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Show sand and gravel washing operations. A conserva- tive estimate of the average annual sediment load of the river is about 1.7 million tons. Silt and sedi- ment destroy many fish and damage oyster beds in the lower river, and also increase filtration costs where water is purified for domestic consumption. Soil pollution also causes high dredging costs for maintaining navigable channels. Adequate soil conservation within the basin can reduce the turbidity of the river by 75 percent or more and it is believed that the turbidity for 95 percent of the time can be kept below 100 parts per million, as against the maximum allowable for domestic water supply of 10 parts per million. In the 1936 flood, turbidities reached over 6,000 parts per million. Current progress.-Current progress is reflected less by actual construction than by activity pre- liminary to such construction. However, there have been 8 municipal treatment plants completed since the Avar, with design capacities for a total of approximately 52,000 persons. Plans have been approved for 12 municipalities, and are under prep- aration far an additional 13. An 11 million dollar program is under way for the District of Columbia. This will involve enlargement and extension to the existing treatment plant, which will care for the increase in population plus the flow from the Washington Suburban Sanitary District's Bladens- burg plant. Plans are approved for Arlington County and Alexandria. The actions of the city of Cumberland, Md., are important in further abate- ment in the upper basin, where it has initiated measures to provide for engineering plans. Among the most encouraging aspects of current programs lias been the recent strengthening of State laws governing pollution and the cooperative atti- tude expr-essed by industry. Further stimulation and expansion has come through the enactment of the Water Pollution Control Act of 1948.5 Al- though there are still shortcomings, water pollu- tion control legislation is generally adequate to care for the pollution problems within the Potomac River Basin. The laws are not uniform, but in general they are directed toward the same end. In every case the States have created a water con- trol agency to administer the water control acts. In Pennsylvania, a Sanitary Water Board has been established as part of the Health Department of the State. The pollution abatement laws en- 6 Act of June 30, 1948, 62 Stat. 1155, as amended, 33 U. S. G. 466 et seq. 596 acted in 1945, and previous laws, provide for the supervision by this agency of control of all sanitary and industrial wastes, as well as the abatement of acid mine drainage and culm deposits. The pollution laws of West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia have created independent water pollu- tion control boards or commissions having authority to control sanitary and industrial wastes. In Mary- land and Virginia the control groups have authority to control mine wastes and culm discharges, but in West Virginia the law specifically omits these wastes from the board's control. In Maryland the Health Department is vested with the authority to abate pollution where public health is involved. The Maryland Water Pollution Control Commis- sion, however, may take action in any case where there are wastes discharged which contribute to pollution of any of the waters of the State. Thus in Maryland there is overlapping jurisdiction. While the approach of the various State agencies is somewhat different, the underlying philosophy and basic principles of action are substantially par- allel. Pennsylvania requires a minimum of primary treatment of all municipal wastes and an equivalent degree of treatment for all industrial wastes. Higher degrees of treatment are required where dilution water is insufficient adequately to care for the discharges from primary treatment plants or where use dictates higher degrees of treatment nec- essary. The Sanitary Water Board has issued orders to abate all principal sources of pollution in the portion of the Potomac Basin in Pennsylvania. The West Virginia Water Commission has classi- fied the waters in the Potomac Basin in West Vir- ginia into four classes and has mapped out a pro- gram for elevating the water quality in each zone so that eventually it will meet a standard com- mensurate with desirable uses. The Maryland Water Pollution Control Com- mission has adopted regulations specifying standards for industrial wastes to be applied to all industrial wastes within the State regardless of the location of the industry. These standards, which are substan- tially equivalent to primary treatment, are consid- ered minimum and are made more stringent where more demanding water uses dictate. The Virginia Water Control Board has the ob- jective of preventing any new or increased pollution. It has launched an aggressive program to provide for reduction of existing pollution in its State. Much of the postwar progress in the basin in terms of actual construction has taken place in Virginia, |
