Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1958-07-10
Fantastic Growth
and Sewer
Story Is Told

Over 900 miles of water and sewer lines.
Fifty thousand new water house connections.
Fortysix thousand additional sewer house
connections
A $50 percent increase in water filtration
capacity
113 percent increase in filtered water stor
age capacity.
A 10 percent increase in sewage pumping
facilities
These are some of the Washington Suburban
Sanitary Commissions major accomplishments
between January l, 1851 and January 1, 1853 /
1t was period Of unprecedented expansion
of the Commissions facilities to meet the needs
of the skyrocketing population in the Sanitary
District in Montgomery and Prince Georges Coun-
ties Maryland.
Approximately 100000 people moved into the
area, bringing the present total to over half
million. At the same time, the General Assembly
expanded the Sanitary District from ITO square
miles to 325 square miles nearly five times as
large as the District of Columbia.
To serve the mushrooming housing develop
ments and shopping centers, the Commission
added 469 miles of water mains and AS miles Of
sewer lines to. its utility network. That's about
$50 feet for each hour of each working day over
the last seven years.
If these 914 miles of new lines were laid end
TO end they would stretch from Washington to
ST Louis
Seven years ago, the Commission had 916
miles of water mains and 794 miles of sewer lines.
At the beginning of 1858 there were 1885 miles
OF water mains and 1899 miles of sewer lines
During the same sevenyear period, the Com
mission installed 52,S76 water house connections
and 1851 sewer house connections This amounts
to three new water services and three new sewer
services each hour of each working day.
On January 1, 1851, the Commission had
0O124 water house connections and 53,429 sewer
house connections. Today, these services total
$4,000 for water and 100000 for sewer.
AS residents poured into the Sanitary
District, the water demand jumped accordingly.
To meet this demand, the Commission enlarged
the filtration facilities at its Pauxent Treatment
Plant from capacity of 10 million gallons in 1851
to SIS million gallons daily at present
As result of this, expansion, the Commits
sion placed its Burnt Mills filtration plant on
standby basis in the summer of 1855. 1t has been
using the Patuxent plant since that time to supply
the entire Sanitary District with the exception
Of the Forest Heights area which is supplied from
Commissionoperated wells.
New Dam Built
Also in 1851, the Commission began construc-
ton of the Rocky Gorge Dam on the Patuxent
River, near Laurel 1t was completed i'm 1854. The
dam impounds GA billions gallons Of water It
supplements the Commissions dam on the
Patuxent at Brighton completed in 1914, which
has 7billion-gallon reservoir.
Along with the sharp increases in filtration
facilities and raw water storage capacity came
the construction by the Commission Of 10 addt
tional filtered water storage reservoirs. They
brought the total number of filtered water stor.
age structures to 30 and increased the filtered
water storage capacity from 81 million gallons
to IS million gallons.
As an additional service to its customers the
Commission since 1851 has been fluoridating its
water to help prevent tooth decay The agency
was the first in the Washington area to launch
such program.
Proof Of its value is demonstrated in recent
preliminary reports by health authorities. These
findings showed that the mum Der Of cavities
among children drinking Commission water has
dropped sizably during the last seven years.
Meanwhile water consumption shot upward
at an astronomc rate ~ from total OF nine bill
lion gallons during 1851 to 1873 billion gallons in
1857.
In the same period, the average daily use
rose from 255 million gallons to AZ million
gallons and the maximum days consumption from
34.5 million gallons on July %, 1851, to rs mil
lion gallons on July 81, 1857.
Because of these tremendous Increases the
Commission realized that the Patuxent River
would be inadequate to supply all Of the future
water needs in the Sanitary District. Conse.
quently after studies by its engineers and by its
consultant DR.. Abel Woman, the Commission in
1856 decided to tap the Potomac River for an
additional water supply.
New Filtration Plant
This decision was reaffirmed after public
hearings last year and work started on plans 10
build filtration plant on the Potomac near Watts
Branch The first unit is scheduled TO be com
pleted in 1860. II will have capacity Of 30 mil
lion gallons day.
Successive additions will be made over 10
year periods so that by 1890, the plant will have
a total capacity Of 100 million gallons day. BY
the year 1000, the Commission expects to be serv.
The last seven years also witnessed the elm
ing IL million people.