes might be justified II the
whole region were supplied from this
source and shared in the cost
The relative cost of this method of
procedure. as compared with independ-
ent action by the separate authorities,
has not been ascertained by the COM
mittee. The possibility of combining
water supply storage for power purposes
has been discussed, and attention is
called in the report to the serious effect
on the economy of power development
which the diversion of 500 or 800 second
feet of water would produce. Neverthe-
| less, the committee believes that this
possibility" is worthy of more careful
study.
Rights Not Defined.
AS heretofore limited. the committee
wishes to call attention to the impor-
lance of securing rights and of protect
ing resources from pollution far in adj
vance of development Of any of the
sources considered.
The rights of the Federal or District
Of Columbia governments to water from
the Potomac River have not been fully
defined, the committee points out, nor
is protection from pollution of the
, stream apparently adequately provided
for in the future The committee says
that in Maryland the Suburban SAM
tary Commission can acquire rights,
while the power to prevent pollution
rests with the State Board of Health.
In Virginia the rights of the counties
and cities in this regard do not appear
as clearly, according to the committee.
The establishment of these rights
and facts seems to the committee i'm
portant," continues the report, because
by such establishment it may be posi-
BILE to defer expensive construction and
to use normal run-off of streams for
many years or in accordance with an
ultimate plan of development which will
include all the work in the immediate
future"
Small Streams in Reserve.
There will always be in reserve in
case it is decided to develop some of the
small streams, both on the Maryland
and Virginia sides of the Potomac River,
such streams as Difficult Run in Vir-
ginia. This stream. as pointed out be-
fore in this series, runs during the
latter part of its course to the Potomac
River through deep and rugged gorge.
and the committee believes that even
though in the case of a drought it may
run dry or nearly so enough water may
be stored behind comparatively mex
pensively constructed dam, which can
be used for two purposes-G) either to
supply purely local Virginia communi-
ties, or Cd to increase olume of water
in the general system which as been
proposed for the supply of the District of
Columbia, Arlington County and Alex
andria and the nearby ortions OF Mary
land in Montgomery and Prince Georges
Counties.
The joint committee which represents
the Federal authorities and the States
of Maryland and Virginia, or portions
of them, has not been entirely unani-
nous in drafting its preliminary report