Evening star., 1952-02-14
First Of d Series.


River Basin, complete agreement
has been reached by the District
and Maryland and Virginia locah-
ties on the steps necessary to
abate the pollution in the Poto-
mac and AnacoStia Rivers in the
Washington area. Il
At present there are few, Il any,
points Of issue among the various
communities on the needs, meth
DDS and degree Of treatment neces-
sary to improve the quality Of the
water II. the Potomac.
10 Years In the Making.
This area Of agreement has not
come about. however, overnight.
1t has been 10 years in the max
ing, but finally has reached a
point where only the time neces-
sary to construct the abatement
facilities is needed.
A glance back 10 years will
show that there was an almost
complete lack of pollution control
and the treatment of sewage
wastes.
At that time there were no
CONSTANT regulatory laws con-
trolling pollution. In Virginia, for
example. an industry or munici-
pality was free to dump its pollu-
ton. untreated. into any stream
without regard to users of the
water in the lower areas.
Industries, moving into the
State. could befoul streams with
no regard to the welfare of others.
And the few cities along the Po-
tomac and its tributaries that had
installed sewage treatment plants
had done so probably out of re-
gard for their own health rather
than as a protection to the streams
or others involved.
Similar to Commission.
Presumably the Greater WASH
tngton Area council on health,
welfare and public safety as pro-
posed by Mr.. Donohue would
operate much like the Potomac
Commission, in that it would bring
about solution Of many problems
merely by turning the light OF
publicity on them. !
Mr.. Donohue plans to cali to-,
gether representatives of the gov
ernments in the nearby Maryland
and Virginia area soon to start
organizing the council.
One Of the first steps IN inter-
state cooperation in the pollution
abatement move came when Mary
land, Virginia and the District
1nacted almost identical anti-pol-
luton laws aimed at preventing
new pollution and to correct that
which already existed.
And while these steps have been
taken on Statewide basis, the
most important accomplishments
OF interstate cooperation have
been toward solving the. sewage
problems OF the Metropolitan
area.
Arrangements Now Made.
Already arrangements have been
made between the District and
the Washington Suburban Sani-
tary Commission by which the
sewage from nearby Maryland
will be taken into the District
system and treated at the District
plant.
This agreement. about to be
finally ratified between two politi-
cal subdivisions. was backed by
the Potomac River Commission
And, largely through the areas
OF understanding and co-opera-
tion established through the work
OF the commission, the. nearby
Virginia areas are now embark
ing on projects that will, in a. few
years. result in universal sewage
treatment on that side of the Po-
tomac.
A study, recently made by en-
gmeerS 10 nno the most econom-
ical methods of sewage treatment
for the counties Of Arlington and
Fairfax, and the cities Of Falls
Church and Alexandria. was un-
dertaken after suggestion by COM
mission members that such q
study would be advisable.
Result of Cooperation.
This study was the result of CO.
operation between these separate
jurisdictions that had never ex-
listed before. While the engineers
recommended separate treatment
facilities. instead Of q single plant
or use Of District facilities, 1t. is
the belief Of observers that the
project marked q new era of un-
derstanding among the Virginia
communities.
While engineers making the
survey decided that, at present,
separate plants would be more
economical, the survey, conducted