Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1961-03-28
Dam on fhe Potomac

Dam on fne Por0m0c
Have the spring freshets
along the Potomac told US to
build, or not to build, high
dam rosewood above Great
Falls? Would this project sub
tract, or add, to the danger of
disaster for Washington? A
lightly more sudden spell of
warm rain on this winters Ap-
palachian SHOWS would have
brought a repetition of the ter
rife flood that swept away the
Johnstown Dam In 1889.
Even aside from war, the
history of high dams has too
many cases of their destruc-
ton by floods. If they do stand
against human and natural fury
for century or two, flooding
eradicates their utility anyway
by building great deltas Of
muddy debris which, like the
slack water of the tidal Poto-
mae. must have a channel con-
tinually dredged through to
keep the debris from damming
the course and forcing the cur
rent aside to cut away the river
bank and form new channels.
This shaking process greatly
accelerates the rate of filling up
as slack water area. 1t may ex-
plain why the Army engineers
were so wide of the mark in es-
timating the rate at which the
Colorado River would fill Lake
Meade with debris.
No reservoir can be large
enough to serve a big, modern
city without a pollution prob
lem that must, sooner or later
be met by recirculation. Lake
Michigan is plenty big; but Chi
cago's use Of its water has be-
come an international issue
which is right now compelling
the cleaning of the city's sew
age and returning the effluent
to the lake, distaste to the con-
trary Notwithstanding.
Political demagogues and
real estate developers propose
to eat the apple and have it too;
for open space plans don't jibe
with the population explosion
which growth economies as
sures. An America for Ameri-
cans as they were before eau
casion colonization is the hall
mark of a progress" that
makes human like run wild as
it is doing in Africa now under
promise of foreign aid and
flood for peace" which resem-
BILE nothing more charitable
than the cake of Marie Antoi-
nette.
The only pure water on earth
Is that which has not fallen in
rain and snow; it's that which
is frozen out of the Arctic
Ocean in a wilderness fit only
for walrus hunters. Aesthetics
who object to the mud of the
Potomac as pollution" are
really objecting to floods that
cannot be fully prevented. The
glacial meal that discolors the
icy stream of the Canadian
Rockies, making them look
more like sewage than the Pc
tonnac does, is not pollution.
Certainly there is nothing
pure about the GRO Canal
water which is alleged to add
charm to the Maryland side OF
the river. This is sheer propa
ganda. Having lived on the very
banks of the Canal for over &C
years, I prefer the undeveloped
character of the Virginia Pail
sades. The canal cannot be kept
full of water for the year
round; and 1t always closes its
season as a Shiny mess interest
ing for its wildlife but not a
thing of beauty to be preserved
as superior to a city water res
ervoir.
The only utilities that are es
sential to keep sprawl from be
coming congested confusion are
highways that are accessible 10
cally topen to trucks, not just
commuters and tourists, plus
electric and telephone lines. In
these, too, lines liable to de
sible. Even highways are, anc
as far as aesthetics are con
cerned should be, outmoded as
soon as Arrears can be made
feasible. The future of rapic
transit is certainly not on rails
or roads in vehicles as they arr
today.
If we let only severed sites
be zoned and assessed as resi-
dentially valuable we certainly
will not prevent slums nor pre-
serve the lands that should be
kept in farms. It's the un.sew
cradle sites that should be resi-
dentially occupied instead of re
serving them as parks" This
can be done only by relying or
local water supplies that are re
circulated from such cleaning
facilities as sewage ponds OIL
with some techniques yet to be
struction should be displaced as
soon as technology makes it pos
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