Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-10-05
Defends Vienna =.


From the news and edi-
torial material you have
printed. I gather that you
are interested in serving the
best health interest of the
Metropolitan Area. There
have been many yelled i'm
plications, as well as some
outright accusations. about
the performance of. and the
effluent from, the local sew
age disposal plants in North
ern Virginia. I will not speak
for the others, but I am
pushed to defend the Town
of Vienna. Local newspapers
are printing stories contain
ing information, which, if
left unchallenged or COM
mented upon, would leave the
wrong impression.
BY definition. The oxford
Dictionary offers a ong
others the following for ef-
fluent: THE outflow from a
sewage tank" Now I submit
that the use of the term does
not mean that all the known
processes of treatment are
automatically present in the
sewage tank, nor does it
mean that all effluent is not
treated to a safe, sterile con-
dition. But to attempt clari-
fication. it does mean that
Gin the case of Vienna)
purified liquids only are flow
ing from the aquatic pond to
the Piney Greek Run, down.
hill to Difficult Run, and on
down to the Potomac River.
The liquid outflow from the
pond (Which incidentally has
large, thriving fish living in
task any fisherman about
the purity of water required)
is absolutely so clear of BAG
terra and detergent products
that the only foam is that
amount which you would see
running over a one foot dam,
if you were standing by a
small forest creek. Solids are
removed before treatment of
liquids and do not pass out
into the stream. The natural
water publication process
going on in every stream in
the world is also at work in
the Vienna plant for the Ii
guilds and is also going on in
Piney Branch, Difficult Run,
and to some extent, in the
Potomac River.
I would recommend that if
those who are doing all the
political wrangling and wor-
rying over loss of jobs or
profits take the time to prove
that Vienna is one of the Of
Tending communities, they
will find that Fairfax County
areas are polluting the
stream passing through the
center of Vienna, which in
cidentally, is provided with
sewer facilities by the town.
This offending condition re-
suits from inadequate sew
age disposal facilities and Of
Tending individual drainage
fields which have been con-
demned by the Fairfax
County health officers, and
which are located upstream
outside Vienna boundaries.
What is more, there are
farmers still using the
streams as feeding and bath
ing areas for cattle, and they
offer their share Of the pol
luton between the sewage
plants and the river. If tests
we're performed on the wa
ter above Vienna, at the out
flow of the Vienna disposal
plants, at equi-distant marked
places along the route of the
streams and at the outflow of
the streams into the Potomac.
it might conceivably be proved
that Maryland and Washing
ton show the disregard along
with Fairfax County - and
not Vienna Now with re-
spect to the combination of
sanitary and storm sewers,
approximately three years
ago a developers plumbing
contractor was replaced be-
cause the plumber illegally
tapped storm sewers into the
sanitary sewer. Furthermore,