Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-11
Sewage Pact
Is Drafted 10
Pollution
District Heads Due
To Sign Plons for
Potomac, Anucostiu

and sent to the District Com
! missioners today q joint sewage
disposal agreement that engi-
neers called "the most impor-
tant step" in reducing pollution
Of the Anacostia and Potomac
Rivers.
Oficials described the agree
ment. which the District heads
are expected to sign tomorrow.
as history making" and "the
best thing that has come along
to rid our rivers of pollution"
Brig. Gen. Louis. w. Prentiss.
District Engineer Commissioner,
said the final form of the con-
tract-approved by the Maryland
sanitary commissioners yesterday
after nearly 10 years of nego-
tiations-has been under study
by the District heads for week.
The corporation counsel's Office
has recommended approval of
the contract, Gen Prentiss said.
Would Join Sewers.
Terms of the agreement cali
for a major sewer carrying the
waste of more than half of the
10000 homes served by the san
itary commission in suburban
Montgomery and Prince Georges
Counties to be Joined with the
Districts sewer system and lead
to the District sewage treatment
plant at Blue Plains.
Nearly % million gallons a day
Of sewage from the portion of
the Maryland sanitary district
east of Georgia avenue now flows
raw or only partially treated into
the Anacostia River, according
to Harry B. Shaw, chief engineer
of the commission. The sanitary
! commissions overtaxed treat
ment plant on the Anacostia
River at Bladensburg will be
closed down after the connec-.
ton is made, Mr.. Shaw said.
David v. Aud, District direc-
tor of sanitation, said the first
half Of a new secondary sewage.
treatment plant at Blue Plains
! will be in operation by 1856. He
called completion of this work
\ and the Maryland connection
"the most important single step
forward in Kidding the rivers OF,
pollution" Both the sanitary
y commissions Bladensburg treat
r ment works and the Districts
plant at Blue Plains now provide
I only primary sewage treatment.
discharging millions of gallons
of polluted sewer water into the
rivers, he said. A full secondary
treatment plant will be COM.
pleted by the District in 1859.
SIT Million Project.
The sanitary commission will
build a 4-mile trunk sewer cost
ing SIT million from its sewer
terminus at the Bladensburg
treatment plant to a pumping
station at Beaver Dam Branch
and Kenilworth avenue. near
i the District line. From there,
the Maryland sewage will be
4 pumped to q junction with the
I Districts big Anacostia inter-
ceptor sewer at East Capitol
street on the east bank Of the
Anacostia River, where it will
/ fow to Blue Plains.
Construction work on the con-
Meeting sewer will start as soon
after final approval Of the con-
tract as bids can be advertised
and awarded, Mr.. Shaw said.
About a quarter of a mile of it
under the new Baltimore-Wash
ington expressway already has
been built. according to Mr..
Shaw. ss-
The sanitary commission will
put up So to So million Of the
$28 million earmarked for sani-
tary sewer improvement In the
Districts 10-year public works
program. Revenue from the
Maryland connections is expect
ed to increase from the present
$21. 900 a year to $50 900 by next
year and as high as 5000, 900 to
$4,000 a year in the future. ac-
cording to Mr.. Aud. These pay
! ments will be for sewer use and
& treatment costs. in addition to
the cost of new construction.
Mr.. Aud said District officials
estimated the sanitary commits
sion will pay $2.5 million in use
charges exclusive of construction
costs during the next 10 years.
Pollution Control Step.
Sanitary engineers said the
agreement is history making
not alone because Of co-opera-
ton by District and Maryland
authorities-the sanitary COM
mission already has four other
major connections with Wash
ington's sewage system but be-
cause 1t represents the first con-
crete step among many unsuc-
cessful efforts toward pollution
control along the Metropolitan
Area water front.
Approval of the agreement by
the District viii mean that work
on the pollution-abatement pro-
gram viii cong at the same time
an extensive flood control and
relocation project is under way
on the Anacostia River.
The contract calls for the san.
itary commission to pay q share
of the cost of all new Distric,
facilities through which Mary.
land sewage will flow.
virginio Gas Tex Rises
RICHMOND. Aug. IL Dr.
The Division Of Motor Vehicle
yesterday said gasoline taxes II