Evening star., 1942-05-03
Drought Taxes
Nearby Area S
Wafer Supply
Luwn SprinkIing May
Be Banned; Potuxent
Dam Work Pushed

With its present facilities taxed
ito the utmost" because of the
drought and continued population
growth, the Washington Suburban
Sanitary Commission is working
overtime on its new Patuxent River
dam near Brighton. which will store
5000 ,000,000 gallons when COM
pleted.
Meanwhile, officials said, the 130,-
600 persons served by the commits
sion in nearby Maryland may soon
be forced to curtail their use of
water, at least for lawn sprinkling,
because of the drought.
The dam, which will cost about
100000, now is third finished.
according to Harry R. Hall, chief
engineer of the sanitary commission,
and officials hope to begin storing
water in two or three weeks. Con-
struction crews are working seven
days a week.
The drought also is causing wells
to run dry, delaying crop planting
and plowing and threatening to
nave more serious effects for
farmers.
Water. much Of which now es-
capes down the Patuxent. will be
stored behind the new dam and will
be released If the stream supply in
nearby Maryland gets much lower,
Mr.. Hall explained. 1t would run
down the Patuxent to the sanitary
commissions plant at Ashton and
would there be diverted into the
Northwest Branch, which flows into
the hitter plant at Burnt Mills.
Parts Of Program Delayed.
The dam is scheduled to be COM
pleted by fall. but the commission
has been unable to get other parts
OF its building program under way.
The program, designed to provide
water for the fast-growing suburban
sections of Montgomery and Prince
Georges Counties. calls for a new
filter plant near Laurel, with a ca
pacity of 100000 gallons a day,
and a pipe line from Laurel to
Branchville. Although a contract
for the latter project has been let,
it has not been started because of
difficulties in getting materials, Mr..
Hall said.
The streams from which the sani-
tary commission draws its supply
are much lower than they were this
time last year, he said.
The situation has been aggravated
by the sharp increase in water con-
sumption from daily average of
5000, 900 gallons in the early part
of April to more than 5000, 900 gall
Ions a day recently, Mr.. Hall added.
"Our facilities are being pushed
heavily to keep up service" he de-
clared, "and we are even drawing
ment our supply. We don't know
rate"
Saying the increase is due princi-
pally to the use of water for lawn
sprinkling, Mr.. Hall warned that If
the demand for water continues at
the same rate as it has during the
last few days, the commission may
consider compulsory curtailment OF
WdJcT SuCll d
The bottleneck in our water dis
tribution system" he said. sis the
filter plant at Burnt Mills. Although
it has a normal capacity of only
100000 gallons a day, it is now
delivering $4,000, 900 gallons daily,
straining its facilities to the utmost"
Farmers Face Serious Situation.
The threat of a water shortage
will be averted, he added, when the
new dam is completed The dam
together with the additional filter
plant, will be able to deliver twice
now can furnish.
Farmers face a serious situation"
if there is no rain within the next
two weeks, Lawrence Greene, Fair
fax County agricultural agent, said
last night.
Ground now is too hard for plow-
ing and for more planting, he said.
Crops coming from gardens already
planted are comparatively safe"
he added.
In Upper Marlboro, the local VOL
unteer fire department has offered
to haul water to farmers whose
wells have run dry, and 16 such calls
have been answered in recent weeks.
Restrictions on the use of water
because of the drought also are being
considered at Brunswick, the As
sociated Press reported, while in
Virginia it was announced that the
Dismal Swamp canal has been closed
to navigation because the water is
dangerously low.