The Nation's River: A report on the Potomac: From the U.S. Department of the InteriorUnited States. Department of the Interior
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The Nation's River: A report on the Potomac: From the U.S. Department of the Interior
United States. Department of the Interior
Potomac River
The present recommendations, though much wider in overall scope than our
earlier ones, represent only a first step in planning for the Basin, for
reasons presented in full in this report. They are attuned to present
economic and technological possibilities, as they must be. We believe
that if they get full and calm appraisal they will prove to be
acceptable politically, for all of them that call for major projects
represent solutions for acute and imminent problems for which other
satisfactory solutions do not presently exist, and to the greatest
possible degree they have been made flexible to accommodate possible
future change in aims or techniques.
In most cases, the reasons for specific recommendations have already
been given in the body of this report. However, the primary public
interest that focuses on the matter of major storage reservoirs may make
it worthwhile at this point to review and enlarge upon the facts. Some
reservoirs are going to have to be built if the Basin is to cope
satisfactorily with water supply, water quality, and recreational
demands. At the time of the _Interim Report_, we recognized that the
three reservoirs in the Paw Paw Bends area, together with Bloomington,
were very possibly not going to be enough to meet the need, but we made
a recommendation for their authorization because it was clear that they
would take the edge off the immediately looming water problem at
Washington, would mesh well with any additional future storage in the
Basin, and would have no major disruptive scenic effects but instead
would provide a great deal of high-quality flat-water recreation in an
area where there was significant demand for it.
These considerations still apply. However, the more complete picture of
Basin water problems that has emerged in our studies since the _Interim
Report_ shows that at least two more reservoirs are very possibly going
to be needed, and that the most useful scheduling of initial projects
will combine an answer for upstream problems with the satisfaction of
near-future needs at metropolitan Washington.
Besides the stretch of concentrated industry and population along the
North Branch, where Bloomington Reservoir is going to be needed as soon
as possible, three upper-Basin areas with major storage sites available
near at hand are faced with large water shortages in the near or middle
future, and have streams that would benefit greatly from flow
augmentation. In the order of the critical importance of their problems,
they are Frederick, Maryland, on the Monocacy; Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania, on the Conococheague Creek; and the Staunton-Waynesboro
area on the upper tributaries of the Shenandoah's South Fork, in
Virginia.
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