Evening star., 1960-09-14
MRS. Wilkins Fears
New River Pollution
Calls Fuirfux
Intercepter
Key to Safety

OF the Potomac River may soon
get drastically worse.
Mrs. Anne wilkins, president
of the Fairfax County Board,
said the key factor in de-
termining whether this hap
pens is the route chosen for
the proposed $25 million inter-
cepter sewer to Dulles Inter-
national Airport.
While the raw Potomac water
tested at Great Falls failed to
meet United States Public
Health Service purity standards
for the year ended June 80, the
filtered drinking water OBJ
tained from this source is safe.
Counties at Odds
A bitter tug-of-war is now
going on between neighboring
Virginia and Maryland coun-
ties over which side of the
Potomac this intercepter should
be built on.
1t is my understanding that
the present thinking of District
officials is to place the inter-
cepter on the Maryland side O;
the river" said Mrs. wilkins.
She added that she under
stands that tentative plans cal!
for the intercepter to crosz
under the river to meet Broad
Run in Loudoun County.
Mrs. Wilkins said that if this
plan is followed, it will fail to
help Fairfax's sewage disposal
problems.
I I'VE would still have two
sewage treatment plants az
Vienna and Herndon emptyinz
treated sewage into the river"
she said. And there is great
pressure for further develop
ment in Fairfax which would
include construction of addi-
tlonal sewage treatment plants.
"All of these would empty
into the Potomac water which
the people in the District drink.
I've had my finger in the dam
for a long time, but 1 don't know
how much longer I can stop the
building of more sewage treat
ment plants in Fairfax"
She said the people of tbs
District should line up with
Fairfax County to get the in
tercepter built on the Virginia
side.
/ Still Undecided
Roy L. Orndorff. deputy di-
rector of the District Depart
ment of Engineering, said that
no decision has yet been made
on which side of the river the
intercepter sewer should be
built.
However. it is reported tha:
the plan with the inside track
calls for construction OF the
lntercepter on the Maryland
side to the Great Falls area
where it would cross under the
river to the Chantilly area.
A major consideration favor
ing this plan is that the Mary
land terrain presents fewer
construction problems.
! The District has water in
takes at both Great Falls and
further down the river at Little
Falls. The intakes at Little
Falls while not used much now
will eventually replace those az
Great Falls.
I Army Engineers, who operate
the Washington Aqueduct, the
Districts water supply center,
said that daily samplings at
Great Falls found the river
more polluted in the last fiscal
year than at any time in the
past 10 years.
John C. Smith, chief OF the
aqueduct's water supply divi-
sion. said that an average of
6,787 coliformS had been
counted in every cupful Of
water taken from the river.
New Standards Urged
The Public Health Service
has recommended that raw
water processed for municipal
use not exceed 5000 coliforms
per cupful and urges a ban on
swimming If the count is above
5000.
A coliform is bacterial
group usually found in putres-
cent matter. 1t is used to
measure the pollution of water
by sewage.
Mr.. Smith said that the
usually heavy rain last year
may have washed more farm
fertilizers and other decaying
matter into the river, which
would raise the coliform count.
He added that considerable
treated sewage goes into the
Potomac within so miles of
Great Falls. Three Virginia
towns, Leesburg. Vienna and
Herndon, and two Maryland
communities, Gaithersburg and
Frederick, pour several million
gallons of treated sewage into
the Potomac every day.
The District Sanitary En-
gineering Departments pro-
posed 1862 budget would pro-
vide about 81 million worth of
sewer work to keep sewage from
upstream sources out of the Po-
tomac.
Meanwhile. DR.. Daniel Leo
Finucane, director of the Dis
trict Department of Public
Health, said drinking water
here meets Public Health Serv-
ice standards.
He said. however. that the
Public Health Department be-
lieveS that the river water
should be as pure as possible
before it is filtered for drinking
water.