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Show (b) The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, extending 186 miles from Washington to Cumberland, Md., and including 100 miles of river frontage, is being administered by the National Park Service for rec- reational use. The canal property includes unique and important scenic and historical features of na- tional significance. It represented a Federal invest- ment of about 4 million dollars to 1950. Extensive additional recreational facilities are proposed on it. (c) The National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads were authorized by Congress to make a joint study of the possibilities of developing a parkway from Great Falls to Cumberland, Md., following the route of the canal. The recent re- port1 recommends construction of the parkway, rehabilitation of the canal wherever possible, and acquisition of additional lands. Such an approach to Washington would provide helpful access to recreation facilities for the people of Washington and other basin communities. (d) Congress has authorized a national monu- ment at Harpers Ferry, W. Va., an area rich in historical and scenic interest at the confluence of the Shenandoah and the Potomac. The Federal park and recreation program in the basin is primarily directed to the development of the lower Potomac from Great Falls to Mount Vernon. This action is associated with improve- ment of the scenic features of Washington and its many historical sites. Recreational Program Needs The outdoor, nonurban recreational potential of the upper basin can be fully realized only by the coordinated development of the State and Federal areas in the basin. Appropriations are essential to implement the coordinated recreation planning au- thority contained in the Park, Parkway, and Recrea- tional Area Study Act of 1936.2 Even before such a planning study can be completed certain needs are evident. The large Federal areas in national forests need certain simple forest recreation facili- ties in keeping with the forest scene. In the upper basin, more water bodies are essential for boating and swimming. State parks with swimming and boating facilities are overtaxed. Swimming and other recreational needs of metropolitan Washing- ton should be met. Public facilities are needed to make more easily available the boating and fishing opportunities of tidewater. 1H. Doc. 687, 81st Cong., 2d Sess. ' Act of June 23,1936, § 2,49 Stat. 1894,16 U. S. G. 17Z. Expenditures of some size also will be required to administer, protect, maintain, and develop areas for which the National Park Service is responsible. Needed facilities include roads, trails, utilities, buildings, campgrounds, picnic areas, and other amenities. Water Supply Facilities In the Potomac River Basin there are 184 mu- nicipal and industrial water supply systems, 96 of which are derived from ground water sources and 88 from surface sources. Half of the surface water supplies are municipal and half industrial, ranging in quantity from 20,000 gallons per day to 220 mil- lion gallons per day for the District of Columbia system. The total municipal water consumption in the basin is approximately 267 million gallons per day serving a population of approximately 1.5 mil- lion people. The total water usage from surface water for industrial and domestic use is about 1.5 billion gallons per day. More than two-thirds of the industrial water usage of 1.2 billion gallons per day goes to steam electric generating plants. Expansion of water supply systems is now in progress for the Washington metropolitan area (Corps of Engineers), and Cumberland, Md. Reservoirs for industrial water supplies are in demand in the western parts of the basin, where expansion of industry is hampered because of re- stricted water supply and pollution. Flood Protection Facilities Character of Existing Works The first flood control works known to exist in the Potomac River Basin were "bulwarks" con- structed in the nineteenth century by individual landowners along upper tributaries. These struc- tures of stone and earth were designed primarily to prevent scour from overland currents and to en- courage sedimentation from backwaters. They were effective against the moderate annual freshets, but offered little protection against the larger floods. The first known flood control works by an in- corporated community in the basin were the channel walls which Cumberland, Md., constructed along Wills Creek to protect the business district of the city following the flood of 1924. The greater flood 585 |
